Continuing our discussion from last week on gut health, we are moving on this week to talk about the thyroid. The thyroid is one of those glands that has a ton of different roles, making it one of the busiest glands in your body. Some of its roles include: maintaining healthy skin, weight management, assisting with elimination, supporting your metabolism, and many more activities. In fact, it is included in almost every function in your body. In order to maintain its function it has to be fed the right nutrients as well as be in balance with your Adrenal and Ovaries/Testes.

Take a look at Figure 1. This is called the thyroid, adrenal, sex hormone axis. Notice it is an equilateral triangle. There has to be balance in all three organs in order for optimal function. In the middle of the triangle is what is called the anterior pituitary gland which signals these glands to release hormones. The thyroid is king and sits at the top of the triangle, this being said it usually isn’t the first to be out of balance. What happens most commonly is the adrenal glands (which control our stress response and other hormones) are usually the first to start shifting the shape of the triangle. How common is stress? Pretty common, and constant stress starts to wear on our vital adrenal glands. The adrenals also have a close connection in the bottom half of the triangle with the sex hormones, so they can change how these hormones function. Can you see how this could shift the shape of the triangle? When the adrenal glands start to tire, the thyroid then starts taking over some of it’s role and additionally begins to tire because of all the other functions it provides. The thyroid is usually always to last to dysfunction in the triangle.

When the thyroid starts to dysfunction it can either be functioning too much or too little. The most common is too little, called hypofunction. Some symptoms of hypofunction include: unrelenting fatigue, cold hands and feet, sluggishness, unexplained weight gain, constipation, to name a few. A couple physical signs include loss of hair on the outer portion of your eyebrow, or parallel lines running across the front of the neck. In extreme cases there is visible enlargement of the gland, which is called a goiter. Other than adrenal gland dysfunction and stress, other factors than can affect the thyroid’s function are: the use of bioidentical hormones, environmental toxins such as mercury, and certain cleaning agents that have harsh chemicals.

In order for the thyroid to maintain its function it also has to have some vital nutrients. 1. The liver has to be functioning and cleaned out in order to convert and use your thyroid hormones. 2. The thyroid hormones are secondly converted in the gut, so proper gut function is key. 3. The thyroid needs iodine, selenium, zinc, vitamin C and D, and magnesium for conversion of the hormones. Iodine deficiency just like Vitamin D is very common because of our diets and chemicals that deplete it in our bodies. Iodine deficiency is also linked to many cancers as well. These nutrients can all be incorporated in your diet from different sources.

It’s important to get proper testing of your thyroid to see the entire function. Unfortunately most doctors only test TSH as a marker for thyroid function, when if fact this is not even a thyroid hormone, it is secreted from your anterior pituitary. Additionally this hormone could be in normal limits but other markers such as free and total T3 and T4 which are secreted from your thyroid actually see how the thyroid is functioning. Additionally, the marker reverse T3 is used to determine poorly functioning adrenal glands and a value over 30 results in decreased thyroid function.

Two other blood markers are thyroid antibodies. These are important because of a condition called Hashimoto’s Disease. This disease is an autoimmune reaction of the thyroid and results in decreased thyroid function, and destruction of the actual gland. Despite its increase in occurrence, it’s not impossible to treat. This disease can be recovered and reversed in many patients. First, attention must be given to the health of the gut including repair of any kind of dysbiosis and secondly, the proper nutrients need to be provided to help the thyroid to begin to function correctly. Every autoimmune disease has the same two origins: nutritional deficiencies and dysbiosis. Once you have corrected these two issues, there is an excellent chance that the autoimmune markers will normalize. This is why such high emphasis was placed on gut health, it really is the origin of so many conditions.

Knowing this, if your doctor said your thyroid is fine just from a TSH blood test, they are missing the entire picture, and you can still have physical symptoms because the gland itself isn’t functioning properly. It’s important to note that even though hypofunction is more common in woman, it can occur just as easily in men, with similar symptoms.

Be weary of taking thyroid supplementation or medication that is meant to support thyroid function. Many of these are synthetic or chemically made. Additionally, giving synthetic hormones decreases the function of the gland, because they get to take a vacation and no longer are secreting hormones any longer. This causes a huge reliance on needing to take the medication because as soon as it is stopped the organ won’t just start making the hormones again, they’ve been on vacation! This is true of any bioidentical hormone that is taken for any gland/organ. Another example would be women who take birth control, in the fact that the ovaries no longer need to secrete hormones, and decrease in their function. This is why their is a huge increase in infertility. Whenever possible try to consume foods that are rich in the nutrients that are needed for support. Like brazil nuts/garlic for selenium, seaweed/seafood for iodine, ect.

More nutrients can be found through this link:

How does this apply to chiropractic? As you know nutrition is a HUGE part in optimal body function. It is my job to determine what is the true cause of your pain/dysfunction and a lot of times nutritional deficiencies/imbalances are the causes, or reasons for chronic conditions. It’s important to look at the entire picture. If you are suffering chronic fatigue or the other symptoms mentioned it could likely be your thyroid.

The thyroid is a very complex organ and is even more complex than this excerpt. I hope that I didn’t lose you along the way. If you have any further questions don’t hesitate to email me. Additionally, if anyone you know or you yourself are suffering from any of these symptoms please don’t hesitate to share with them this information and direct them to my office.