Thyroid Conditions

 

If you suffer from low thyroid symptoms, there is a very high chance you have an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. We have talked about it on other post.  Hashimoto’s is a condition where the body attacks the thyroid.  Unfortunately, it tends to attack other parts of the body as well.  These parts include the brain, pancreas, GI system, and others.

It is common knowledge that most endocrinologists and researchers consider low thyroid symptoms or hypothyroidism synonymous with Hashimoto’s.  One thing you have to realize is that if you do have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, you are more likely to have other types of autoimmune conditions because they tend to run in packs.

There are over 100 autoimmune conditions and this number is growing.

We are going to take a look at some of the factors on why these numbers are growing. Now, normally the immune system recognizes what is self and what is not self. And anything, which isn’t self, is not tolerated and it is attacked. The key word here is identified. So we have to see why is the body not identifying itself as normal? That is the million-dollar question.

A big reason is genetics. If mom has thyroid problems, the daughter is probably going to have thyroid problems and the granddaughter is probably going to have thyroid problems. I see three generations of women in here sometimes from all over the place that have thyroid issues. So that is one of the reasons.

Some of the other reasons that cause this blurriness of the line between self-tolerance and non self-tolerance, well, it could be infections. So now I’m referring to chronic types of things: bacterial, viral, or parasitic. You could have bacteria or yeast infections causing these different radicals in the body, causing a whole different cascade of inflammation to go on.

Other factors include old age, stress, and lack of sleep, hydrogenated oils, junk food diet, physical trauma, and systemic acid in your body.

Researchers are also discussing that pesticides could also play a big role on this too. Plastics and food allergies can also contribute to the rise in auto immune. There are some suggestions as far as vaccines and low vitamin D causing these types of problems.

Auto immune conditions can cause poor digestion. Why is that? Because about fifty-seventy percent of our immune system by weight is in our gut, it’s in our gastrointestinal system.   You may be able to relate to this if you have constipation, upset stomach, diarrhea, taking medications for heart burn or other digestive problems. These can accompany other thyroid symptoms like your hair falling out, fatigued, lethargy, cold hands and feet, and depression.

You know what, there are things we can do to test to see if you have any of these things going on in your gut. There are tests that you can do. There are stool tests and there are – some of them out there are really great. Others of them out there, you might as well just save your pennies. They are really lacking.

I’m going to be going over that in another post.  I have a new post coming out that will talk about the differences the tests.   Some doctors will just do a little testing or they’ll do a different type of test that maybe antiquated – why? Well, they probably just don’t know any better. They probably haven’t done any of the recent research in the past five, ten, twenty years – maybe they haven’t really done anything. They may just be doing what everyone else is doing and that is the problem.

You have to constantly educate yourself as a healthcare provider because there is more and more information out there. You’ve got to find someone who understands about the autoimmune conditions.

If you’re suffering with low thyroid symptoms, you’ve got to get tested.

Then once you get tested, you have to find someone who knows how to help you and how to manage that.

Just taking thyroid medication is just a small piece of the puzzle. Is it important? Yeah. But is it going to make you feel optimal? No. If it did, you’d be out there enjoying life right now, you wouldn’t be watching this video. You’d feel as though you had control over your life. So get out there and find a doctor who understands what we’ve talked about and take control of your health.

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Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Director of the Arizona Thyroid Institute in Scottsdale, AZ Answers a Common Question Asked By Women Suffering With Low Thyroid:

Here is a question I get asked a lot.  Can you cure Hashimoto’s?  When I get asked this question, I always tell the patient about Dr. Hawkinson.  He was one of my instructors in school and he would always drill into our heads that-

“You only cure two things: bacon and ham.  The power that created the body will heal the body.  Your job as a doctor is to figure out why the body isn’t healing itself, remove any road blocks that are stopping it, help support it when necessary, and let it do what it was intended to do. “

So the answer is “no”.   You cannot cure Hashimoto’s.

But…Can the symptoms of Hashimoto’s be reversed?   YES!

Now Hashimoto’s is a genetic condition.  That means you get it from your parents.  It usually happens at three different times in a woman’s life:  puberty, pregnancy, and perimenopause.  And at these times your epigenetic factor can get turned on and your body has an auto immune response to your thyroid.

That means that your body starts to attack your thyroid and starts destroying it.

Now I know there are a few doctors out there saying that they can cure Hashimoto’s.  That is not the case.  Many times what they will do is look at the TSH level and when it goes back into the normal level they will say that the Hashimoto’s is cured.  That is not the case.  You can look at a woman’s TSH level throughout the year without treatment and it can bounce up and down.  The same is true for antibody levels.  They can fluctuate as well.  That is why we are lucky when we test antibodies and they show positive.   An estimated 15% of woman that have Hashimoto’s will not even show the antibodies on the blood test.  That means they don’t make the antibodies.

So what do you have to do to help these ladies with Hashimoto’s?  Well you have to help with reversing the symptoms; the constipation, fatigue, dry skin, cold hands and feet, brittle hair or hair falling out.  You can reverse those symptoms.  That can be done without question.  So how do you reverse the symptoms?  How do you do that?  Well, the first thing you have to do is find a doctor that understands that Hashimoto’s is an auto immune condition.  You have to look at gut toxicity, T cells, B cells, vitamin D and food sensitivities, blood sugar, adrenals, and all the stuff that plays a role in the immune function.

If your doctor is not trained in that and is not schooled in those ways, they are not going to be able to offer much help in reversing those symptoms.

So don’t get caught up in the idea of having to cure your Hashimoto’s.  That is not possible.  But it is possible to reverse the symptoms.  You can be better.  You can feel better.

What if you could to feel 70%, 80% or 90% better and your Hashimoto’s had not been cured?

Would that be worth it?  Of course it would.  So can you reverse the symptoms of Hashimoto’s?  Yes you can, as long as your doctor knows how to help you.

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GMO – One Thing We Should All Avoid

December 7, 2011

Dr. Chris Heimlich, DC, DACNB, Phoenix Doctor Comments: If you are suffering with low thyroid symptoms,  Hashimoto’s,  or Fibromyalgia, then you need to avoid Genetically Modified Foods. In March, Hungary introduced a new regulation that states seeds must be checked for GMO before they are introduced into the market.  As a result, almost 1,000 acres [...]

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Should you be taking Vitamin D if you have Hashimoto’s?

November 28, 2011

New patients to our office frequently asked if they should be taking vitamin D for their low thyroid symptoms like fatigue, insomnia, hair loss, weight gain, depression, cold hands and feet, anxiety and all the other symptoms that go along with having low thyroid function.  Here are better question to ask: How do I determine [...]

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Low Thyroid Symptoms, Hashimoto Thyroiditis, Brain, and Gastrointestinal Connection

November 16, 2011

  What’s the connection between your stomach problems, brain fog, and hashimoto’s? How are they related? One of the most frequent questions I get asked by new patients suffering from low thyroid symptoms is why we do a functional neurological exam on them.  There are several reasons why we do this.  First, the brain directly [...]

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Natural Thyroid Hormone Replacement May Make Your Low Thryoid Symptoms Worse

November 16, 2011

  Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, DACNB, Arizona Thyroid Doctor Comments: I just had a patient come in with low thyroid symptoms and ask if it was possible to feel worse when switching from an synthetic  to natural thyroid hormones.  You may be surprised at the answer I gave her.  I told her yes, of course [...]

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Don’t Self Medicate Your Thyroid Hormones: Natural, Synthetic, or Bio-Identical | Phoenix Arizona

November 1, 2011

Scottsdale Thyroid Doctor Explains: I wanted to share a recent experience I had in the office with a patient that was trying to self regulate her thyroid medication.  A woman brought her mother into the office with complaints of brain fog, constipation, hair falling out fatigue, depression, and insomnia.  The daughter had also been diagnosed [...]

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Low Thyroid Symptoms and Antidepressants

October 13, 2011

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, DACNB, Scottsdale Thyroid Doctor Comments: It seems like every other new patient that comes in to our clinic asks me why they were prescribed antidepressants by their doctor when they went in for a thyroid problem.   Often the patient will tell me that they are not even depressed, just frustrated and [...]

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Diet Soda – Can It Make You Fat?

September 4, 2011

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Scottsdale Thyroid Doctor Comments:   I read an article yesterday from Biotics Research that I just have to share.  Many dieters, in their quest to consume fewer calories, often opt to drink diet soda instead of sodas with sugar in them. It turns out that drinking diet soda may not be [...]

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Celiac Disease: A Precursor to Fibromyalgia and Thyroid Dysfunction

September 4, 2011

  Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Phoenix Metro Area Fibromyalgia Doctor Comments On The Connection Between Celiac Disease and Thyroid Dysfunction … So what do we know for sure? As early as 2003, the Celiac Disease Center at the University of Chicago reported some startling numbers regarding the prevalence of Celiac disease in America. A fact [...]

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