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The Facts Surrounding Adrenal Gland Stress – part 1

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Figment, Fatigue, Copycat or Multiple Culprits? The Facts Surrounding Adrenal Gland Stress Part I
 
Several months ago, I wrote a series recognizing stress as its own particular mafia-like crime family bent on creating mayhem within the body. You’ll want to pull that crime scene file as a reference tool as we address adrenal gland health, function and distress. Adrenal fatigue is not an officially recognized entity within western medicine and should not be confused with Addison’s disease, a rare disorder which causes severe and permanent adrenal insufficiency only relieved by medication. The progression of adrenal fatigue is akin to watching an automobile accident happen in slow motion beginning well before the actual collision. A series of events took place leading up to the actual accident. Separately, fiddling with the radio, the wet streets, the tread a little too worn on the tires, the kids wrestling in the back seat, the phone ringing, the car in front slamming on their brakes didn’t cause the accident. The accident occurred because of an accumulation of events. Such is the case with adrenal fatigue.
 
As this crime scene is dis-assembled and reassembled, bear in mind that there will be many overlapping clues🔎 leading to other dis-ease states: anemia, sleep apnea, autoimmune disorders, subclinical infections, POTS, hormonal impairments, major organ disorders and deficiencies (common ones being B12, folate, iron/ferritin, magnesium, and Vitamin D), and perhaps these dis-ease states may be playing a role in your personal crime scenario that is (or is not) adrenal fatigue.
 
The biggest baddest clue in town for adrenal fatigue is all manner of stress, specifically the stress that has led up to this point. Adrenal fatigue is predated by at least two years of chronic stress that nearly always comes from more than one source. Every single crime scene is different, and in order to map out your particular story, you’ll want to spend a little time putting together a timeline of clues.🔎 On your timeline, you’ll want to log the dates and each incident in all of the following categories of stress:
  • Hospital stays
  • Surgeries
  • Significant illnesses (anything that kept you home and required recuperation time)
  • Chronic, auto-immune, or degenerative disorders (include first symptom dates and actual diagnosis dates if possible)
  • Dental work (root canals, implants, tooth removals, filled cavities, infections etc)
  • Significant emotional events (a death of a loved one, loss of job, divorce, traumas, mood disorders, etc)
  • Prescription medications (including both short term therapy such as an antibiotic and long term therapy such as blood pressure medications)
Adrenal fatigue creeps in on little cat feet, and if you are aware of the predisposing factors you have every chance of heading it off before it creates enormous issues within the body. Ideally, you’ll use this book (and other reference materials) to recognize what could happen when “the scene is being set up” and will implement wisdom and discernment to head off disaster at the pass. (said in my best John Wayne voice!🤠)
 
When you’ve put your health history together (as suggested above), hang on to this document and add to it as your life story is written. Additional factors that add to or aggravate the stress load include:
  • Having a “Type A” personality
  • A chronic (mental, emotional, or physical) stress which keeps you in a low grade “fight or flight”
  • A severely stressful event
  • Working to the point of exhaustion
  • Harboring chronic or simmering anger
  • Harboring even low grade (subclinical) infections (bacterial, parasitic, viral, fungal)
  • Excessive chronic caffeine intake
  • Excessive exercise
  • Poor diet, mal-absorption or mal-digestion issues
  • Very little play or relaxation time
  • A toxic (physical or emotional) environment.
  • A chemically toxic environment
  • Chronic inflammation (remember that not all inflammation is painful. Proper labwork may identify inflammation you may not even be aware of)
  • A sedentary lifestyle
  • Poor sleep habits or sleep deprivation
  • Too many years on a high fat/ high protein diet
  • PTSD
  • Concurrent conditions that also set the body up for adrenal fatigue include MTHFR gene variance, mitochondrial disorders, a sludgy liver, EMF toxicity, a previously existing endocrine imbalance (subclinical hypothyroidism, estrogen dominance, insulin resistance, etc)
  • Maternal stress during pregnancy (Epigenetics! The fetus’ body is programmed to address stress as his/her mother did while in utero)
Living in today’s world, it’s fairly safe to say there isn’t a single one of us who has remained unscathed.
 
The stages of Adrenal fatigue go something like this:
 
Stage I: Fatigue, but hormone production hasn’t yet been affected
 
Stage II: Fatigue, anxiety, and possible irritability. It may take longer to fall asleep than it used to, and harder to stay asleep. Infection rate has increased (getting sick more often), and hormone and thyroid symptoms have begun showing up. This would include PMS and menstrual irregularities.
 
Stage III: All of the above plus multiple diagnosed endocrine system imbalances (sex hormones, thyroid, pancreas) and severe fatigue. Common diagnoses at this stage also include:
  • POTS
  • Blood sugar imbalances
  • Cardiovascular irregularities (beat, rhythm, and blood pressure)
  • Anxiety diagnoses
Stage IV: the line between Adrenal fatigue and Addison’s Disease gets blurry.
Clues🔎 surfacing within “active” adrenal fatigue stages will become more pronounced as progression occurs unless you take charge of the situation. Awareness is key, because this is your opportunity to stop the crash before it happens! Reminder: there are usually multiple causes for each clue, and you’ll want to pair these clues with the “stress load” profile you built (above). What you may begin to see is a series of unrelated events, circumstances, and health clues all crescendoing towards the same thing… adrenal glands that are growing weary from “running from the lion” day in and day out. Remember, look at the entire puzzle, not the individual pieces🧩! Some of the more common clues seen within adrenal fatigue staging include:
  • Gaining weight, especially around the abdomen (estrogen dominance will do this too)
  • Fragile skin
  • Inability to turn the brain off
  • Feeling anxious or nervous without good reason
  • Feeling overwhelmed
  • Infections that are lasting longer than they should
  • Need a stimulant such as coffee to get started in the morning
  • Reduced libido
  • Lightheaded when rising from a horizontal position
  • Intolerance to exercise
  • Fatigued but restless
  • Tending to wake up between 2-4am most nights
  • GI function that has become irritable or hyperactive often combined with mal-absorption issues that ultimately lead to deficiencies
  • Loose hanging fat around the belly, combined with thin arms and legs, and a puffy face
  • Pain in the upper back or neck that doesn’t have a reasonable explanation
  • Feeling better physically when away from the source of stress
  • Receding hairline and/or unexplained hair loss
  • Afternoon napping
  • Your day looks something like this:
  • Wake up but need coffee or stimulant to function
  • Energy boost mid morning
  • Energy crash around 2pm
  • Energy revive around 6pm
  • Crash again around 9pm but wide awake at 11pm
  • Intense cravings of sweet and salty food
  • Increased incidence of environmental and food allergies and sensitivities
  • Decreased ability to cope with stress
Mind, body, and spirit stress is everywhere, and we all need daily Jesus, Thieves Household Cleaner, good food, appropriate sleep, and all the emotionally relaxing oils we can use! My favorite emotional oils are Frankincense, Lavender, StressAway, Peace & Calming, and Valor which all have some very interesting “worth the dive” science supporting their role as tools for healthy stress management.
 
See you next week as we dive a little deeper into the muddy waters of adrenal fatigue!
 
xoxo~ liz
 
#sharingiscaring
#adrenalfatigueisreal
#theapplicationofknowledgeispower
#goodmedicine
#BYOHD
#becomingyourownhealthdetective
#ThanksYL

How Much Do You Know About the Lymphatic System?

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How much do you know about the lymphatic system friends?🤔 We consider the kidneys, colon……. even the skin and lungs as our major detoxifier focus, right? The lymphatic system is a major detoxification highway and frankly it’s overlooked in general Westernized medicine. Thankfully, there are now lymphatic clinics, lymphatic massage specialists (tho not always easy to find), and lymphatic educators out there. However, they are not called upon until major lymph sludge has developed.
 
If you’re here…. you already know that the best defense in health and wellness is a good offense.🙌 How are you loving on your lymphatic system? How do you know if you need to (hint…. we should ALL be loving on our lymphatic system regularly to avoid toxin loads). 🤓
 
Feel puffy or swollen in any area of your body is a call to action. A white flag is being waved. Dimply cellulite is another indicator that your lymph highway has not been able to remove toxins as well as it should be.
 
Join me in cleaning up the mess! You’ll need Epsom salts, and a dry brush in addition to these items: (shopping list👇)
 
If you’d like to be added to the education group to learn tips and tricks for a high functioning lymphatic system let me know and I’ll get you added!
 
xoxo~ liz

Endocrine System – part 2

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Have you ever:
  • Been given medication without thorough labwork?
  • Been told you are “fine” by a healthcare professional, but you don’t feel fine?
  • Felt like you’ve been doing “all the things” to care for your struggling thyroid, but still felt unwell?
If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, the next series of clues might just be for you.
We’ve covered the northern endocrine family members (hypothalamus, pituitary, pineal, and thyroid).  I’m hopeful that you’ve been piecing clues🔎 together. Remember, cluster clues, including your personal “life experience” history, both physical and emotional, are where your answers most likely reside. Only you, and perhaps your parents if some events predate your memories, know these VIP clues. Keeping a journal 📓is often a key component to uncovering the root cause of a health situation.
 
There are more interesting members within the endocrine system family tree. Just south of the thyroid is a gland called the thymus. The thymus sits right behind the sternum (breastbone) in front of the heart, and is the “bootcamp” for the immune system’s T-cells, where they mature and turn into specialized agents of protection against bacteria, viruses, and cancer. The thymus is strongest and most active in children and teens. There is chronological aging as well as biological aging. Interestingly, if severe or chronic stress is part of a body’s environment, the thymus will rapidly “age” and begin shrinking, ultimately turning into a pocket of fat (literally!). Clues indicating🔎 a “tired” thymus include being easily fatigued, lack of motivation, susceptibility to catching colds or flu, persistent chronic illness despite “doing all the things”, slow wound healing, and outward signs of an accelerated aging process.
 
As you may guess, thymus deterioration affects lifetime immune system function, so keeping this hidden gem healthy is a good idea! Supportive measures include:
  • Keeping toxin load low
  • Learning techniques to mediate physical and emotional stress. Imagine the health benefits if this was learned at a young age!
  • Eating nourishing foods that are high in micronutrient content
  • Restorative sleep
  • Exercise daily for improved blood flow throughout the body (cleansing and nourishing the thymus). Yoga is particularly beneficial for supporting thymus function.
  • Thymus thumping/tapping. Thump or tap gently (with either the tips of your fingers or the palm of hand) on your sternum for 30-60 seconds a couple times a day to stimulate the thymus.
  • Olive Leaf (YL’s Olive Essentials)
  • Melatonin – A 2003 study🤓 found a correlation between melatonin supplementation and a notable increase in thymus weight (size) and function. Additional studies🤓 have found that even when melatonin supplementation begins late in life, age related thymus “decay” is reversible and immune system function often improves. A 2006 study🤓 in the Bulletin of Experimental Biology and Medicine found that supplementing melatonin during times of acutely severe or chronic stress prevented atrophy of the thymus. I am an enormous fan of Young Living’s Immupro for a good night’s sleep, and this is an additional reason to keep several bottles of this melatonin containing supplement on hand! (Great news for those of us who know and love it already…. It is scheduled to be back in stock later this month!). Sleep Essence is another night time product that also contains melatonin.
Further south, the twin adrenal glands show up in the endocrine family. These are two smallish quesadilla shaped glands that sit atop each kidney. God designed us masterfully well. These two glands sit remarkably close to the abdominal aorta (our major artery) and vena cava (our major vein). This close proximity allows for a quick dump of influential chemicals that facilitate acting quickly 🏃‍♂️🏃🏃‍♀️ when the need arises. I call this “running from the lion”🏃‍♀️🐅 time. These two glands produce a very precise mixture of adrenaline, cortisol and other steroid hormones (DHEA, pregnenolone, estrogens, testosterones) and aldosterone (a steroid hormone that regulates potassium, sodium and fluid volume in the body). The mixture is uniquely compounded according to the event at hand. When a person feels any amount of stress, whether that be a mile long “to do” list or narrowly escaping being eaten by a lion, the hypothalmus and pituitary work together to signal the adrenal glands. The mind🧠doesn’t differentiate between a too long “to do” list and a lion in terms of stress, and stress becomes the squeaky wheel. Other mechanisms in the body slow down so that the squeaky wheel can be addressed.
  • Thyroid hormone production slows down
  • Reduced conversion of T4 (inactive) to T3 (active) thyroid hormone occurs
  • Thyroid receptors become less receptive to receiving thyroid hormones. This is important because even if you happen to be on thyroid medication, it won’t be utilized properly during a stress response. Recall that thyroid receptors are located throughout the body and must function properly in order that we may function optimally day to day. (Go back and read the section on thyroid and the gallbladder for a refresher!)
 
Chronic stress puts the adrenals on overdrive, flooding the body with cortisol, until the adrenals can no longer keep up, and adrenal fatigue (adrenal dysregulation) develops. Cortistop is another one of my very favorite Young Living supplements. It is designed to address the way women’s bodies react to the cortisol produced when under stress. When too much cortisol is released regularly, it can have some hefty health consequences which include feeling deep fatigue and often the addition of abdominal fat that seems to defy losing. Recall that those are also two very common symptoms of thyroid disorder. Odds are high that clues like these may have more than one culprit, and both will need to be addressed if that’s the case.
 
Cortistop is not designed to be taken continuously (Suggested use is 8 weeks on, 2-4 weeks off). Although the directions state to take two capsules in the morning before breakfast, my body responds favorably to one capsule a day. And although Cortistop is formulated for women, I do know some manly men who have found this particular supplement to be quite helpful during times of stress too. PRO TIP: I also recommend making a plan so that your Cortistop“off “ times do not correspond to anticipated times of high stress (such as tax season or project due dates!).
 
Interestingly, the vast majority of western healthcare practitioners do not recognize adrenal fatigue. While there is currently no black and white way to test for adrenal fatigue in a laboratory, there are many clues that point towards this very real condition that you, the discerning sleuther 🔎, may uncover on your own or with the help of a health professional who does understand adrenal fatigue.
Next up…. A solid list of clues🔎 useful for identifying adrenal fatigue, and ways to support the adrenal glands!
 
xoxo~ liz
 
#sharingiscaring
#adrenalfatigueisreal
#theapplicationofknowledgeispower
#goodmedicine
#BYOHD
#becomingyourownhealthdetective
#ThanksYL

Thyroid Problem Clues – part 2

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Analysis Paralysis has finally released its hold on me as I dip into the complexities of thyroid dysfunction and their absolute connection with autoimmune disorders. It’s important to understand that over 90% of diagnosed hypothyroid patients actually have an autoimmune disorder.
History always helps me understand science and biology because history leaves valuable clues. A journal article I read yesterday had this interesting tidbit:
“During the first half of the century [1900’s], autoimmune disease was viewed as biologically implausible.”
My, how things have changed!🥴 Resistance to the idea that autoimmunity could not happen began waning in the 1960’s. By then, life had changed drastically in many ways. Processed foods were introduced into mainstream eating habits, medication / vaccination use steadily inched upwards into the norm rather than the exception, plastics became part of our everyday world, fluoride was added to water, personal care products had a growing ingredient list of words that were barely pronounceable, herbicides were used ubiquitously and parents let their kids run behind the trucks that were spraying DDT for mosquitoes🦟! Thankfully the DDT spraying has stopped, but other pesticides quickly took its place. The toxin list has grown by leaps and bounds over the decades. Today, our bodies have to wade through the toxic soup☠️ known as the standard American life. Genetically, we haven’t changed appreciably, yet we are now part of the sickest generation in recorded history.
Did you know that at least 90% of genetic expression is the result of our environment, while the other 10% can be attributed to the role of the proverbial parental genetic dice? Epigenetics (the expression of our genes based on environmental influences) will look differently for each person based upon genes + exposure to infection (often viral), the Standard American Diet (simultaneously nutritionally deficient and toxic), pollutants (both in and outside the home), medications/vaccines, emotions, and stress. Epigenetics is so specifically unique to an individual that even identical twins👭 may express genes differently when exposed to chronic stressors. If you are going to put together a perfect crime scene,🔎 this is the way to do it!
 
Roughly 20% of the adult population in the USA now has an autoimmune disorder
And this percentage continues to rise. Prior to the 1970’s, autoimmune disorders were relatively obscure. Hashimoto’s, the autoimmune version of hypothyroidism, is considered by The Autoimmune Registry to be the second most common of all autoimmune disorders (second only to rheumatoid arthritis).
There is both bad and good news about autoimmune disorders. While they never disappear, they can certainly go into remission with the right lifestyle changes and choices. It’s a good thing we are in control of our personal choices!😉
 
According to leading Hashimoto’s and autoimmune disorder expert, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, there are 3 stages of autoimmune disease:
🔎Stage One is the silent stage. The body has begun losing its tolerance to its own tissue, but to the western health practitioner, there will be very few “hard core” symptoms. You though, as the CEO and chief sleuth🕵️, will feel “off”. What does “off” feel like? Well, that depends! It may be something as subtle as spending more (or less!) time in the bathroom. Perhaps it might be a rash that comes and goes. Maybe it means you are having difficulty finding the zest for life you once had, or you just have a little harder time waking up in the morning or falling asleep at night. Stage One is very important, as catching “things” early can be a game changer in the outcome. Lab work identifying elevated TPOAb and TGAb antibodies (for Hashimoto’s) can be very revealing. Neither test is very expensive when you pay out of pocket. Sadly, insurance companies often refuse to pay for these as “maintenance” labs. If your request is refused, I highly encourage you to pay out of pocket elsewhere and have the tests run annually with other labs.
 
🔎Stage Two is considered the reactivity stage and actual destruction to target tissue has begun. Symptoms are much “louder” and harder to ignore inside your own body. In fact, it may be this stage that finally sends you to a healthcare practitioner, though you’ve felt “off” for perhaps even years.
 
🔎In Stage Three, westernized medicine officially acknowledges the autoimmune disease. Significant destruction of the targeted tissue has occurred and there may even be collateral damage occurring elsewhere throughout the body. At this stage, damage can be seen by an MRI or ultrasound in addition to the elevated antibodies and actual symptoms.
 
Interestingly, the level of antibodies detected doesn’t necessarily indicate the severity of the Hashimoto’s. The antibodies themselves do not cause the thyroid gland destruction. Without getting too technical, the antibodies bind to and mark the spot (ie: the thyroid), and then the T Cells ( think of them as a special forces unit of the immune system) come in and attack what the antibodies have marked as “foreign”. If your own personal set of T cells are especially aggressive, your antibody count can be low but destruction of the thyroid can still be severe. Likewise, if your T cells act more like lazy posers, your TPOAb’s can be high but destruction probably won’t be as severe as you might think. Again…. epigenetics at play.
Here’s where we take a bunny trail🐰 detour to talk a bit about gluten. Unless you live in an untouched area of the wilderness with no internet, you’ll likely know that many people have issues with gluten. Generally, you hear about gluten and digestive disturbances such as celiac disease (another autoimmune disorder affecting the small intestine), but did you know that gluten is commonly a trigger for worsening both Hashimoto’s (hypothyroid) and Grave’s (hyperthroid) disease?
 
Gluten is a sneaky little son of a biscuit eater, for multiple reasons:
🍞It takes very little to cause great distress in gluten hypersensitive individuals…… like less than 1/20th of a teaspoonful according to some experts, and even less than that according to others.
🍞The after effects of a single gluten consumption/use can be felt for weeks to months after the occurrence in the gluten hypersensitive individual.
🍞Gluten flies under the radar and hides in the most seemingly innocuous of places: soy sauce, corn flakes, salad dressings, marinades, seasonings, processed deli meats, body and beauty care products, and candy (glucose syrup or dextrose can come from wheat) are just a few on the list.
🍞Some thyroid medications (and other medications and supplements too!) contain gluten as an inert filler ingredient. Currently the FDA does not have strict labeling requirements regarding the labeling of gluten positive medications. At the time of this writing, all brands of levothyroxine (except Mylan which is certified gluten free) contain gluten, as does the thyroid medication Cytomel. (And yes, I agree. Why in the world would the pharmaceutical industry use inflammatory gluten as a common filler, especially in a medication for a population prone to be gluten sensitive? As I’ve said before, we’re worth more as a commodity if we are sick than we are if we are healthy friends.🙄)
🍞Other aliases of gluten include starch, pregelatinized starch, sodium starch glycolate, dextrin, dextrate, dextro-maltose, maltodextrin, sodium starch glycolate and more. Sneaky Pete, indeed!
 
Is all gluten bad? 🤔Resoundingly no. Although if someone is found to be gluten hypersensitive, it’s a good idea to avoid it as much as possible. Modern wheat and the ancient grain Einkorn are two very different grains containing different types and ratios of gluten. Not only is Einkorn considered to be vastly more nutritious than modern wheat, the troublesome type of gluten (the “D” genome) doesn’t appear to be present in Einkorn according to Dr. Davis, author of “Wheat Belly”. If you aren’t sure if Einkorn is a safe form of grain for you, try incorporating it into a food challenge. Einkorn is also much more highly digestible and because of its starchstructure, is less apt to cause blood sugar spikes.
 
For the non gluten hypersensitive individual there are a few more reasons to nosh on some tasty Young Living Einkorn spaghetti, pancakes, granola, or cereal…..Regular intake of gluten has been found to help mediate exposure to heavy metals. Conversely, those on a gluten free diet tend to have higher blood and urine levels of arsenic, lead, mercury, and cadmium ,commonly found in many well known lipstick brands,. If you already use YL Savvy Minerals lipstick💋, here’s a high five…. It’s toxin free!
 
For being a simple little butterfly🦋 looking structure in our neck we often don’t think about, the thyroid is certainly complex and so easily affected by outside influence!
 
xoxo~ liz
 

Clues From Our Thyroid – part 1

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Thyroid disorders are like🦎 chameleonic villians. They look different in every person, and their characteristics may change according to their environment. Thyroid disease is a master of disguise! This is important to understand
 

 Two key reasons:

  1. 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!
  2. 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

While every little organ and gland of the endocrine system is important for stellar body function, very often the trail of tears leads back to the thyroid, the butterfly 🦋shaped gland located just below the Adam’s apple along the front of the windpipe. The thyroid’s function is to regulate all the processes of energy release on microscopic (cellular) and macroscopic (full body) levels. Because hypothyroidism (especially Hashimoto’s) is the predominant thyroid disorder, most of what I write about will be centered upon thyroid deficiency. Grab a mirror (you’ll need it for a few of them!) and your journal and take stock of your own possible crime scene.
 

Symptoms of thyroid deficiency might include:

  • Chronic fatigue or tiredness.
  • Muscular fatigue
  • Puffiness or evidence of fluid retention
  • Difficulty regulating body temperature (chronic feelings of being hot or cold. Recall the posts on body temperature)
  • Development of Reynaud’s Syndrome
  • Reduced pulse pressure and blood pressure
  • Heart rate fluctuations
  • Angina and/or feelings of breathlessness
  • Higher cholesterol. People with subclinical hypothyroidism often have higher levels of LDL cholesterol. Thyroid disease is a major contributor to cholesterol problems.
  • Arteriosclerosis (decreased elasticity of arteries)
  • Changes in bruising or clotting (generally, bruising will become more common)
  • Depression and/or anxiousness
  • Difficulty gathering thoughts, memory, focus and concentration
  • Headaches with unknown origin
  • Moodiness or lack of enthusiasm in life
  • Peripheral neuropathy
  • Carpal tunnel (there is a strong link!)
  • Random shooting pains in the hands and feet
  • Osteoporosis (chronic hypothyroidism can be a contributor)
  • Visual problems: dry eyes, age related macular degeneration, primary open angle glaucoma
  • Loss of the outer eyebrows
  • Chronic constipation
  • Increased incidence of gallstones (thyroid hormones affects the composition of bile and how well it flows)
  • Poor digestion of fats and proteins
  • 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!)
  • Bloating, gassy
  • Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
  • Insulin resistance (and therefore) increased risk of developing Type II Diabetes
  • Thicker tongue, perhaps even with scalloped teeth marks on the sides of the tongue.
  • Changes in how food tastes.
  • Periodontal disease
  • Development of a husky or hoarse voice
  • Infertility or difficulty maintaining a pregnancy
  • Heavy periods (There is often a link between hypothyroidism and PCOS)
  • Sex hormone imbalances (progesterone, estrogen and testosterone in women)
  • Loss of libido
  • Postpartum depression (very common)
  • Premature menopause
  • Dry skin
  • Deep cracks and scales on the bottoms of the feet
  • Deep lines on the palms of hands or soles of feet
  • Yellowish orange or reddish color on palms of hands or soles of feet
  • Reddish spots, bumps, or rashes that come and go
  • Acne (often seen in conjunction with testosterone level disturbances)
  • Brittle, flaking nails or nails that fail to grow well
  • Hair loss (on the head) or gaining hair in all the wrong places elsewhere
  • Getting sick more often, especially upper respiratory tract infections and in women, persistent urinary tract infections.
  • Bedwetting in kiddos
  • Delayed wound healing
  • Gaining or losing weight without trying
  • Poor sleep
  • Iron deficiency anemia (roughly 50% of people with thyroid disease struggle with this)
That’s the bulk of this particular crime scene checklist. Thyroid disease is very interesting in that the severity of symptoms often are not reflected in thyroid specific lab work. Lab Work is based on a standardized bell curve and not everyone fits exactly into that bell curve mold. Additionally, many western medicine health professionals only test TSH when first evaluating the competency of the thyroid gland. That alone is insufficient information to determine thyroid function. This list of possible symptoms, while not completely comprehensive, is more valuable in determining the probable health of your thyroid than a single TSH test.
More to come friends.
 
xoxo~ liz
#sharingiscaring
#lovingyourthyroidisgoodmedicine
#itsthelittlethings
#becomingyourownhealthdetective
#goodmedicine

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