Thyroid Health
The Thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped organ located in the neck below the Adam’s apple. It produces thyroid hormones, which affect the function of just about every organ system in the body.
Thyroid hormones are responsible for the crucial tasks of stimulating metabolism of the foods we eat, extracting vitamins, and producing energy from food. They are also vital to the production of other hormones as well as to the growth and development of our nervous system. The thyroid has been called the “thermostat” of the body, as it maintains our temperature. Indirectly, thyroid function affects ev¬ery reaction in the human body since the temperature has to be just right for these reactions to take place properly.
Statistics show that up to 60 percent of thyroid disease remains undiagnosed. How could this be? This can be explained because thyroid symptoms and symptoms of hypothyroidism & hyperthyroidism often vary from person to person and can be non-specific, resulting in a litany of incorrect diagnoses that leave the patient untreated.
Common Thyroid Symptoms
· Weight-gain despite eating sensibly
· Fatigue
· Anxiety
· Hair loss
· Irritability
· Depression
· Increased appetite
· Increased sweating
· Unexplained joint pain
· Rapid pounding of the heart
· More frequent bowel movements
· Feeling cold even in warm weather
· Dry, flaky skin, especially on the face
· Trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep
· Less frequent menstrual periods with lighter than normal menstrual flow
**Overactive thyroid conditions will usually present in the first instance with sweating, rapid heart rate, weight loss, anxiety, tremors as well as increased bowel movements too.
There are three main reasons that contribute to your thyroid not functioning correctly including the following:-
1. Nutrient deficiencies from the four key nutrients such as Iodine, Zinc, Selenium and Tyrosine.
2. An autoimmune attack on the tissue itself. For instance, Gut pathology, intestinal permeability, infections, diet and lifestyle are key players here
3. Other systemic issues such a chronic viral load, gut infections, food intolerances etc
Auto-Immune – Hashimotos & Graves
What the vast majority of hypothyroidism patients need to understand is that they don’t have a problem with their thyroid, they have a problem with their immune system attacking the thyroid. This is crucial to understand, because when the immune system is out of control, it’s not only the thyroid that will be affected.
Several studies show a strong link between autoimmune thyroid disease (both Hashimoto’s and Graves’) and gluten intolerance. What explains the connection? It’s a case of mistaken identity. The molecular structure of gliadin, the protein portion of gluten, closely resembles that of the thyroid gland. When gliadin breaches the protective barrier of the gut, and enters the bloodstream, the immune system tags it for destruction. These antibodies to gliadin also cause the body to attack thyroid tissue. This means if you have AITD and you eat foods containing gluten, your immune system will attack your thyroid. This explains why it is critical to eliminate gluten completely from your diet if you have AITD.
Key Treatments:
• Hel the Gut – Permiability or “Leaky” Gut, Dysbiosis, SIBO
• Address Nutrient Deficiency – Iodine, Zinc, Selenium, Tyrosine
• Remove Gluten and other Auto Immune Inducing Foods
• Reduce Stress
• Consider Medication - Natural, Synthetic, Bioidentical
Conventional Treatment
The conventional treatment for disorders is usually the prescription of pharmaceutical drugs. In hypothyroidism thyroxine (t4) is usually prescribed, to replace the hormone that it can not make itself. With an overactive Thryoid, such as in Graves disease, medication is used that attacks the thyroid, blocking its ability to function and in some cases radiation is used to kill off the tissue or surgery to remove the thyroid all together.
Around 20% of disease sufferers present within “normal” blood test ranges as conventional screening only requests the blood test of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) from the pituitary gland, not the t3 and t4 which the thyroid makes, so ther blood tests are required to paint a full picture on how the thyroid is functioning.
Functional Thyroid Blood Tests
TSH – Thyroid-stimulating hormone is a hormone released by the pituitary gland to control the amount of thyroxine (T4) produced in the gland. This marker is commonly the only marker useful for testing dysfunction. However, it does not provide measure levels of the actual hormones themselves.
T3 / FT3 – Active form of thyroid hormone, is made up of 3 molecules of Iodine and partially released by the thyroid and converted from T4 in the liver and specifically, other tissues of the body. FT3 stands for Free T3, measures the amount of triiodothyronine (T3) not bound to protein in the blood.
T4 / FT4 – Less active form and the replacement used in most conventional medicine approaches. However many people have issues converting the T4 into T3 and this is often missed leading to ongoing symptoms even when blood results look “normal”.
RT3 – Reverse T3 is a hormone produced in higher quantities in the presence of inflammation and stress. Moreover, high cortisol and inflammation markers cause RT3 to rise, blocking the uptake and conversion of active T3.
TPO and TGAb antibodies – Thyroid peroxidase and thyroglobulin are the antibodies that attack the gland indicating an autoimmune attack if present in the blood.
TSI & TRAB – Indicators of Graves disease in hyperthyroidism.
Iodine, Zinc, Selenium – Key nutrients for thyroid health which need to be balanced and it optimal ranges, many people with thyroid issues are deficient in these key nutrients, however having too much is also problematic.
Functional Medicine Approach
A Functional Medicine approach to healing the thyroid aims to address all underlying causes including gut health, nutrient deficiencies and auto-immune responses, to support the bodies innate ability to heal and avoid lifelong medications. There are times that the thyroid has too much damage to be completely reversed however there are other natural and more holistic treatments available in these circumstances.
