Let’s talk about Thyroid Disorders since your thyroid is one of the most important glands! It regulates your metabolism, digestion, heart rate, period (in a way, we will talk about the connection later), and your development! Mamas and future mamas – your thyroid is super important for your babies development as it influences fertility / miscarriage, as well as controls the development of the baby. Your thyroid is highly linked to your ability to handle stress, as it is highly correlated to the HPA Axis – hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
The thyroid is part of many hormonal pathways. Once the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormones) activates it to produce thyroid hormones, it releases inactive T4 hormones which then get converted to the active form T3 hormones. Your stress can actually convert your active form of thyroid hormone back to its inactive form by using reverse T3 pathway. This doesn’t have to sound complicated, but unfortunately, most likely you got tested only for TSH, so you may not have known about it / other thyroid hormone levels.
Your thyroid can be under functioning, we call it HYPOthyroidism, or over functioning, we call it HYPERthyroidism. Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition in which the body is attacking thyroid cells resulting in a low functioning thyroid- hypothyroid symptoms. Alternatively, Grave’s Disease is a thyroid auto-immune disorder resulting in over functioning thyroid – hyperthyroid symptoms. (See symptoms below)
It’s important to know, your thyroid gland has about 4 tiny additional glands sitting on it, called parathyroid. Parathyroid regulates our calcium levels around the body. Calcium is important for bone health, heart health, nerve health, muscle function, brain and much more! Think of it as the bodies electrical system.
Under functioning thyroid symptoms:
Fatigue, waking up unrefreshed, constipation, weight gain, foggy brain, difficulty focusing, dry skin, cold hands and feet, cold sensitivity, depression, heavy periods and prolonged periods, infertility – difficulty getting pregnant and well as a higher miscarriage rate, hair loss, thin hair, brittle nails, fluid retention.
In terms of blood work, generally TSH is high because it’s trying to tell the thyroid to produce more thyroid hormones but the thyroid hormones T3 and T4 are low or lower end of the range. You can still have under functioning thyroid EVEN if your lab test results are “normal”!
This is less common and more of a result of auto-immunity. Autoimmunity is when your body is attacking your own cells.
Over functioning thyroid symptoms:
Weight loss, increased appetite, insomnia, anxiety, tremors, heart palpitations, diarrhea, heat intolerance, sweating, fatigue, rapid heart rate, restlessness, thinning skin, enlarged thyroid / swollen neck appearance, changes in your period/ menstrual cycle .
Hyperthyroid is much less common than hypothyroid, but if you do have hyperthyroid, its much more likely due to autoimmunity (Grave`s disease).
Many people are walking nowadays with an under functioning thyroid, and they don’t even know that. There are a few reasons as to why this may be the case: you only got tested for TSH (no T3 & T4 testing), you got tested for TSH, T3 and T4 but results are within ‘normal range’. Normal range does not mean optimal levels.
It takes years before you show abnormal ranges on blood work, and it has to be done on the right day and time. What you need is someone to understand optimization – taking both blood markers, symptoms and signs. You are likely to experience subclinical hypothyroid much earlier before your lab work becomes abnormal, and will lead to hypothyroid over the years. You don’t have to live for years feeling like this over the years until your lab work is definitive, there are better ways to catch it earlier, all you need is someone who will listen, understand, and be curious about your health.
Dr. Tali uses an in-depth history intake with her patients as well as a comprehensive blood work to assess your thyroid levels, and other factors that can cause your thyroid disorder. Testing includes TSH, Free T3, Free T4, thyroid antibodies and reserves T3. Testing vitamin D, iron, CBC and cortisol (stress hormone) is also important as they can be linked to thyroid disorders.
Your thyroid medications can be making your thyroid worse!
While thyroid medications lower TSH, it can promote the shift to produce more inactive thyroid hormones rather than active if you don’t have proper support to produce the active form. This can further reduce your thyroid function.
Causes of your thyroid dysfunction can be due to many reasons, here are a few of them:
Low iron, infection, heavy metals, synthetic hormones such as those used for fertility treatments, iodine deficiency, selenium deficiency, insulin resistance and blood sugar imbalances, autoimmunity and adrenal fatigue. High stress in adrenal fatigue may cause a slow conversion of T4 to T3 making your thyroid produce more inactive hormones. This can further impact your health, not just by affecting your thyroid!
Dr. Tali’s natural treatment to thyroid disorders approach is very individualized and based on clinical researched based evidence. Taking an in-depth history and performing the necessary lab work, we will find out why you have a thyroid issue in the fist place – is it a conversion problem? auto immunity? deficiencies? It could be a broken link in many hormonal pathways, luckily, you found yourself someone who is really curious and will take a deep dive to find out. Treatment goal for thyroid disorders is always to treat the cause, improve symptoms and optimization of health by implementing a proper individualized treatment. Dr Tali uses evidence based herbal medicine, supplementation, nutrition, supplements, diet and lifestyle as part of her Naturopathic Medicine treatment.
A note on conventional medicine – if you are on thyroid medication, Dr. Tali can support the optimization of the treatment, whether your goal is to remain on medications and improve symptoms, or reduce the dosage of medication. She works in collaboration with your prescribing Medical Doctor.