A simple guide to Hashimoto’s
Your Thyroid gland is in charge of your metabolism.
Think of it like the gas pedal in your car. Low or under functioning thyroid is often caused by Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, which is an autoimmune disease that is responsible for over half of the cases of hypothyroidism. Autoimmune diseases are basically a dysfunction of the immune system, where the body begins to attack its own healthy cells by mistake. Hashimoto's can cause the thyroid to swing like a pendulum, driving it into high and low functioning states, hitting that gas pedal or taking your foot completely off and coasting. Most commonly, I see that pendulum effect swing low, known as hypothyroidism (a condition in which the thyroid does not make enough active thyroid hormones to meet the body's needs).
Thyroid diseases, like Hashimoto’s, are on the rise. In fact, over 12% of people in the US will have a thyroid condition within their lifetime. As a result, people are suffering and looking for answers about their illness, disease processes, and treatments.
Thyroid dysfunction can be caused by a number of factors like stress & inflammation, nutrient deficiencies, exposure to excess Vitamin A, fluoride or Iodine. Also, exposure to endocrine disruptors, chemicals such as BPA found in plastics, Pregnancy, Menopause, Medications, Starvation, anorexia, can start to wear down your thyroid and cause it to disfunction.
Hashimoto's is the leading cause of Hypothyroidism — they go hand in hand. Conventional treatments generally include prescribing thyroid medication, known as T4. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of focus placed on treating the actual autoimmune disease itself, just supplementing for the absent hormone, and many of my patients have never had their antibodies tested, so it’s hard to measure the continued or growing problem without an accurate read on what is actually happening within your thyroid and immune system. For those in the conventional medical system, Hashimoto's disease is not a relevant or compounding issue to explore when thinking of treatment for hypothyroidism, which is just odd and maybe a little negligent, but not surprising. However, in the alternative and functional medicine world, we absolutely focus on treating this underlying autoimmune disease with supplements, stress reduction, lifestyle, and diet for more long term and subsequent symptom resolution, or at least better management.
Thyroid disease can be quite elusive and sometimes in the process of diagnosing it, people can feel like they are going crazy, or aren’t being heard, and that no one can quite understands why they still don’t feel well. There are so many things that cause your thyroid to function poorly, and all of them present symptomatically very differently. For example, symptoms might include depression, anxiety, rapid heart rate, weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, dry skin and hair, broken nails, insomnia or hypersomnia. That’s why in naturopathic medicine, we believe it's important to explore the root causes of autoimmune activity not just fill in the empty spaces; testing to rule out heavy-metal toxicity, nutrient deficiencies, environmental toxins, and managing chronic stress are all strategies that I use to hone in on exactly what’s happening to a patient’s organs and immune system.
Treating Hashimotos does not have to be limited to taking a Thyroid pill. Some other simple possibilities include focusing on gut and digestion, by eliminating food sensitivities first, and then supplementing with enzymes, probiotics, and hydrochloric acid to improve the absorption of nutrient from your diet, which is a significant factor for improving symptoms. Please just remember that finding the root cause of your auto-immunity is fundamental to your healing and wellness journey, it may make the biggest difference in your quality of life and health.
Testing
This is a big one that I use to narrow in specifically on what your Thyroid is actually doing. Conventional medical doctors rarely perform comprehensive thyroid testing, including TSH, total and free levels of T4, T3 and thyroid peroxidase and anti-thyroglobulin antibodies. Without all of these markers tested, it's challenging (to say the least) to understand the intricacies of the thyroid, and how we can make effective and incremental changes to the thyroid on functional and cellular levels to improve your health.
If you feel like thyroid is something that is keeping you from your own sense of well being, this is one of my favorite things to explore, so please don’t hesitate to ask, we will find out how to get you into the body that you want to be in.