#38 Your Thyroid Labs Explained — And the Peptides That Can Actually Help

If you've ever looked at your thyroid labs and felt completely lost — or been told your numbers are "normal" but you still feel terrible — this episode is for you.

Dr. Kylie Burton and Jessica Brickie break down the thyroid from top to bottom, literally. Using a three-tier framework, they walk through exactly what your TSH, Free T4, and Free T3 numbers mean from a functional perspective — and which peptides target each level of dysfunction.

Pull out your labs. This one is worth listening to twice.

What's covered:

• Why TSH is actually a pituitary hormone — not a thyroid hormone — and why that changes everything
• The functional lab ranges for TSH (1.8–3), Free T4 (1.0–1.5), and Free T3 (3–4) that most doctors aren't using
• Semax and Selank nasal sprays for pituitary support, brain fog, anxiety, and focus
• BPC-157 and TB-500 for thyroid cell healing and Hashimoto's support
• Why your gut and liver determine whether T4 converts to T3 — and what to do about it
• Glutathione as a liver support alternative to coffee enemas
• Jess's personal experience using Semax with a 20-year Hashimoto's diagnosis

Who this episode is for: Anyone with thyroid labs from the last 10 years, anyone diagnosed with Hashimoto's, anyone who fits the symptoms but hasn't been diagnosed, and practitioners looking to replace complicated supplement protocols with targeted peptide stacks.

Want to connect more with the hosts? We'd love it! Connect with Jess at B2BwithJess.com/peptides or on Instagram @jessb.talkshealth. Grab your Blood Work & Peptides Mini Guide for free at drkylieburton.com. 

Ready to explore peptide therapy for yourself? Visit the company we recommend for pharmaceutical peptides and receive all the one-on-one support that comes included at drkylieburton.com

Want to offer peptide therapy in your business? Whether you're adding it to your existing practice or building something new, learn how to get started—and how we'll mentor you along the way—at drkylieburton.com

Legal Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before starting any new health protocol. Dr. Kylie Burton and Jessica Briecke are affiliates and may receive compensation for referrals. Individual results may vary.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Peptides are powerful and often misunderstood. But we're here to change that one conversation at a time. I'm Dr. Kylie Burton.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

And I'm Jessica Brickie. This is Pep Talk. Peptides Unpacked. Science made simple. Results made real. There's a gland in the middle of your neck. Most of you know it as your thyroid gland. And this poor little guy gets blamed for a whole lot of things. Well, today's episode is all about the thyroid. If you have thyroid labs in the last 10 years, push pause or finish the recording and come back and listen to it again because you're going to want to. Have your labs near you so that you can see what your numbers mean. And then based upon your numbers, what is the right peptide for you? So, Jess, how many thyroid people have you seen in the last 30 years?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Countless. And and climbing, right? It used to be when I started in practice 35 years ago, you had a few people, maybe that had thyroid. Now it's the opposite. You have a few people that don't have a thyroid issue. And the pendulum is swung completely the other way. So most everybody has some sort of thyroid dysfunction or teetering on it.

Peptides Are Not Actually New

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Yeah. And we're not going to name any diagnosis. We're not going to name any autoimmune, but that's a that's a diagnosis. Anyways, we're not going to get into the diagnosis here. We're going to just simply talk thyroid and what your labs can mean from a functional perspective. So whether you've been diagnosed, whether you're like, I fit all of the symptoms, but I haven't been diagnosed, or you know, your friend keeps complaining about her thyroid, tune into this episode. It's for you. And if you're a practitioner, this one's for you too, because we are taking complicated supplement protocols and replacing them with simple peptide stacks. And if you guys know, peptides are just up and coming. And what there's a whole lot more to peptides than GLPs, which is what our podcast is all about, in addition to GLPs. If you're new here, go back to the beginning. I've numbered the episodes in numerical order. There are some very, very powerful stories that we shared at the beginning as we launched this at the end of 2025. So don't skip over them. Go back to them and then cipher through all the episodes that you would love to listen to. So I just want to plug that in there. Like I'm constantly telling about Jimmy's story. Jimmy's story is episode number three. I doubt that. BPC157 showed like injuries, um, organs besides your thyroid, you're talking kidneys, heart, liver. Like his this guy, Jimmy, our Jessica's friend, um, he's just like the epitome of what how powerful peptides can be. And I don't want you guys to miss any of these powerful stories. So if you are new here, welcome aboard. Go back and listen to all the good stuff. Okay. All right, Jess, we ready to talk thyroid.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

I did. I just want to pick up on uh one thing that you said, which is you mentioned that peptides are up and becoming, which they are. Everybody's talking about them. Uh you started really with around for a long time. Right. Like there are some that have been around that that are people think they're brand new. Um, like BPC157, for for example, that's been around for 30 years. So even though we're just kind of talking about some of these peptides, they are not new. They have been used, they were discovered decades ago, and they there is there is a lot of science behind most of these peptides. Yeah, what's new is the accessibility.

The Pituitary TSH Lab Explained

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yes. So good catch. Yep. And speaking of being around for a long time, insulin is a peptide, and we've been using it for a hundred years. It's been around for a long time, and it's saved a lot of people's lives. It sure is. Okay, when we think about the thyroid, you know, I want to share my screen here just so I can walk some visually through this. Because we're gonna think about the thyroid in three different tiers. And in these tiers, I'm gonna relay them as like a totem pole. At the top of the totem pole is this lovely gland we call the pituitary. If you were to draw a line down the center of your head, both directions, where it crosses, there sits your pituitary gland. It's probably tinier than your thyroid, but it's very, very important because your pituitary produces a hormone called TSH. Thyroid stimulating hormone. Yes, this lovely marker that we see in all of our labs, the number one marker people use to determine the health of your thyroid. Yeah, it's such an oxymoron because it is not a thyroid hormone, it is a pituitary hormone.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

That's always so pandemic. People are shocked when they hear that. What do you mean that's not a thyroid hormone? That's what my doctor tested. Yes, because your doctor really didn't give you a good thyroid workup.

SPEAKER_00 5:35

No, DSH is not it. And they really don't understand the thyroid, period. But you're gonna understand it. Whoever's listening to this, you're gonna understand the thyroid better than most physicians and most ordinary people. We're all ordinary people, just trying to do our best. Okay, so again, the pituitary sits in the middle of your brain, and that's important because of the peptide. That's gonna be the solution. Okay, so the pituitary sits inside the middle of your brain, it produces TSH, which then talks to the thyroid. Your TSH, any given lab range is going to be between 0.5 and 5.5. I don't know about you, but that is a big range. I like to joke about it's like finding your favorite restaurant somewhere between Utah and New York. And I say those because that's where me and Jess are located. Uh, usually it's California in New York, which makes it even harder. Um when we take that broad range and we narrow it to a functional range, now we have a little bit better chance of finding your favorite restaurant, meaning finding your happy place. My functional range that I love is 1.8 to 3. Like I said, if you have labs, you're gonna want them. Go grab them or go back and listen to this another time. That TSH is 1.8 to 3.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Can I just hop in really quick, real quick with that, Kylie? Because I think I want to, I think people should understand when you talk functional blood lab in that range. Let's just explain that's an that's your body working optimally. That's where it we want it to be. That's the target. And the lab ranges that people are using, those are based on sick populations. Um, old ranges based on a sick population. Whereas when you're talking about a functional range, that's the optimal range that we want those labs to be sitting in, where you're working at its prime, the body's at its prime.

C Max And Selank For Symptoms

SPEAKER_00 7:52

Yeah, so it's your I don't feel good, but I don't feel bad enough to be diagnosed. Right. That's like the the center there. Okay, so after your you've looked at your TSH and you're like, man, Kylie, I'm at point one, which is very, very common, despite having thyroid medication. In fact, I work with a lot of people and we minimize their thyroid medication quite often. So you're looking at your thyroid, your TSH, and you're like, I'm at point one. What does that mean? Well, think about it. If your pituitary is not producing enough TSH, how do we fix the pituitary? And that's where the peptide comes into play. My favorite peptides for these this specific scenario, there are two of them, C max and salinque. These are nasal sprays. And just previous to these peptides, it's been supplements, and you have to take a typically a capsule that goes through the digestive tract, and your digestive system has to process it, which many people have destroyed digestive systems, and then it has to go affect your thyroid and your pituitary. Like here, we're like, no, what if it's I mean, not what if, it is a nasal spray. And that nasal spray is literally going to the cell receptors, like in your brain, right by your pituitary, it's immediately there, which is why the effects are also pretty.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

It crosses that blood-brain barrier and it's pretty instantaneous. And I think you glossed over something really important, but it is really important. The supplements can work and help people for sure, but so many people have digestive inflammation along the entire GI tract that you can't absorb them. So you're spending a whole lot of money to have it bypass those absorption spots because of inflammation. So this bypassing all of this sick part of the body, we're minimizing something that's crucial to every aspect of thyroid or any hormone whatsoever if we're just doing supplements. It's not, it's it can help. This is so much better because we're not addressing that. Most people are not addressing that other problem.

Free T4 And Healing The Thyroid

Free T3 Conversion In Gut Liver

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Yeah. And besides your labs, besides the numbers, what thyroid person doesn't struggle with a foggy brain? Maybe some ADD, maybe some ADHD, maybe some AD um anxiety, maybe some depression bouts. Like these CMAX and Selink, those two peptides are not going to just come compound effect with that pituitary and get it producing TSH and feeling good, but you're gonna feel better from a symptomatic perspective with clearer brain, clearer memory. Um, if you are needing your brain on the day-to-day basis, because you've got to rely on your brain for work, which most adults do, uh, that will definitely help. It will help you be focused. If you need some focusing help, C Max and Salink. If you're like anxiety, depression, I want to kick it to the curb, CMAX and Salink. So there's multiple ways, multiple benefits from just these two peptides. And like we said, they're nasal sprays, so they're quick. All right, so I'm gonna go over this briefly once again. Your pituitary sits in the middle of your brain, middle of your head, technically, not your brain, but in the middle of your head, and it produces TSH. The functional range for TSH is 1.8 to 3. If your TSH falls outside of that range, you're going to think pituitary, because that's what's producing it. Your solution is C max and CLink. The two of them pair greatly together. They can also be purchased individually. Okay. Now let's talk thyroid. Well, your thyroid is responsible for producing T4. In your labs, it shows up as free T4. The functional range is 1.0 to 5. Oh, sorry. 1.0 to 1.5. So let me say that again. Free T4 inside your labs, the functional range is 1.0 to 1.5. If you fall outside of those, that range, you're going to think thyroid specifically, so some cell damage. Cells make up your thyroid gland. Same thing with everything else. We're going to work on the cell damage, and we're going to find something that can directly impact the thyroid. Okay. Oftentimes, if we're going to ever refer to something autoimmune, it would be Hashimoto. Okay, the solution to help heal cells is BPC157 and TB500, the Wolverine stack. It's Mathave. In addition, you can use GLP1 and GIP or trusepatide, they're the same thing, to help your thyroid, as well as many other things that that trusepatite does. So there's T4, which is produced by your thyroid, that will need to get converted to T3. In your labs, it shows up as free T3. Converting T4 into T3 happens in two locations: your gut and your liver. So if you're looking at your labs and you're like, okay, Kylie, I've got some great TSH numbers. They're between, you know, they're 2.1. My T4 is 1.1, but my T3 is over here at like 2.6 when it should be 3 to 4. Now we know the problem lies in the gut and or the liver. So what can we do to help it? Super fun crossover. BPC 157. It's going to help heal our leaky gut and the TB500. So you're getting double duty on that one with the double peptide. Because remember, we said that will help heal the thyroid as well. If you're looking at T4 numbers that are off, it's particularly important for your gut. So one of the ways to improve your free T3 numbers is BPC157 TB500. And then the liver is glutathione. People like to do coffee enemas. Well, if you'd want to switch out your coffee enema for just some good old glutathione injection, go for it. If you're like, Hiley, I've never tried that before, I'm up for it, go for it. Um, one of our upcoming guests is gonna talk about her experience with glutathione, and she's tried just about everything. So there's the breakdown of your thyroid and how to help it from a numerical perspective heal so you can feel better in the long run based upon your labs.

Clarifying Expectations And Early Evidence

SPEAKER_01 15:56

I I think I want to go back to talking about the CMAX for one quick second and make sure that we clarify. The CMAX and C Link are not going to directly impact the TSH number change, but it will support the pituitary and its overall hormone load function and how it reads that. So if people take C link and CMAX thinking that it's gonna be a complete switch to the TSH, I don't, that's not what's gonna happen. It's gonna support the function of the pituitary, but what it will do, which I think you mentioned briefly, is really focus on the symptoms that you get with brain fog and anxiety and all that. That's gonna be a definite switch for the people that are suffering there, but it indirectly is going to influence that TSH number.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

Yeah. And honestly, time is gonna tell. Uh one of the expos we were at, I was uh, I'm hoping I can get her on a podcast for the for a guest episode, but she she's like just one of those research nerds and goes off on what she's done for not just herself but her husband. And she uses the labs and his labs as markers to determine what they need. And and how she's got crazy, crazy amounts of lab markers, plus their before and afters. So I'm like, we gotta have you on the podcast. Yeah, that's great. So there's so many practitioners doing that. That's yeah, that's upcoming. But really, I mean, we're not gonna know about the lab number impact until we start doing this at a bigger scale. 100%. Uh so if you are trying this and you add CMAX and Solankin to your repertoire and you're saying, like, Kylie, my numbers are stabilized. We want to know. Like, let us know about those things and then let your practitioners know, your colleagues know. Um, because theoretically, that's what happens. But we're this is at the beginning stages. So let's put this into action and get some people experiences and their numbers. And um, we can't claim anything, we're never going to claim anything. Uh, but it's been fun. And I can't, her name's Heidi. So if you see a guest on upcoming episode with guest as Heidi, you'll know that this we're going to talk about labs and what she's done with peptides for both her and her husband.

Personal Thyroid Experience And Wrap

SPEAKER_01 18:16

On a personal note, I've used the C uh the CMAX myself. That's the one I'm using. Yes, I'm using the CMAX myself. I have Hashimoto's that I was diagnosed with 20-something years ago. All of my peptide use has been to reduce inflammation, protect my brain, and so on and so forth. But I always feel like I can do a little bit better. That's a home run. So, as somebody that personally has Hashimoto's, I am seeing the difference in how this layers in and how I'm functioning through the world as somebody that is pretty good shape. It's taken it that much further. I need it's time for me to get some labs done myself and check in and see what it's done on paper because I know what it's done in action every day. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Um, my husband's is still sitting in the fridge. Oh no, we need to pull that thing out, C Max and Solink, because it's we're starting in the beginning of May, and the roofing season is full-fledged. He put in a 12-hour shift last night, yesterday, and it's like, yeah, roofing season has arrived. Here, take some anti-anxiety nasal spray, please. I need to just do it myself to him. Um, all right, that's our conversation today. Jess, where can they find you?

SPEAKER_01 19:37

Well, you can follow me on Instagram at jessb.talkshealth. There you're gonna find me talk about peptides and education around nutrition and how we can support your body. And you can also find me at my website, and that's b2bwith.com. And love to have you follow me and join me and message me anyway in any of those places you can get me.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Um, the best place to find me, actually, if you are a practitioner, is my new book. It's now on now out on Amazon. It's called Unshakable Belief. It is a 10K client framework, six steps. So it's a literally a step six step by step plan on how you can grow income that doesn't stop when you leave the office. That's Unshakable Belief on Amazon. If you're ready to order peptides or to join us as an affiliate, go to drkylieburton.com. This is pep talk, peptides unpacked.