What are the signs of a slow thyroid?

You’re reaching for a sweater when everyone else in the room is comfortable.

You’re tired however long you sleep. And the scale keeps creeping up, even though you haven’t changed how you eat.

If that sounds like you, your thyroid may be part of the story. It’s worth knowing the signs, and what else your thyroid depends on.

What does your thyroid do?

Your thyroid is a small gland at the front of your neck. Its hormones help set your body’s pace: how quickly you turn food into energy, how warm you stay and how sharp your thinking feels.

Most of what your thyroid makes is a less active form of its hormone. Your body has to convert it into the active form before your cells can use it.

So how you feel depends on two things. How much hormone your thyroid makes, and how well the rest of your body puts it to work.

What are the signs of a slow thyroid?

When your thyroid runs slow, much of your body slows with it. These are the signs patients mention most.

Feeling cold. Cold hands and feet all year, or feeling chilly in a room everyone else finds warm. Your thyroid helps set how much heat your body makes.

Tiredness that sleep doesn’t fix. You wake up worn out and stay that way. Coffee lifts it for an hour or two, then it’s back.

Weight creeping up. Same meals, same routine, and the scale still moves the wrong way. A slower metabolism burns less of what you eat.

Hair, skin and nails. Thinning hair, dry skin, and nails that split or break easily.

Slow, foggy thinking. Your thinking feels slower, and it’s harder to concentrate or remember things.

Any one of these can have other causes. When several show up together, your thyroid is worth a closer look. Our thyroid page explains how these signs connect.

What can slow your thyroid down?

Your thyroid doesn’t work alone. It relies on several other parts of your body, and these four are the ones we look at most.

• Nutrients
• Stress
• Your gut
• Your liver

Nutrients. Your thyroid needs iron, selenium, zinc and iodine to make and use its hormone. If you’re low on them, you can feel colder, slower and foggier.

Stress. Under pressure for years? Long-term stress can slow the way your body puts thyroid hormone to work, and your energy drops with it.

Your gut. Your gut absorbs the nutrients your thyroid relies on. If digestion is struggling, your thyroid can end up short of what it needs, even on a good diet.

Your liver. Your liver does some of the work of turning thyroid hormone into the form your body uses. How well it’s working can play a part in how you feel.

This is also why a routine check doesn’t always show the full picture. It usually looks at one marker, and one marker can’t tell you how well the rest of this chain is working.

Why do I still feel slow on thyroid medication?

Many patients are already taking thyroid medication and still don’t feel right.

Medication may be exactly what you need, so keep taking it as prescribed. Please don’t change your dose or stop anything on your own.

But if your body isn’t converting the hormone well, or you’re short on the nutrients your thyroid depends on, you can still feel cold and tired. That’s worth raising with your physician, and worth looking at alongside them.

What can I do if I think my thyroid is slow?

Start by writing down what you notice for a week or two.

When do you feel coldest? How tired are you when you wake up? Have your hair, skin or weight changed over the past year?

Notes like these give whoever you talk to next something concrete to work with.

If thyroid problems run in your family, ask your physician whether antibody testing makes sense for you. It can show whether your immune system is affecting your thyroid.

It’s tempting to buy iodine or a thyroid support pill off the shelf. But that’s a guess. Your thyroid needs several nutrients in balance, and more iodine isn’t always better.

At Back to Wellness, Dr. Anthony Alphonso has been in practice since 2007. We work alongside your physician, with patients in New York and South Carolina, all from home.

We look at a fuller thyroid picture, plus the nutrients it relies on, your stress, gut, liver and blood sugar, read together. Then we build a plan around what we find. Our thyroid page explains how it works.

When to talk to someone

Some thyroid symptoms need a doctor first. If you have trouble breathing, call 911 right away.

And please see your doctor soon if you notice:

• a lump or swelling in your neck
• difficulty swallowing
• a racing heart along with weight loss you can’t explain, shakiness or feeling too hot

If none of those apply and you want to find out what’s slowing you down, book a free 15-minute call.

It’s by phone, with no cost and no obligation. We’ll hear the whole story and tell you honestly whether we can help.