It produces thyroid hormones called T4 and T3.
Among its most important functions is the control of the rate of metabolism, thermogenesis, and oxygen consumption.
Currently eight million dollars worth of thyroid tests are ordered by the medical community every year in New Zealand.
Despite this, recognition and treatment of thyroid disease remains inadequate.
As a result, patients with sub clinical Hypothyroidism remain untreated or under treated.
Current Thyroid Tests available:
Serum thyroid tests:
Blood testing of thyroid hormone levels shows how much hormone is available to receptor sites in the hypothalamus located in the brain, not necessarily the level of hormone the body has utilised. It also gives us information about the conversion of the storage form of thyroid hormone (T4) into the active form of thyroid hormone (T3).
In some situations, like sub clinical Hypothyroid or in disease that involve antibodies as in Graves Disease or Hashimoto's Disease, serum tests are less accurate, they do not tell if the thyroid hormone is functional. In these clinical situations physiological measurements like Resting metabolic Rates (RMR), Basal Body Temperatures or Reflex times are more accurate estimations of thyroid function.
Body basal temperature: requires taking your temperature first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. Temperature must be taken at the same time everyday to provide accurate results.
Advantages of using Thyroflex Test ?
Thyroflex is a non invasive test which measures brachioradialis reflexometry (BR) and resting metabolic rate, providing results within 4 minutes.
The Thyroflex test indentifies if your thyroid function is under or overactive, or within the optimal range.
Thryoflex helps to ensure you are on appropriate thyroid hormone replacement dosage with 98.5% accuracy.
Thyroflex will show if your current regime for treatment of hyper or hypothyroid is adequate. Eg: if taking pharmaceutical drugs such as Thyroxine, Thyroflex will help to determine if you are on the correct dose to bring your thyroid into balance.
Predicts resting metabolic rate (which tells you how many calories you are burning per day).
Finding the thyroid dose that is right for you greatly lowers your health risk and helps to regulate your hormones, neurotransmitters and immune functions.
Why is the Brachioradials reflex point used?
The brachioradials, Achilles, and stapedial reflexes all reflect thyroid function. The brachioraadials reflex is used in the test as it is the easiest to access. The reflex indicates how much thyroid hormone the muscles have absorbed. 75% of triiodthyronine (T3) is stored in the muscle. The thryoidflex measures the duration from the time the hammer hits the reflex point which sends a message up the spine, to the brain and back down to initiate the reflex responce. These speeds directly correlate with thyroid function.
What is involved in doing the Thyroflex test?
A Symptom survey of thyroid function is completed first, to determine whether thyroid function warrants testing with the Tryroflex machine. Symptoms ar graded from 0 to 3
0 - no symptoms
1 - mild symptoms
2 - moderate symptoms
3 - severe symptoms
Scores are them totalled. Your healthcare practitioner will then review the symptom survey score and decide if the Thyroflex test should be performed. The Thyroflex test takes approximately 4 minutes to administer and results are provided immediately.
Test Results
On completion of the test we instantly receive the test results. The report shows your reflex response time and resting metabolic rate.
Resting metabolic Rate
The report shows your current Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR).
This represents how many calories you are currently burning per day. Resting metabolic rate should be:
RMR woman - 2,250 calories/day
RMR men - 2,750 calories/day
Reflex - 52-136 msec
We can interpret the Thyroflex report and will advise on which supplements and nutritional advice are necessary to improve thyroid function. If you are currently on medication or supplements for thyroid, we will advise of the dosage needs to be increased or decreased, depending on your Thyroflex test results to ensure the thyroid is in balance.
Manifestation of Hypothyroid
Neurological symptoms
Headache
Paresthesias
Cerebellar ataxia (incoordination)
Deafness (nerve or conduction)
Vertigo or Tinnitus (ringing in the ear)
Cognitive Deficits
Calculation, memory, reduced attention span
Sleep apnea
Myxedema coma
Psychiatric Syndromes
Depression
Schizoid or affective psychoses
Bipolar disorders
Skeletal System
Arthralgias (joint stiffness)
Joint Effusions & Pseudogout
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Polymyalgia
Risks of Subclinical Hypothyroid
Sudden Death
High or Low blood pressure
High Cholesterol & other blood fats
Vascular (blood vessel) Disease
Diabetes
Neurological (Parkinson's like diseases)
Double Alzheimer's risk
Arthritis and Inflammatory diseases
Pregnancy Complications
