If you are among those diagnosed with thyroid disease, have you ever asked why the thyroid gland quit working? What answer did you get? Often, there is no answer at all. Many patients have come to Team Health Care Clinic using the recommended thyroid medication with their thyroid levels testing normal, but they still feel terrible. That’s why it is so important to evaluate and deal with the cause of the thyroid malfunction.
Hyperthyroid or Hypothyroid?
Thyroid disease affects about 10% of the population with women experiencing it about 7 times more frequently than men. There are two ways that the thyroid can dysfunction. One can have an overly active thyroid known as hyperthyroid disease. Symptoms from this include increased heart rate and palpations, anxiety, weight loss and fine brittle hair.
The opposite is a thyroid that is under active. This is the most common type of thyroid disease and is called hypothyroid disease. Those symptoms included fatigue, loss of hair, weight gain, constipation and depression. Unfortunately, these symptoms are common to a lot of conditions so one needs to do proper testing to fully evaluate for thyroid disease.
Most thyroid disease, about 90%, is related to autoimmunity. In other words, your own immune system is attacking its own tissue, the thyroid gland in this case. The causes for this attack can include food sensitivity reaction, improper digestion or ‘leaky gut’, reaction to chemicals, reaction to virus or bacteria, stress, lack of Vitamin D as well as other causes. Not taking care of these problems is what keeps people feeling awful even when they have a balanced hormone test.
At Team Health Care Clinic we are interested in the root cause of disease. We are always asking the ‘why’ question. We have the ability to help you by evaluating the causes I listed above and are not satisfied until those are dealt with. The goal is to get you working and feeling better. Remember, no matter what your condition, to always ask the why? questions.
Tim Bertsch, DC, DABCI