From Hormones to Methylation: What your Thyroid needs to thrive
Why is THYROID suddenly so popular? Are people more AWARE of their bodies and the way they should FUNCTION, or do we live in such a HARMFUL environment that it’s just inevitable for us to notice something is wrong?
Or is it because I see in clinic more women who are going through PERIMENOPAUSE and suffer with OESTROGEN DOMINANCE which could affect the thyroid whatever the contributing factor is you’re the FACT is that
EVERY CELL IN THE BODY HAS RECEPTORS FOR THYROID HORMONE
Thyroid hormones (THs) regulate growth, development, metabolism, breathing rate, heart rate, energy consumption, reproduction, it’s needed in your brain for developing new neurons – brain growth.
it’s needed for ATP(energy) production and maintaining many other bodily functions normal.
The brilliance of the THYROID is that it’s a BAROMETER of your BODY it’s not only showing you what’s the weather WITHIN yourself, but it also has the abilities to CONTROL it depending on the needs of the body:
It can make it DRY, ….. OR perfectly MOIST,
…the thyroid can speed it up or slow it down,
it can make you SING or TIE your throat IN KNOTS and prevent you from speaking,
it can also raise your voice into hysterical CRESCENDO which will show the world what storm is raging within you.
The THYROID is a very gentle organ and produces a variety of symptoms to tell you that there is a problem before it shows on the conventional blood tests.
It’s very sensitive to the works of your ADRENALS – when you are acutely STRESSED, your thyroid will SPEED UP as well so it can allow you to go at a faster pace and cope with the situation at hand. However, if the stress is CHRONIC and you have depleted your resources then the thyroid doesn’t have an option but to SLOW down and put the BRAKES on your METABOLISM.
Very often the thyroid is not to be blamed, it’s just the MESSENGER or it provides the couriers to get the message to the cells.
Potential causes: It could be the ADRENALS that are the culprit
OR
the PITUITARY gland that’s reacted to a trauma of yours that you might have buried and forgotten
OR
it could be your LIVER who struggles to find the co-factors to convert the T4 into T3 (the active form of the thyroid hormone).
It could be even that your GENES are against you and you have a SNP (single nucleotide polymorphisms) in one of the responsible for this conversion.
OR
it might be your GUT playing sinister games with you and your immune system and letting antigens attack your thyroid and making a mess out of your well-structured day.
Due to the SENSITIVITY of the organ, the changes are often gentle and go UNNOTICED for a long time OR are being attributed to AGE and stressful LIFESTYLE.
And you will say – yeah, everything is to do with stress nowadays. However, you need to consider that stress is not only what happens to us in daily life, like a difficult situation at work or you have a quarrel with your neighbour or with your other half. Unfortunately, we live in this time where stress can come in the form of polluted air, polluted water, depleted of nutrients’ food, highly processed (industrialised) food, foods laden with heavy metals. All these affect your overall inflammation levels and if your thyroid is the weak link (genetically challenged or attacked by an autoimmune process), it will suffer the most.
There are many ways to improve the HEALTH of your THYROID and any other part of your BODY for that matter. It would be best if you could find where the ROOT CAUSE is – STRESS (trivial, right?), GUT, LIVER, AUTOIMMUNITY, all combined…. but as with life – it’s complicated.
The next best thing to do is address your FOOD, your LIFESTYLE, the SUPPLEMENTS you’re taking that might be contributing to the problem:
- Clean, NUTRIENTS DENSE diet – provide the MACRONUTRIENTS and CO-FACTORS that are needed for optimal thyroid function
- Stress management – ADRENALS and thyroid are best buddies and by treating one, you could influence the other
- Elimination of environmental TOXINS exposure – limit the triggers, the fewer bullets in the gun, the lower the chances to react
- Reduction of the body’s INFLAMMATION – you cannot have a long-lasting health of any organ unless you address the overall inflammation levels; your body doesn’t work in parts even if you go to different specialists to fix them
- Reduce VIRAL and TOXIC loads – have you accumulated a lot of viruses and heavy metals over the years?
- Test for GENETIC challenges – can your body actually convert T4 into T3? or you have been dealt the short straw…
- MEDICATIONS analysis – Do you know what nutrients your PHARMACEUTICALS deplete? Do you take 2 or more medications? do you know if they interact with each other? Some thyroid medications contain T4 only and if your body is genetically challenged to struggle with the conversion to its active form of T3, it will increase the T4 blood levels i.e. your blood tests will be NORMAL but you will still struggle on cellular level.
THE SCIENCE
The process begins in the hypothalamus with the Thyroid Hormone Releasing Hormone (THRH) which goes to the pituitary requesting the release of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). Then TSH acts on the thyroid to produce thyroxine (T4) which is then converted to the active triiodothyronine (T3).
TYPES OF THYROID AILMENTS:
Hyperthyroidism is a term for an overactive thyroid gland which is overproducing thyroid hormones, and the excess overstimulates the functions, regulated by the glad – growth, development, metabolism, breathing rate, heart rate, energy production and consumption, reproduction.
Hypothyroidism is a term for an underactive thyroid gland, when it’s not producing and secreting enough thyroid hormones, and the above processes suffer from the shortage.
Primary hypothyroidism – low T4 or T3 and high thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) – it can also be high T4 but low T3 due to low conversion, co-factors deficiencies, etc.
Secondary hypothyroidism – low T4 and TSH, diminish pituitary output
Tertiary hypothyroidism – low production of thyroid hormone releasing hormone (THRH) from the hypothalamus
Wilson’s syndrome – normal levels of T4 and T3 but high levels of rT3 (an inactive molecule, which can inhibit the action of T3)
Autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) in which the body produces antibodies against the thyroid gland:
(1)Hashimoto’s – it can produce symptoms of both hypo and hyper thyroid function
(2)Grave’s disease – in which your immune system generates antibodies that stimulate the thyroid to produce excessive thyroid hormone.
RELEVANT TESTS
Full thyroid panel
- TSH
- FT3
- FT4
- Total T4
- Reverse T3
- Antibodies – A-TPO, A-TG, A-TSHR
Insulin resistance
- Fasting glucose
- Fasting insulin
- Hb A1C
- Cholesterol
Triiodothyronine (T3) has a direct impact on the genes that regulate glucose homeostasis. Therefore, thyroid dysregulation means blood sugar dysregulation. Moreover, elevated insulin levels can interfere with the conversion of the inactive thyroid hormone (T4) to the active thyroid hormone (T3) in the body and dysregulate the thyroid function. It’s a bit like the egg and the hen game.
Gut testing
Healthy, well balanced gut microbiome can increase the overall conversion of the thyroid hormone. Some of the thyroxine (T4) is converted to the active Triiodothyronine (T3) in the gut by a member of the Bacteroidaceae family.
The test can also show if there is an activated autoimmune process.
Genetic testing
DNA testing to check key processes like methylation, detoxification, insulin sensitivity, vitamin D metabolism and other important gene variations which may affect the thyroid function and overall health.
DI02 is the gene that is responsible for the conversion of T4 to T3
GLUT2 is one of the genes that regulate glucose homeostasis at the liver and peripheral tissues
CYP2R1 – The enzyme 25-hydroxylase is responsible for converting vitamin D to 25(OH)D (calcidiol) and is encoded by this gene.
HTMA
A hair, tissue, mineral analysis could detect early signs of subclinical thyroid dysregulation
