"Your thyroid levels are now within the normal range, and taking these antidepressants will help with depression." These may be some of the most dangerous words that low thyroid patients will hear.

According to the Endocrine Society report, 80% of hypothyroidism in the United States is caused by an autoimmune mechanism called Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroid. This means that the reason for the decline is that the immune system attacks your own glands. Your hormone levels will slowly decrease over time as it will constantly lose cells from an immune attack.

There are 5 warning signs here, you may get hypothyroidism from the immune mechanism, and your current treatment is not suitable for your particular situation:

1] The dose of thyroid replacement hormone will continue to increase over time.

If you continue to increase thyroid medication, it means you are losing more and more thyroid function. Your immune system is likely to be the culprit. Hormone replacement does not address persistent immune attacks against glands. If your doctor does not address the immune attack, you will continue to suffer.

2] You still have symptoms of hypothyroidism, but your doctor tells you that your thyroid is now "normal."

If your latest lab shows that your hormone levels are in the "normal range", but you continue to suffer from the same symptoms, you may not be able to manage your condition properly.

This is a huge sign that you have Hashimoto's disease. Proteins called cytokines are used by the immune system to communicate with each other, blocking hormone receptor sites. This means that you can show normal hormone levels in your lab report, but there is still no normal thyroid metabolic response. Committed to the immune system is the only way to solve this problem.

3] Your doctor has never checked antibodies against glands.

If you have hypothyroidism, you are likely to have an autoimmune thyroid gland. If your doctor does not plan to check antibody levels or refuse to check antibody levels, you probably won't get proper treatment. The two most important antibodies to be examined are thyroid peroxidase antibodies [TPO Ab] and thyroglobulin antibodies [TBG Ab].

4] Your doctor will constantly check your antibody levels.

This may seem counterintuitive because I mentioned that you should check your antibody levels. I include this because, the replacement hormone does not affect the immune system. If the doctor does not do any treatment that affects the immune system, then continuous testing of the antibody is meaningless. If your doctor tries to lower your antibody levels with alternative therapies, you won't get proper treatment. Pay attention to this. This means that your doctor does not understand the mechanism that caused you to have problems.

5] You start getting prescriptions for various thyroid symptoms.

If you are taking antidepressants for hypothyroidism, this means that alternative hormone therapy is likely to be ineffective. With Hashimoto, you get normal thyroid hormone levels and still have symptoms, including depression. If you want to solve the actual cause of the problem, treatment needs to focus on immune regulation.

If you have hypothyroidism and you live in the United States, the most likely cause of your illness is an autoimmune response called Hashimoto's disease. Treating this condition with a replacement hormone while ignoring the immune component is like using a blood transfusion to treat chronic bleeding and not stopping the bleeding site. If there is no immune regulation, the immune system will continue the cyclical cycle of thyroid destruction. You can use warning signs as a guide to help you determine if you are receiving proper management of hypothyroidism.

5 warning signs that your hypothyroidism is poorly managed was originally published on Spring