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I am Dr Tabatha, the functional gynecologist. I'm a board certified OBY, giant and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey. And I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling for moaning, balance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety and son, you name it, then you come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi, guys. Welcome back to the functional gynecologist. I'm Dr Tabatha today. An episode number five, your thyroid. I'm going to help you understand how our thyroid works, how it effects most of the systems in our bodies. Why thyroid disease so often goes undiagnosed or untreated. Appropriately, Howard diet and lifestyle choices directly affects how our thyroid functions and how we can utilize this information to create the optimal environment for a thyroid toe function. Well, you've probably noticed that thyroid disease, autoimmune thyroid in particular, has garnered a lot of attention over the past few years. There are many books and Hashimoto's the thyroid diet and autoimmune protocols. What is this all about? And if you've heard my story then. You know, I have suffered from Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroid disease for over 20 years now, so this topic affects me on a daily basis. I also deal with it every day in my office, seeing patients. This is one of the most common reasons why women initially come to see me. They feel like they have a thyroid condition, but they've been told they're fine or they've been diagnosed and are in Synthroid. But they don't feel any better. If this sounds like you or someone, you know that I'm super glad you're listening today. So let's talk about some basic anatomy and physiology. Your thyroid gland is located in the neck in front of your wind pipe. The shape of the thyroid is similar to a butterfly with two halves and or lobes. The two portions are connected by a band of thyroid tissue called the isthmus. The loose connective tissue allows the thyroid to move and change position as we swallow. Here's some jeopardy trivia. The fire. It is actually developed in the back of the tongue and has to migrate to the front of the neck before birth. That's kind of cool. So On average, the thyroid convey up two ounces. Each lobe contains many small sacs called follicles, which store thyroid hormones. The thyroid Glane uses iodine to make two main hormones. Try I doth irony, in which we call T three and Iraq's, in which we call T four. As a side note, the thyroid also produces calcitonin, which is a hormone that helps control calcium and phosphate levels in the blood by inhibiting the breakdown of your bones. This supposes the action of your para thyroids. Interestingly, high levels of calcitonin are seen in the rare type of magic Larry Thyroid cancer. So back to its main function. Our bodies cannot make the mineral iodine, which is why it's required in our diet. Iodine is absorbed in your bloodstream from the food in our intestines, it's think. Carried to the thyroid gland words eventually used to make thyroid hormones. Thyroid cells are unique in that they're highly specialized to absorb and use iodine. Iraq scene is called T four because it contains for iodine atoms to exert its effects. T four is converted to try. I doth Ira ning by the removal of the iodine. Adam A. Fire it That's functioning normally produces approximately 80% T four in 20% t three, though T three is the stronger of the pair. T three and t four. Travel in your bloodstream to reach almost every cell in your body and regulate the speed with which yourselves work. For example, T three and four. Regulate your heart rate and how fast your intestines process food. So if T three and four levels are low, your heart rate may be slower than normal, and you may have constipation and weight gain. If t three and four levels are high, you may have rapid heart rate, diarrhea and weight loss. The hypothalamus and pituitary gland in your brain. Control your thyroid when thyroid hormone levels drop too low. The hypothalamus, located at the base of your brain, secretes a hormone alerting the pituitary gland to produce TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone. The thyroid response to this chain of events by producing more hormones. The amount of TSH that the pituitary sends into the bloodstream depends on the amount of T four that the pituitary sees once the T four in the blood goes above a certain level. The production of TSH is shut off. You can imagine this cycle like a heater and a thermostat. When the heater is off, it becomes cold. The thermostat reads the temperature and turns on the heater. When the heat rises to an appropriate level, the thermostat senses this and turns off the heater. Thus, your thyroid and pituitary like a heater and thermostat turn on and off. In conventional medicine, doctors check TSH and Free T four that is the heater and the thermostat being checked to see if they're imbalance. Although this is a good starting point, this does not look at the full functioning of your thyroid and how your body is utilizing thyroid hormone toe work. So what are the functions of the thyroid? The thyroid is responsible for regulating the body's metabolic rate, as well as hardened digestive function, muscle control, brain development, mood and bone maintenance. So, like I mentioned earlier, it's correct. Functioning depends on having a good supply of iodine in your diet. Your metabolic rate is rate at which your body burns calories. You conception it. The types of calories your body burdens into two categories. Resting calories and activity. Calories so even when you're sitting on the couch like watching TV Your body's burning calories. This is considered your baseline or basal metabolic rate. It accounts for about 60 to 75% of your total amount of energy that you burn so while at rest your organs and essential biological functions air still working hard for you, which is why they need energy in the form of nutrition, even when they're inactive. The energy used for things like eating, walking and other physical activity is called Thermo Genesis. You definitely want that functioning properly. For weight control, increased thyroid hormone levels stimulate lipid metabolism. This is the process of using your fat for energy or storing it in the body for later use. Thyroid hormones also stimulate almost all aspects of carbohydrate or glucose metabolism. So for thyroid isn't functioning properly, you can't tap into your fat stores to burn energy. Therefore, you can't lose weight. Your body has to rely on glucose or sugar for fuel, so you get stuck in this vicious cycle of wanting to eat every few hours to maintain your blood glucose levels and not feel crappy Right. This is no way to live. Our bodies were designed to be able to go for long periods of time on a regular basis without food. But if our thyroid isn't producing enough hormone, then we can easily go into fat burning mode. Women with auto immune disease can have a difficult time doing the ketogenic diet because of this, and unfortunately, they're the ones most likely to benefit from it. I'll definitely do an episode on the benefits of intermittent fasting. How to become a fat burner and explain how heals your body through a ta Fuji. So stay tuned for that and a future episode. In addition of metabolism, the thyroid plays a significant role in other several body functions. Thyroid hormones are absolutely necessary for healthy growth and Children studies actually reveal. Normal levels of thyroid hormone are essential for the development of the fetal and neonatal brain, so it's critical to have your thyroid monitored regularly. If you have a thyroid disorder and you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant, normal reproductive physiology is dependent on having essentially normal levels of thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism, in particular, is commonly social within fertility. It's now standard of care for infertility patients to be put on sin three to keep their TSH levels below 2.5 in an effort to sustain a viable pregnancy. Thyroid hormones increase your heart rate, cardiac contract, il ity and cardiac output. They also promote Veysel dilation, which leads to enhance blood flow to many organs. This becomes important when we women try to exercise. If our thyroid isn't functioning properly, it can make you feel worse and lead to more issues. Both decreased an increased concentrations of thyroid hormone, Lito alterations and our mental state not enough thyroid hormone tends to make us feel mentally sluggish. Will. Too much induces anxiety and nervousness. So let's talk about hypothyroidism. It's a clinical state in which your body doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone for your body to maintain home. You Stasis meaning to little t three and t four. This condition is more common than the overactive state called hyperthyroidism. Approximately 10 million Americans are likely to have this medical condition. In fact, as many as 10% of women may have some degree of thyroid hormone deficiency. The more concerning statistic is that 90 to 97% of those diagnosed with hypothyroidism are believed to have the auto immune disease. Hashimoto's thyroid itis, But they just aren't tested for it. So why is that? You ask, when I look out in the physician led reference website up to date, which I was trained to dio they have a sentence published in there that explains that finding. It says serum anti thyroid antibodies need not be measured routinely in patients with overt primary hypothyroidism, because almost all will have chronic autoimmune thyroid itis. Unfortunately, this is how conventional physicians air trained. This is how I was trained. The thought is that because we don't have a pill to treat your order immune component, we shouldn't bother doing the test to diagnosis. Here's the problem with that. Patients with autoimmune thyroid disease need to be treated significantly differently than those with simple, sluggish thyroids. For other reasons, the root cause of the auto immune disease needs to be addressed. So if you aren't getting your thyroid antibody levels checked, then we don't know if your thyroid is being attacked. That is why most patients don't feel better once they start taking thyroid medication like Synthroid level fire oxen. Luckily, there are some awesome pioneers in the functional medicine space who have figured this out and have made it their life's mission to get the word out. People like Dr Isabelle Owens, the thyroid pharmacist. If you have an autoimmune thyroid disease, then you should read her work. I'll put my a link in my show notes, because it's super important to get educated on this. So symptoms of hypothyroidism include sleeping a lot and still feeling tired, weight gain or inability to lose weight. Course. Dry hair, dry rough. Pale skin, hair loss. Cold intolerance really being able to sweat muscle cramps and muscle aches. Constipation, depression, irritability, memory loss, abnormal menstrual cycles, decreased libido, recurrent miscarriage and infertility Hyperthyroidism, which is the opposite where you are producing too much. Thyroid hormone causes symptoms like excessive sweating and heat intolerance, excessive hunger, fast heart rate or heart palpitations. Some women are diagnosed initially based on having heart palpitations, weight loss, hair loss, tremor, diarrhea, irregular periods again, mood swings, panic attacks, insomnia and potentially abnormal protrusion of your eyes. They look kind of bug ish. Like both types of imbalances. Usually developed from a Gorder, thyroid itis or cancer. A goiter looks like a bulge in the neck. Attacks it go Reuters associated with hyperthyroidism and a nontoxic goiter or simple goiter is usually caused by iodine deficiency, leading to haibo Thyroid ism. I personally have had a greater twice. In addition to losing weight and feeling anxious. I constantly felt like something was stuck in my throat or pushing on it, and I was right. My thyroid was so large that it was pushing on my wind pipe. You could see it when I swallowed. That was what finally prompted the doctors to investigate further. For some women, it may not look very prominent, or your doctor may not feel naturals on it. But remember, there's a backside two of your thyroid. So just because the front it seems fine doesn't mean it's not growing toward the back pushing in your wind pipe. So if you have a persistent symptom like that, keep asking for answers. Ask for a thyroid ultrasound, don't give up symptoms or warning signs that something is developing, and we need to investigate and get to the root cause of it. It's not something to put a Band Aid on, so we don't have to hear the signal anymore. When we do that, we get another symptom or five, and eventually if We don't put the two and two together than we can't diagnose it properly. So let's stop masking our symptoms and figuring out the root cause. Thyroid itis is an inflammation of the thyroid gland. There are many types of thyroid itis, including Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroid. Itis like I mentioned sub acute thyroid itis, usually from a virus. Silent thyroid itis, which is painless. Postpartum thyroid itis, which happens after you have a baby. That was my initial presentation. Drug induced thyroid itis from medications like amiodarone, lithium interference, radiation induced thyroid itis and a cute thyroid itis, usually from a bacteria or other infectious organism. Inflammation eventually causes the thyroid cells to die, making the thyroid unable to produce enough hormones to maintain the body's normal metabolism. This is why I developed a goiter. Initially, I had postpartum thyroid itis. My thyroid was being attacked, so became inflamed and was releasing all of its stored hormone causing hyper thyroid symptoms. But then my cells got destroyed and could no longer make enough hormones. I became hypo thyroid. This is a common scenario with thyroid itis, and sometimes we recover and don't go on to suffer for many long term thyroid disease. But if you have Hashimoto's autoimmune type, then you most likely will not get better until you remove the triggers and heal your gut with significant diet. Lifestyle changes. Stress and inflammation are major triggers that cause your T four inactive hormone to be converted to reverse t three and not the active T three. Reverse T three competitively binds with active T three at all of your cells receptors. So if you're reverse, T three is elevated. Your active T three is not going to be able to bind to the receptors on all of yourselves and give the signal it needs to do its job. That reverse T three is elevated. When you have stress inflammation trauma, eat a low calorie diet. Have taxes in your system infections like parasite or yeast, overgrowth, liver, kidney dysfunction and certain medications. So it's super important to minimize those triggers so that you don't create so much. Reverse T three that wants to compete with your active T three hormone. Your body also needs selenium and zinc To convert T four to active T three. Your cells need vitamin A exercise and zinc toe. Actually hear the signals of t three toe function properly. So when you are just having your TSH and free T four level measured, that is not giving us any idea of whether or not the T four is being converted into the active T three hormone or reverse T three. And whether or not those hormones are able to bind to the receptors on all of the cells in your body and create proper functioning of those cells, thyroid cancer is another condition affecting the thyroid, according to the CDC and the National Cancer Institute. It's the six most common cause of cancer and women behind breast, lung, colon, uterine and skin. It's usually diagnosed in women between the ages of 45 54. However, it's the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women ages 20 to 34. It affects about 35,000 women a year. Unfortunately, the long term survival rates are excellent radiation exposures, believed to be the most common cause for developing it, along with a history of having a goiter, being female, being Asian and having a genetic mutation in the R E T gene, causing a condition called multiple endocrine neo plage of type two. So What can we do to help our thyroid function properly? Let's talk about seven techniques you can utilize to help boost the health and function of your thyroid gland, so stress it's a part of life. However, today more people are experiencing high, higher levels of stress, which can wreak havoc on your health. If you haven't already listened to episode number three hormone imbalance, then I recommend you go back and listen to that for a detailed understanding of what stress does to our hormones. In that episode, I explained how living in a constant state of fight or flight contests the adrenal glands, which can suppress the hypothalamus and pituitary glands, both of which directly influence or thyroid function. So if your stress is out of control than your thyroid will be, too. So it's super important to find ways to manage our stress through calming activities like meditation, deep breathing, journal, writing, prayer and nature walks. How about sleep? The body requires sleep for overall health and healing. Thyroid conditions can impact our sleep patterns and not sleeping. Welcome. Worsen your thyroid function. Talk about a vicious cycle, so most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night if you're not sleeping while you need to address that and corrected. Otherwise, it's gonna be a slippery slope of worsening symptoms and making it more difficult. Control your thyroid. Please take your sleep issues seriously and know that you don't have to and shouldn't live in a sleep deprived misery. I did that for over a decade, and it's hard to recover from. I'll just tell you that you definitely won't avoid eating for at least 2 to 3 hours before bed. Avoid caffeine after noon. Avoid strenuous activities in the evening because that will spike your cortisol levels and may get difficult to fall asleep. Put away your electron ICS, at least in our before bed and avoid alcohol because it causes blood sugar disruption and then you're waking up at two or three in the morning, you can drink a cup of calming herbal tea. Instead, you could dab a few drops of lavender oil on the bottoms of your feet or taken Epsom salt bath with lavender. You could try a meditation. Sleep ap like 10% happier. I would encourage you to create a nighttime ritual to help your brain prepare to unwind and go to sleep. Your thyroid will definitely thank you. Physical activity is a great way to support hormone production and combat symptoms related to thyroid dysfunction. The key is to listen to your body and do it exercises right for your situation. If you're experiencing a sluggish metabolism, you want to aim for at least 30 minutes every day of low intensity exercise. Yoga, swimming and jogging are all excellent options. If you go out and try to do a high intensity cardio workout and then you're down for the count for tude three days, then you know that is not the right exercise for you. You want to focus on full body movements but not stressing your dream. No glands by requiring constant cortisol production. That's what the high intensity cardio does, often with thyroid disease. The purpose is to stimulate your mitochondria, the little powerhouses inside all of yourselves, to produce more 80 Pierre Energy, as opposed to using up all the energy stores you have and leaving you down for the count for days. This is accomplished with more restorative type exercises like yoga, Pilates, stretching and walking. If you struggle with hyperthyroidism, practicing daily calming activities such as the resort of yoga and Tai Chee will slow your heart rate and reduce anxiety. It's a beautiful thing. Sugar and simple carbohydrates as well. Those alcohol, like I said, can wreak havoc on your body and your thyroid. Thes foods cause inflammation, weight gain and blood sugar issues, so get them out of your life. If you have a sweet tooth, try fresh fruit. You'll be surprised how quickly your taste buds will adapt to the natural sweetness, and you'll find enjoyment in that much more. Make sure to check the ingredient list to avoid products with added sugar. I talked about this in detail in episode number four. Food is medicine. If you haven't listened to that, I urge you to go back and listen. Because there's a ton of important information in that episode. A diet rich in essential vitamins and minerals such as selenium, iodine, zinc timing, B 12 and vitamin D can help heal your thyroid and reduce inflammation. The's vitamins and minerals are necessary for the conversion of inactive T four to active T three hormone for your body to be able to utilize it. So fill your plate with dark leafy greens, quality fats like avocados, olive oil, nuts and seeds, and plant based protein sources. You can also try incorporating more sea vegetables like seaweed, into your diet. In fact, just one sheet of dried seaweed contains well above the daily recommended value of iodine. But be careful. Some of the larger fish, like tuna used in sushi, contains mercury. We just can't catch a break can week, so I up for vegetarian type sushi like California rolls. A handful or two of Brazil nuts contain more than your daily recommended value of selenium, and it kicks starts to production of your active T three hormone. One egg contains about 20% of the daily recommended value of selenium and 15% of your iodine. Garlic is thyroid friendly because it's sports blood sugar metabolism and can fight inflammation. And then lentils are an excellent source of plant based protein, and they provide iron to the body. Low iron levels have been linked to poor thyroid function, and we know that most women with thyroid dysfunction have heavy irregular periods and usually therefore low iron levels, another vicious cycle that we need to break when planning a meal you want a limit? Foods that cause inflammation, sensitivity or allergic responses like highly processed foods in boxes and bags. Okay, so did you know that Bro Ming is added to breads, pastas, sports drinks and mountain dew? Roaming displaces iodine and causes functional hypothyroidism. So even if you don't have a pathological reason toe have thyroid dysfunction, what you're eating could be causing underactive thyroid. That's crazy, and that is not okay. All the more reason to avoid those processed foods. Please avoid unhealthy fats like vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, seeming margarine, salad dressings, coffee creamers and cheap industrialized oil that many restaurants use for deep frying. These are very inflammatory. You want to avoid taxes that can trigger immune responses like pesticides, so try to eat. Non GM owes an organic as much as possible. Lastly, you want to avoid endocrine disruptors, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a Quran, disruptors, or chemicals that interfere with the body's endocrine system and may produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects In both humans and wildlife, endocrine disruptors are chemicals that mimic our hormones. Essentially, when this occurs, the chemical disruptor interferes with with the messages are hormones or trying to send our cells. Ah wide range of man made substances cause endocrine disruption, including pharmaceutical drugs, dioxin, dioxin like compounds, poly chlorinated biphenyls, DDT and other pesticides, and plastic creators like biz wien. All a so endocrine disruptors can be found in our everyday products, including plastic bottles. Metal food cans are detergents, flame retardants on our clothes and furniture. It's in our food or toys, cosmetics and pesticides used in our yards. So to reduce the exposure to endocrine disruptors, choose glass containers over plastic containers. Never heat your food and plastic. Please drink filtered water and buy organic produce. Opt for nontoxic natural bath and beauty products, household cleaners and laundry detergents. This will decrease the taxes getting into yourselves, competing with your hormones. If doing all these things doesn't get your thyroid under control, then you may haven't under lying condition like Cibo, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You may have intestinal yeast overgrowth. Parasites are increased Intestinal permeability, also known as leaky gut. Ah, functional medicine physician can help you find these root cause issues and treat them so don't give up. If you don't feel well, search for answers. They are out there, so that's it. We've covered the basics on what your thyroid does, how it functions and interacts with our other systems, how it's affected by your diet and environment and how to keep it working properly. Toe. Have your thyroid function completely and accurately assessed. You should ask your doctor to measure TSH Total and free T four total and free T three reverse T three Kyra globulin antibodies thyroid, Perak City, Santa bodies and vitamin D levels. And some people also need thyroid stimulating antibodies and receptor antibodies, measured along with zinc, selenium and iodine. If your doctor isn't comfortable or willing to check those tests, then you should find one who is. You need to get a complete picture of how your thyroid is functioning, interacting with your cells and whether or not it's being attacked. This information will guide your treatment and give you the best chance at remission of your thyroid disease. Thank you for joining me today. If you got any useful information out of listening to this podcast today, please share it with your friends, co workers, sisters, your mom or grandma or your social media friends I want you to be empowered and know what's going on with your body. We need to support each other on our journeys. Back to help could be super honored. If you'd leave me a five star review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this, it will let me know that what I'm doing is worth my time and will help get this information out to all the women who need it. Please follow me on Facebook and Instagram and Dr Tabatha. That's t A B a T h a All A's. No, I leave me questions or comments. I want your feedback. You can also check me out on my website www dot doctor tabatha dot com. I am here to support you ladies, so thank you for letting me be Your functional gynecologists have an awesome
I am Dr Tabatha, the functional gynecologist. I'm a board certified OBY, giant and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey. And I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling for moaning, balance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety and son, you name it, then you come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi, guys. Welcome back to the functional gynecologist. I'm Dr Tabatha today. An episode number five, your thyroid. I'm going to help you understand how our thyroid works, how it effects most of the systems in our bodies. Why thyroid disease so often goes undiagnosed or untreated. Appropriately, Howard diet and lifestyle choices directly affects how our thyroid functions and how we can utilize this information to create the optimal environment for a thyroid toe function. Well, you've probably noticed that thyroid disease, autoimmune thyroid in particular, has garnered a lot of attention over the past few years. There are many books and Hashimoto's the thyroid diet and autoimmune protocols. What is this all about? And if you've heard my story then. You know, I have suffered from Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroid disease for over 20 years now, so this topic affects me on a daily basis. I also deal with it every day in my office, seeing patients. This is one of the most common reasons why women initially come to see me. They feel like they have a thyroid condition, but they've been told they're fine or they've been diagnosed and are in Synthroid. But they don't feel any better. If this sounds like you or someone, you know that I'm super glad you're listening today. So let's talk about some basic anatomy and physiology. Your thyroid gland is located in the neck in front of your wind pipe. The shape of the thyroid is similar to a butterfly with two halves and or lobes. The two portions are connected by a band of thyroid tissue called the isthmus. The loose connective tissue allows the thyroid to move and change position as we swallow. Here's some jeopardy trivia. The fire. It is actually developed in the back of the tongue and has to migrate to the front of the neck before birth. That's kind of cool. So On average, the thyroid convey up two ounces. Each lobe contains many small sacs called follicles, which store thyroid hormones. The thyroid Glane uses iodine to make two main hormones. Try I doth irony, in which we call T three and Iraq's, in which we call T four. As a side note, the thyroid also produces calcitonin, which is a hormone that helps control calcium and phosphate levels in the blood by inhibiting the breakdown of your bones. This supposes the action of your para thyroids. Interestingly, high levels of calcitonin are seen in the rare type of magic Larry Thyroid cancer. So back to its main function. Our bodies cannot make the mineral iodine, which is why it's required in our diet. Iodine is absorbed in your bloodstream from the food in our intestines, it's think. Carried to the thyroid gland words eventually used to make thyroid hormones. Thyroid cells are unique in that they're highly specialized to absorb and use iodine. Iraq scene is called T four because it contains for iodine atoms to exert its effects. T four is converted to try. I doth Ira ning by the removal of the iodine. Adam A. Fire it That's functioning normally produces approximately 80% T four in 20% t three, though T three is the stronger of the pair. T three and t four. Travel in your bloodstream to reach almost every cell in your body and regulate the speed with which yourselves work. For example, T three and four. Regulate your heart rate and how fast your intestines process food. So if T three and four levels are low, your heart rate may be slower than normal, and you may have constipation and weight gain. If t three and four levels are high, you may have rapid heart rate, diarrhea and weight loss. The hypothalamus and pituitary gland in your brain. Control your thyroid when thyroid hormone levels drop too low. The hypothalamus, located at the base of your brain, secretes a hormone alerting the pituitary gland to produce TSH or thyroid stimulating hormone. The thyroid response to this chain of events by producing more hormones. The amount of TSH that the pituitary sends into the bloodstream depends on the amount of T four that the pituitary sees once the T four in the blood goes above a certain level. The production of TSH is shut off. You can imagine this cycle like a heater and a thermostat. When the heater is off, it becomes cold. The thermostat reads the temperature and turns on the heater. When the heat rises to an appropriate level, the thermostat senses this and turns off the heater. Thus, your thyroid and pituitary like a heater and thermostat turn on and off. In conventional medicine, doctors check TSH and Free T four that is the heater and the thermostat being checked to see if they're imbalance. Although this is a good starting point, this does not look at the full functioning of your thyroid and how your body is utilizing thyroid hormone toe work. So what are the functions of the thyroid? The thyroid is responsible for regulating the body's metabolic rate, as well as hardened digestive function, muscle control, brain development, mood and bone maintenance. So, like I mentioned earlier, it's correct. Functioning depends on having a good supply of iodine in your diet. Your metabolic rate is rate at which your body burns calories. You conception it. The types of calories your body burdens into two categories. Resting calories and activity. Calories so even when you're sitting on the couch like watching TV Your body's burning calories. This is considered your baseline or basal metabolic rate. It accounts for about 60 to 75% of your total amount of energy that you burn so while at rest your organs and essential biological functions air still working hard for you, which is why they need energy in the form of nutrition, even when they're inactive. The energy used for things like eating, walking and other physical activity is called Thermo Genesis. You definitely want that functioning properly. For weight control, increased thyroid hormone levels stimulate lipid metabolism. This is the process of using your fat for energy or storing it in the body for later use. Thyroid hormones also stimulate almost all aspects of carbohydrate or glucose metabolism. So for thyroid isn't functioning properly, you can't tap into your fat stores to burn energy. Therefore, you can't lose weight. Your body has to rely on glucose or sugar for fuel, so you get stuck in this vicious cycle of wanting to eat every few hours to maintain your blood glucose levels and not feel crappy Right. This is no way to live. Our bodies were designed to be able to go for long periods of time on a regular basis without food. But if our thyroid isn't producing enough hormone, then we can easily go into fat burning mode. Women with auto immune disease can have a difficult time doing the ketogenic diet because of this, and unfortunately, they're the ones most likely to benefit from it. I'll definitely do an episode on the benefits of intermittent fasting. How to become a fat burner and explain how heals your body through a ta Fuji. So stay tuned for that and a future episode. In addition of metabolism, the thyroid plays a significant role in other several body functions. Thyroid hormones are absolutely necessary for healthy growth and Children studies actually reveal. Normal levels of thyroid hormone are essential for the development of the fetal and neonatal brain, so it's critical to have your thyroid monitored regularly. If you have a thyroid disorder and you're pregnant or trying to get pregnant, normal reproductive physiology is dependent on having essentially normal levels of thyroid hormone. Hypothyroidism, in particular, is commonly social within fertility. It's now standard of care for infertility patients to be put on sin three to keep their TSH levels below 2.5 in an effort to sustain a viable pregnancy. Thyroid hormones increase your heart rate, cardiac contract, il ity and cardiac output. They also promote Veysel dilation, which leads to enhance blood flow to many organs. This becomes important when we women try to exercise. If our thyroid isn't functioning properly, it can make you feel worse and lead to more issues. Both decreased an increased concentrations of thyroid hormone, Lito alterations and our mental state not enough thyroid hormone tends to make us feel mentally sluggish. Will. Too much induces anxiety and nervousness. So let's talk about hypothyroidism. It's a clinical state in which your body doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone for your body to maintain home. You Stasis meaning to little t three and t four. This condition is more common than the overactive state called hyperthyroidism. Approximately 10 million Americans are likely to have this medical condition. In fact, as many as 10% of women may have some degree of thyroid hormone deficiency. The more concerning statistic is that 90 to 97% of those diagnosed with hypothyroidism are believed to have the auto immune disease. Hashimoto's thyroid itis, But they just aren't tested for it. So why is that? You ask, when I look out in the physician led reference website up to date, which I was trained to dio they have a sentence published in there that explains that finding. It says serum anti thyroid antibodies need not be measured routinely in patients with overt primary hypothyroidism, because almost all will have chronic autoimmune thyroid itis. Unfortunately, this is how conventional physicians air trained. This is how I was trained. The thought is that because we don't have a pill to treat your order immune component, we shouldn't bother doing the test to diagnosis. Here's the problem with that. Patients with autoimmune thyroid disease need to be treated significantly differently than those with simple, sluggish thyroids. For other reasons, the root cause of the auto immune disease needs to be addressed. So if you aren't getting your thyroid antibody levels checked, then we don't know if your thyroid is being attacked. That is why most patients don't feel better once they start taking thyroid medication like Synthroid level fire oxen. Luckily, there are some awesome pioneers in the functional medicine space who have figured this out and have made it their life's mission to get the word out. People like Dr Isabelle Owens, the thyroid pharmacist. If you have an autoimmune thyroid disease, then you should read her work. I'll put my a link in my show notes, because it's super important to get educated on this. So symptoms of hypothyroidism include sleeping a lot and still feeling tired, weight gain or inability to lose weight. Course. Dry hair, dry rough. Pale skin, hair loss. Cold intolerance really being able to sweat muscle cramps and muscle aches. Constipation, depression, irritability, memory loss, abnormal menstrual cycles, decreased libido, recurrent miscarriage and infertility Hyperthyroidism, which is the opposite where you are producing too much. Thyroid hormone causes symptoms like excessive sweating and heat intolerance, excessive hunger, fast heart rate or heart palpitations. Some women are diagnosed initially based on having heart palpitations, weight loss, hair loss, tremor, diarrhea, irregular periods again, mood swings, panic attacks, insomnia and potentially abnormal protrusion of your eyes. They look kind of bug ish. Like both types of imbalances. Usually developed from a Gorder, thyroid itis or cancer. A goiter looks like a bulge in the neck. Attacks it go Reuters associated with hyperthyroidism and a nontoxic goiter or simple goiter is usually caused by iodine deficiency, leading to haibo Thyroid ism. I personally have had a greater twice. In addition to losing weight and feeling anxious. I constantly felt like something was stuck in my throat or pushing on it, and I was right. My thyroid was so large that it was pushing on my wind pipe. You could see it when I swallowed. That was what finally prompted the doctors to investigate further. For some women, it may not look very prominent, or your doctor may not feel naturals on it. But remember, there's a backside two of your thyroid. So just because the front it seems fine doesn't mean it's not growing toward the back pushing in your wind pipe. So if you have a persistent symptom like that, keep asking for answers. Ask for a thyroid ultrasound, don't give up symptoms or warning signs that something is developing, and we need to investigate and get to the root cause of it. It's not something to put a Band Aid on, so we don't have to hear the signal anymore. When we do that, we get another symptom or five, and eventually if We don't put the two and two together than we can't diagnose it properly. So let's stop masking our symptoms and figuring out the root cause. Thyroid itis is an inflammation of the thyroid gland. There are many types of thyroid itis, including Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroid. Itis like I mentioned sub acute thyroid itis, usually from a virus. Silent thyroid itis, which is painless. Postpartum thyroid itis, which happens after you have a baby. That was my initial presentation. Drug induced thyroid itis from medications like amiodarone, lithium interference, radiation induced thyroid itis and a cute thyroid itis, usually from a bacteria or other infectious organism. Inflammation eventually causes the thyroid cells to die, making the thyroid unable to produce enough hormones to maintain the body's normal metabolism. This is why I developed a goiter. Initially, I had postpartum thyroid itis. My thyroid was being attacked, so became inflamed and was releasing all of its stored hormone causing hyper thyroid symptoms. But then my cells got destroyed and could no longer make enough hormones. I became hypo thyroid. This is a common scenario with thyroid itis, and sometimes we recover and don't go on to suffer for many long term thyroid disease. But if you have Hashimoto's autoimmune type, then you most likely will not get better until you remove the triggers and heal your gut with significant diet. Lifestyle changes. Stress and inflammation are major triggers that cause your T four inactive hormone to be converted to reverse t three and not the active T three. Reverse T three competitively binds with active T three at all of your cells receptors. So if you're reverse, T three is elevated. Your active T three is not going to be able to bind to the receptors on all of yourselves and give the signal it needs to do its job. That reverse T three is elevated. When you have stress inflammation trauma, eat a low calorie diet. Have taxes in your system infections like parasite or yeast, overgrowth, liver, kidney dysfunction and certain medications. So it's super important to minimize those triggers so that you don't create so much. Reverse T three that wants to compete with your active T three hormone. Your body also needs selenium and zinc To convert T four to active T three. Your cells need vitamin A exercise and zinc toe. Actually hear the signals of t three toe function properly. So when you are just having your TSH and free T four level measured, that is not giving us any idea of whether or not the T four is being converted into the active T three hormone or reverse T three. And whether or not those hormones are able to bind to the receptors on all of the cells in your body and create proper functioning of those cells, thyroid cancer is another condition affecting the thyroid, according to the CDC and the National Cancer Institute. It's the six most common cause of cancer and women behind breast, lung, colon, uterine and skin. It's usually diagnosed in women between the ages of 45 54. However, it's the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women ages 20 to 34. It affects about 35,000 women a year. Unfortunately, the long term survival rates are excellent radiation exposures, believed to be the most common cause for developing it, along with a history of having a goiter, being female, being Asian and having a genetic mutation in the R E T gene, causing a condition called multiple endocrine neo plage of type two. So What can we do to help our thyroid function properly? Let's talk about seven techniques you can utilize to help boost the health and function of your thyroid gland, so stress it's a part of life. However, today more people are experiencing high, higher levels of stress, which can wreak havoc on your health. If you haven't already listened to episode number three hormone imbalance, then I recommend you go back and listen to that for a detailed understanding of what stress does to our hormones. In that episode, I explained how living in a constant state of fight or flight contests the adrenal glands, which can suppress the hypothalamus and pituitary glands, both of which directly influence or thyroid function. So if your stress is out of control than your thyroid will be, too. So it's super important to find ways to manage our stress through calming activities like meditation, deep breathing, journal, writing, prayer and nature walks. How about sleep? The body requires sleep for overall health and healing. Thyroid conditions can impact our sleep patterns and not sleeping. Welcome. Worsen your thyroid function. Talk about a vicious cycle, so most adults need 7 to 9 hours of sleep a night if you're not sleeping while you need to address that and corrected. Otherwise, it's gonna be a slippery slope of worsening symptoms and making it more difficult. Control your thyroid. Please take your sleep issues seriously and know that you don't have to and shouldn't live in a sleep deprived misery. I did that for over a decade, and it's hard to recover from. I'll just tell you that you definitely won't avoid eating for at least 2 to 3 hours before bed. Avoid caffeine after noon. Avoid strenuous activities in the evening because that will spike your cortisol levels and may get difficult to fall asleep. Put away your electron ICS, at least in our before bed and avoid alcohol because it causes blood sugar disruption and then you're waking up at two or three in the morning, you can drink a cup of calming herbal tea. Instead, you could dab a few drops of lavender oil on the bottoms of your feet or taken Epsom salt bath with lavender. You could try a meditation. Sleep ap like 10% happier. I would encourage you to create a nighttime ritual to help your brain prepare to unwind and go to sleep. Your thyroid will definitely thank you. Physical activity is a great way to support hormone production and combat symptoms related to thyroid dysfunction. The key is to listen to your body and do it exercises right for your situation. If you're experiencing a sluggish metabolism, you want to aim for at least 30 minutes every day of low intensity exercise. Yoga, swimming and jogging are all excellent options. If you go out and try to do a high intensity cardio workout and then you're down for the count for tude three days, then you know that is not the right exercise for you. You want to focus on full body movements but not stressing your dream. No glands by requiring constant cortisol production. That's what the high intensity cardio does, often with thyroid disease. The purpose is to stimulate your mitochondria, the little powerhouses inside all of yourselves, to produce more 80 Pierre Energy, as opposed to using up all the energy stores you have and leaving you down for the count for days. This is accomplished with more restorative type exercises like yoga, Pilates, stretching and walking. If you struggle with hyperthyroidism, practicing daily calming activities such as the resort of yoga and Tai Chee will slow your heart rate and reduce anxiety. It's a beautiful thing. Sugar and simple carbohydrates as well. Those alcohol, like I said, can wreak havoc on your body and your thyroid. Thes foods cause inflammation, weight gain and blood sugar issues, so get them out of your life. If you have a sweet tooth, try fresh fruit. You'll be surprised how quickly your taste buds will adapt to the natural sweetness, and you'll find enjoyment in that much more. Make sure to check the ingredient list to avoid products with added sugar. I talked about this in detail in episode number four. Food is medicine. If you haven't listened to that, I urge you to go back and listen. Because there's a ton of important information in that episode. A diet rich in essential vitamins and minerals such as selenium, iodine, zinc timing, B 12 and vitamin D can help heal your thyroid and reduce inflammation. The's vitamins and minerals are necessary for the conversion of inactive T four to active T three hormone for your body to be able to utilize it. So fill your plate with dark leafy greens, quality fats like avocados, olive oil, nuts and seeds, and plant based protein sources. You can also try incorporating more sea vegetables like seaweed, into your diet. In fact, just one sheet of dried seaweed contains well above the daily recommended value of iodine. But be careful. Some of the larger fish, like tuna used in sushi, contains mercury. We just can't catch a break can week, so I up for vegetarian type sushi like California rolls. A handful or two of Brazil nuts contain more than your daily recommended value of selenium, and it kicks starts to production of your active T three hormone. One egg contains about 20% of the daily recommended value of selenium and 15% of your iodine. Garlic is thyroid friendly because it's sports blood sugar metabolism and can fight inflammation. And then lentils are an excellent source of plant based protein, and they provide iron to the body. Low iron levels have been linked to poor thyroid function, and we know that most women with thyroid dysfunction have heavy irregular periods and usually therefore low iron levels, another vicious cycle that we need to break when planning a meal you want a limit? Foods that cause inflammation, sensitivity or allergic responses like highly processed foods in boxes and bags. Okay, so did you know that Bro Ming is added to breads, pastas, sports drinks and mountain dew? Roaming displaces iodine and causes functional hypothyroidism. So even if you don't have a pathological reason toe have thyroid dysfunction, what you're eating could be causing underactive thyroid. That's crazy, and that is not okay. All the more reason to avoid those processed foods. Please avoid unhealthy fats like vegetable oil, canola oil, sunflower oil, seeming margarine, salad dressings, coffee creamers and cheap industrialized oil that many restaurants use for deep frying. These are very inflammatory. You want to avoid taxes that can trigger immune responses like pesticides, so try to eat. Non GM owes an organic as much as possible. Lastly, you want to avoid endocrine disruptors, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a Quran, disruptors, or chemicals that interfere with the body's endocrine system and may produce adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological and immune effects In both humans and wildlife, endocrine disruptors are chemicals that mimic our hormones. Essentially, when this occurs, the chemical disruptor interferes with with the messages are hormones or trying to send our cells. Ah wide range of man made substances cause endocrine disruption, including pharmaceutical drugs, dioxin, dioxin like compounds, poly chlorinated biphenyls, DDT and other pesticides, and plastic creators like biz wien. All a so endocrine disruptors can be found in our everyday products, including plastic bottles. Metal food cans are detergents, flame retardants on our clothes and furniture. It's in our food or toys, cosmetics and pesticides used in our yards. So to reduce the exposure to endocrine disruptors, choose glass containers over plastic containers. Never heat your food and plastic. Please drink filtered water and buy organic produce. Opt for nontoxic natural bath and beauty products, household cleaners and laundry detergents. This will decrease the taxes getting into yourselves, competing with your hormones. If doing all these things doesn't get your thyroid under control, then you may haven't under lying condition like Cibo, which is small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You may have intestinal yeast overgrowth. Parasites are increased Intestinal permeability, also known as leaky gut. Ah, functional medicine physician can help you find these root cause issues and treat them so don't give up. If you don't feel well, search for answers. They are out there, so that's it. We've covered the basics on what your thyroid does, how it functions and interacts with our other systems, how it's affected by your diet and environment and how to keep it working properly. Toe. Have your thyroid function completely and accurately assessed. You should ask your doctor to measure TSH Total and free T four total and free T three reverse T three Kyra globulin antibodies thyroid, Perak City, Santa bodies and vitamin D levels. And some people also need thyroid stimulating antibodies and receptor antibodies, measured along with zinc, selenium and iodine. If your doctor isn't comfortable or willing to check those tests, then you should find one who is. You need to get a complete picture of how your thyroid is functioning, interacting with your cells and whether or not it's being attacked. This information will guide your treatment and give you the best chance at remission of your thyroid disease. Thank you for joining me today. If you got any useful information out of listening to this podcast today, please share it with your friends, co workers, sisters, your mom or grandma or your social media friends I want you to be empowered and know what's going on with your body. We need to support each other on our journeys. Back to help could be super honored. If you'd leave me a five star review on iTunes or wherever you're listening to this, it will let me know that what I'm doing is worth my time and will help get this information out to all the women who need it. Please follow me on Facebook and Instagram and Dr Tabatha. That's t A B a T h a All A's. No, I leave me questions or comments. I want your feedback. You can also check me out on my website www dot doctor tabatha dot com. I am here to support you ladies, so thank you for letting me be Your functional gynecologists have an awesome
