Case Study: Thyroid
Rebecca's Story
Rebecca was on thyroid medication for low thyroid, but it didn’t change the way that she felt. Her doctor had only been checking her TSH and she was told the dose was fine. Yet she still felt fatigue, had trouble losing weight, and often felt like she was having brain fog. Her joints sometimes ached and she often had an annoying headache.
When Rebecca first signed up with Root, she had a full thyroid panel that was included in her membership. Her results:
TSH: 3.25
Free T4: 0.9
Free T3: 2.4
TPO: 39
In our functional interpretation, we explained:
1. The TSH is high, meaning the brain is not sensing enough circulating thyroid so it is sending a higher amount of stimulating hormone to try to get the thyroid to make more thyroid hormone.
2. Your Free T4 is low, even with the medication, the thyroid is not able to produce enough.
3. Your Free T3 is also low, which means your cells are having trouble converting Free T4 to Free T3, which is the most active thyroid hormone. Many things can affect this conversion, like nutrient status, adrenal health, and gut health. We address all of those things in our membership.
4. You have Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies (TPO). This is the main antibody that is seen in Hashimoto’s. Surprisingly, many people who come to us with hypothyroidism are unaware that it is caused by an autoimmune condition where the body is attacking the thyroid gland. We treat this by lowering the antibody burden at the Root cause, often inflammation and intestinal permeability (aka “leaky gut”). We'll be able to test your gut health and microbiome in our program.
It turned out that Rebecca’s symptoms weren’t all simply because she had hypothyroidism, but they stemmed from the root causes that also lead to her low thyroid function.
- Intestinal permeability
- Adrenal stress (HPA axis dysfunction)
- Iron and Magnesium deficiency
- Inflammation
- Insulin Resistance
We put Rebecca on a personalized wellness plan to target all of these root causes using nutrition, a gut healing protocol based on her microbiome results, nutrient repletion, stress reducing goals. Each month her overall symptom score improved. She was amazed that her joint aches were actually stemming from her gut and noticed a connection to certain foods making this worse as well. As her gut healed, she tolerated more foods, but through her work with Root, she discovered that she does have NCGS, non-celiac gluten sensitivity as many people with Hashimoto’s have.
We repeated her lab testing in month 4 of her membership to find all improved thyroid markers without having to increase her medication. Rebecca later wanted to make sure her adrenal health was improving through her efforts, so in month 6 we ordered a cortisol and DHEA saliva test that she completed at home, using our direct lower price access to functional labs. She found that her cortisol was still spiking at bedtime so we made adjustments in her routine and her supplements and she was able to improve her sleep.
We repeated her lab testing in month 4 of her membership to find all improved thyroid markers without having to increase her medication. Rebecca later wanted to make sure her adrenal health was improving through her efforts, so in month 6 we ordered a cortisol and DHEA saliva test that she completed at home, using our direct lower price access to functional labs. She found that her cortisol was still spiking at bedtime so we made adjustments in her routine and her supplements and she was able to improve her sleep.
Rebecca is now feeling better than she thought was possible, and she keeps Root in her back pocket to help with additional testing and follow up. Plus, she loves having the ability to get a functional opinion on things that come up like allergies, travel precautions, occasional yeast infections, and so much more. She loves that she has a dedicated functional doctor and dietitian who can help her utilize natural treatments whenever possible.
We hope this story sheds light on some of our Root proven process our members experience. Root can guide you, remove the overwhelm and get a plan together you can actually do.
We hope this story sheds light on some of our Root proven process our members experience. Root can guide you, remove the overwhelm and get a plan together you can actually do.
There is a reason that 98% of Root members improve their overall symptom score by month 3 of membership.
Is it time to just put it all together in a proven membership program that has helped thousands of people with similar health goals or concerns?
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