LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

thyroid

HEALTHY THYROID FUNCTION MAINTAINS LONG, HEALTHY LIFE – (01-09-06)

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Thyroid Hormone Concentrations, Disease, Physical Function, and Mortality in Elderly Men

I recall a study several years back that dealt with the oldest old and anti-thyroidal antibodies. Now, everyone has some degree of autoimmunity to our own tissues, and this reaction increases as we get older. In that particular study, the oldest old has less autoimmunity to their own thyroid.

This study again points to the importance of healthy thyroid function in maintaining long, healthy life. So the question arises, when someone starts to experience thyroid dysfunction in their 20s, and they are put on thyroid hormone without any type of evaluation into WHY they are having thyroid problems, are we depriving them of quality of life in their later years?

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DO YOU KNOW THAT INFLAMMATION PRODUCES FATIGUE? – (02-04-08)

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TNF-alpha suppresses the expression of clock genes by interfering with E-box mediated transciption

In case you’re confused by this title, don’t worry–so am I. But the take home message from this mouse study is that TNF-alpha, a cytokine that produces inflammation in the body, interferes with the body’s sleep wake cycle, produces fatigue.

Fatigue is a very common complaint for patients presenting to their PCP. Unfortunately, the evaluation of fatigue in the typical doctors’ office does not extend beyond looking for anemia and checking the thyroid. Yet, these two problems don’t scrape the surface of what creates fatigue. Adrenal issues need to be looked at, and, as we see in this study, inflammation is a major player as well.

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BABY CARE PRODUCTS: POSSIBLE SOURCE OF INFANT PHTHALATE EXPOSURE – (08-25-08)

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Baby Care Products: Possible Source of Infant Phthalate Exposure

Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) is unquestionably at the forefront of identifying and educating the public on environmental exposures. I use and refer to this site frequently and always urge others to do the same, with some additional thought to making a donation. Phthalates are petroleum products that are used in plastics. They are known endocrine disruptors and can interfere with thyroid and reproductive function. Any identifiable exposure to them should be eliminated.

But the general public is not typically aware of the exposures their little ones are getting. Everyone is aware of lead, the phthalate exposure is much more prevalent, even in the womb. For our family, we have elected to use organic, expensive shampoo and bubble bath. Think about how long a child is soaking in a bath–it is worth the extra expense to me to by organic. Besides, we keep Keegan’s hair short so an $8 bottle of shampoo will last 6 months. Incidently, EWG just got a law passed limiting the use of phthalate containing plastics to be used in any product for infant or toddler use. Sounds like a good idea to me.

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ARE YOU TAKING SYNTHROID FOR YOUR THYROID PROBLEMS?

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Let’s get something straight right out of the box. The human body is designed with a brilliance that none can truly understand. The interactions between the cells and organ systems are intricate beyond measure. Oh–except for the thyroid. That goes out in your 20’s. 

What?

If your heart or liver or brain or kidneys were “giving out” in the 3rd decade of life alarms bells everywhere would be going off and you better darn well believe mainstream medicine is going to attempt to figure out why. But not so with the thryoid. Low levels on your bloodwork? Your doctor shakes his head, says these things happen and gives you your lifelong prescription for Synthroid.

So where’s the problem? The problem is that your thyroid is slowing down for a reason. Very often it has to do with toxic exposure. The thyroid has been called the “yellow canary” of the human body. It’s the organ that takes the initial beating when the body is exposed to allergies, heavy metals and environmental toxicants. Unless we try to identify the “why” of the thyroid failure, we’ve missed a valuable opportunity to identify and remove an exposure that the patient is experiencing that is harming their health. Sure–it may be “merely” the thyroid today, but in 20 years it’s very likely to be cancer, heart disease or dementia.

So what kinds of toxins or situations are known to affect the thyroid? This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are a few:

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, we need to go into a little thyroid physiology lessons. The thyroid produces two hormones, T3 and T4. T3 has a very short half life and gets broken down in the bloodstream relatively quickly. So the body, in its brilliance, makes primarily T4 in the thyroid and then the individual tissues that need T3 convert it when and where it is need.

The variable factor here is the conversion of T4 to T3.  It is not always an efficient process. Things like stress, selenium deficiency can slow the conversion to T3, leaving you with symptoms of hypothyroidism but normal lab values. This is why supplementation with T3 (such as Cytomel or Armour) is trickier but will likely produce better outcomes. This particular article further supports this concept, demonstrating that those taking T3 achieved better body weight and better lipid levels.

RESISTS STAINS BUT DESTROYS THE THYROID?

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RESISTS STAINS BUT DESTROYS THE THYROID?  Chemicals in Scotchguard have been found to affect thyroid function.  But this is no big shocker–the thyroid has always been considered the “yellow canary” of the human body when it comes to toxin exposure.  This means that chemicals in the body will affect thyroid function long before the exposure shows up as something like diabetes or cancer.

I’ve NEVER understood why, as brilliantly as the human body is made, we accept that someones thyroid “gives out” in our 20s or 30s and just put them on thyroid hormone instead of figuring out the answer. Not identifying the problem may very well allow toxic exposures to create things like cancer years later.