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Birmingham Thyroid

Thyroid treatment in Birmingham for when your labs say you're fine.

There are eleven lab markers that properly evaluate a thyroid. Almost every doctor orders two. If you are still exhausted, still gaining weight, still losing hair after starting hormone therapy, the answer is usually in the nine nobody ran.

Call (205) 655-0010 Visit Birmingham Thyroid Doc
Symptoms

The warning signs you were told to ignore

Thyroid hormone has receptor sites on every cell in your body. That is why a thyroid problem does not show up as a neck problem. It shows up everywhere at once, which is exactly why it gets missed.

  • Fatigue, and needing excessive sleep to function
  • Weight gain on a low calorie diet
  • Morning headaches that wear off as the day goes on
  • Depression and poor mental clarity
  • Constipation and chronic digestive problems
  • Cold sensitivity, poor circulation, numb hands and feet
  • Muscle cramps at rest
  • Catching every virus and struggling to recover
  • Wounds that heal slowly
  • Dry itchy skin, brittle hair, hair falling out easily
  • Facial swelling and loss of the outer third of the eyebrows
2 of 11 What most panels measure TSH and T4 tell you the gland is producing hormone. They do not tell you your cells are using it.
The panel

Two markers versus eleven

Conventional testing orders TSH and total T4. Here is the rest of it, and what each one actually tells you.

TSH

The pituitary's signal to the thyroid. The one marker nearly everyone runs, and the one that reads normal while the rest of the system is failing.

Total T4 and free T4

How much thyroxine exists, and how much is actually available to you. Free T4 is affected by prescription drugs.

Free thyroxine index

The amount of T4 genuinely available for the body to use.

T3 uptake

How much T3 is being picked up by thyroid binding globulin, the transport protein.

Free T3

The active hormone. This is the one your cells actually use, and it is rarely ordered.

Reverse T3

A form the body cannot use. Elevated reverse T3 means hormone is being produced and then made unavailable.

TPO and TBG antibodies

Markers of Hashimoto's, the autoimmune attack that is the most common cause of hypothyroidism.

TSH receptor antibodies

Markers associated with Graves' disease.

TBG levels

Transport capacity itself. Hormone that cannot get where it is going does not help you.

Why it goes wrong

Most conversion happens outside the thyroid

The gland produces mostly T4, about 93 percent, and only a little active T3. That T4 has to be converted, and most of the conversion happens somewhere else entirely.

Roughly 60 percent occurs in the liver. About 20 percent depends on gut flora. Another 20 percent happens in peripheral tissue. So a compromised liver or a disrupted gut produces poor conversion no matter how healthy the gland is and no matter how much hormone gets replaced.

That is what cross talk means. The thyroid depends on the immune system, the gut, the brain and the rest of the endocrine system, and every one of those depends on the thyroid. Manage a thyroid without looking at any of them and you stay symptomatic for years.

Dr. Channing King, DC, who provides functional thyroid care in Trussville, Alabama

Burning out the gland with hormone replacement is a fifty year old model. To manage your health you have to look at what is causing the problem, not only the symptoms it produces.

Questions

What thyroid patients ask first

Why are my thyroid labs normal but I still have symptoms?

Usually because the panel was incomplete. Most physicians order TSH and sometimes total T4. Those two markers can sit inside the reference range while hormone conversion, transport or autoimmune activity is still driving fatigue, weight gain and brain fog. A complete functional panel looks at eleven markers instead of two.

What thyroid lab markers should be tested?

A complete functional thyroid evaluation includes TSH, total T4, free T4, the free thyroxine index, T3 uptake, free T3, reverse T3, thyroid binding globulin, TPO antibodies, TBG antibodies and TSH receptor antibodies. Together those eleven show production, conversion, transport and immune activity rather than just hormone level.

What is Hashimoto's disease?

Hashimoto's is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system attacks the thyroid gland, and it is the most common cause of hypothyroidism. The distinction matters because the underlying problem is immune rather than glandular, which means replacing hormone alone does not address what is causing the damage.

Will Dr. King change my thyroid medication?

No. Dr. King is a Doctor of Chiropractic, not a prescribing physician, and does not start, stop or adjust thyroid medication. This is a functional evaluation that works alongside your existing care and examines the factors your current panel may not be measuring.

Why do the gut and liver matter for thyroid function?

Because most T4 to T3 conversion happens outside the thyroid gland. Roughly 60 percent occurs in the liver, about 20 percent depends on gut flora, and another 20 percent occurs in peripheral tissue. Poor liver function or disrupted gut flora produces poor conversion regardless of how the gland itself is performing, and regardless of how much hormone is replaced.

Where can I find a functional thyroid doctor near Birmingham, AL?

Dr. Channing King, DC evaluates functional thyroid markers at King Family Chiropractic, 402 Main St, Trussville, AL 35173, about fifteen miles northeast of downtown Birmingham. Patients travel in from Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Hoover, Leeds and Springville, and from well outside Birmingham, roughly a fifty mile radius. Call (205) 655-0010.

Also in this office

The rest of the picture

Thyroid patients travel to Trussville from across greater Birmingham:

Next step

Bring us the labs you were told were normal.

Call (205) 655-0010. Dr. King will tell you what your existing panel shows, what it does not, and what a complete evaluation would add.

Call (205) 655-0010 Visit Birmingham Thyroid Doc