Why Testing for Viral Infections Can Solve Your Thyroid Disorder?

Click HERE to Find Out How You Can Achieve Thyroid Levels within a Short Period of Time

Uncovering a long standing infection could offer a real solution to solving your thyroid disorder. Did you know chronic infections can easily masquerade as hypothyroidism?

In fact, there’s often an overlap between hypothyroidism and symptoms triggered by a lingering viral infection.

This article discusses testing for viral infections. Long standing infections that are active in the body are linked to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, aka myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is a disease of the immune system.

There is a vast amount of research to demonstrate infections are the most likely cause of chronic fatigue syndrome.

How to Test For Viral Infections

There is no single test to diagnose a chronic viral infection, or even multiple viral infections. For this reason medical practitioners usually screen a patient for the main viruses which tend to cause long term problems. Your medical practitioner will also take into account your symptoms and health history.

Antibody Tests Are Usually Used To Check For Long Standing Viral Infections

Termed antibody tests, these types of blood tests are the obvious place to start the search for chronic infections.

Antibodies are molecules produced by the immune system to fight an infection. By doing specific antibody tests you can detect the presence of antibodies to a particular viral infection. When antibodies are discovered it will also reveal whether you were infected recently or in the past.

A stable positive result indicates past infection. In contrast, a high antibody load indicates recent infection, or reactivation of a past infection. The most consistent marker of progression of an infection within the body is a rising antibody titre. This term is used to describe the amount of antibodies that are measured within a blood sample.

Active viruses travel through the blood. These microscopic viruses are ‘non-living’ and they lack the ability to replicate on their own. To ensure their survival these viruses must take hold within the host cell. Left unchecked by the immune system they have the ability to integrate themselves into many cells of the body.

The two leading viruses that trigger chronic fatigue symptoms are Epstein – Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV).

Medical practitioners often test for these two viruses when a patient has fatigue issues. These two viruses often target the central nervous system and liver causing problems.

The tests listed here will help diagnose an infection with the viruses most commonly associated with chronic fatigue symptoms.

·         Cytomegalovirus (CMV) antibodies

·         Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) antibodies

·         Hepatitis B virus (HBV)) antibodies

·         Hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibodies

·         Herpes simplex virus (HSV) antibodies

·         Varicella Zoster virus antibodies

A Viral Infection Can Give Rise to a Diverse Range of Symptoms

A virus lodged within the cell continues to replicate and by integrating itself deep within the cell it avoids detection by the immune system. The immune system therefore does not make antibodies to viruses that have become hidden within organs and other tissues of the body.

This makes identifying a viral infection a real challenge. It is possible to have a significant intracellular infection, but still show relatively low antibody levels when you take an antibody test.

A chronic viral infection can cause a range of diverse symptoms depending on the original infection involved. When a virus takes hold in the central nervous system, or enters an organ such as the liver or digestive tract it gives rise to a range of complaints such as fatigue, liver tenderness and neurological problems.

Your medical practitioner may also request a white cell count (WCC) and liver function test (LFT).

Watch this Video below - How are viral infections diagnosed and treated

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Why Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms are Strikingly Similar to Hypothyroidism Symptoms?

Author Bio:

Louise O’ Connor, the author of The Natural Thyroid Diet –The 4-Week Plan to Living Well, Living Vibrantly, who is a specialist in Thyroid Health. She is a highly regarded Australian Naturopath and founder of Wellnesswork.

The Natural Thyroid Diet goes beyond diet advice and offers practical and effective ways to achieve healthy thyroid levels within just a short period of time. For more details, Click on The-Natural-Thyroid-Diet.com

Why Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms are Strikingly Similar to Hypothyroidism Symptoms?

Click HERE to Find Out How You Can Achieve Thyroid Levels within a Short Period of Time

The hall mark symptom of chronic fatigue syndrome is overwhelming physical and mental exhaustion which is not made better with rest. It is also gives rise to a long list of debilitating symptoms.

Chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms checklist

There are striking similarities between the symptoms of hypothyroidism and those listed for chronic fatigue syndrome.

The two conditions overlap, as both are associated with what is essentially a functional breakdown in the body’s ability to generate energy at a basic cell level.

Chronic fatigue syndrome takes feeling tired to a whole new debilitating level.

Spot the signs…

·         Aching joints.

·         Allergies.

·         Chemical sensitivity.

·         Digestive problems. Including nausea, bloating, constipation or diarrhoea.

·         Fibromyalgia (muscle pain).

·         Food intolerances.

·         Heart palpitations; increased heart rate or shortness of breath with exertion or on standing.

·         Low blood pressure. You may also feel dizzy if you get up too quickly.

·         Neurological symptoms. Poor memory and concentration, muscle twitching, mild electric shock sensations in the muscles and tingling in the joints or muscles.

·         Pain and tenderness of the liver

·         Persistent fatigue.

·         Reduced ability to cope with changes in temperature.

·         Sleep problems.

·         Sore throat and runny nose.

·         Tender lymph nodes.

·         Urinary problems.

·         Vision loss.

How big a role do infections play in the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome?

Some infections, once thought to only cause short lived symptoms may in fact remain active in the body giving rise to a range of diverse symptoms depending on the original infection, or multiple infections involved.

Termed ‘latent infections’, these are not necessarily dormant infections. There is mounting evidence these infections continue to play a major role in disrupting healthy immune system activity.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterised by an immune system that is continually ‘switched on’. It is commonly assumed that some type immune dysfunction is occurring. This is a theory and has not been proven conclusively.

Is it possible the immune system remains activated as it is fighting against some type of latent infection? Many of the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome closely resemble those associated with a lingering infectious illness.

Some of the infections linked to chronic fatigue syndrome include:

·         Barmah Forest virus

·         Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium (linked to Lyme disease)

·         Coxiella burnetii (linked to Q fever)

·         Coxsackievirus A + B

·         Cytomegalovirus

·         Echoviruses

·         Epstein-Barr virus

·         Hepatitis B virus

·         Herpes virus

·         Ross River virus

·         Rubella virus (linked to German measles)

·         Varicella zoster virus (linked to shingles)

·         Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV)

Due to the close connection between the thyroid and the immune system an effective treatment plan to recover your thyroid health should include a proper investigation into the possible role infections are playing on your health and vitality.

This is particularly important if you have a thyroid autoimmune disorder.

Of all the environmental factors with a potential to trigger autoimmunity, the most important seem to be viruses, bacteria, and other infectious pathogens. They have long been associated with autoimmune diseases.

Uncovering a latent infection, or even multiple infections may provide the missing pieces of the puzzle to help you recover your thyroid health. Your medical practitioner can request specific blood tests to check for viral infections commonly associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Apart from checking for chronic infections there is no single blood test or scan to accurately diagnosis chronic fatigue syndrome. The diagnosis is usually made after all other illnesses are excluded.

Watch this video below - Solutions for chronic fatigue syndrome, low thyroidactivity, digestive disorders & much more

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What Causes High Reverse T3(RT3) – a Major Driver of an Underactive Thyroid?

Author Bio:

Louise O’ Connor, the author of The Natural Thyroid Diet –The 4-Week Plan to Living Well, Living Vibrantly, who is a specialist in Thyroid Health. She is a highly regarded Australian Naturopath and founder of Wellnesswork.

The Natural Thyroid Diet goes beyond diet advice and offers practical and effective ways to achieve healthy thyroid levels within just a short period of time. For more details, Click on The-Natural-Thyroid-Diet.com

What Causes High Reverse T3 (RT3) – a Major Driver of an Underactive Thyroid?

Click HERE to Find Out How You Can Achieve Thyroid Levels within a Short Period of Time

If you are experiencing the typical signs and symptoms of an underactive thyroid but your Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, free T4, and even your free T3 appear to be normal you may want to consider checking your reverse T3, which is an inactive form of T3.

This article answers the question ‘what causes high reverse T3’.

Firstly, what does a high reverse T3 mean to your health?

Too much reverse T3 can trigger a range of symptoms associated with an underactive thyroid such as fatigue, depression, hair loss, muscle weakness, low blood pressure, and a slower than normal pulse rate.

The single reverse T3 test is included in the top 5 thyroid blood tests that are most useful to check your thyroid health. Many integrative doctors and Naturopaths now consider the reverse T3 blood test to be essential to effectively diagnose and manage hypothyroidism.

What causes high reverse T3 (RT3)? {There are 5 key reasons}

+ Unrelenting physical and emotional stress.

Ongoing stress and anxiety cause cortisol to soar. Cortisol is the hormone that helps you cope with stress.

There is a flip side to having excessive amounts of cortisol circulating in your blood stream. High cortisol inhibits normal thyroid hormone activity. This leads to an excess amount of reverse T3 being produced.

Health experts propose this is a protective response to slow metabolism and conserve energy during times of prolonged stress. Your body knows it simply cannot survive on high alert for too long. It can lead to burnout.

+ Extreme, or yo-yo dieting.

Cutting calories in an effort to lose weight sparks the body’s hard wired famine response. Your body feels the need to conserve energy when food becomes scarce and it achieves this by putting the brakes on your metabolic rate.

The easiest and quickest way your body can slow your metabolic rate and thereby conserve energy is by producing a massive amount of reverse T3.

+ Low iron is leaving you tired and breathless.

Chronic iron deficiency is a common finding of an underactive thyroid. This deficiency needs to be addressed as a lack of iron impairs proper thyroid hormone metabolism. More specifically, low iron decreases healthy conversion of thyroxine (T4) to more active triiodothyronine (T3).

Adequate levels of iron are especially important to help fight fatigue as this mineral is required by your red blood cells to carry oxygen around your body. When iron is low your oxygenation levels are low and your body cannot utilise T3 at a cell level.

+ Long term exposure to toxins.

Toxins such as heavy metals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals switch on a physical stress response. Toxins also have serious effects on your thyroid health.

At a cellular level toxins can block the thyroid cell receptors so the thyroid hormones cannot perform their job, and toxins can enter the thyroid causing damage to the actual thyroid tissue.

These factors sabotage day to day function of your thyroid leading to an underactive thyroid. Over time the stress of dealing with toxins and the diminishing function of the thyroid can activate far greater production of reverse T3.

+ Systemic illness is a factor.

It is difficult to recover from reverse T3 dominance when a chronic underlying illness is not addressed. When your body feels under threat by a long standing illness it slows metabolism. Your body hits the ‘hibernation’ button to lessen the impact of a chronic illness.

For example, a latent viral infection may be causing widespread problems. This can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome which is often associated with over production of reverse T3.

If you have low T3 you should get your reverse T3 checked, especially if you have some type of long standing illness. On testing it’s typical to see low T3 and high reverse T3.

Treating excess reverse T3 secondary to a specific chronic illness is best discussed with a skilled healthcare practitioner.

Watch this Video Below Here from Dr.Richard Hagmeyer - How High Reverse T3 Causes Symptoms Associated with an Underactive Thyroid

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Author Bio:

Louise O’ Connor, the author of The Natural Thyroid Diet –The 4-Week Plan to Living Well, Living Vibrantly, who is a specialist in Thyroid Health. She is a highly regarded Australian Naturopath and founder of Wellnesswork.

The Natural Thyroid Diet goes beyond diet advice and offers practical and effective ways to achieve healthy thyroid levels within just a short period of time. For more details, Click on The-Natural-Thyroid-Diet.com

Why these Top 5 Thyroid Blood Tests are Essential?

Click HERE to Find Out How You Can Achieve Thyroid Levels within a Short Period of Time

The top 5 thyroid blood tests I recommend will help reveal how well your thyroid is working. Also discover why you need to check more than TSH.

For most people the standard thyroid test used to assess their thyroid health is the thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) test. This test measures the amount of TSH circulating in your bloodstream.

TSH is a thyroid hormone however it is not actually produced by the thyroid. It is produced by the pituitary gland located deep within the brain.

When TSH is released by the pituitary gland it travels to the thyroid via the bloodstream to signal to the thyroid to get busy making your essential thyroid hormones.

The two main hormones produced by the thyroid are: thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). Greater quantities of TSH are released when the body requires more T4 and T3.

Could you have an underactive thyroid despite having a ‘normal’ TSH?

Testing thyroid health status is controversial. Due to restraints within the medical system the stand alone TSH test is regarded as the gold standard to check your thyroid health.

Individuals are often advised no further investigation is necessary when their TSH test result falls within the acceptable reference range. This can be despite the fact they are displaying the typical signs of a thyroid in crisis.

A TSH test result may appear ‘normal’ but this can be misleading and does not automatically rule out a low thyroid issue.

Simply testing TSH also raises questions about what level should be considered adequate and the validity of using a wide reference range. Current research shows TSH between 0.5 and 2.0 mIU/L is ideal.

What are the top thyroid blood tests?

A single test of TSH is often inadequate.  If you suspect your thyroid is underactive it is a good idea to discuss comprehensive thyroid testing with a skilled healthcare practitioner.

Testing more than TSH will help reveal how well your thyroid is actually working and is useful to monitor your thyroid health recovery.

Comprehensive testing includes an evaluation of the key thyroid hormones. Testing free T4 and T3 provides clues as to how much of these hormones are ‘free’ and available for uptake and use throughout the body.

If you rely on simply testing TSH alone and do not measure these two main thyroid hormones you are missing critical parts of the puzzle.

In addition, when you assess the amount of circulating T4 and T3 in the bloodstream it provides an overall picture of how much T4 is converting to the more potent T3. For many people with a thyroid problem their bodies are not converting T4 effectively through to T3.

When T3 levels rise it is usual to notice improvements in low thyroid symptoms. T3 helps stimulate metabolism which has far-reaching effects in the body including sparking energy metabolism, fat burning for weight loss and reducing thyroid hair loss.

Under normal conditions your body converts T4 to both T3 and ‘reverse T3’, which has the opposite effects of T3. The body quickly eliminates reverse T3 if it is not required to put the brakes on metabolism. Low T3 can indicate T4 is not converting effectively to T3 and may in fact be creating excess amounts of reverse T3.

Too much reverse T3 is rapidly produced when you are under enormous stress. This then leads to the common symptoms of a sluggish thyroid.

Only a specific test for reverse T3 can identify high levels of this inactive form of T3. Reverse T3 dominance syndrome is diagnosed when reverse T3 remains elevated.

Evaluating thyroid antibodies levels will confirm an active thyroid autoimmune disorder. Most commonly elevated levels of thyroid antibodies are associated with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis which is a chronic inflammatory condition of the thyroid.

Watch this Video Below Here – Thyroid Blood Tests

In summary, the top 5 thyroid blood tests I recommend are:

·         thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)

·         free T4 (FT4)

·         free T3 (FT3)

·         thyroid antibodies

·         reverse T3 (RT3)

When discussing getting thyroid blood tests, you should also mention if you have a family history of thyroid problems and definitely list your thyroid related symptoms.

Watch this Video Below Here – Everything You Need to Know about Thyroid Blood Tests

Low thyroid symptoms are significant indicators that your thyroid is not working well and should not be ignored.

The most common low thyroid symptoms include fatigue, feeling the cold, dry skin and hair, low libido, weight gain, menstrual irregularities, mood changes, low blood pressure, heart palpitations, hair loss and muscle weakness. Your individual symptoms should be carefully considered along with the thyroid blood test results.

You may also want to mention if you have had any serious infections such as hepatitis, Epstein-Barr virus or cytomegalovirus. These viruses are often linked to chronic fatigue syndrome. It is not unusual to see raised reverse T3 levels in response to chronic illness.

Watch this Video Below Here – Thyroid Test - Simple DIY Test at Home

Read the following related articles:

Warnings: 4 Types of Toxic Cookware to Avoid & Why

What is really The Best Cooking Oil for Thyroid Health?

5 Important Steps for Hypothyroidism Treatment Success

Hormone Problem? Here’s Your Hormone Imbalance Checklist

Are Iodine Supplements For Thyroid Health Really Safe?

What is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis?

5 Best Ways to Protect Yourself from Iodine Toxicity

Is It Safe To Take Iodine WhenYou Have Hashimotos Disease?

Author Bio:

Louise O’ Connor, the author of The Natural Thyroid Diet –The 4-Week Plan to Living Well, Living Vibrantly, who is a specialist in Thyroid Health. She is a highly regarded Australian Naturopath and founder of Wellnesswork.

The Natural Thyroid Diet goes beyond diet advice and offers practical and effective ways to achieve healthy thyroid levels within just a short period of time. For more details, Click on The-Natural-Thyroid-Diet.com