Do you think something may be wrong with your thyroid, but your doctors keep telling you that your blood work looks good? Do you have an inability to drop your weight like you think you should be able to? Are you always tired? Do you have dry skin and hair? What about poor memory or depression? If so, you may be suffering from an underlying thyroid condition that isn't showing up on a pathological level. And the #1 cause of hypothyroidism in the United States is an autoimmune condition known as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. The broad mechanism of Hashimoto's goes something like this...

1) The genes you were born with are prone to the condition.

2) These genes express the condition.

3) Your immune system suffers as your body produces antibodies that continuously bombard your thyroid (this is the actual autoimmune portion.) They will continue to do so until you figure out you have the condition and then stop consuming its biggest offenders (more on this in just a bit.)

4) This bombardment eventually leads to losing at least some of your thyroid and causes your thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels to increase and conversely, your thyroid hormone (T3/T4) levels go down. This then leads to a diagnosis of hypothyroidism.

5) This hypothyroidism is typically treated with hormone replacement therapy and the underlying autoimmune condition is left to run wild. In turn, this will lead to less resolution of symptoms and repetitive increases in hormone replacement dosing.

Some of the documented offenders of autoimmune hypothyroid:

1) Gluten

2) Iodine (aids in TPO production, and TPO is what is having antibodies made against it.)

3) Low Vitamin D levels

4) Environmental toxins (big one is mercury)

Anyhow, if you or someone you know is burdened by hypothyroidism, or what you think may be a sub-clinical case of hypothyroidism, have them get checked out by a practitioner that looks at these things functionally!

Be well,

Dr. Tyson Austin

www.facebook.com/newhopefc

www.newhopechiros.com

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Austin's passion is helping people allow themselves to function better. He approaches this through chiropractic care, functional medicine, specific dietary modifications and therapeutic exercises and rehab, so that he can help his patients understand how the body works and how they can keep it working not only properly, but optimally.