Biomedical Autism Treatment – Thyroid Evaluation and Autism

With respects to metabolism, the thyroid gland is a very important gland in our body. Energy production is one thing that it helps with. Without good thyroid output we tend to have energy production deficits whether it is our cardiovascular system including our lungs and heart, our gut, our bones, our immune system or our brain. And for many individuals with Autism, underlying medical conditions are contributors to many of their issues. We know through research that mitochondrial imbalances which can negatively influence their metabolism and energy production in the body, we know that methylation chemistry problems can impact attention and focusing. And we also know that digestive issues, immune system dysregulation, etc. can also be common.
Imbalances in the thyroid many times do not get a lot of attention. And with respects to Autism, the thyroid is often under assessed or not assessed at all. We also the thyroid to be a contributing factor in cases of patients with bipolar, depression, etc. and when their thyroid function is optimized it helps to improve their condition. So I wanted to bring up the importance of thyroid function in Autism and just in the overall health of your child.
I would encourage you to ask your doctor to include a thyroid panel that looks as specifically TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone, free T4 and free T3 panel when doing blood testing on your child. These are critical because the free fraction of the hormones is what is working physiologically at the cell level, especially the free T3. Another thing that gets missed quite often is looking at the reverse T3. Thyroid function can be impaired when the body produces too much reverse T3. So looking at the TSH, free T4 and free T3 is helpful. 
I like to see the ranges of the free T4 and the free T3 in the upper 2/3 of the reference range. Using natural products like Westhroid or Armour Thyroid is what I will often do if levels are low to attempt and replenish thyroid function. This is typically done for 6 months to a year to attempt to restore thyroid function. And many times we see improvements in growth, energy, brain and cognitive function.
So again, it is important to assess thyroid function and when running blood work as a part of your physician’s assessments, it is helpful to include a thyroid panel, TSH, free T3, and free T4. You could also look at panels designed to rule out auto-immune processes that may be occurring, they are the anti-TPO and anti-thyroid globulin panels. By looking at whether antibodies are being produced to the thyroid, you would see if there was an auto-immune process at work that is negatively affecting the thyroid. That’s really a complete thyroid panel work up. But it is critically important to look at TSH, free T4 and free T3 at the very least.