November 12th, 2014

Listening to QVC's beauty channel, in the way that men have sports on in the background, I have noticed a general acceptance that the outer 'tail' of a woman's eyebrows will disappear over time and there are many products for drawing them back in!

This could be as a result of overplucking in their youth but it also a little known symptom of under active thyroid as well as general hair loss.  Symptoms of hypothyroid are many and varied and I have borrowed this list from a very helpful website called www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

"Also, some patients have some symptoms; other patients may have others. Some are more common for a majority; others are not.

• Less stamina than others
• Less energy than others
• Long recovery period after any activity
• Inability to hold children for very long
• Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
• Chronic Low Grade Depression
• Suicidal Thoughts
• Often feeling cold
• Cold hands and feet
• High or rising cholesterol
• Heart disease
• Palpitations
• Fibrillations
• Plaque buildup
• Bizarre and Debilitating reaction to exercise
• Hard stools
• Constipation
• Candida
• No eyebrows or thinning outer eyebrows
• Dry Hair
• Hair Loss
• White hairs growing in
• No hair growth, breaks faster than it grows
• Dry cracking skin
• Nodding off easily
• Requires naps in the afternoon
• Sleep Apnea (which can also be associated with low cortisol)
• Air Hunger (feeling like you can’t get enough air)
• Inability to concentrate or read long periods of time
• Forgetfulness
• Foggy thinking
• Inability to lose weight
• Always gaining weight
• Weight loss (a small minority experience this)
• Inability to function in a relationship with anyone
• NO sex drive
• Failure to ovulate and/or constant bleeding (see Rainbow’s story)
• Moody periods
• PMS
• Inability to get pregnant; miscarriages
• Excruciating pain during period
• Nausea
• Swelling/edema/puffiness
• Aching bones/muscles
• Osteoporosis
• Bumps on legs
• Acne on face and in hair
• Breakout on chest and arms
• Hives
• Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional
• Inability to work full-time
• Inability to stand on feet for long periods
• Complete lack of motivation
• Slowing to a snail’s pace when walking up slight grade
• Extremely crabby, irritable, intolerant of others
• Handwriting nearly illegible
• Internal itching of ears
• Broken/peeling fingernails
• Dry skin or snake skin
• Major anxiety/worry
• Ringing in ears
• Lactose Intolerance
• Inability to eat in the mornings
• Joint pain
• Carpal tunnel symptoms
• No Appetite
• Fluid retention to the point of Congestive Heart Failure
• Swollen legs that prevented walking
• Blood Pressure problems
• Varicose Veins
• Dizziness from fluid on the inner ear
• Low body temperature
• Raised temperature
• Tightness in throat; sore throat
• Swollen lymph glands
• Allergies (which can also be a result of low cortisol–common with hypothyroid patients)
• Headaches and Migraines
• Sore feet (plantar fascitis); painful soles of feet
• Tailbone pain
• now how do I put this one politely….a cold bum, butt, derriere, fanny, gluteus maximus, haunches, hindquarters, posterior, rear, and/or cheeks. Yup, really exists.
• colitis
• irritable bowel syndrome
• painful bladder
• Extreme hunger, especially at nighttime
• Dysphagia (nerve damage causing inability to swallow fluid, food, saliva; can also be caused by a goiter or anxiety)"

Losing the 'tail' of our eyebrows can be just the tip of the iceberg but the more people who recognise this symptom the better.

Getting diagnosed is the next hurdle as doctors in both the UK and the US are trained to test and treat by the TSH test (Thyroid stimulating hormone).  

If you fall within their very wide band of 'normal', between 0.4 and 4, you will get no treatment at all.  If you test as beyond the magical number 4 they will give you Thyroxine or T4, which sounds fine, you have a prescription which will make you better or will it?

Thyroxine or T4 is a storage hormone not an active one.  There is a supposition within the medical community that the body will automatically convert T4 to the active form T3 or triiodothyronine, but bodies don't always do what we want them to do, so many patients continue to suffer.

There are various vitamins and minerals which can help the body convert the T4 to T3 and I will cover this in my next blog.