More than 12 percent of the U.S. population will develop a thyroid condition in their lifetime. Women are 5 to 8 times more likely than men to develop thyroid disorders.
To understand what can go wrong with your thyroid, it’s important to know how the thyroid functions. The thyroid gland is your body’s power generator. It sends energy to every cell in your body through the hormones it produces. This process of creating, regulating and delivering these hormones begins in your brain.
Your hypothalamus, which is responsible for managing hunger, thirst, sleep, hormones and body temperatures, among other important functions, monitors the level of thyroid hormone present in your bloodstream. If it determines energy levels are low, it sends out Thyroid Releasing Hormone (TRH) to your pituitary gland.
The primary output of your thyroid is T4, thyroglobulin plus for iodine atoms – a storage form of the hormone. It’s circulated throughout the bloodstream and stored in tissues so it’s available when needed. A much smaller percentage of the hormones produced is T3, the active form of thyroid hormone.
The T3 enters cell membranes with the help of cortisol and regulates how much energy your mitochondria produce. Your mitochondria are the power plants of your cells and there are trillions of them in your body. Heart rate, fatigue, weight regulation, brain function to name a few are controlled by this. When your thyroid isn’t functioning properly it can affect any or all of these separate systems, creating a wide array of symptoms that might seem unrelated yet are all traced back to your thyroid.
The most common form of thyroid disease is hypothyroidism, which is when your thyroid is underactive and does not produce enough thyroid hormone. One of the main symptoms of hypothyroidism and thyroid dysfunction is fatigue.
Treatment for thyroid problems varies drastically between functional and conventional medicine. When getting your thyroid tested, a conventional doctor might say your results are in a “normal” range. A functional medicine doctor is able to see sooner whether you are trending toward dysfunction because they look at a narrower reference range. In addition to a more expanded thyroid panel, functional medicine also runs more diagnostic testing to look for dysfunction in other areas of the body that can contribute to thyroid problems such as your gut and brain.
In conventional medicine the first and only treatment option is medication, typically a thyroid replacement hormone. The problem with medication is that it is generally prescribed regardless of your underlying thyroid issue. Instead of addressing the root causes of why you have thyroid problems in the first place, medication just acts like a bandaid.
Functional medicine takes a whole body approach to treating thyroid problems. Medication may be needed, but functional practitioners aim to find the underlying reasons why your thyroid isn’t functioning properly and address symptoms naturally through diet and lifestyle changes.
Supplements are a great way to support your thyroid health. Working with a functional medicine practitioner can give you a more targeted recommendation based on your specific thyroid problem. Some of the best supplements include: Iodine (for low thyroid function), zinc, copper, iron, vitamin D and vitamin C. Most of these supplements you can get through food.
Thyroid problems can be triggered by a variety of different factors.
Stress & Infections: The relationship between stress and infections is complex. When you have constant stressors in your life, your immune system never really gets to turn off. Your inflammatory immune response is activated for too long and eventually goes rogue, attacking your own bodily tissues. Adopting daily stress-relieving strategies such as exercise, dance and meditation will help give your immune system a boost.
Nutrient deficiencies: Deficiencies in selenium, vitamin A and vitamin D are all linked to autoimmune thyroid conditions.
Gut problems: Your gut is the foundation of your whole body’s health because 80 percent of your immune system is located there. Without a healthy gut, you can’t have a healthy immune system. A few things you can try to improve your gut health includes: Remove the bad (inflammatory and toxic foods), restore what’s missing (adding digestive enzymes), reinoculate with healthy bacteria (probiotics), and repair the gut (bone broth, omega-3s, zinc and herbs such as slippery elm and aloe vera).
Toxin exposure: Common products such as home cleaning products, body products and even makeup have toxins. We are exposed through the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the products we put on our bodies. The best thing you can do to lighten your toxic burden is to prevent the toxins from getting into your system by drinking clean water, buying clean food and body products and filtering your air.
Hormone imbalances: As the chemical messengers of your body, hormones direct every system in your body to function properly. Since your hormones are all connected, if there is dysfunction in one area it results in dysfunction in the rest of your hormones.
Supplements have been proven to help aid in the proper thyroid function but there are also some supplements that you should avoid, mainly based on their quality. Make sure and look at the ingredients.
Foods contain multiple different nutrients in a single source. Dark leafy greens, eggs, nuts and seeds, wild-caught seafood and avocados all contain high levels of the nutrients listed above. Some superfoods to consider are the following: Sea vegetables (dulse, kombu, nori and kelp), brazil nuts, wild-caught salmon, organ meats, and oysters. Do your best to avoid gluten, grains and legumes as these foods are known to cause inflammation and damage to your intestinal tract.
Thyroid problems can impact your daily life and make it difficult to make it through your day. If you suspect that you have a thyroid problem or notice any of these symptoms, it’s important to seek out a medical professional who can confirm any underlying thyroid problems and guide you through your healing journey.