Thyroid Issues Treatment in Greenville, SC
Thyroid disorder treatment in Greenville, SC. Dr. Hendry goes beyond TSH to fully evaluate and optimize thyroid function naturally. Call (864) 365-6156.
"Dr. Hendry has been working with me to heal my GI tract. 100% improvement in how I feel, taking 1/4 of my blood pressure meds, and am no longer taking cholesterol meds."
— Karen Hill · January 2025 · Google Review
What Is Thyroid Issues?
A TSH in the 'normal' range doesn't mean your thyroid is working well. It means your pituitary is sending the signal it would send to a normally-functioning thyroid. Those aren't the same thing. The thyroid makes T4. T4 has to convert to T3 — the active form — in the liver, gut, and peripheral tissues. That conversion requires adequate selenium, zinc, and iron. Chronic stress impairs it. Gut dysbiosis impairs it (about 20% of T4-to-T3 conversion depends on specific gut bacteria). Reverse T3 can accumulate and block T3 receptors. TSH alone tells you none of this. It's one number from one point in a multi-step process — and not the most clinically informative one. Thyroid hormones regulate metabolism, temperature, brain function, digestion, mood, and reproductive health at the cellular level. When the actual active hormone — free T3 — is inadequate, those systems slow down. The problem is that standard thyroid testing frequently misses this entirely.
Common Symptoms
Root Causes: A Functional Medicine Perspective
Thyroid dysfunction is most commonly autoimmune (Hashimoto's or Graves'), nutritional (iodine or selenium deficiency), stress-related (HPA-HPT axis crosstalk), or secondary to other hormonal imbalances. TSH elevation can be missed with standard lab ranges — a TSH of 3.0 mIU/L is 'normal' by lab standards but may cause significant symptoms in some patients. Low T3 conversion (euthyroid sick syndrome) — where TSH and T4 are normal but T3 is inadequate — is completely missed by TSH-only testing.
Medications, environmental toxins (fluoride, bromide, chlorine compete with iodine for thyroid receptor binding), and gut dysbiosis (20% of T4→T3 conversion occurs in the gut, dependent on specific gut bacteria) all affect thyroid function in ways that aren't captured by standard thyroid testing.
How We Treat Thyroid Issues at IHP
Dr. Hendry performs a comprehensive thyroid panel for every patient with suspected thyroid dysfunction: TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, TPO antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies. This complete assessment identifies subclinical hypothyroidism, poor T4-T3 conversion, and Hashimoto's that standard TSH testing misses.
Functional medicine interventions include: optimizing selenium and iodine balance, reducing autoimmune burden through gut healing and gluten elimination (for Hashimoto's), supporting T4-T3 conversion through zinc, iron, and selenium adequacy, and managing stress to reduce the cortisol interference with thyroid signaling. Acupuncture supports thyroid function through neuroendocrine regulation and HPA axis normalization.
Dr. Hendry's Approach
I order a full thyroid panel on any patient where thyroid dysfunction is in the differential: TSH, free T3, free T4, reverse T3, TPO antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies. That's the panel that answers the actual clinical question, not just the pituitary's signal. TSH tells me the pituitary's request. Free T3 tells me what cells are actually receiving. Free T4 tells me what the thyroid is producing. Reverse T3 tells me if there's a conversion block or stress-driven sequestration happening. Antibodies tell me if autoimmune disease is driving the picture. I interpret these against clinical optimal ranges — TSH 1.0–2.0, free T3 in the upper third of range — not population-derived lab reference ranges that were never designed to tell you when someone will feel and function well.