December 4, 2017
Do you have symptoms of hypothyroidism but your doctor told you your blood work was “normal”? Learn why you can have a normal thyroid blood test despite low thyroid symptoms, and how you can get the RIGHT diagnosis. Watch as Dr. Hotze explains why a blood test often fails to detect hypothyroidism.
0:42: The best way to determine whether or not an individual has hypothyroidism, that’s low thyroid function, is to listen to them. To listen to them tell you their symptoms.
1:09: The thyroid gland in the neck produces the thyroid hormones. The thyroid hormones are secreted in the blood. They don’t do anything in the blood, they have to enter the cells. In the cells, they go to an area of the cell where you make energy.
1:49: …if you don’t get enough thyroid hormone into your cells, then the energy production in your cells is low and your metabolism is low.
2:27: Commonly, people with joint and muscle aches and pains go to see the doctor and he tells them they have fibromyalgia. Has anybody ever told you that? Fibromyalgia is not a diagnosis, its description of a symptom. It’s a Latin term for Joint and muscle aches and pains
3:15: It also affects women’s menstrual cycles so that oftentimes women have irregular menstrual cycles when they’re low thyroid. They oftentimes have an inability to conceive so they’re infertile.
4:09: How could it be that you could have the symptoms of low thyroid and it not show up on your blood test? Because the blood test is a very poor and crude way to determine whether a person has low thyroid, low metabolism, or hypothyroidism as the clinical term is known.
4:51: Our philosophy, my philosophy is this: if an individual has the classical features of hypothyroidism, low thyroid symptoms, give them a clinical trial of thyroid preparation.
Hello, I’m Dr. Steve Hotze, founder and CEO of Hotze Health & Wellness Center. My goal is to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally, so you enjoy a better quality of life. So the question I’m asked frequently by women is, “Is it possible that I could have low thyroid problems that just don’t show up on the blood tests? Because my doctor has told me my blood tests are normal.” Let me explain: the answer to that is absolutely yes.
The best way to determine whether or not an individual has hypothyroidism, that’s low thyroid function, is to listen to them. To listen to them tell you their symptoms. Classically, individuals that don’t have enough thyroid hormone within their cells, have a host of symptoms. One, some, or all can appear at the same time. The thyroid gland in the neck produces the thyroid hormones. The thyroid hormones are secreted in the blood. They don’t do anything in the blood, they have to enter the cells. In the cells, they go to an area of the cell where you make energy. It’s the power plant and they activate that power plant to convert the nutrients from the food and the oxygen you breathe into electrical energy, which then drives all the biochemical functions in the cells and makes your cells work and your organs work.
What activates those power plants, which by the way are called mitochondria, can you say that? Mitochondria. You probably remember it from biology. Those power plants are activated by thyroid hormones. So, if you don’t get enough thyroid hormone into your cells, then the energy production in your cells is low and your metabolism is low.
What are the symptoms that people have when they have low metabolism, low energy production?
Commonly, people with joint and muscle aches and pains go to see the doctor and he tells them they have fibromyalgia. Has anybody ever told you that? Fibromyalgia is not a diagnosis, its description of a symptom. It’s a Latin term for Joint and muscle aches and pains, for crying out loud.
You tell the doctor, “I’ve got joint muscle aches and pains.” He says you have fibromyalgia, he thinks he’s made a diagnosis. A diagnosis tells you what the cause of the underlying problem is. What’s causing my joint and muscle aches and pains? People with low thyroid can also have sluggish bowel function, or irritable bowel function. They can have recurrent or chronic infections. Maybe they have a failure to thrive. Young kids that just don’t do well and they’re low on the growth curve and get recurrent and chronic infections. Commonly, these individuals have low thyroid within their cells.
It also affects women’s menstrual cycles so that oftentimes women have irregular menstrual cycles when they’re low thyroid. They oftentimes have an inability to conceive so they’re infertile. Or if they do conceive, they miscarry. So a common cause of infertility and miscarriage is low thyroid.
Now you go to your doctor with these symptoms and you say, “Doc, could you check me for thyroid?” And he goes, “Why do you think you have low thyroid?” “Well, because I’ve got all these symptoms.” “That doesn’t mean you have low thyroid. We’ll check that out and I’ll bet you don’t.” And sure enough, they do a blood test and they call you up or Nurse Betty calls you up, or they don’t call you and you have to call them, and you finally find out, “I’ve got some good news for you. You don’t have low thyroid. But doctor thinks that you might benefit from a little bit of Prozac or some other antidepressant.”
How could it be that you could have the symptoms of low thyroid and it not show up on your blood test? Because the blood test is a very poor and crude way to determine whether a person has low thyroid, low metabolism, or hypothyroidism as the clinical term is known. So, what happens? The lab determines the lab values. The last 1,000 people, they get an average, and then they add two standard deviations, which takes in 95% of the people. 95% of the time, you’re going to fall within that range, because that range is as tall as the Empire State Building, as wide as the Grand Canyon, you’re going to fall within that range. If you fall out of the range, you know, you’re really sick.
Our philosophy, my philosophy is this: if an individual has the classical features of hypothyroidism, low thyroid symptoms, give them a clinical trial of thyroid preparation. It’s simple. It’s just a little, little bitty capsule. You can get it in tablet form. There’s several different forms of thyroid preparation. We use natural, desiccated thyroid. I don’t use any of the synthetic thyroid. Our experience is, people on synthetic thyroid, overall, don’t do well. They still have the normal, they still have the symptoms of low thyroid, but their blood’s normal now. So if your blood normalized, but your symptoms don’t normalize, that tells you that the preparation you’re taking to treat your thyroid problem is keeping your blood level normal but it’s not adequate to get in your cells. That’s the reason, because inactive, I’m sorry the synthetic thyroid, is an inactive thyroid.
Now, here’s my philosophy. You go to the doctor and the doctor says, “Oh, you’ve got plenty of thyroid.” It’s like calling the waiter and saying, “Waiter, do you think I need a glass of water?” And he goes, “Oh no, you’ve got water in your glass.” But you want a full glass of water. 6:04: You want to go around full of energy, not operating on just a quarter of a tank, so you want to fill up and get yourself up to an optimal level of thyroid, not a suboptimal level. If you have optimal levels of thyroid hormone in your cells, guess what? Your power plants are activated, your energy level is up and when you have high energy, you have good health.
My goal is to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally so you enjoy a better quality of life and I invite you to subscribe to my YouTube channel and follow me on Facebook. I’m Dr. Hotze, founder of the Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston.
Take our symptom checker quiz to find out if you could have hypothyroidism.
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Since 1989, Hotze Health & Wellness Center has helped over 33,000 patients get their lives back using bioidentical hormones that restore hormones to optimal levels, strengthen immune systems, and increase energy levels. Our treatment regimen addresses the root cause of hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, menopause, perimenopause, low testosterone, allergies, and candida.
Led by best-selling author, radio host and leading natural health expert, Steven F. Hotze, M.D., our medical team has over 100 years’ combined medical experience backed by a staff of nearly 100 caring professionals who provide an environment of hope and extraordinary hospitality for each of our patients, who we call our guests. It is our deepest desire to help you obtain and maintain health and wellness naturally so that you may enjoy a better quality of life, pure and simple.
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Dr. Steven Hotze wants that for you, too. In fact, in his powerful and passionate video entitled, “What I Believe”, Dr. Hotze shares how his Christian worldview and pivotal experiences have ignited a deep desire to offer the message of hope and optimal health to all who need to hear it.
At Hotze Health & Wellness Center, our doctors are changing the way women and men are treated through the use of bioidentical hormones. Our natural treatments have helped over 33,000 individuals with hypothyroidism, adrenal fatigue, menopause, perimenopause, low testosterone, allergies, candida, detoxification and nutritional deficiencies.
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Good information BUT, you did not say how to get the right tests other than a blood test. How do we go about getting them? Especially if our doctor doesn’t know what tests to do and refuses to do any other kind of test? How do we know what tests to ask for? I once asked a doctor to do other tests because he relied on just the blood tests and he told me the treatment would be the same regardless of what test I do. So I kept on taking Synthroid and still feeling bad or worse until I stopped it altogether and some of the symptoms caused by Synthroid went away but my thyroid was still the same. There are a lot of unanswered questions.
Dear JJ,
Thank you for your question. We understand your frustration – most conventional doctors only rely on the TSH test. Here is an article that explains 5 ways a doctor can properly diagnose hypothyroidism: http://makeshift-worm.flywheelsites.com/2017/04/why-your-doc-misses-the-hypothyroidism-diagnosis/
Also, our doctors have had much better success using desiccated thyroid. They find that Synthroid, which is only the inactive form of thyroid hormone, is not as effective and many patients still have symptoms of hypothyroidism on it. This article explains it: http://makeshift-worm.flywheelsites.com/2016/01/myth-synthroid-is-the-best-treatment-for-hypothyroidism/
If we may be of service to you, please do not hesitate to contact a wellness consultant for a complimentary consultation at 281-698-8698.
To your health,
Hotze Team
Dear JJ,
Thank for your questions. We understand your frustration with Synthroid and how to know how to get the right answers. Our doctors recommend using desiccated thyroid (which has T3, the active thyroid hormone, and T4) to treat hypothyroidism. Synthroid is not as effective because it is only T4, the inactive thyroid hormone. Here is an article with a video of our doctors explaining why desiccated thyroid is more effective than Synthroid:
http://makeshift-worm.flywheelsites.com/2016/01/myth-synthroid-is-the-best-treatment-for-hypothyroidism/
Here is a video of our doctors explaining how to properly diagnose hypothyroidism: http://makeshift-worm.flywheelsites.com/2015/08/4-ways-to-diagnose-hypothyroidism-what-your-doctor-doesnt-know/
We hope this information is helpful. Please let us know if we can be of service to you.
To your health,
Hotze Team
I didn’t believe I was alone in suspecting thyroid disorders cause changes in fertility, and I’m glad to see Dr. Hotze’s believes so too. I recently read a research study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, just this past month, that supports our views (https://academic.oup.com/jcem/advance-article/doi/10.1210/jc.2017-02120/4760413). The study concluded that those with unexplained infertility often had a very high TSH reading compared to a control group. Its a very interesting study. I wonder if support and helping the thyroid will result in changes for the women in the study. Hopefully they explore that area next.
Is there any dr in NY state
Dear Melinda,
Thank you for reaching out to us. We only have a wellness center here in Houston and you would only need to come here in person for your first comprehensive visit with the doctor. After that, your follow-up appointments may be done via phone. We do see patients from all over the world.
Please take our symptom checker to help discover what could be the underlying cause of your symptoms: http://makeshift-worm.flywheelsites.com/symptom-checker/
If we may be of service to you, please call our Wellness Consultants for a complimentary wellness consultation at 281-698-8698. It would be our privilege to serve you.
To your health,
Hotze Team
Dear Melinda,
Thank you for reaching out to us. We only have a wellness center here in Houston and you would only need to come here in person for your first comprehensive visit with the doctor. After that, your follow-up appointments may be done via phone. We do see patients from all over the world.
Please take our symptom checker to help discover what could be the underlying cause of your symptoms: http://makeshift-worm.flywheelsites.com/symptom-checker/
If we may be of service to you, please call our Wellness Consultants for a complimentary wellness consultation at 281-698-8698. It would be our privilege to serve you.
To your health,
Hotze Team
Hi
Thank you for the very informative article on thyroid which i know most doctors are stubborn to understand the low thyroid and only relying on blood tests. I too suffer from low thyroid for about 4 yrs now I’m in South Africa i can’t find a Dr that seems to u understand that you can get low thyroid although your blood results are noemal. it’s a pity you are very far from please recommend a Dr for me in South Africa if ia possible i suffer a lot. most of the long list of symptoms o have is brain fog, forgetfulness, weight gain, cold hands and feet, fatigue, irregular menstrual periods and others.
Dear Unathi,
We are so sorry to hear that you are suffering. If you have compounding pharmacies there, you can ask them which doctors prescribe desiccated thyroid, and that may help you find a doctor with a more natural approach. You need to find a doctor who will listen to and consider your symptoms and how you feel, and NOT only rely on a single blood test. Here is a video of our doctors on how to diagnose hypothyroidism: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=kxSvLiW0q9A
If we may be of service to you, we do see patients from all over the world. You only need to come here to Houston, Texas, in person for your first comprehensive visit with our doctor, then after that, your follow-ups may be done over the phone. If you want to consider this, please call our Wellness Consultants for a complimentary wellness consultation at 281-698-8698.
We wish you the best.
To your health,
Hotze Team