Gut health
Clues From Our Thyroid – part 1
Two key reasons:
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Innocent until proven guilty. It’s estimated that perhaps 18-25% of women have an underlying thyroid disorder (It’s somewhat less common in men). This still means that 75-82% of us (women, for statistical ease) do not. Become well acquainted with your body so that you may better decipher the clues you are being given, and remember that there are many possible causes for almost every clue the body gives. Cluster clues for the win!
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Thyroid disease is overwhelmingly mistaken and/or overlooked in favor of other disorders (often mental health related) by the corporate owned medical community. Thyroid diagnosis often requires intuition (Holy Spirit discernment), patience, persistence, and attention to details. If you feel “off”, and yet your doctor tell you “everything looks good”…. Who do you believe? I hope you pointed a finger back at yourself just now. You believe what you know about your body and your refined detective skills!
Function of the Thyroid
Symptoms of thyroid deficiency might include:
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Chronic fatigue or tiredness.
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Muscular fatigue
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Puffiness or evidence of fluid retention
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Difficulty regulating body temperature (chronic feelings of being hot or cold. Recall the posts on body temperature)
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Development of Reynaud’s Syndrome
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Reduced pulse pressure and blood pressure
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Heart rate fluctuations
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Angina and/or feelings of breathlessness
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Higher cholesterol. People with subclinical hypothyroidism often have higher levels of LDL cholesterol. Thyroid disease is a major contributor to cholesterol problems.
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Arteriosclerosis (decreased elasticity of arteries)
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Changes in bruising or clotting (generally, bruising will become more common)
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Depression and/or anxiousness
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Difficulty gathering thoughts, memory, focus and concentration
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Headaches with unknown origin
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Moodiness or lack of enthusiasm in life
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Peripheral neuropathy
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Carpal tunnel (there is a strong link!)
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Random shooting pains in the hands and feet
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Osteoporosis (chronic hypothyroidism can be a contributor)
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Visual problems: dry eyes, age related macular degeneration, primary open angle glaucoma
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Loss of the outer eyebrows
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Chronic constipation
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Increased incidence of gallstones (thyroid hormones affects the composition of bile and how well it flows)
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Poor digestion of fats and proteins
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Decreased stomach acid resulting in poorly digested foods (If this clue is on your radar, grab your YL Essentialzyme and give your body digestive support!)
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Bloating, gassy
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Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
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Insulin resistance (and therefore) increased risk of developing Type II Diabetes
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Thicker tongue, perhaps even with scalloped teeth marks on the sides of the tongue.
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Changes in how food tastes.
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Periodontal disease
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Development of a husky or hoarse voice
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Infertility or difficulty maintaining a pregnancy
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Heavy periods (There is often a link between hypothyroidism and PCOS)
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Sex hormone imbalances (progesterone, estrogen and testosterone in women)
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Loss of libido
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Postpartum depression (very common)
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Premature menopause
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Dry skin
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Deep cracks and scales on the bottoms of the feet
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Deep lines on the palms of hands or soles of feet
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Yellowish orange or reddish color on palms of hands or soles of feet
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Reddish spots, bumps, or rashes that come and go
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Acne (often seen in conjunction with testosterone level disturbances)
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Brittle, flaking nails or nails that fail to grow well
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Hair loss (on the head) or gaining hair in all the wrong places elsewhere
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Getting sick more often, especially upper respiratory tract infections and in women, persistent urinary tract infections.
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Bedwetting in kiddos
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Delayed wound healing
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Gaining or losing weight without trying
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Poor sleep
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Iron deficiency anemia (roughly 50% of people with thyroid disease struggle with this)
Health Clues from Low Body Temperature – part 2
Tracking Body Temperature
Temperature Too Cool?
What might mind, body, and spirit care look like? To each person it will look a little different because of our individual uniqueness.
Restless Leg Syndrome – part 2
Restless Leg Syndrome: Respite Part II
One of the honed skills of a most excellent detective revolves around the process of eliminating suspects. This is key in nabbing the right culprit. How many news stories have you read about the wrong person languishing in jail for a crime they didn’t commit? The same is true when parsing health clues…. We’ve got to find the true offender.
The reality is that there may be a single culprit, or a gang of culprits….. AND, there might be some shady characters who look suspicious, but are not the real troublemakers. As the lead health detective, you may choose to haul them in for questioning (closer evaluation), only to find out they are truly innocent. Don’t get discouraged…. readjust your Sherlock Holmes cap and move on to question the next suspect!
As you’ve learned, all restless leg syndrome cases are unique. Unfortunately, nearly all cases are treated the same way by introducing pharmaceuticals to mediate discomfort. The most common medications used are anti-seizure medications (ex: gabapentin), drugs to treat Parkinson’s (ex: levodopa/carbidopa), opioids (ex: tramadol), or benzodiazepines (ex: clonazepam). I can personally guarantee that while each of these may soothe the legs, if used long term, will lead to misery and/or dysfunction in another part of the body.
If you’d like to build some gentle DIY soothing support for restless legs while you work on finding the root cause, try these recipes and find the one that serves you best. You’ll not want to stop here tho, because the culprit is still on the loose.
(Each recipe makes a 10ml roller bottle)
🌿Recipe #1🌿
20 drops Marjoram
20 drops Roman Chamomile
10 drops Lavender
10 drops Frankincense
Fill remaining space in roller bottle with carrier oil.
******
🌿Recipe #2🌿
15 drops Lavender
10 drops Roman Chamomile
10 drops Vetiver
5 drops Lemongrass
5 drops Marjoram
5 drops Blue Yarrow
5 drops Peppermint
5 drops Clove
3 drops Ginger
3 drops black pepper
Fill remaining space in roller bottle with carrier oil.
******
🌿Recipe #3🌿
AromaSiez (snap a roller fitment on that puppy and use as is!)
*****
🌿Recipe #4🌿
10 drops Peace & Calming
10 drops Panaway
10 drops Stress Away
10 drops Lavender
Fill remaining space in roller bottle with carrier oil
*****
Other ways to naturally alleviate the discomfort of restless legs include:
*Reducing caffeine intake (especially after lunch)
*Stop smoking
*Weight loss (Recall that elevated BMI contributes to restless legs)
*Increased exercise
*Cryotherapy
*Warm or cold compresses
*Weighted blankets
*Avoiding certain foods including processed foods, fatty fried foods, sodas, sugar, excessive alcohol, and caffeine.
*Adding specific food “tools” to your diet (ex: cashews, almonds, peanuts or brown rice) that are rich in magnesium. If you add magnesium to your diet thru supplementation, you’ll want to look for forms such as glycinate or malate for maximum bioavailability.
*Balance your micronutrient load with Young Living’s Mineral Essence and NingXia Red. You’ll be so glad you added both of these to your routine!
*Young Living CBD muscle rub. CBD has a relaxing effect on the muscles and a calming effect on nerves.
*Work on ways to improve your natural dopamine levels.
*Quinine water (true tonic water)
If you’ve done your prep work, you may now have a line up of suspects causing your restless legs. I am an enormous advocate of proper and extensive lab work, as concrete answers eliminate the guesswork. It will save both time and frustration.
-Iron deficiency may be easily identified and treated once you have concrete lab work answers on both iron and ferritin levels. It’s not generally a good idea to supplement iron until you know. Too much iron in the body can be quite damaging over time.
-If you suspect a hormone imbalance (including thyroid) may be a contributing factor, lab work can confirm your suspicions.. A hormone imbalance will also yield many other possible clues. Find your clue cluster, and you’ll likely find the culprit, and then you can get to work on the solution!
-Nutritional deficiencies can be so very subtle, and don’t always have a strong set of clues. Magnesium is a simple and safe supplement to try if lab work simply isn’t possible. Ample magnesium in the diet is also helpful for reducing chronic constipation episodes, reducing symptoms of depression, improving PMS symptoms, preventing migraines, and more!
-Kidney disease can be a hard one, as both the disease itself and many medications used in chronic kidney disease patients are potential culprits.
-Arguably, drug 💊induced restless legs is among the biggest offenders. Not surprisingly, countries that do not rely on pharmaceuticals as their predominant mode of care have the lowest incidence of restless leg syndrome within their population. Additionally, these countries also tend to live within a diet structure that has minimal processed foods and sugars available to them.
Take a close look at the medications that can cause restless legs (last week’s post). The biggest known offenders are 💊acid reducers (ex: omeprazole, pantoprazole, esomeprazole) 💊 escitalopram, 💊fluoxetine, 💊levodopa/carbidopa, 💊, levothyroxine, 💊mirtazapine, 💊olanzapine, and💊 tramadol. Many of these medications could be avoided with lifestyle choices and changes that address balancing mind, body, and spirit.
Approximately 10% of the population is on medication for heartburn and GERD related symptoms. According to a recent study:
“… consuming these powerful acid-blocking agents is strongly linked to a significantly higher incidence of restless legs syndrome, compared to those who did not consume these medications.”
Gah! Please go back and re-read all you’ve learned about the clues within the digestive system. Pairing up clues is the name of the game!
Finally, if you have children, remember that restless legs is not an “adults only” dysfunction. Up to 6% of kiddos have restless legs which often are undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. Kids are not always able to verbalize what they are experiencing, which can add to the challenge. Sleep, mood, cognition, and quality of life are significantly affected in the pediatric population. Not surprisingly, ADHD, depressive symptoms and anxiousness are often included in the clue cluster.
xoxo~ liz
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Essential Oils Support Wellness
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If you are wanting to improve someone’s wellbeing this Christmas, let me help you with your “hard to shop for” people.
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xoxo~ liz