For a long time, women were told to walk it off when they complained of tiredness. Women were accused of laziness when they were actually suffering from an illness. It took medical doctors many years to find it and the cause turned out to be a thyroiditis, swelling of the thyroid gland.
Thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland wrapped around our windpipe. It produces many hormones but the well known ones are tetraiodothyronine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). The bulk of T3 is synthesized by our body from T4. So, we focus on T4 from now onwards. T4 are needed for our metabolism, to help regulate the rate at which our body uses fats and carbohydrates, our body temperature, our heart rate, and production of proteins. As we can see, the thyroid gland affects very many different functions of our body. That's the reason why we see weight gain, constipation, inability to tolerate cold, hair loss, menstrual irregularities, and low heart rate (bradycardia) when blood T4 is low. It is called hypothyroidism, hypo means low. This is the most common condition today. When the blood T4 value is high, it is called hyperthyroidism, hyper means high.
One early indicator is Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). TSH is secreted by our pituitary gland that sits in our forehead. Going by its name, TSH prods the thyroid gland to produce more T4. If TSH is high, it tells us that the thyroid glands are not functioning to their optimum capacity. It needs more stimulation to produce the right amount of T4. Sometimes even that is not enough.
Synthetic T4, levothyroxine, is the most common treatment for hypothyroidism. Instead of treating the symptom, low T4, we should focus on why the thyroid gland is malfunctioning in the first place. Then we can work on healing the thyroid gland. To do this, we need to know the underlying cause.
Nutrition is the most common cause. So, lets begin there. In the past, it was caused by low iodine in our diet. Decades ago, around 175 countries were labeled as iodine-deficient. When our body is iodine deficient, more TSH is secreted which makes the thyroid gland grow. From the outside, it was visible as swollen neck, goitre. Due to excellent public health programs, iodine deficiency has been removed in the majority of those countries. We took this to an extreme that now the population of many of these countries have excess iodine in their diet and bodies. Our thyroid gland is very sensitive. It does not like it when the iodine level is low or high. Like everything in life, it's all about balance.
The major raw materials for T4 and T3 is iodine, tyrosine( a type of amino acid, commonly called protein), iron, selenium and Vitamin D. Indian women are prone to iron deficiency as defined by today's standards. So, a diet rich in the raw materials should help. Read up on the separate blogs on Iron and Vitamin D.
If the issue still persists, its time to look at other causes like auto immunity. this is when the thyroid gland is attacked by our own WBCs. This can be found out by testing for an antibody, Thyroid Peroxidase (TPOAb). Our bodies only produce antibodies for things it wants destroyed. Lets make sure our thyroid gland is not on the list. We have look at the cause for auto immunity, which is typically inflammation and look at ways to address them.
P.S If you are already taking synthetic T4, at the least please make sure you don't eat it along with iron,calcium and antacid tablets as these decrease the absorption of synthetic T4. Typically, it takes 6 weeks for synthetic T4 to take effect and bring the symptoms under control.
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