I know I didn’t blog yesterday. It was a busy day and it was get everything else done or drop the ball on some things to blog. I chose the former. If it makes you feel better, one of the things I was occupied with was a webinar on Hypothyroidism by Lani Simpson, D.C. Dr. Simpson actually found me in the Hypothyroidism group on Facebook, then found my blog and sent me a friend request with a compliment. 🙂
It was really interesting listening to Dr. Simpson because she takes a multi-disciplinary approach so a lot of what she was talking about I found myself nodding my head and saying, “Yes!” I was looking for the chat box and forgetting there wasn’t one. Just a box to ask questions in. We are all different. We all respond different to medications. This was all stuff I’ve blogged about before. We all test differently, yet still have the same symptoms. Synthroid and medication itself is not the only thing for people with Hypothyroidism. Proper nutrition is key in supporting our thyroid and our body as a whole. Low blood pressure and low body temperature isn’t just “normal” for us, it’s an indication that something isn’t right.
If I knew all that, what did I learn? A lot. Stress plays an important role in our adrenal glands and thyroid going haywire. When we are under repeated stress, our adrenal glands get attacked. This suppresses our immune system. Ever go on vacation and as soon as you start relaxing from all the stress, you get sick? It’s happened to me more than once. Our hormones also become out of balance, which is what can trigger the thyroid problems. It’s common for women to develop hypothyroidism when our hormones are changing and out of balance during puberty, pregnancy, peri-menopause, and menopause.
Vitamin D actually works in the body like a hormone. I wish I had asked more about this, but I didn’t. Something I definitely want to look into more.
If someone presents with classic symptoms but the TSH is low, then it is likely driven by the adrenal glands. This is something I hear from people in the Hypothyroidism group a lot. They have all the symptoms but their TSH is low or WNL (within normal limits) and their doctor won’t do anything. Before the TSH test came out, thyroid problems were diagnosed solely by symptoms.
A better understanding of the T4 and T3 thing. T4, T3, T2, T1, etc. are all thyroid hormones. What happens in a lot of cases is the T4 is not converting to T3. What Synthroid does is provide you with more T4, synthetic of course. If you still have symptoms and aren’t feeling better, then it’s likely the T4 still isn’t converting to T3. Some patients get put on Cytomel (synthetic T3) in conjunction to T4 and do better afterwards. In all likelihood that is probably what was happening to me on Synthroid, but my doctor didn’t test my T3 and still doesn’t.
The low blood pressure can become high blood pressure if the thyroid isn’t treated. I know I’m going to mangle this because I couldn’t write fast enough when I took notes. Scratch that. I started to try to and it wasn’t making sense! But I get it in my head. Go figure.
Iodine and L-Tyrosine can increase inflammation in people with autoimmune thyroiditis. This makes sense now with all the stuff I’ve seen from books and articles about not taking iodine. But, before it was all or nothing. Either no, don’t take it at all or yes, take it. Now here’s this. Something that actually makes sense to me now. Some of us should take it and some of us shouldn’t, depends on what type you have.
Fluoride is similar in chemical structure to iodine. I’ve seen people say, “Stay away from fluoride” and just like the iodine, never why. Now a why. This was something else she really didn’t go into more about, but I’ll be looking more into. Hopefully, I can find some toothpaste without fluoride!
Armour is tested for consistency and Synthroid was nearly removed from the market in 2003 because it wasn’t consistent in testing. I had someone asking about this very thing when I recommended Armour to someone else. I’m glad when she asked she used the word “rumors”, because that’s what they are, rumors. I’ve never been on it, but everything I’ve read about it has been positive. For those of you who don’t know, Armour is a biodentical. Which mean it’s real and natural. It is identical to our own and not synthetic like Synthroid or Cytomel. It comes from the desiccated thyroid of pigs that are organically fed and has the full gamut of thyroid hormones instead of just one. I tell this to everyone asking about Armour, it was the medication for hypothyroidism before Synthroid entered the market and has been around since the mid-1800s. If my doctor told me I had no choice and had to go back on medication, I’d insist on Armour or another desiccated thyroid medication.
It felt odd sitting at home listening to a webinar, but I’m glad I did it. All good information. Some I already knew and some new.
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