If you’re feeling tired all the time and brain foggy you may blame it on a night of bad sleep. But what happens when these symptoms persist for days, weeks, even months? If you find yourself struggling to get through the day and you feel terrible without an explanation, answers might lie in turning to an osteopath for thyroid testing.
What is a Thyroid?
Your thyroid is a gland at the base of your neck that is responsible for producing hormones that impact your metabolism. More specifically, these hormones control everything from your heart and muscles to digestion and they determine the speed at which your body burns calories and uses them for energy.
Could It Be Your Thyroid?
If you aren’t feeling like yourself these days it’s worth it to have your thyroid evaluated by an osteopath. Your symptoms may vary based on the type of thyroid issues you’re facing. Producing too many hormones (known as hyperthyroidism) can lead to unexpected weight loss, anxiety, night sweats, and feeling hot all the time while someone who isn’t producing enough hormones (known as hypothyroidism) may feel cold all the time, feel lethargic, and fatigued and may easily gain weight. Other signs that your thyroid could be acting up include:
- Dry skin
- Brittle nails
- Hair loss
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Irregular menstrual cycles
- Trouble sleeping
- Muscle weakness
- Puffy face
- Mood swings
- Brain fog
- Unexplained aches and pains
Why Should I Turn to an Osteopath?
When you are dealing with issues such as fatigue, digestive problems, or brain fog, a regular doctor may simply write a prescription to manage your symptoms but often won’t address or even try to figure out the underlying cause. An osteopath, on the other hand, is a medical professional dedicated to providing whole-body care. This means that instead of simply treating the symptoms we determine the cause of your symptoms and treat the cause. Through a simple thyroid panel or bloodwork, we can check hormone levels and determine if you could be dealing with thyroid disease.
Getting a Thyroid Panel
Another reason to turn to an osteopath is that they know how to perform the proper thyroid tests and look for things that may be overlooked at a general practitioner’s office. For example, TSH levels could be normal despite having hypothyroidism. When you get bloodwork you may also notice that your lab values are within a certain range. Unfortunately, these values may be outdated, which means that your general doctor may say your hormone levels are fine when really they aren’t. An osteopath will be able to interpret your thyroid problems and also treat borderline thyroid problems before they become full-blown concerns.
Everyone should have comprehensive bloodwork at least once a year to check thyroid levels, blood sugar, and other issues that could leave you feeling not quite like your normal, energetic self. If daily fatigue is the norm, you owe it to yourself to turn to an osteopath for answers.