19 Signs of Thyroid Problems (and Their Solutions)

How do you know if your thyroid is causing problems? I put together a helpful list of the 19 signs of thyroid problems, as well as their potential solutions. I hope you find it helpful and can use it to determine where you stand with your thyroid health.

After all, all too often people share their symptoms with their doctor and are told that nothing is wrong. If you don’t feel well, you want answers. You want solutions.

Ultimately, your thyroid plays a critical role in pretty much every part of your body. So, how do you know when something is going wrong? These signs should give you some more context.

Let’s dive into it…

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Table of Contents

The Role of Your Thyroid
Who is Most at Risk for Thyroid Problems?
Understanding Thyroid Problems Through Symptoms
The Most Common Thyroid Symptoms
The Most Predictive Thyroid Symptoms
The “Required” Symptoms for Thyroid Disease
Action Steps for Those With Thyroid Symptoms
When Should You Test Your Thyroid?
What are the Best Treatments for Thyroid Symptoms?

The Role of Your Thyroid

I want to start with some context, so we can understand why these symptoms are happening in the first place.

Your thyroid does a lot. It makes hormones that control how well the body makes energy, how well it repairs itself, and how other hormones work in your body.

That means your thyroid can affect weight loss, energy levels, the condition of your skin, hair and nails, and many other hormonal symptoms.

The thyroid typically encounters problems when:

• It makes the wrong amount of hormone (too much or too little)
• It becomes inflamed due to autoimmunity

Those are the main two problems that your thyroid might face. When there is too little hormone, we call that hypothyroidism. When there is too much, we call it hyperthyroidism.

The autoimmune condition most commonly associated with your thyroid is called Hashimoto’s disease (caused by too little thyroid hormone).

Who is Most at Risk for Thyroid Problems?

While thyroid disease can affect anyone at any age, some are more susceptible than others. Thyroid disease is the most common if you are:

• Female
• Aged 30 or over
• From a family with thyroid disease

That said, because thyroid disease affects so many people, it is worth considering for all ages and genders. Risks vary, so it’s important to keep them in mind no matter what.

Understanding Thyroid Problems Through Symptoms

There is no shortage of symptoms that could be influenced or affected by your thyroid, because your thyroid hormones affect nearly everything. You may find some sources that offer exhaustive lists of symptoms for that very reason.

As these lists become longer and longer, they become less helpful. That’s because listing countless symptoms means that you may have a few by random chance, making it more difficult to determine if it’s truly an issue with your thyroid.

For that reason, you’ll want to focus on specific symptoms that are most often associated with issues concerning the thyroid.

The Most Common Thyroid Symptoms

Of the types of thyroid disease, the most common thyroid symptoms are caused by Hashimoto’s disease, because it’s the most prevalent type of thyroid disease.

Here’s a quick list of the most common symptoms:

• Hair loss
• Weight gain
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Poor libido
• Numbness in hands or feet
• Depression
• Anxiety
  Insomnia

Another important distinction is that these symptoms tend to come about over a set period of time. The more clearly you can point to a timeframe in which these symptoms appeared, the more likely they are to be related to your thyroid.

Is It Hypothyroid or Hashimoto’s?

An important consideration to make is that these symptoms may be caused by having too little thyroid or due to autoimmune thyroid disease.

Hypothyroidism is when there is too little hormone. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease that damages the thyroid – some who have it eventually get hypothyroidism. Nearly everyone suffering from hypothyroidism already is struggling with Hashimoto’s.

The Key Role of Antibodies

Did you know roughly 27% of adults have significantly elevated thyroid antibodies from Hashimoto’s?

The two most common thyroid antibodies tested are anti-thyroid peroxidase and antithyroglobulin. When these are significantly elevated, the person in question has Hashimoto’s disease.

The truth is that most people with Hashimoto’s do not have hypothyroidism. But, Hashimoto’s by itself can cause the same symptoms of hypothyroidism – it’s tricky in that way.

The Most Predictive Thyroid Symptoms

In addition to the most common symptoms, no list would be complete without mentioning the most predictive symptoms of thyroid disease – those that signal potential issues.

But, how do we know which symptoms are the most predictive? A large study was done to answer this question. It took 24,000 people and found which symptoms were the best predictors for thyroid disease¹.

What they found offered a list of the eleven most predictive symptoms, including:

• Deeper voice
• Constipation
• Hoarse voice – more so than usual
• Puffy eyes
• Feeling colder
• Muscle cramps
• More tired than usual
• Slower thinking
• Weaker muscles
• Drier skin

You may have also noticed how specific some of these symptoms can be. What it means is that the percentage likelihood of having thyroid disease increases when someone has this particular symptom – making them better predictors overall.

The “Required” Symptoms for Thyroid Disease

When we talk about common and predictive symptoms, it begs the question of if any particular symptoms are “required” for thyroid disease.

The fact is that no specific symptoms need to be present. People with thyroid disease can have a different combination of symptoms. The absence of symptoms does not make things less likely when it comes to thyroid disease.

Action Steps for Those With Thyroid Symptoms

If you are struggling with some of the top 19 hypothyroid symptoms, the first step is to have a blood test done. Ideally, you would work with a Naturopathic Endocrinologist who specializes in thyroid disease. The idea here is to run some thyroid screening tests.

There is a long list of possible thyroid tests available. you may find many experts recommending that you do as many tests as possible.

These tests all have their place for various points along the thyroid journey, but all are not needed when you’re trying to see if your symptoms are caused by thyroid disease. The necessary tests include:

• TSH
• Free T3
• Free T4
• Thyroid Antibody Panel (anti-thyroglobulin and anti-thyroperoxidase)

TSH Test

Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) is a hormone made by the pituitary gland which tells the thyroid to work. It is a sensitive gauge of how much hormone is coming out of the thyroid.

But, it is important to know that it is what we call a backward marker. The less hormone coming out, the higher the number goes. The more hormone coming out, the lower the number.

Most labs consider the normal range to be between 0.4 to 4.5. Below range means hyperthyroidism. Above range means hypothyroidism.

When it comes to your TSH scores, it becomes all the more important to understand the difference between normal and optimal. Here is my complete guide to optimal thyroid levels.

Free T3 and Free T4

These are the main two hormones released by the thyroid. Ideally, they are both in the normal range. In most cases, they will not be included in a thyroid screen, but they should be.

There are circumstances in which those taking thyroid medication do need closer fine-tuning of their T3 and T4 levels.

Some thyroid advocates say these both must be on the high side of normal. That said, healthy people have a wide range of T3 and T4 levels.

If you’re not already on thyroid treatment, and you’re trying to find out if your thyroid is causing symptoms, you need to look into whether your T3 and T4 levels are normal.

Thyroid Antibody Panel

This is the most important single thing to test at this stage. That’s because it is common to have thyroid autoimmunity cause symptoms rather than hypothyroidism being the root cause.

A thyroid antibody panel includes two tests: antithyroid peroxidase and antithyroglobulin. There are other antibodies that can be tested, but they are not important for these purposes.

When antibodies are seriously elevated, they are a problem. We know that they can cause all the symptoms we’ve mentioned as well as health risks for heart disease, infertility, and more.

How high is too high? They are always a problem when they are 1000 units or greater. But, they often begin to be a problem when they are in the high hundreds.

When they are barely positive, or in the low 100s, they may or may not be relevant. It is important to have your doctor take them into account along with all other factors.

When Should You Test Your Thyroid?

I have explained when to test your thyroid in past articles, but here’s a quick summary. It is critical to run your tests at the right time so that you get an accurate reading.

Here are the five key rules to help you get the best possible results:

1. Test in the morning. Ideally between 7:00 to 9:00 a.m.
2. Test after fasting and have nothing but water after midnight before testing.
3. Test after a three-day supplement holiday. Supplements can skew thyroid levels.
4. Test during the first week or last week of your menstrual cycle (if you don’t have a regular menstrual cycle this doesn’t apply to you).
5. If you are on thyroid medication, take your medication after your test (not before).

What are the Best Treatments for Thyroid Symptoms?

If you are currently suffering from any of the thyroid problems or symptoms that I mentioned above, you’ll want to consider some of the best treatment options available.

The main things to consider include diet, nutraceuticals, and medications. Please don’t skip straight to medications. They are rarely helpful and are used far too often.

Diet

The role of your diet cannot be understated. Changes in diet have been proven to reverse thyroid disease for the majority of people. Depending on the type of disease, diet can work between 60 to 80 percent of the time (and within two to three months).

Nutraceuticals

There are a host of nutraceuticals that can reduce the effect of thyroid symptoms, lower thyroid antibodies, and help improve thyroid function. These benefits have been proven through high-quality human studies. we know it’s real, we know they can help.

Medications

You might think that if too little thyroid hormone was causing symptoms, then replacing that hormone with medication would resolve those symptoms.

But, it turns out that when we take thyroid hormones in a pill, it’s not the same as when the body makes them. That is why most people who take their medications find they don’t really help.

All too often, they get stuck into a cycle of trying to get on the right medication or the right dosage. The real problem was they weren’t good candidates for medication to start.

How do you know if medications will help? This table should offer a quick guide…

All of these same points can be applied to all types of thyroid medication. In my experience, functional doctors are quick to put people on medication even for suboptimal thyroid levels or thyroid antibodies. They are more apt to use natural thyroid, compounded T3 and t4, or a T3 only. The same problems exist here, too.

On the other hand, conventional doctors are often too quick to put people on medication for subclinical diseases. they are more apt to use T4 only medication.

Getting to the Root of Thyroid Problems

If you suspect that you might be suffering from thyroid disease, hopefully identifying any of these 19 symptoms can help bring you some clarity. If you have them, you will first want to know if they are caused by your thyroid or something else.

If they are caused by your thyroid, you will want safe, natural ways to help your thyroid and feel your absolute best again. The good news is that this is completely possible!

The best part is that you can start today by taking my Thyroid Quiz. It can give you helpful information and clarity on the next best step for your thyroid. I truly hope it helps.

P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:

1. Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
2. Need A Thyroid Supplement Recommendation? Take My Thyroid Specific Formulations Quiz Now
3. Need a Personalized Supplement? Check out My Thyroid Specific Formulations
4. Download and use my Favorite Recipes Cookbook Here
5. Check out my podcast Medical Myths, Legends, and Fairytales Here

Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a board-certified Naturopathic Endocrinologist, and the author of The NY Times bestselling Adrenal Reset Diet, Metabolism Reset Diet, Thyroid Reset Diet, and the Healing Hormone Cookbook.

Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what really works has helped hundreds of thousands of people reverse thyroid disease, lose weight, diabetes, and regain energy. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.