Thyroid in Men
Thyroid affects every cell of the body. In fact, the thyroid gland and its hormones are what many physicians call the “traffic direction center” of the hormone system. Thyroid hormones are important in their own right but more so in relation to the function and balance of other hormones. Put simply, a healthy thyroid function is critical to a healthy function of the hormone system in general. An imbalanced thyroid could also mean larger problems such as hypothyroidism, which is the condition in which the thyroid makes too much thyroid hormone. Read on to learn more about male thyroid, thyroid problems in men, and hypothyroidism in men.
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Facts About Thyroid Problems in Men
- Fact: Healthy Male thyroid level has a significant effect on how a man feels. For women the effect is even more dramatic.
- Fact: There is a 1+1=3 relationship between thyroid and testosterone. Testing and treating one without the other is not effective and can lead to problems in assessing low t levels.
- Fact: Thyroid is easy and inexpensive to fix. Improvements can be felt in 1 to 2 weeks
Symptoms of Thyroid Problems:
- Low energy — fatigue
- Weight gain
- Water retention
- Hair loss (a major cause)
- Dry skin and brittle nails
- Feeling cold in normal temperatures
- Anxiety and irritability
- Depression
- High cholesterol
- Mental fogginess
- Susceptibility to hardening of the arteries
When it comes to testing for thyroid problems in men free T3 is the key number to check. T3 levels of 350pg to 425pg seem to be where most people feel their best. You may have to move the decimal point 1 to 2 places to get a comparable number depending on what lab does the testing.
Read on to Learn More About Hyperthyroidism in Men
Hypothyroidism
Thyroid is produced by the thyroid gland in response to stimulation by the pituitary gland. Like testosterone production, the pituitary gland works like a thermostat. It senses the level of thyroid (T4) in the blood. As it senses the body needs more, it emits thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) to stimulate the thyroid to produce more T4. As T4 levels rise to healthy levels the pituitary shuts TSH production down. As the body ages, the pituitary produces less TSH and the thyroid produces less T4. The result is a low level of thyroid hormone. When thyroid levels are too high, Hyperthyroidism occurs.
Most doctors will only test the TSH / T4 cycle. The problem with this practice is that T4 accounts for only 20% of thyroid function. The other 80% of T4 should be broken down by the body into T3 and its functional form, free T3. As the body ages, chemical changes take place that inhibit this breakdown. Most doctors do not test T3 and miss 80% of thyroid function. ReNEW MAN physicians do not make this mistake.
As the body ages there are some chemical changes that may inhibit the breakdown of T4 into T3:
- 5 Deiodinase – Zinc and selenium deficiencies
- Severe stress and the cortisol stress produces
- Lithium
- Dioxins
- PCB’s
- Excess copper
- Low iodine
More About Male Thyroid
There is a simple test that can be done at home to determine if a man might be hypothyroid. With a thermometer by your bed, when you wake in the morning, and before getting out of bed, place the thermometer under your armpit. Do this for three mornings. If your average temperature is 97.8 degrees or less, you may be hypothyroid. The test may indicate thyroid problems that do not show up on lab tests.
Some doctors also do the simple handshake test. When they first meet a patient they shake hands. If the hand is cold they have their first indication of possible low thyroid and that the doctor needs to follow up with a lab test.
Ask Your Doctor the Hard Questions About Hypothyroidism
A noted physician said recently that hypothyroidism in men is perhaps the most under-diagnosed and under-treated illness in modern medicine. Doctors are either not testing thyroid or are conducting the wrong tests, and when given a patient’s test results are providing the wrong treatment. Here’s what you need to know about hypothyroidism and your doctor:
- Fact: Many doctors only measure the feedback mechanism TSH and T4 and ignore T3 levels. If your doctor decides to treat low thyroid from lab results like these it usually involves administering synthetic T4 such as Synthroid. Doctors seldom check T3 and thereby miss 80% of thyroid function problems.
- Fact: Increasing T4 when the body is not breaking it down into T3 tends to leave hypothyroidism symptoms undertreated. It is quite common for our doctors to see patients who have been checked by their family doctor and/or are being treated with T4 but are still showing all the symptoms of low thyroid. We check their free T3 and find it to be low. We then give them the treatment they needed all along. In treating thyroid deficiency, our doctors use desiccated thyroid that contains both T4 and T3.
Thyroid Problems in men can be difficult to understand and are often misdiagnosed. Because thyroid problems in men can be very serious and because male thyroid is important to the balance of other male hormones we want to make sure you have the best information available to you.
Please give us a call ( or you can also request a FREE consultation through our contact form to learn more about thyroid in men and what we can do to help you.
Our knowledgeable staff is here to help answer any of your questions about male thyroid.