An out of whack thyroid means inflammation, chronic mental and/or emotional stress, diet, and our modern lifestyles are walking us right into a hormonal (thyroid and otherwise) nightmare.
Our hormones and the glands that produce them are all connected and all of our body systems are connected. When one is not working well, the others will not be working well.
But you go to the doctor and they check your thyroid, right?
And they usually only check TSH and they tell you everything is fine, and then maybe they offer you an anti-depressant as a solution. Or maybe they tell you to exercise more. All the while you are walking around with a slow functioning thyroid and no one is willing to do anything for you.
You might be feeling a little blue and maybe you are the only one in the room with a sweater or coat on because you are cold. Side note, this has been a family member of mine for her whole life….
My bones used to be cold. I was so cold at night it would take me an hour to fall asleep because the second I took my socks off, my feet were ice. Now, I sleep with a window cracked in the winter and it feels great.
Maybe you are feeling tired, putting on weight or cannot lose it no matter what, maybe you don’t sleep well or your skin looks unhealthy (dry, not glowing, etc). All of this is tied to how well your metabolism works and if your thyroid is working slowly, your metabolism is working slowly.
Anyway, whatever your symptoms are, you are not alone and you can fix them.
And there is a very basic test you can do at home to help you figure out if there is more to your story than what your doctor is telling you.
There is a medical doctor named Broda Barnes who came up with this at home method as he had made it his life’s work to study the thyroid all the way back to 1940.
With this test, the assumption is that your doctor has done a thyroid test and told you it is normal but you still have symptoms.
All you have to do for this test is take your temperature. Full disclosure, I have not tried this because I am lazy and you need a mercury based thermometer called a basal thermometer. The reason for this is that a slow thyroid (hypothyroid) causes your overall body temp to drop and that is why you feel cold.
For men and women in menopause, all they do is take their temp but for women still cycling you have be mindful of doing the test in relation to your cycle and ovulation because your temperature will naturally rise at that time.
Here are the instructions:
Shake down a basal thermometer and put it on your nightstand, within reach, before you go to bed.
When you wake up in the morning before you do anything else, and try not to move too much, put the thermometer under your armpit which is the most stable place to take your temp for this. No getting up for any reason whatsoever, just take the thermometer and put it under your arm and lay still for ten minutes. Do some deep breathing and do your best to do some kind of meditation so that you are not even thinking about anything - especially anything that might stress you out. No looking at your phone, no texting, no tv, no music, nothing. Just lie there and breathe.
After ten minutes, write down your temp. You might want to make a little chart of the day and time you took the temp.
Do this for five days in a row- If your temp is normal (above 97.8 to 98.2) then you can stop and we need to do some digging to figure out why you still have symptoms.
After five days, you are going to take a thyroid supplement: either Thyrotrophin PMG from Standard Process or Thyroid Synergy from Designs for Health, or GTA Forte from Biotics Research. GTA Forte is the supplement that took away my cold hands and feet.
You take these for the next 2-3 weeks and continue recording your temperature. Give it a few days before you even see any kind of changes.
You can get either of these from my dispensary for 10% off at https://us.fullscript.com/welcome/hfh Please don’t buy from Amazon- there are a lot of counterfeit supplements on that platform and buying from a practitioner helps support their small business. It helps me pay for the podcast streaming service.
If you are doing Thyrotophin PMG take 6 capsules in the morning. These can be stimulating so don’t take after 1 or 2pm.
If you are taking Thyroid Synergy then take 4 in divided doses (2 in am and 2 at lunch)
You want to be watching for a trend of your temperature rising while you are on the supplements. This will be an indication there is a problem with your thyroid.
If your temp goes above 98.2, cut back on the supplements by maybe 1. This should not make you feel hyperthyroid. Obviously if it does then you want to be sure to stop the experiment.
As you work on your health, which you can do with me in my 6 month program meeting bi-weekly, and your overall health improves, your thyroid may start to work better. This of course depends on where you are in the whole thyroid gland breakdown. Working on emotional stress, inflammation, reducing toxins, cleaning up your diet, fixing nutrient deficiencies, and so on will change some things for the better and then you may not need the supplements anymore.
I want to say a word about emotional stress and thyroid too because there is a clear spiritual/emotional/energetic component to this disease. If you want to heal your body and your thyroid, you will eventually have to deal with this component. Thyroid problems are often about communication, the throat chakra if you are in to woo woo. Do you have no voice in your marriage or other relationship? Is there something your are not being honest with yourself about? Are you not speaking your truth? Are you not saying what is on your mind?
You cannot heal your thyroid without dealing with this stuff. They are so tied together it isn’t even funny. We can look at your labs and give you all the tools you need to get better but this stuff also has to be addressed.
I have personal experience with the need to heal this kind of stuff. I grew up not really having a voice and continued being in relationships where I didn’t have a voice my whole life. I am finally to the point where I feel like I can speak freely and use my voice. This stuff is real. And it matters.
But if you are not ready to deal with it, that’s okay too. You can work on all other aspects of your life and deal with it later. There was a time I wasn’t ready to deal with it and I waited until I was ready. It’s okay.
I also don’t want you to blame yourself. You didn’t know what you didn’t know and that is okay. All that matters is that you are here now and even if you are just letting this sink in, I’m proud of you for that.
You can feel better. I can help you do that. I can be your voice for now until you are ready.
You’ve got this.