A Thyroid Thing

Thyroid disease has quickly become one of the most common health problems faced by Americans.  An underactive thyroid gland is known as hypothyroidism and is thought to afflict anywhere between 10-40% of Americans.  However, I’ve heard experts say they believe that subclinical hypothyroid is present in nearly 80% of women in the U.S.  This means they have signs and symptoms and are headed toward full blown thyroid disease but are not to the point that it would be diagnosed by blood tests.  Depending on the source, there are multiple causes for thyroid gland dysfunction, but the good news is there are a few things you can do to prevent or even reverse damage to this vital gland.

The thyroid gland can go either overactive or underactive, and both conditions are a problem, but the majority of all the thyroid problems are on the underactive or hypo-side of things.  Hypothyroid is classified by numerous symptoms including: increased weight, fatigue, ringing in the ears, dry skin, course hair, constipation, sensitivity to the cold, morning headaches, frequent urination, slow pulse, hair loss, inability to sweat, and a general lack of get-up-and-go.  Blood testing is the standard for diagnosis, but many times in the early phases of dysfunction these tests will come back as false negatives while the problem is still progressing.  This is particularly true when only the basic blood thyroid hormones are checked and not the full panel.  Many people believe that one of the reasons for dysfunction of the gland is related to the chloride and fluoride in our drinking water and eating brominated flour.  The thinking on this is that these elements are known to displace iodine in your body and the two basic thyroid hormones responsible for your metabolism are made largely of iodine.  Similarly, we do not get much iodine in our diets particularly in this part of the country.  This has been known for nearly a century and was classified as the Great Lakes Effect because culturally, the Midwest simply does not eat as much ocean-caught seafood that is rich in iodine.  Another cause of the dysfunction is toxicity.  Part of this is thought to be from pesticides as I reported on a few weeks ago, but other research shows that heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury mess with thyroid function as well. 

If you’re already dealing with thyroid problems, I would check your blood iodine levels and look to supplement with iodine, but I would also get with a doctor who checks for heavy metals and is able to perform chelation to detoxify and remove these metals.  You do not want to attempt this on your own – look for a doctor of Integrative Medicine to assist with this process.  If you’re just looking to avoid thyroid problems or worry due to a family history, I’d do a regular detoxification at least once per year, I’d still check my iodine levels and I would recommend sticking to a whole food diet while maintaining adequate levels of exercise and practicing some form of stress reduction technique such as meditation or yoga as, like with everything else, lifestyle factors play a role in thyroid function too!