From Fatigue to Freedom: Healing the Thyroid Beyond Lab Tests

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Sep 29, 2025

Guest

George Papanicolaou

Guest

Elizabeth Boham

Dr. Elizabeth Boham, a family physician and functional medicine expert, and Dr. George Papanicolaou, founder of Cornerstone Personal Health, dive deep into thyroid health in this enlightening discussion. They explore how conventional tests often overlook vital markers, emphasizing the need for comprehensive assessments like hormone levels and antibodies. The duo also highlights the impact of lifestyle factors, such as diet and stress, on thyroid function. With practical insights, they advocate for personalized treatment strategies that target root causes, not just symptoms.

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INSIGHT

Thyroid Conversion Drives Metabolism

The thyroid controls metabolism by producing T4 which must convert to active T3 to do cellular work.
Low T3 causes fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, constipation, and cognitive problems even when TSH looks normal.

ADVICE

Order A Full Thyroid Panel

Get a comprehensive thyroid panel: TSH, free T3, free T4, TPO and thyroglobulin antibodies.
Don't rely on TSH alone because antibodies or low T3 can exist with normal TSH.

INSIGHT

Thyroid As The Body's Canary

Environmental toxins and heavy metals act like a canary, disproportionately harming thyroid function.
Only a tiny fraction of chemicals have safety data, so cumulative exposure impairs thyroid health.

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Thyroid trouble often starts as a whisper—tiredness, stubborn weight, dry skin—until a closer look shows the tiny neck gland that sets the body’s “speed” is out of tune. Basic tests can miss the real issue, so checking active hormones and thyroid antibodies—and hunting for triggers like stress, gluten sensitivity, toxins, nutrient gaps, and gut imbalances—can reveal what’s really going on. When understood this way, thyroid health is no longer just about numbers on a lab report—it’s about restoring balance in the whole system. With the right testing, nutrition, and support, energy, mood, and metabolism can all return to their natural rhythm.

In this episode, I discuss, along with Dr. Elizabeth Boham and Dr. George Papanicolaou, thyroid conditions such as hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, thyroid autoimmunity and how Functional Medicine practitioners take a different approach to find the root cause of the imbalance.

Dr. Elizabeth Boham is Board Certified in Family Medicine from Albany Medical School, and she is an Institute for Functional Medicine Certified Practitioner and the Medical Director of The UltraWellness Center. Dr. Boham lectures on a variety of topics, including Women’s Health and Breast Cancer Prevention, insulin resistance, heart health, weight control and allergies. She is on the faculty for the Institute for Functional Medicine.

Dr. George Papanicolaou is a graduate of the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and is Board Certified in Family Medicine from Abington Memorial Hospital. Over time as the healthcare system made it harder for patients to receive personal care, Dr. Papanicolaou decided a change was needed. He began training in Functional Medicine through the Institute of Functional Medicine. In 2015, he established Cornerstone Personal Health—a practice dedicated entirely to Functional Medicine. In August 2017, I invited Dr. Papanicolaou to join The UltraWellness Center and we’ve been successfully helping people together ever since.

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Full-length episodes can be found here:
How To Treat The Root Cause Of Thyroid Problems

Is An Underactive Thyroid To Blame For Your Mysterious Symptoms?

A Root Cause Approach to Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease