Understanding Thyroid Health

Summary

On the Kick It Naturally podcast, Dr. Benedicte Lerche tells how low thyroid function stopped her university studies at 19, and how her correspondence with Dr. Ray Peat helped her recover. She then answers listener questions on testing thyroid function, thyroid medication, iodine, estrogen, diet and sugar.

Key points

• Testing: blood tests (total T4, total T3, TSH) help, but their normal ranges are broad. Resting pulse (around 80–85 beats per minute) and oral temperature (around 98.6°F / 37°C) after breakfast give a useful extra picture, together with symptoms.
• Stress hormones can hide low thyroid: a high pulse that drops sharply after eating points to high adrenaline compensating for low thyroid function.
• Estrogen and thyroid: estrogen inhibits thyroid function, which is why some women feel better during pregnancy, when progesterone is high.
• Medication: pure T4 medication often works poorly, especially for women. Ray Peat came to recommend synthetic T4 and T3, usually in a 4:1 ratio, adjusted individually.
• Diet: replace unsaturated oils with saturated fats such as coconut oil and butter, eat enough protein, get iodine and trace minerals from shellfish rather than supplements, and prefer fruit sugars to large amounts of starch.

Questions this interview answers

• How do you know if your thyroid is working well? Combine blood tests with resting pulse, oral temperature after breakfast, and a list of symptoms such as fatigue, cold hands and feet, and blood sugar problems.
• Is it safe to take thyroid hormone? While you take it, your own gland rests. If you later reduce the dose slowly, the gland resumes its own production.
• Should you take extra iodine for your thyroid? Too much iodine can suppress the thyroid. Eating shellfish about once a week provides iodine and other trace minerals.