Join Our Newsletter https://alessifunctionalhealth.com/pages/health-decoded-newsletter
(0:00) Introduction to thyroid dysfunction and diagnosis (0:11) Welcome to Health Decoded (1:39) Exclusive podcast listener offer (4:00) Understanding thyroid function and HPT axis (9:17) Conventional vs functional medicine in thyroid testing (12:12) Recognizing symptoms of thyroid dysfunction and Hashimoto's (19:20) Sponsor: Authentic Nutrition (20:25) Functional medicine approach to comprehensive thyroid testing (26:16) Thyroid health: Essential micronutrients and environmental factors (27:58) Natural and dietary approaches to thyroid healing (30:06) The importance of stress and gut health for thyroid function (31:51) Nutrients and adaptogenic herbs for thyroid support (33:21) Lifestyle interventions for thyroid health (36:14) Call to action: Free thyroid resources (37:24) Episode wrap-up and listener engagement00:00:00
So here's the problem, most people are told their thyroid is fine when it's actually
00:00:04
anything but that.
00:00:05
And that's because the conventional medicine approach basically uses an outdated map to read
00:00:10
a complex system.
00:00:11
Welcome to Health Decode, your number one source for real health information with your
00:00:16
host, doctor Alessi and Matt Tack.
00:00:22
Hey, Health Decoded listeners.
00:00:24
Doctor Alessi here.
00:00:25
Let me ask you a serious question.
00:00:27
Are you tired of waiting until something goes wrong to finally see a doctor?
00:00:31
At Alessi Functional Health, we take a different approach, the right approach.
00:00:36
We believe true health care isn't about chasing symptoms.
00:00:40
It's about preventing them in the first place.
00:00:42
That's why we created the Alessi Total Care Program.
00:00:47
This is a functional medicine based membership that gives you proactive, personalized care
00:00:52
year round.
00:00:54
You'll get access to comprehensive blood work and functional testing, custom doctor grade
00:00:59
nutraceuticals, deep discounts on labs, protocols, and follow ups, as well as twenty
00:01:06
four seven direct access to your doctor, not just a ten minute checkup that ends with
00:01:11
another prescription.
00:01:12
And here's the best part.
00:01:14
As a Health Decoded listener, you'll get your first three months completely free when you
00:01:19
sign up for an annual membership.
00:01:21
That's on top of hundreds in savings already built into the program.
00:01:26
This is your chance to take responsibility for your health and join a movement that's
00:01:30
redefining what primary care should look like.
00:01:33
Head on over to alesifunctionalhealth.com, click on our services tab, and go to Total
00:01:39
Care.
00:01:39
Learn more about this program and claim your exclusive podcast listener offer.
00:01:44
Your health is your greatest asset.
00:01:47
Let's protect it proactively.
00:01:48
Proactively.
00:01:51
Welcome back to another episode of health decoded.
00:01:55
I am your host doctor Alessi.
00:01:58
Very excited to have you with us today.
00:02:00
I'm very excited to top talk about this topic because this is something that I struggled with
00:02:05
in the past and actually had to heal and overcome to get back to a state of health.
00:02:12
And so what we're talking about today is thyroid dysfunction and ultimately, you know,
00:02:17
how we take a different approach in functional medicine to not just cover up the symptoms with
00:02:24
medicine and get you by, but to actually heal and restore health to the thyroid.
00:02:29
And ultimately, the systems that are connected because the thyroid does not operate in
00:02:34
isolation just like every other system in our body.
00:02:38
And I hope by now with this show, you're starting to understand that concept that we are
00:02:43
not a heart connected to a stomach connected to a liver, right?
00:02:48
We're a unit and we're a system and all these systems have to work together.
00:02:51
And when one is dysfunctional or not operating well, it can then cause downstream effects to
00:02:57
other areas.
00:02:58
So we have to look at everything to see how the system is running.
00:03:02
Great example of that would be like your car.
00:03:04
If you had a gear that was malfunctioning or I'm not a big car guy, so I'm not I apologize
00:03:10
if I butcher some of this, but if you have a piece of the engine that's not operating
00:03:15
correctly, it's gonna then affect other parts.
00:03:17
Right?
00:03:17
And so it's the same concept within our bodies.
00:03:19
We can't just look at one thing and isolate that.
00:03:23
We have to look at the entire system.
00:03:25
So, you know, if you've ever been told that your thyroid levels are normal, but you have
00:03:30
symptoms such as stubborn weight gain, brain fog, depression, maybe some type of mental
00:03:37
illness or cognitive dysfunction.
00:03:40
It's not that you're crazy and then you're it's all in your head, right?
00:03:45
Which a lot of people said they've been told that by their conventional doctors.
00:03:49
It's likely that you're getting misdiagnosed or even undiagnosed in this situation.
00:03:55
And so, here's a quick kind of preview of what we're going to talk about today.
00:04:00
What is your thyroid and what it actually does?
00:04:03
We're going to talk about some of the symptoms that most doctors are going to overlook or you
00:04:08
know, ignore, pass off.
00:04:11
What tests is your primary care not running that you need to look at?
00:04:16
And then how do you actually fix the root cause of thyroid dysfunction or thyroid imbalance?
00:04:22
And so let's just get right into it.
00:04:24
Again, thank you for joining us.
00:04:25
I hope this provides you with some value.
00:04:28
If you know somebody who struggles with thyroid conditions has been back and forth with other
00:04:32
docs and not getting answers, please share this with them.
00:04:35
I hope it can provide some insight.
00:04:37
So let's just start with what the thyroid actually is, why it's so critical and why it's
00:04:45
so important, right?
00:04:47
Most people think of it just as a metabolism gland, but in functional medicine, know it's
00:04:51
much more than that.
00:04:52
It's basically the command center for your energy, your weight, your brain function and
00:04:57
even your fertility.
00:04:59
Now, I'll get more into this.
00:05:01
So essentially what the thyroid is, it's a small butterfly shaped gland located at the
00:05:07
base of your neck in front of your trachea.
00:05:10
Now it's small but despite the small size, it actually has massive control over your body's
00:05:15
systems.
00:05:16
It produces hormones that regulate metabolism, heart rate, temperature, mood and energy.
00:05:22
It's like a metabolic switch.
00:05:25
And so here's a great research insight according to a review in physiological reviews,
00:05:30
the journal, the thyroid hormones influence virtually every organ system and are crucial
00:05:35
for development, thermo regulation and homeostasis.
00:05:39
And so when the thyroid is off, you better believe everything else is going to be off.
00:05:44
And so let's explore how it works, right?
00:05:47
This is what we call the HPT axis, or the hypothalamic pituitary thyroid axis.
00:05:53
That's multiple glands working together, telling each other things, different signals
00:05:58
telling each other what to do.
00:06:00
So, the first and it's a feedback loop.
00:06:03
So when one is elevated, it's going to down regulate the next.
00:06:06
When one is low, it's going to up regulate the next and they talk to each other.
00:06:09
So first thing that happens, the hypothalamus releases what's called TRH, which is
00:06:15
thyrotropin releasing hormone.
00:06:18
TRH then signals your pituitary gland to release TSH, thyroid stimulating hormone.
00:06:25
So oddly, stimulating hormone is not produced by the thyroid, it's produced by the pituitary
00:06:30
gland.
00:06:31
That TSH then stimulates your thyroid gland to produce T4, which is thyroxine and T3, which is
00:06:39
triiodothyronine.
00:06:41
T4 is mostly an inactive signaler.
00:06:46
And so what it does, your body then has to convert T4 into T3, which is the active thyroid
00:06:52
hormone.
00:06:53
This is the active form that's primarily found in the liver and the gut.
00:06:58
Now, elevated levels of T3 are going to signal back this feedback loop to the hypothalamus and
00:07:04
pituitary gland to reduce TRH and TSH.
00:07:08
We call that a negative feedback loop.
00:07:11
So it's important because this maintains balance.
00:07:15
So, over 90% of thyroid hormone produced by the thyroid is T4 but T3 is three to five times
00:07:23
more biologically active And that's important because these are things that your doc is not
00:07:28
looking at or taking into account.
00:07:31
And so, let's talk about these hormones a little bit more and what to understand about
00:07:35
them.
00:07:36
So again, TSH is that thyroid stimulating hormone.
00:07:39
It's basically a signal from your pituitary to your thyroid and why this is important is
00:07:44
because high TSH which often means underactive thyroid, but by itself doesn't tell the full
00:07:52
story.
00:07:53
Now again, that's what conventional medicine is going look at.
00:07:55
They're going to look at TSH and if it's in range, they're going to say you're good.
00:08:00
But it's missing pieces, right?
00:08:02
So, next on the list T4, this is the inactive form, must be converted into T three to be used
00:08:08
by the cells.
00:08:10
T three, which is the active thyroid hormone.
00:08:13
This is what actually regulates your metabolism, your energy, heart rate and
00:08:17
temperature and even brain function.
00:08:19
Now, there's another one reverse T3.
00:08:22
This is basically the inactive or what we call like the brakes version of T3.
00:08:27
And so it competes with T3 for cell receptor sites.
00:08:31
This is often elevated in stress, inflammation or even chronic illness.
00:08:36
So this is a great marker to look at.
00:08:39
And then there's thyroid binding globulin or TBG is basically a carrier protein that
00:08:44
transports transports those thyroid hormones into the blood.
00:08:49
And so if TBG is too high or too low, your free hormone availability is impaired.
00:08:55
This can be influenced by things like estrogen dominance, liver dysfunction and even
00:09:00
inflammation.
00:09:01
So again, these are markers to look at that can signal other issues down the line.
00:09:06
Reverse T3 acts as a competitive inhibitor at the T3 receptor site and it increases under
00:09:14
stress, illness or even heavy toxic burden.
00:09:17
So why does this matter, right?
00:09:19
Why does this matter clinically?
00:09:20
Because conventional medicine often only tests the TSH and T4.
00:09:25
Sometimes this doesn't show that there's a conversion issue or if there's any autoimmune
00:09:30
activity or even if there's T3 resistance.
00:09:34
Whereas with functional medicine, we use a complete thyroid panel to understand what's
00:09:39
actually happening at a deeper level.
00:09:41
Because you can have normal TSH and still have thyroid symptoms if your body can't convert the
00:09:48
T4 to T3 or if the reverse T3 is blocking that conversion.
00:09:53
And so the connection between thyroid, brain, mood, fertility, what we see is through in
00:10:00
cognitive function, the T3 is actually what regulates neurogenesis.
00:10:04
That's the growth of new neurons and the synaptic plasticity or basically how our
00:10:09
neurons are able to form new connections and the balance between the neurotransmitters that
00:10:16
is controlled by that T3 hormone.
00:10:18
A lot of people don't know that.
00:10:20
With our mood, is actually linked and actually shown to be a significant player in depression,
00:10:28
anxiety and even poor memory.
00:10:31
If the thyroid is not functioning, that synergy is going to be missed.
00:10:35
And then with fertility, thyroid hormones regulate menstrual cycles and ovulation.
00:10:40
Even subclinical hypothyroidism can be linked to miscarriage and infertility.
00:10:47
And so, you know, when we talk about the functional medicine paradigm, the thyroid
00:10:51
doesn't work in isolation, I already said this.
00:10:53
It's connected to your brain, your liver, your gut and even your immune system.
00:10:58
And so, it's very critical because the liver is very critical for that T3, that T4 to T3
00:11:04
conversion.
00:11:05
The gut microbiome is going to talk and influence hormone metabolism and absorption,
00:11:10
and even your immune system.
00:11:12
Now, particularly with things like autoimmunity.
00:11:15
So, autoimmune thyroiditis or Hashimoto's is often related to gut dysfunction or things like
00:11:21
leaky gut.
00:11:22
These can be significant players.
00:11:25
And so, about seventy to eighty percent of peripheral T4 to T3 conversion happens in your
00:11:32
liver and your GI tract or your gut.
00:11:35
So, if you have things like SIBO, gut dysbiosis, leaky gut, this will impair that
00:11:40
process and then can cause that obviously to be dysfunctional upstream.
00:11:44
So, that's why it's important we don't just look at the thyroid.
00:11:48
So, with functional medicine, if we truly want to help someone heal their thyroid, we need to
00:11:54
zoom out, not just look at one hormone, not even just look at that thyroid itself, but look
00:11:59
at what other systems may have an imbalance and that's where we can uncover things.
00:12:05
Now, let's step into a different kind of approach here or a different topic and let's
00:12:10
talk about what symptoms to look for.
00:12:12
And if you have these symptoms, it's time to investigate, right?
00:12:16
We always talk about not ignoring symptoms, they're check engine lights.
00:12:21
They're giving you some type of information that something is dysfunctional.
00:12:25
So let's talk symptoms.
00:12:27
This is where the real suffering lives, right?
00:12:29
Because we often are dismissed or patients have come to me and they've said, man, all my labs
00:12:34
are normal.
00:12:35
Will you look at this?
00:12:36
And I say, okay, I have a picture here.
00:12:38
I have a little bit of information.
00:12:39
I need much more than this.
00:12:41
And that's where the discrepancy is between conventional approach and the functional
00:12:45
approach.
00:12:47
So with low thyroid or hypothyroid, these are some symptoms that are very common.
00:12:53
And so when your thyroid hormone is deficient or being poorly utilized, basically think of it
00:12:58
like your body is slowing down.
00:13:00
This is the most common type of thyroid dysfunction that we see.
00:13:04
So some common symptoms are going to be things like fatigue, you have low cellular energy
00:13:09
production, weight gain or the inability to lose weight because your metabolism has been
00:13:14
slowed down, Intolerance to cold because your thyroid gland regulates your temperature.
00:13:21
Dry skin, brittle nails, hair thinning or hair loss due to a slowed protein turnover.
00:13:28
Constipation because your gut motility is reduced, depression, brain fog, slow thinking,
00:13:35
irregular or heavy periods for women because hormone imbalance and estrogen dominance are in
00:13:40
effect, Infertility or low libido and then slow heart rate or reduced cardiac output.
00:13:49
So a study in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showed hypothyroid
00:13:54
patients had significantly higher rates of cognitive dysfunction, menstrual irregularities
00:13:59
and fatigue.
00:14:02
Now that's low thyroid, that's hypothyroid.
00:14:04
Let's talk about what high thyroid or hyperthyroid symptoms could look like.
00:14:09
So when the thyroid is overactive, it's often overstimulating the body and this can feel like
00:14:15
you're running on fumes.
00:14:17
So some things we'd see would be like anxiety, irritability, restlessness.
00:14:21
People can have like heart palpitations or racing pulse, Unexplained weight loss, they
00:14:27
feel like they're just burning.
00:14:29
Frequent bowel movements or diarrhea.
00:14:32
Heat intolerance, excessive sweating, insomnia, tremors, especially like in the hands and then
00:14:39
light or absent periods.
00:14:42
Hyperthyroid patients often experience increased adrenergic sensitivity leading to
00:14:47
symptoms that mimic anxiety or panic disorders.
00:14:51
This is research out of the New England Journal of Medicine, 2010.
00:14:56
And so again, that heightened overstimulated feeling can often be related to the thyroid.
00:15:03
Now, I really want to kind of dial in on this one because this is what we often see is the
00:15:09
most commonly missed diagnosis when it comes to the thyroid and this is Hashimoto's
00:15:14
thyroiditis.
00:15:15
Again, this is tricky because the symptoms of thyroid dysfunction don't always stay like in
00:15:21
one lane.
00:15:22
They often follow different patterns for different people.
00:15:26
And so autoimmune thyroid disease like Hashimoto's is often missed because oftentimes
00:15:31
it doesn't even present symptoms until it's full blown and causing a thyroid condition.
00:15:36
So basically, is autoimmunity real quick?
00:15:39
An autoimmune condition is when your immune system is attacking itself.
00:15:43
And so in this situation, in particular, the immune system is attacking the thyroid gland.
00:15:48
And so this can lead to inflammation, destruction of tissue, and then obviously cause
00:15:54
dysfunction of the thyroid.
00:15:56
This starts often with episodes of hyperthyroidism, like your thyroid is just
00:16:01
dumping hormones, but then it will lead to hypothyroidism as the gland burns out.
00:16:06
And so this is critical because up to ninety percent of all hypothyroid cases in The US are
00:16:13
autoimmune Hashimoto's related.
00:16:15
Yet many patients are never even tested for antibodies.
00:16:19
The percent, I'll just say that again, ninety percent of all hypothyroid is related to
00:16:24
autoimmune Hashimoto's disease.
00:16:27
So, if you experience symptoms that swing maybe between the hyper and the hypo, which I just
00:16:34
talked about, say like one month you feel wired, anxious, you're losing a ton of weight,
00:16:39
the next month you're exhausted, you're depressed, you're gaining weight, you feel like
00:16:43
you're on a roller coaster, it's up and down.
00:16:45
This often leads to misdiagnosis because they're not checking enough.
00:16:49
They're not looking and looking at these antibodies that are going to show autoimmune.
00:16:53
And so, there's a study out of the journal Affect Discord that said studies show strong
00:16:59
links between autoimmune thyroid disease and depression, bipolar symptoms and anxiety,
00:17:04
especially in women.
00:17:06
Yet what's often the first course of action is to put people on antidepressants and medication
00:17:10
without actually finding out what's causing it.
00:17:14
So, this is my perspective here and I'm going to give you a little insight into what
00:17:19
functional medicine really, really takes action on is if your body's attacking your thyroid,
00:17:24
it's not just a hormone problem, it's an immune problem.
00:17:27
And you can't solve that with Synthroid, which is a synthetic thyroid because conventional
00:17:32
treatment often is just going to give you T4, which is Levothyroxine or a Synthroid without
00:17:38
actually addressing what's the immune dysregulation.
00:17:41
What nutrient deficiencies might be there?
00:17:44
Is there leaky gut or gluten sensitivity?
00:17:47
Is there chronic inflammation or infection?
00:17:50
And so, often get like partial relief or they feel nothing from that medication and their
00:17:56
symptoms persist even though the labs, the small view of labs that they've taken are
00:18:01
normal.
00:18:03
And so, with the functional medicine view, we're gonna listen for these patterns.
00:18:07
We're not just gonna chase lab numbers.
00:18:09
Again, honestly, labs tell us a lot but it's not the whole picture either.
00:18:14
The patient themselves is the picture.
00:18:17
And so we test for autoimmune markers like thyroid peroxidase and anti thyroglobulin
00:18:22
antibodies.
00:18:24
We look at the gut thyroid brain axis, looking at things like leaky gut, looking at dysbiosis,
00:18:31
is there any dysfunction in the gut?
00:18:33
And we like to explore what are called co factors.
00:18:35
I like to look at the levels of selenium, zinc, iron, vitamin D and omegas.
00:18:41
These all can point to thyroid dysfunction as well.
00:18:45
Because selenium has been shown to reduce TPO antibodies in Hashimoto's patients and improve
00:18:51
thyroid autoimmunity markers.
00:18:55
So let's do this.
00:18:56
Let's get into the next segment where I want to discuss how we test the thyroid in functional
00:19:01
medicine, why that's different and superior to conventional medicine.
00:19:06
But first, here's a quick word from one of our sponsors.
00:19:10
This episode of Health Decoded is brought to you by Authentic Nutrition, the brand
00:19:16
redefining what it means to fuel your body the right way.
00:19:20
Authentic Nutrition, they believe that what you put into your body matters.
00:19:24
That's why every single product is crafted with clean, premium ingredients and dosed with
00:19:30
maximum efficacy to ensure you're not just meeting your health goals, you're exceeding
00:19:34
them.
00:19:35
No fillers, no shortcuts, no gimmicks.
00:19:38
Whether it's their advanced supplements for energy, recovery, or gut health, you can trust
00:19:43
that what's on the label is exactly what's in the bottle.
00:19:47
Fentic Nutrition delivers science backed formulations that work as hard as you do.
00:19:51
If you're tired of products that promise the world but don't deliver, it's time to make the
00:19:56
switch to authentic nutrition.
00:19:58
Elevate your health with transparency, quality, and results you can feel.
00:20:03
Check them out today at authenticnutrition.com and use promo code Alessi 15 to get 15% off.
00:20:11
That's thenticnutrition.com.
00:20:16
Promo code a l e s s I one five to save 15% and take the first step toward real lasting health.
00:20:25
Centiq nutrition, fuel your best self.
00:20:28
Now back to the episode.
00:20:32
Okay.
00:20:33
Welcome back.
00:20:34
Now, let's talk about how we test the thyroid in functional medicine.
00:20:39
So here's the problem, most people are told their thyroid is fine when it's actually
00:20:43
anything but that and that's because the conventional medicine approach basically uses
00:20:47
an outdated map to read a complex system.
00:20:51
If you're only testing TSH and T4, you're missing most of what you actually need.
00:20:57
And so in functional medicine, we don't just check the gland itself, we're looking at
00:21:01
everything.
00:21:02
What is the thyroid connected to?
00:21:03
Like the gut, the brain, the immune system, right?
00:21:06
We're checking all of that.
00:21:08
And so, standard care, again, they're going look at TSH and they're going to look at total
00:21:14
or free T4 and maybe T3.
00:21:17
This limited snapshot is going to miss the deeper dysfunction if it's there.
00:21:21
And so, in cases of autoimmune thyroiditis, poor T4 to T3 conversion, elevated reverse T3
00:21:29
or even chronic stress or nutrient issues, They're going to be missed.
00:21:34
There's a study in 2017 in the frontiers of endocrinology and it basically confirmed that
00:21:40
TSH alone is insufficient to diagnose thyroid dysfunction.
00:21:44
Now, is a study that was done eight years ago and still doctors are on this basic approach of
00:21:52
TSH and T4.
00:21:54
And so something's wrong with that model.
00:21:56
There's something's broken there and we're very passionate about trying to disrupt that
00:22:02
conventional way of thinking about medicine and really empower patients to take a more like
00:22:09
proactive look and how do we look at everything that's going on and a more root cause based
00:22:14
approach.
00:22:15
And so, what we test in functional medicine is what we call the, it's the optimal thyroid
00:22:23
panel.
00:22:24
And so to understand the full picture, we're going to run a comprehensive thyroid panel that
00:22:28
includes TSH, it's going to have free T4 and free T3, we're going to look at reverse T3,
00:22:38
we're also going to look at what I believe to be honestly the most important things that no
00:22:42
docs are looking for which is TPO, thyroid peroxidase antibodies and TG, which is
00:22:47
thyroglobulin antibodies.
00:22:50
These are direct markers of autoimmune thyroid disease.
00:22:53
This is what I found in myself.
00:22:55
I had no symptoms.
00:22:56
My thyroid hormones were normal.
00:22:59
Everything was normal.
00:23:00
I ran a full comprehensive thyroid panel and I had massive levels of TPO and TG antibodies.
00:23:07
Then, I had a stressful event in my life that tipped basically the balance over and the
00:23:12
symptoms were off the charts like I could not function, my brain was not working, I was
00:23:17
anxious, I had all these back and forth swings, and it was full blown thyroid autoimmunity.
00:23:23
And so I was able to reverse that and actually heal from that over time.
00:23:27
It did take time, but with a natural functional medicine approach, lifestyle based approach,
00:23:33
not to get too much into that, but that just is a great story and it's super close to home for
00:23:39
me because it shows that that conventional approach can miss something until it's too
00:23:45
late.
00:23:46
And so it's like why wait until symptoms are full blown to check for things?
00:23:50
Let's get ahead of it.
00:23:51
That's the proactive approach of functional medicine.
00:23:55
And so even beyond that, right?
00:23:57
Other things we have to look for, and again, did this with myself, is looking at the bigger
00:24:02
picture.
00:24:03
So, what is the brain, the immune and the gut doing?
00:24:06
And so, because the thyroid is part of this complex system involving the gut, the liver,
00:24:11
the adrenal glands and the immune cells.
00:24:14
And so, additional functional tests that we're always going to run when it comes to thyroid is
00:24:20
things like the leaky gut test or a gut inflammation test.
00:24:24
We want to look for zonulin as a marker basically of intestinal permeability, telling
00:24:30
us whether or not the gut is permeable and letting undigested proteins and pathogens into
00:24:36
the bloodstream that can then be causing autoimmunity.
00:24:39
We look for things like lipopolysaccharide antibodies, basically a marker of bacterial
00:24:44
endotoxin exposure.
00:24:46
This is a major trigger for autoimmune thyroid disease, especially in Hashimoto's.
00:24:51
And so on top of that, food sensitivity testing, looking for IgG and IgA antibody
00:24:59
panels.
00:25:00
These are often identified, going to identify delayed immune responses.
00:25:05
Some really common triggers we find are things like gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, and then often
00:25:11
people have sensitivities to foods that they're not even aware of, and that's slowly causing
00:25:17
inflammation and disruption to the gut barrier, which is then causing upstream autoimmune
00:25:22
issues.
00:25:23
This concept is not isolated to the thyroid by the way, that's obviously the topic of this
00:25:27
podcast.
00:25:28
But this is a driver for things like rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, lupus, any type
00:25:35
of autoimmune condition has a underlying root cause of gut dysfunction.
00:25:42
And so, a study out of the American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2000 said, gluten
00:25:47
sensitivity is strongly linked to thyroid autoimmunity.
00:25:52
Up to fifty percent of Hashimoto's patients have anti gliadin antibodies, basically like
00:25:58
celiac disease type antibodies.
00:26:01
And so, that just again, that points to the connection and the bigger picture piece that we
00:26:06
really need to see.
00:26:08
Now, other things we're going to look for, micronutrient testing.
00:26:11
Again, selenium, zinc, iron, b twelve and vitamin D.
00:26:16
These are essential co factors for T4 to T3 conversion.
00:26:20
So if we're seeing somebody has poor conversion of those hormones, we're going to test these
00:26:24
micronutrients.
00:26:26
Adrenal function testing.
00:26:28
What is cortisol, right?
00:26:29
Salivary cortisol or dried urine panels like the Dutch test which we've discussed in
00:26:33
previous episodes is the adrenal glands, are they dysfunctional, which then can disrupt
00:26:39
thyroid conversion and contributes to reverse T3 elevation.
00:26:45
And then things like toxin and heavy metal testing, BPA, mercury, lead, these things can
00:26:51
interfere with the thyroid hormone receptors cause those to not bind the thyroid hormone and
00:26:57
thus lead to dysfunction.
00:27:00
There was a study out of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism that
00:27:04
showed the environmental impact, right?
00:27:06
High BPA levels, which is the BPAs found in plastics.
00:27:11
They're linked to altered thyroid hormone levels in both men and women.
00:27:16
Now, why does all of this matter?
00:27:17
I know I just got really nitty gritty and really detailed, so you may need to listen to
00:27:21
this a couple times.
00:27:22
But again, the thyroid doesn't act alone.
00:27:25
If your doctor's only looking at thyroid numbers and is ignoring your gut, you need a
00:27:30
new doctor because your gut, your stress, your nutrient status, your toxic load are all
00:27:36
players in this cascade that can then cause thyroid dysfunction.
00:27:41
Functional testing is what helps us identify root causes like chronic stress, poor liver
00:27:46
detoxification, is your immune hyperactive, Gut dysfunction or even environmental toxin
00:27:52
exposure that's overloading your system.
00:27:55
So if you're only looking at the thyroid, you're missing half of the picture.
00:27:58
Now, all of that being said, let's talk about how do we heal the thyroid naturally once we've
00:28:05
tested, diagnosed and discovered some type of dysfunction.
00:28:09
So again, let's be clear, dysfunction, it's not a random event.
00:28:13
It's not genetic, you know, my mom had it so I have it.
00:28:16
It's your body giving you it's your body dysfunction telling you something.
00:28:21
So the good news is when you remove the stressors or the things that are causing the
00:28:26
dysfunction, you rebuild and support from the inside out, your thyroid will bounce back.
00:28:31
It's that's how the body works.
00:28:33
Things are meant to heal and recover.
00:28:36
And so step one is always we have to remove the triggers.
00:28:40
And so we have to stop the thyroid from being attacked or bogged down.
00:28:44
So, these are often food triggers.
00:28:45
Things like gluten is the number one offender, especially in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
00:28:50
It can trigger something called molecular mimicry, where the immune system confuses the
00:28:57
gluten proteins for your thyroid tissue.
00:29:00
And so now where your immune system's trying to attack those, it starts attacking itself.
00:29:05
Even non celiac patients with a gluten sensitivity are going to have that fueled
00:29:10
inflammation.
00:29:12
So a gluten free diet has been shown to reduce thyroid antibodies in Hashimoto patients.
00:29:18
Dairy soy and refined sugars are also going to spike that immune activity and cause gut
00:29:23
permeability.
00:29:25
Soy has been shown to inhibit thyroid peroxidase affecting hormone synthesis.
00:29:30
And sugar obviously drives insulin resistance, which can worsen that hormone balance.
00:29:36
So removing these foods from the diet, cleaning up, and then avoiding toxins, things like
00:29:42
plastics and BPA, heavy metals, pesticides.
00:29:45
These are all endocrine disruptors.
00:29:49
Avoiding chronically stressful things.
00:29:52
So, when you have elevated cortisol, you're going to have blockage of that T4 to T3
00:29:56
conversion.
00:29:57
It's also going to increase reverse T3, which neutralizes your active thyroid.
00:30:03
So that's the lifestyle component.
00:30:05
How do we de stress?
00:30:06
How do we put into approach things like breath work?
00:30:09
Things like using meditation practice or sauna, things where we can get some positive
00:30:15
stressors, remove those negative stressors from the body.
00:30:19
Now, step two.
00:30:20
Okay, we've removed the offenders.
00:30:22
Step two is now to heal the gut, to rebuilding.
00:30:26
And so we always, if we want to heal the thyroid, we have to start with the gut.
00:30:30
It's the command center for your immunity.
00:30:33
80% of your immune system lives in your gut and so a leaky or inflamed gut is a known trigger
00:30:39
for autoimmunity.
00:30:40
And so how are we going to heal this?
00:30:43
Supplements and amino acids like L glutamine which actually repairs the gut lining and it
00:30:49
fuels those enterocytes.
00:30:52
Zinc carnosine protects the mucosal integrity.
00:30:55
The mucosa is basically the lining of your gut.
00:31:00
Collagen, these peptides are going to restore connective tissue in the GI tract.
00:31:05
Probiotics, so we're making sure we're rebalancing the microbiome and reducing
00:31:09
inflammation.
00:31:11
Another great thing that we use is a peptide called BPC 157, body protection compound.
00:31:17
It's basically a gut enzyme peptide that lives in your gut and is responsible for maintaining
00:31:22
that integrity of the gut lining.
00:31:25
And so these are all things that you can take, but it's not about just taking more stuff.
00:31:30
You have to do it in a way that makes sense.
00:31:33
And so coming up with a plan and doing it in the appropriate steps.
00:31:37
And so step three, now we're going to directly support the thyroid function using essential
00:31:43
nutrients like selenium which is going to reduce those TPO antibodies and support the
00:31:48
conversion of T4 to T3.
00:31:51
Zinc is critical for T3 receptor function.
00:31:54
Vitamin B twelve for methylation and cellular energy.
00:31:58
Tyrosine and Iodine.
00:32:01
Iodine is required for hormone synthesis, very important.
00:32:07
Now some other cooler, more fringe things that we use are things like adaptogenic herbs.
00:32:14
Ashwagandha is an awesome adaptogen, it balances your stress hormones and it's going to
00:32:19
support thyroid hormone production.
00:32:21
So basically, you have elevated cortisol, Ashwagandha can help lower it and if you have
00:32:25
low cortisol, Ashwagandha can help elevate it.
00:32:28
That's the cool part about these adaptogens is they bring balance to the system.
00:32:34
Rhodiola Rosea is an adaptogen that enhances resilience to stress as well, and it can boost
00:32:41
mitochondrial energy.
00:32:44
And then if necessary, this is something that we use as well, are things like low dose
00:32:49
thyroid medication.
00:32:50
If we need things like NDT or natural desiccated thyroid or even low dose T3, we can
00:32:57
prescribe these and build them in, but often we're gonna use these for a period of time and
00:33:03
then phase off of that.
00:33:04
That's not a long term approach.
00:33:06
But sometimes can be necessary on the front end.
00:33:09
Now, step four is modulating the immune system, making sure the immune system is functioning
00:33:15
properly but not over actively in autoimmunity.
00:33:19
And so, the diet.
00:33:21
The diet we often prescribe is what we call the autoimmune protocol, the AIP diet.
00:33:25
This removes common triggers while also flooding the body with nutrients.
00:33:30
It's very whole food focused.
00:33:32
Focuses on meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, fermented foods and healing fats.
00:33:38
And so, a study out of the Inflammation Bowel Disease Journal in 2017 showed clinical trial
00:33:45
data shows that the AIP diet can significantly improve autoimmune symptoms and quality of
00:33:51
life.
00:33:52
And so, that is often gonna be the diet I recommend people beyond and long term.
00:33:58
It's a diet I follow myself, it's easy to do, it's whole food based, and it's simple really.
00:34:04
Now also lifestyle plays into this.
00:34:06
We always talk about what is lifestyle medicine.
00:34:08
So prioritizing restorative sleep, daily movement, stress regulation techniques like
00:34:15
breath work, prayer, time in nature.
00:34:18
And then oftentimes we can take it a step further and get a little bit more advanced with
00:34:24
some of the therapies we use when needed, things like that low dose Naltrexone which
00:34:29
modulates the immune system.
00:34:31
This is something I kind of cycle in and off of myself.
00:34:34
Peptide therapy like thymosin alpha one or BPC and immune modulators.
00:34:42
You know, these are targeted natural or pharmaceutical options based on immune testing
00:34:47
obviously.
00:34:48
And so, here's a bonus step, something that you can do that is gonna benefit your mitochondria
00:34:53
and your hormones and basically supporting your cellular energy from the inside.
00:34:59
So using nutrients like CoQ10, Acetyl L Carnitine, Magnesium, Alpha Lipoic Acid, these
00:35:06
are gonna fuel the mitochondria which then improves hormone production and energy output.
00:35:12
Go listen to our episode on mitochondria and it will there's a lot more on what I just talked
00:35:18
about.
00:35:19
And then obviously we need to balance the other hormones as well.
00:35:22
So cortisol, making sure there's not too much or too little because this can block thyroid
00:35:26
conversion.
00:35:27
Estrogen and progesterone imbalance in these can worsen thyroid symptoms and autoimmunity.
00:35:34
Hormone balance is achieved through lifestyle, making sure we're testing specific herbs and
00:35:40
nutraceuticals, and then bioidenticals if necessary.
00:35:44
And so the takeaway here is that thyroid dysfunction is not in isolation.
00:35:51
Testing will show us what's actually going on and where are the downstream systems that are
00:35:56
being affected.
00:35:57
And then how do we implement a plan that takes a stepwise approach?
00:36:02
You know, it's a system, it's a protocol that does one thing at a time, not just throwing the
00:36:06
kitchen sink at it and heals the thyroid for good because you can have complete remission of
00:36:12
these type things if you do it correctly.
00:36:14
Now, when you do that, you're going to have more energy.
00:36:18
You're going to have reverse of symptoms like hair growing back, mood lifting, metabolism
00:36:23
resetting.
00:36:23
This is what true healing looks like and what is achievable with functional medicine.
00:36:29
Now, you've ever been told that your labs are normal, but you don't feel normal, you need to
00:36:34
explore deeper and you need to be a proponent for yourself, take action and figure out what's
00:36:40
going on.
00:36:41
So I'll challenge you to do this.
00:36:43
Go to AlessiFunctionalHealth.com and take our free thyroid quiz.
00:36:47
Go under the resources tab and find quizzes.
00:36:50
Our free thyroid quiz to see if you have any of these symptoms or may be at risk for a deeper
00:36:55
thyroid issue.
00:36:57
Now to learn more about how we help diagnose, reverse and heal thyroid dysfunction and
00:37:02
autoimmunity within our functional medicine programs, go to AlessiFunctionalHealth.com,
00:37:08
schedule a consultation with me or one of our providers and let's create a personalized plan
00:37:13
for lifelong health.
00:37:15
Listeners of this podcast will always get exclusive discounts and price reductions on all
00:37:21
of our protocols, lab tests, and other treatments.
00:37:24
So be sure to mention where you heard about us.
00:37:28
As always, if you found value in today's show, please like, smash the subscribe button and
00:37:34
share this episode with someone who needs to hear it.
00:37:36
That's the only way we grow and the only way this message can get out there and change more
00:37:41
lives.
00:37:42
If you want to get in touch with us or be featured on an episode and share your story,
00:37:46
email us your questions or your story at ask, that's ask@alessifxhealth.com.
00:37:55
Visit alessifxhealth.com, sign up for our newsletter, check out our resources page, learn
00:38:00
more about our approach to nutrition and cutting edge therapies.
00:38:04
Thank you again for tuning into Health Decoded, where we break down the science, bust the
00:38:09
myths, and help you take control of your health naturally.
00:38:13
Until next time, stay curious, stay empowered, and remember that your health is in your hands.
00:38:20
Thank
00:38:21
you for tuning in to Health Decoded, where we break down the truth about all things health
00:38:25
and empower you to take charge of your well-being.
00:38:29
If you found value in today's episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with
00:38:34
someone who needs to hear this.
00:38:36
For more resources and personalized support, visit us at AlessiFunctionalHealth dot com and
00:38:41
sign up for our newsletter.
00:38:43
To hear your questions answered live on the show, send them to askalessiFXhealth dot com.
00:38:49
That's ask@alessifxhealth.com.
00:38:55
Until next time, stay curious, stay empowered, and remember, your health is in your hands.