Webinar Synopsis: A Functional Approach to Thyroid Assessment
Despite the prevalence of thyroid disorders, the thyroid is often misunderstood and overlooked as the cause of symptoms in patients presenting in natural medicine and integrative clinics. In part, thyroid disorders are commonly undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as regular testing does not gather sufficient information about the function of the thyroid.
Naturopaths, nutritionists and integrative GPs are perfectly positioned to utilise comprehensive thyroid assessment to detect early or suboptimal thyroid function, maximise nutritional and herbal medicine interventions and optimise diet and lifestyle interventions that are imperative to achieving optimal thyroid function
Most tests will only assess thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), but this does not provide a full picture of the function of the thyroid and the conventional medical approach to a suspected thyroid condition is only to check thyroid hormone levels, which indicate if the patient has hypo- or hyperthyroidism. Classifying patients as simply over or under-active thyroid is insufficient to implement effective treatment strategies and optimise thyroid function.
Keonie Moore will explore the mosaic of thyroid presentations in clinic and how functional assessment will not only direct the selection of treatment but also ensure patients have optimal clinical outcomes.
Keonie will discuss that “healthy thyroid test ranges” are not optimal at either side of the scale and often will not determine if there is an underlying autoimmune disease.
This webinar will be a comprehensive review of a functional approach to thyroid testing to provide you with a wholistic method for assessing TSH, Free T4 (FT4), Free T3 (FT3), Reverse T3 (RT3), Antibodies test (TPO – TgAb levels) as well as key nutrients and co-factors.
Keonie will highlight varied case studies to illustrate the differing manifestations of thyroid conditions in clinic practice and how to influence thyroid function and address underlying drivers. Drawing from her extensive experience, Keonie will share her own clinical gems in the effective management of thyroid conditions to achieve long-term improvements for our patients.
Learning Objectives
1. Understand how to implement a functional approach to thyroid assessment into current clinic model
2. Learn how to interpret pathology for ideal thyroid function
3. Be able to identify patients in early stages or suboptimal thyroid function
4. Develop an understanding of how comprehensive thyroid assessment directs the selection of nutritional and herbal treatment interventions
5. Recognise how to utilise functional thyroid assessment to monitor patient progress
