Thyroid Thursday Episode 39: The Difference Between Glandular Hypothyroidism And Cellular Hypothyroidism
What is the difference between Glandular Hypothyroidism and Cellular Hypothyroidism? Dr. Balcavage discusses the difference between the two conditions.
When most people have symptoms associated with hypothyroidism, the symptoms are the result of reduced amounts of active thyroid hormone in their tissues. Many times low thyroid hormone status in your cells is caused by the thyroid gland not producing sufficient levels of thyroid hormone. This is considered a glandular problem. For some reason the gland is not producing enough thyroid hormone to support the bodies needs. There is insufficient thyroid hormone being made, low levels of T4 and T3 in the blood, and low levels of T3 (active hormone) within the cells resulting in hypothyroid symptoms.
The most common cause of glandular hypothyroidism is an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s. In this condition the immune system is creating antibodies against thyroperoxidase and/or thyroglobulin resulting in damage to the thyroid gland and reduced thyroid hormone production.
In cellular hypothyroidism, the gland may be making sufficient thyroid hormone, there may be plenty of hormone in your blood, but the thyroid hormone is not getting into the cell and stimulating thyroid receptors and metabolism. In this scenario you will have hypothyroid symptoms but normal lab values.
Dr Balcavage discusses this in greater detail in this episode of Thyroid Thursday.