Blood tests alone have shown not to catch all Thyroid disorders, reflex testing with Thyroflex improves your chance of an accurate diagnosis.
Weight gain, fatigue, dry skin and brittle nails are subtle signs that your thyroid could be off. Has your doctor told you that all of your blood work has come back “normal” or “within range?”
Unexplained Symptoms and Your Thyroid
The thyroid regulates your metabolism through the release of hormones. When the thyroid is either overactive or underactive, you can experience mild to serious symptoms. The longer you go without addressing a thyroid imbalance, the more serious the symptoms can become and eventually cause long-term or chronic illness.
Common symptoms associated with thyroid dysfunction include:
- Feeling sluggish, lethargic or fatigued
- Having trouble with your memory
- Significant changes in weight, loss or gain
- Trouble sleeping and headaches
- Problems with your bowels and constipation
- Always cold
- Thinning, loss or brittle hair
- Aches and pains particularly in the joints or arthritis
- Low libido
Left unmanaged, these symptoms may lead to more serious health concerns including heart problems, diabetes, low blood pressure, depression and neurological diseases, and fertility complications.
Where Blood Tests Alone Fail at Diagnosing Thyroid Imbalance
Typically, your doctor will begin with bloodwork to get a picture of your health. While this is standard practice, stopping there really does you a disservice. There is so much more that needs to be considered to get a full picture of your health. While hormone imbalance may show up on bloodwork, it may not. So it is not reliable on its own. Using a functional medicine approach to identify and address the root cause of symptoms is key when addressing thyroid issues.
For years, doctors have known that deep tendon reflex time is an indicator of your metabolism’s health, which is directly correlated with your thyroid function. This reflex test was previously done manually by doctors during a physical exam and they would use clinical judgment to gauge an adequate reflex response time. However, new technology is available to take the guesswork and margin for error out of testing deep tendon reflex time with the non-invasive Thyroflex.
Determine Accurate Thyroid Function with the Thyroflex Test at Forum Health
Thyroflex is a patented, non-invasive test used to measure deep tendon reflex time and reveal any potential thyroid abnormalities. Thyroflex has been shown to be 98% accurate in testing for thyroid dysfunction. And also tests FT3, brain function, reflex speed, and resting metabolic rate. Additionally, the screening measures the body’s essential hormones cortisol, GABA, DHEA, D3, iodine, and CoQ10.
The Thyroflex test is done in-office, is completely non-invasive, and only takes 15 minutes from start to finish. Using a wand-like device that is placed on the arm, your reflexes are measured and the Thyroflex device produces a complete analysis. The results of this test are interpreted by a qualified provider to determine thyroid function and provide recommendations.
Thyroflex can also be used to monitor and manage an already diagnosed thyroid condition and give insight to the effectiveness of medication dosage. For example, when reflexes are too slow it may be beneficial to increase dose, and decrease dose when reflexes are too fast. Any changes to medication should be recommended by your medical professional.
The Thyroflex test at Forum Health is paired with a questionnaire to capture health history, current condition and help your provider forecast any symptoms that could become an issue. Combined with blood analysis, and clinical judgment of all your symptoms using a functional approach, your Forum Health provider will have the tools to help determine a possible thyroid condition and begin a personalized treatment plan to restore your health.
Products and services vary by location, not all treatments, services and specialties are available at all Forum Health locations.
Contact us to schedule your Thyroflex test