I'm in the weird position of thinking both that Stop The Thyroid Madness (https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/) are slightly mad, and simultaneously thinking that they saved my life.
Like with most 'alternative medicine' people, I find myself trusting their observations, but not necessarily taking their theorizing too seriously.
Nevertheless, Once Upon A Time, back when I was a good person who Trusted Science, and had never had a health problem in my life, I found myself under a terrible curse, and a very good doctor and some very kind and knowledgeable friends could find no explanation for it despite trying everything they knew and testing for everything that they thought might be relevant.
After a few months of this, and some clues, and a bit of research of my own, I found Stop The Thyroid Madness and learned what they thought it was, and I tried their mad idea (because it was suicide otherwise, and I figured if their thing worked for five years and then I suddenly died of exploding thyroid disease I would totally count that as a win).
And the suggested mad thing (take thyroid drugs!) worked exactly as they said it would, a perfect instant cure, to the shock of everyone involved including me, and kept on working for a good decade until recently, when I renounced all polyunsaturated evil and found that I needed less and less of the thyroid drugs as time went on.
I find myself frequently pointing to their long and pathetic list of thyroid symptoms at:
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/symptoms/
This is simply a list of all the symptoms that thyroid patients report suffering from, and that tend to clear up with proper treatment. I used to have quite a lot of these symptoms.
Thyroid trouble unambiguously causes hypometabolism. The thyroid's entire job is to control the basal metabolic rate, the amount of energy your body spends when it isn't doing anything in particular. If your thyroid is underperforming then you'll be hypometabolic, and we have known this since Victorian times. In fact it's one of the very first things that medicine worked out that actually helped, and that's a heroic story in itself.
But it is not the only cause. There are many causes of hypometabolism, many of them well understood and easy to diagnose. If you've got a lot of this stuff, check them all.
But I feel that I am confusing people by referring them to this list, and so unintentionally implying that they have a thyroid problem.
I never had a thyroid problem, that was the one of the first things we checked. Any competent doctor seeing someone with these symptoms should check their thyroid levels. It's about as basic as it gets, and if you have these symptoms and your doctor hasn't checked your thyroid, get another doctor immediately.
So I have just nicked the entire list to put it here (sorry Janie, and thanks for saving my life!).
I have taken the liberty of removing the section about hurty thyroid gland, since that is true of people with actual primary thyroid problems, but should not be relevant to people with 'hypometabolism of unknown cause', which is what I had, and which gets variously labelled as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Major Depression, Central Sensitization Syndrome, Psychiatric Disorder, Hysteria, Hypochondria, Functional Disorder, Something Psychobiosocial Mumble Mumble, Brain Fog, and many many other 'dustbin diagnoses', according to what your most annoying symptom is, and which kind of doctor is applying a label to your collection of symptoms after not being able to find out what is actually causing them.
I have come to believe that one of the many possible causes of hypometabolism is systemic poisoning by excessive polyunsaturated fats. But I have to admit that there is very little support in the medical literature for this view. Quite the reverse in fact.
Once upon a time I would have thought that that was a big problem, but there was very little support in the literature for 'just take thyroid drugs it will fix it all immediately', and if that's not true, then I got one of the greatest placebo effects in history.
And I don't believe in placebo effects, except as a purely statistical phenomenon1.
So I would think, that if you give up polyunsaturated fats, then over the next few months and years, as you clear your fat stores of excess PUFAs, these are all the kinds of symptoms that you should find lessening in severity. I would think that you should notice small benefits fairly quickly, and that the improvement should continue steadily for a long time.
And if I'm wrong about that, then I'm wrong about everything and you should just ignore me and everything I've written and thought for the last year.
A very wise woman once said to me that this list is so vast and comprehensive that it is difficult to find anyone who doesn't have a few of these symptoms. And that is true.
To which my only response is "Quite!"
Without further ado, I present my stolen and slightly modified copy of Stop The Thyroid Madness' Long and Pathetic List of Symptoms:
ENERGY LEVELS
Less stamina than others
Less energy than others
Easy fatigue
Feeling weak
The need to nap more than others
Long recovery period after any activity
Arms feeling like dead weights after activity
Legs getting tired
Inability to exercise, or withstand certain exercises
Paying a price after activity
Inability to hold children for very long
Nodding off easily
Slowing to a snail’s pace when walking up slight grade
Difficulty getting through work day
The need to lay on the couch after getting home from work
Going to bed earlier than normal
“Exhaustion in every dimension–physical, mental, spiritual, emotional”
SLEEP and REST
Sleep Apnea (which can also be associated with low cortisol due to continued hypothyroid state)
Being so exhausted at bedtime that you have insomnia
Sleeping hard
Sleeping more hours than normal
Dark circles under eyes
Yawning all the time
Heavy eyelids
Getting more fatigued as day goes on
The need for naps to get through the afternoon
Having trouble studying from snoozing
Air Hunger (feeling like you can’t get enough air)
MOOD or EMOTIONS
Chronic Low Grade Depression
Major depression
Sadness
Moody
Need for antidepressants
Suicidal Thoughts
Hyper sensitive towards others
Crying easier
Ruminating/worrisome
Anxiety (can be a cortisol symptom, but also a hypo symptom and common with Hashi’s, as well)
Need for anti-anxietal meds
Complete lack of motivation
Extremely crabby or irritable
Worse PMS emotional symptoms
Intolerant of others
Bi-polar symptoms (often associated with Hashimoto’s)
Feeling on-edge
COLDNESS
Often feeling cold all over
Wearing extra clothing compared to others
Cold hands and feet
Cold knees
A cold bum, butt, derriere, gluteus maximus, haunches, hindquarters, posterior, rear, and/or cheeks. Yup, really exists.
Cold ears
Cold fingers
METABOLISM
The need for extra clothing from low metabolism
Feeling anxietal (caused by excess adrenaline due to hypo, but can also be related to adrenal issues)
High or rising cholesterol (slow removal of fatty acids)
Feeling too hot (Hashimoto’s disease usually, but can be due to other issues like low iron, low aldosterone)
Low body temperature
Less perspiration than others
Tendency to put on weight because of low metabolism
STOMACH, DIGESTION, FOODS
Acid reflux / GERD
Low stomach acid (which causes above)
Diagnosis of ‘too much acid’ (it’s really about too little)
The need for antiacids to quell symptoms
Food sitting in stomach a long time
Bloating
Craving sweets more than normal
Burning stomach lining
Inability to eat in the mornings
Poor appetite
No Appetite
Reduced motility (slow movement of food)
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO, due to reduced motility)
Extreme hunger, especially at nighttime (yes, a minority had this)
NUTRIENTS
Poor absorption
Poor levels of iron
Poor levels of B12
Poor levels of Vitamin D
Poor levels of B-vitamins
CARDIOVASCULAR
Heart disease
Heart palpitations
Heart Fibrillations
Diagnosis of A-fib
Fluid retention to the point of Congestive Heart Failure
High heartrate
Plaque buildup in arteries
Rising blood pressure
Rising cholesterol
Orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure upon standing)
ELIMINATION, INTESTINAL and BLADDER
Hard stools
Little round stools
Constipation
Diarrhea (less common than constipation)
Candida
Colitis
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
Painful bladder; painful urination
Bladder spasms
Bladder urgency (can also be due to low aldosterone)
Not urinating much
HAIR and SKIN
No eyebrows
Thinning outer eyebrows
Dry Hair
Hair feels like straw
Excessive frizziness
Hair Loss
Broken hair
White hairs growing in
No hair growth, breaks faster than it grows
Dandruff
Only needing to wash hair once a week or so
Dry face
Dry cracking heels
Dry skin in general
Itchy skin
Scaly looking skin
Easy bruising!
Pimples
Acne (yes, some reported it went away on NDT!)
Swelling/edema/puffiness
Breakout on chest and arms
Hives (one woman stated hers went away with NDT, thus the connection here)
Neuropathy (nerve issues)
Vitiligo (especially with Hashimoto’s)
ISSUES in the HEAD AREA
Dry Eye Syndrome
Worsening vision
Headaches and Migraines
Slurred Speech
Swollen Tongue
Scalloped tongue (in spite of other causes, hypo is one)
Lowered voice
Dry mouth
Gum Problems
Internal itching of ears
Ringing in the ears
Hearing problems
Dizziness from fluid on the inner ear
Puffy face
Puffy eyelids
Extra fat under chin/on neck
HANDS
Puffy fingers/hands
Stiff fingers
Breaking/brittle nails
Broken/peeling fingernails
Ridged nails
Inflammation/pain in fingers
Inflammation/pain in hand
Tendonitis diagnosis
Carpel tunnel pain (also with Hashimoto’s)
Palm pain
Wrist pain
LEGS and FEET
Bumps on legs
Swollen legs that impeded walking
Shin splints
Difficulty standing on feet
Sore feet
painful soles of feet (like walking on glass–very common)
BONES, MUSCLES, JOINTS
Aching bones or muscles
Joint pain
Clicking in joints
Popping joints
Stiffness
Inflamed joints
Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia
Osteopenia
Osteoporosis
Muscular weakness in activities
Carpel Tunnel
Back pain
Shoulder pain
Frozen shoulder
Tender elbow
pain in knees
BRAIN
Inability to concentrate
Inability to read long periods of time
Inability to retain
Forgetfulness
Foggy thinking aka Brain Fog
Memory issues
WEIGHT
Inability to lose weight in spite of trying hard
Losing only a little when trying hard
Gaining weight too easily
Obesity
Weight loss (a small minority experience this)
Fat tummy
Water retention
Edema
RELATIONSHIPS or WORK
Inability to function well in a relationship
No or poor sex drive
Argumentative (from not feeling well, but can also be due to low cortisol)
Avoidance
Inability to work full time
Constantly tired at work
Lower quality work performance
The need for sit-down jobs
SEX HORMONES or FEMALE ISSUES
Failure to ovulate
Constant bleeding (see Rainbow’s story)
Heavy bleeding
Longer periods
Irregular periods
Moody periods
Excruciating pain during period
Worse PMS
PCOS
Inability to get pregnant
Miscarriages
Breast leakage
Urinary Tract Infections
IMMUNE FUNCTION
Bad head colds
Seem to get more head colds than others
Poor resistance to illnesses going around
Taking longer to recover
Recurring viral or bacterial illnesses
Recurring sore throats
Chronic sinus infections
Persistant Candida
Tightness in throat; sore throat
Swollen lymph glands
Inflammation
CERTAIN MEDICAL CONDITIONS (though not saying YOUR condition is caused by hypothyroid, but for some, it appears so!)
Asthma
Dysautonomia symptoms (overreaction of one’s autonomic nervous system–Janie had this)
Hypoglycemia/Low Blood Sugar And a study here.
Lactose Intolerance (due to low stomach acid from a poor treatment or undiagnosed)
Allergies (which can also be a result of low cortisol–see link below)
Dysphagia (nerve damage causing inability to swallow fluid, food, saliva; can also be caused by a goiter or anxiety)
Neurogenic bladder
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (which for the vast majority of thyroid patients, is a catch-all diagnosis)
Fatty Liver
MISCELLANEOUS
Bad motion sickness
Sweaty or clammy palms
Clumsiness
Worsening of other conditions
Handwriting nearly illegible
Carpal tunnel symptoms
Worsening Varicose Veins
Tailbone pain
Light headed
Just feeling sick
Breathless
Just generally struggling
OK, OK, there does appear to be a genuine magic ‘placebo effect’ for pain relief, but that’s it.