Thyroid Health
Thyroid problems are common. They are often overlooked by conventional medicine, or addressed in a less than optimal manner! The thyroid system consists of the thyroid and pituitary glands, along with the liver and intestines. It is very sensitive to many different hormones, including adrenal hormones, insulin, estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Each part of the system is essential for optimal thyroid function.
If your thyroid system is underactive, you are likely to feel:
· Fatigue
· Increased weight gain even with low calorie diet
· Morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses
· Depression
· Constipation
· Sensitivity to cold weather
· Poor circulation and numbness in hands and feet
· Muscle cramps at rest
· Slow wound healing
· Poor immune function, catch colds easily
· Need excessive sleep to function properly
· Itchy dry skin
· Dry hair or hair falls out
· Loss of outside portion of the eyebrows.
· Low temperature (this can be caused by any hormone imbalance)
If your thyroid system is overactive you are likely to feel:
· Heart palpitations
· Inward trembling
· Increased pulse even at rest
· Nervous, emotional
· Insomnia
· Night sweats
· Difficulty gaining weight
The thyroid system at work
The pituitary gland secretes a hormone called thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) that signals the thyroid gland to secrete its major hormone called thyroxine or T4. Thyroxine doesn’t have much effect on the body until it is converted into triiodothyronine, or T3. T3 is the active form of thyroid hormone. T3 conversion happens in the liver and intestines. About one third of the active T3 must be converted in the intestines, and dysbiosis can block this conversion. Read ‘Your Colon and Your Health’ for more information about how the colon affects thyroid function. Good intestinal health is crucial for proper thyroid function!
Laboratory tests
There are several important thyroid tests. The most common thyroid test in conventional medicine is TSH. Conventional labs consider TSH levels between .5 and 5 to be normal. I use a narrower range for normal, between 1.5 and 3.5.
Antibody tests are also important. Thyroid antibodies indicate that the body is attacking the thyroid gland. Thyroid antibodies can create a hyperthyroid or a hypothyroid condition, or a mixture of the two.
There are no lab tests for thyroid receptor resistance. The stress hormone cortisol blocks the cell receptors for thyroid hormones, so the cells don’t pay attention to thyroid hormone. In this condition the system as a whole doesn’t work even though the levels of thyroid hormone are normal.
Natural Treatment for Thyroid Problems
Most problems with the thyroid system are not with the thyroid gland itself, but with other parts of the system. Conventional thyroid replacement therapy (with synthetic thyroxin) is helpful to a degree, but it usually misses the underlying dysfunction and it often has undesirable side effects.
It is important to manage your adrenal stress response. Stress damages the thyroid system in three ways. High cortisol, the stress hormone, blocks the release of TSH, it blocks the conversion thyroid hormone into its active form, and it blocks thyroid receptors so that cells don’t respond to the thyroid hormone. Read Stress and Your Hormones for details about how to deal with adrenal stress reactions.
It is important to make sure that your colon is working well. Intestinal dysbiosis, a condition in which there are unhealthy bacteria and fungus in the colon, hampers the thyroid system by reducing the conversion of thyroid hormone into its active form. It also sets the stage for autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland. Read Your Colon and Your Health for more information.
Nutritional support is often helpful. Many people with autoimmune disease, including 90% of people with Hashimoto’s Thryroiditis (a common thyroid autoimmune disease) have difficulty converting vitamin D into its active form. Supplementation with vitamin D3 is often helpful.
Zinc and selenium are necessary for conversion of T4 into T3. If zinc and selenium levels are low, it is important to determine why they are low. Sometimes the body is using its reserves of zinc and selenium to deal with infections or other health conditions.
As you can see, there are many factors to consider. I will help you determine what is causing your thyroid problems, and coach you about how to make the corrections.
