Holistically Healing the Thyroid Gland
Part 1 - Introduction and Background
The story of how I took control of my health, and got my thyroid hormone production back on track!
Disclaimer: I am not healthcare professional, I am merely telling my story and detailing what helped pave the way to having a healthier thyroid.
The background story:
It all started when I was really young - probably about 5. My mom would give me iodine pills every day, and my snack would be a persimmon because it was also loaded with iodine. When asking my mom why I needed extra iodine, she replied that we have a hereditary health issue - my grandmother had it, my mother has it, and it's called "hypothyroidism".
“My grandmother had it, my mother has it, and it's called 'hypothyroidism'.”
I never really paid attention to it, because I didn't understand it. Looking back, there were definitely many symptoms. Luckily enough, I had a person close to me who cared enough to make me go and get tested. Apparently sleeping 16 hours a day isn't normal. Some of my other symptoms included extreme fatigue, excessive sleepiness, brain fog, low blood pressure, thinning hair, depression, and anxiety. No amount of sleep made me feel relieved. My morning college classes felt like a daydream because my brain couldn't focus. It felt like I was on auto-pilot and no one was at the wheel. I still think back on how different my academic performance would have been if had I been diagnosed in middle school and had my body equipped by college.
What is hypothyroidism? The Mayo Clinic defines it as "a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone." Symptoms of a underactive thyroid gland involve the following:
Whole body: fatigue, lethargy, or feeling cold.
Developmental: delayed puberty or slow growth (I've pondered whether this affected my height, I am 5'2 and by far the shortest person in my family).
Hair: hair loss or dryness.
Also common: brittle nails, constipation, dry skin, enlarged thyroid, high cholesterol, irritability, sensitivity to cold, sexual dysfunction, slow heart rate, sluggishness, weight gain, or irregular uterine bleeding.
With my diagnosis I was placed on 25mcg of levothyroxine per day, and was told that it was a medication that I would have to take for my entire life. While on the medication, I saw some changes: thickening of hair, slight lifting of brain fog, energy levels slightly increased (I could still sleep 10+ hours per night). I never debated getting off medication, and I never thought that there would be ever a day that I could go without it.
And then one day, I was standing in the checkout line at a Hyvee grocery store in Peoria, Illinois, and my eyes landed on a magazine. It was a cheap tabloid that claimed weight loss galore, but my eye was caught by a small headline in the upper right hand corner, which read "Learn How To Heal Your Thyroid!". I was shocked. Heal? HEAL? Like HEALING HEAL? How? Is this hereditary disease something one can heal? Both intrigued and confused, I picked it up and scanned the article. Unfortunately, it was too long for me to read at the checkout line, and I had to begrudgingly fork up $2.50 for the magazine. I came home and read the article about how a 300 lb woman "fixed" her thyroid with coconut oil. It wasn't as informative as it was pivoting - it planted a seed in my head on why, how, and what made my thyroid tick, turn, and deviate.
“It planted a seed in my head on why, how, and what made my thyroid tick, turn, and deviate.”
Over the next month, I dove into research-reading every *medically credible* article I could get my hands on. I learned about T3, T4, TSH, and the whole shabang. And how you can have primary hypothyroidism, central hypothyroidism, and congenital hypothyroidism (present at birth). The thyroid gland is (unfortunately) the only source of thyroid hormone in the body. The process of producing thyroid hormones requires iodine and amino acid tyrosine. Thyroglobulin molecules are then made by the gland with iodine found in blood. TSH controls the process, and is made by the pituitary gland. An insufficient level of TSH/iodine will result in decreased production of the thyroid hormones. The "Holy Trinity" (hypothalamus/pituitary/thyroid) of the endocrine system plays the biggest part in the production of thyroid hormones. There's a whole rollercoaster of thyroid problems that one can experience both during and after pregnancy. I could write and write about all that I learned, but for the sake of time I'll move on.
After reading all that I could ingest (sometimes having to re-read data because I am not from a medical background), I started toying with the ideas, "can I heal it?", "what would it take?", and "how long will it take?" And so my brain hatched a master plan that would completely change my lifestyle. I went from the mindset of "living my life and accommodating my thyroid" to "accommodating my thyroid first, and then living". My perspective changed to making my thyroid the pivotal part of my diet, supplements, exercise, and everything else that went into daily living. What I liked no longer mattered. I pivoted to only consuming things that were instrumental to the healing of my thyroid, and it changed everything for me.
They say it takes 21 day to make or break a habit, so I gave myself time and set a mark for 1 year.
1 month to change diet.
1 month to implement exercise.
2 months to get off medication (implemented during the first 2 months).
6 month thyroid check up.
6 month maintenance.
12 month thyroid check up.
Why the wait? Because it takes your body at least 3 months to show effects of metabolized supplements and other diet changes. If you plant a seed today, you won't reap the fruit tomorrow. Great and strong healing takes time. If you're on a similar journey in trying to heal your thyroid, be patient. There are no quick fixes, and healing is not linear. Many people come to me wondering how I did this, which is why I started this series, but many of them expect me to prescribe them some "magical pill" to fix all their issues. There is no pill, only process and progress. It is a long road, but having finally walked it, IT IS WORTHWHILE.
To everyone that is still wondering "is it possible?" and "can this be done?", the answer is "YES!", given some medical exceptions (I have doubts as to whether you can heal a thyroid disorder if you have a congenital thyroid disorder, or if you have had the thyroid disorder for decades). But for me and my funky goiter - it was a heckin' yes!
For the sake of my brain's need to compartmentalize, this whole process is broken into a 6-part series. Other parts to this can be found here:
Part 1 - Introduction and background
Part 2 - Getting off medication (process and outcome)
Part 3 - Nutrition
Part 4 - Supplements
Part 5 - Movement
Part 6 - Maintenance
Feel free to leave any questions you may have in the comment area, and I will do my best to answer as much as I can!
