Photo Credit: KaLisa Veer
Well, we’ve come to the end of my Thyroid Series (though I'm sure you'll hear plenty more from me about the thyroid in the future). If you’re just tuning in, we have discussed the following so far:
· Why people with underlying thyroid deficiency often get sick at the change of season (read here).
· How a healthy thyroid can help you look and feel younger (read here).
· How an underlying thyroid dysfunction can manifest in elevated cholesterol and triglyceride levels (read here).
Finally, today I’m going to talk about addressing the thyroid naturally and what I do in my practice to help patients get their lives back.
4 Ways of Addressing Your Thyroid Naturally
1. Identifying the cause - while this seems very elementary, it is often overlooked. In my previous posts, I mention that while not everyone with a thyroid issue has abnormal blood work, you can be deficient or have a sluggish thyroid and have very real, life-altering signs and symptoms. I like to think of health as a big circle made up of many linked chains, if one of the links goes bad the others ones are impacted. Often times I see patients in my office with a certain presentation or disease. Yet, while it may seem like one organ system is the problem, this organ system may just be overworking to compensate for the real issue. For example, it may seem as though you have a thyroid problem when in reality you have unstable blood sugar. High blood sugar can suppress the thyroid.
Blood work or signs and symptoms will indicate that it’s the thyroid, yet treating your thyroid will never bring about full resolution and healing unless you address your blood sugar levels first.
Have you thought about the fact that your "thyroid disease" may not be what it seems?
2. Address the underlying allergies-we live in a very unclean environment, with pollution and chemicals and pesticides, etc. So, it's important to make sure that our bodies are at their healthiest to withstand the stressors that we have no control over. How does identifying your allergies play a role? If you have a persistent chronic allergy, it stresses out your gut, which causes inflammation, leaky gut and ultimately autoimmune disease. Your thyroid is especially sensitive to inflammation and autoimmune disease produced in your gut.
Often times we see gluten allergies with thyroid patients. Gluten increases the antibody production in our blood stream (antibodies attack healthy tissues such as your thyroid) making it very difficult to find a healthy hormone balance and regulate your thyroid.
So the environmental stressors can play a role in your health. But you can fight this by making your body the healthiest it can be by simply addressing any allergies you might have. Gluten is just one of the allergens that impacts your thyroid. In my office I identify not only allergies, but sensitivities. Let me explain. In order to have a diagnosed allergy, your blood has to have a certain number of inflammatory markers. If you’re not actively taking in the allergens (example: Celiac disease) your markers will go down. But does that mean that you should continue eating gluten? Of course not! Through using muscles testing, in my office, I’m able to identify sensitivities BEFORE they become allergies and before you get sick from them. Muscle testing is about 2% sensitive vs. your typical blood test which requires 60-70% to pick up an allergy.
3. Addressing your emotions - I cannot stress this enough. Emotions impact our physical health on such an important, real level. In my office I talk to my patients about how different emotions affect different organ systems. For example, have you ever been so nervous about upcoming exam, or a situation in life, that you got a belly ache? That’s one link between your stomach and worry. Persistent worrying can actually cause digestive disturbances over time. In practice, we address emotions through many emotional techniques, acupuncture systems, chiropractic care, supplement/herbs, etc., to make sure we address the underlying cause instead of simply giving a patient enzymes for the rest of their lives.
So just as stomach problems can be brought on by worry, other systems all over the body have emotions related to them. Have you ever thought that your problem can be both emotional and physical in nature?
4. Taking the right products - I often have patients come into my office with a lot of products that they are taking. Often times they have heard that certain things are helpful or had a store clerk recommend a vitamin or herb that they think will help them. Guys, it's important to know why you’re taking what you’re taking. A good rule of thumb is that just because its natural doesn’t mean its safe. Just because your friend is taking something doesn’t mean that you should. While completely innocent and well meaning, people can recommend great products that aren't necessarily right for you. Why? Because we all are different, with different cell make up and physiology and biochemistry and genetics. So, we all need our individual approach. That’s why vitamins and herbs and homeopathy should be prescribed to you for a specific reason by a health care professional. They will give it for a specific cause AND will know that there won’t be any serious, potentially life-threatening cross reactions with something else that’s going on in your body. I’m not saying this is to scare you, but it's important to understand why you’re taking what you are. This is why in my office I muscle test all products I give to my patients to ENSURE that they both need them and their body can use them. In order to promote true healing and not just alleviation of symptoms.
So, to sum it up, if you’re struggling with your thyroid issue, it's not only important but critical to understand whether your thyroid is in fact the reason why your thyroid isn’t working. Or is it something else? Get to the root cause and don't put a bandage over the issue.
If you or someone you know want to explode your thyroid condition and are looking for true answers give us a call or click below to schedule a full evaluation and treatment!
If you are interested in further addressing this topic, please feel free to reach out and schedule an appointment. Dr. V is a Chiropractor and Functional Medicine Doctor in Elmhurst, Illinois who evaluates patients from the inside out, focusing on areas including hormone imbalance, digestive health, anxiety/depression, autoimmune disease, and many others.