5 Signs You Have Balanced Thyroid Hormones

Many people diagnosed with an underactive or overactive thyroid notice a range of symptoms before their diagnoses.

Once when you begin receiving therapy and start implementing healthy lifestyle choices, you’re likely to notice improvements in your health.

1. Your dental health improves

Inflamed gums are a common symptom of Hashimoto’s and an underactive thyroid. Inflamed gums increase the risk of wound formation and low thyroid hormones will make the healing process take much longer (1).If you often experience swollen or bleeding gums, it may come from your thyroid. If you have lots of decaying teeth, it might be because thyroid problems make tooth enamel very thin and prone to decay (2, 3).

Once thyroid hormones are in balance, it will take a few weeks to notice improvements.

2. Your skin, hair, and nails are stronger

Skin is typically thin, rough, and scaly when your thyroid is underactive (4, 5). Your face might also be pale and puffy—mostly from Hashimoto’s flareups (4).

Hair is typically dry and coarse—it might grow more slowly than usual and hair loss is common too. Nails are typically brittle and slow to grow (6).

Once thyroid hormones are in balance, your skin will be more elastic, your hair will be softer, and your nails will be stronger. This might take a few days to a few weeks or months (7).

3. You have less muscle and joint pain

Some people with an underactive thyroid experience issues with their muscle and joints. This can mean stiffness, pain, or swelling in muscles, joints, or tendons (8, 9).This happens because thyroid hormones are important for producing collagens. These are proteins that are major components of muscles and tendons—ensuring they stretch and stay elastic (10).

Having normal levels of the hormone T3 will ensure that muscle and tendon cells have enough collagen. This also helps with injury recovery (11).

Once thyroid hormones are in balance, you might notice an improvement within a few days—but it usually takes a few weeks at minimum.

4. Your memory improves

An underactive thyroid can cause forgetfulness. Lack of thyroid hormones affects the hippocampus—a small organ in the brain that’s important for memory formation (12).

Once thyroid hormones are in balance, your memory should improve within three to six months (13).

5. You sleep better

A lack of thyroid hormones will make you feel tired—like you need an extra few hours of sleep every night. At the same time, your sleep quality is inadequate (15).

Overtreatment with thyroid hormones can also lead to trouble falling asleep and staying asleep (16).

Once thyroid hormones are in balance, sleep quality should become better within a few weeks to a few months.

Track your symptoms in BOOST Thyroid.