Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is No Big Deal

Low Thyroid Symptom: Weight Gain, or Trouble Losing Weight

Dr. Chris Heimlich, DC, DACNB FIAMA Comments:

If you’re suffering from the thyroid problems and can’t get off the extra pounds, we may have a solution for you.

One of the most frustrating symptoms associated with low thyroid is weight gain. Although patients may have several symptoms associated with low thyroid, this is the one they often look most forward to resolving with help and support. It is extremely frustrating to eat like a bird, exercise like an athlete, and still not budge on the scales.

Here is a real conversation one of my patients had with her doctor. (not for the faint of heart)

Patient: “I can’t lose weight. I am exercising every day, watching what I eat, taking my thyroid medication, but still can’t make any progress. What can I do?”

Doctor: “Did you ever see anyone come out of a concentration camp that was fat?”

Patient: “What?”

Doctor: “Did you ever see anyone come out of a concentration camp that was fat?”

Patient: “No. Are suggesting I starve myself? That isn’t healthy.”

Doctor: “You are probably just eating too much.”

How about that for bedside manner? That is the kind of recommendations that some patients are given.

I realize that this is probably an isolated case, but there are many women are told to starve themselves to achieve weight loss.

Now I am the first to admit, starting off in practice I did not pay too much attention to the weight issues of our patients. I felt it was more important to get the body to heal itself so it could get rid of the other symptoms associated with low thyroid, and the weight would take care of itself. My staff had told me that the weight was a very big issue and that I needed to be more sensitive to that aspect of the healing process. I would ask patients how they were doing, and the first thing they would talk about it the weight loss. After asking about their other symptoms, it was common to hear “oh I sleep better now, don’t have brain fog, my IBS is gone, not depressed, but I lost 18 pounds already.” They would forget about the other symptoms they used to have, and focus on the weight loss. It finally hit me, this is one symptom of major importance to the patient, and I needed to address it as such.

The inability to lose weight is often the symptom that prompts patients to seek out low thyroid treatment with their primary care physician. Unfortunately, the inability to lose weight isn’t always resolved once treatment begins.

If you’re in this situation, ask your physician or practitioner this question: why you are still having difficulty losing weight. If the answer is, “You just need to eat less,” or “You need to exercise more,” you should consider other support options and answers.

Although diet and exercise are important for everyone, there are many factors play a huge role in the weight issues.

Blood sugar, adrenal function, inflammation, GI function, and how the body is functionally working all could be contributing to your weight issue. If you are suffering with hypothyroid symptoms and still cannot lose the weight, find a doctor that will listen you, dig deep to find out what could be causing your symptoms, and will work with you to achieve your health goals.

The #1 Cause of Hypothyroidism or Low Thyroid is Autoimmune

Dr. Chris Heimlich, DC, DACNB, Arizona Thyroid Doctor Comments:

If you suffer from low thyroid symptoms, there is a very high chance you have an autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. We have talked about it on other posts. Hashimoto’s is a condition where the body attacks the thyroid. Unfortunately, it tends to attack other parts of the body as well. These parts include the brain, pancreas, GI system, and others.

It is common knowledge that most endocrinologists and researchers consider low thyroid symptoms or hypothyroidism synonymous with Hashimoto’s. One thing you have to realize is that if you do have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, you are more likely to have other types of autoimmune conditions because they tend to run in packs.

There are over 100 autoimmune conditions and this number is growing.

We are going to take a look at some of the factors on why these numbers are growing. Now, normally the immune system recognizes what is self and what is not self. And anything, which isn’t self, is not tolerated and it is attacked. The key word here is identified. So we have to see why is the body not identifying itself as normal? That is the million-dollar question.

A big reason is genetics. If mom has thyroid problems, the daughter is probably going to have thyroid problems and the granddaughter is probably going to have thyroid problems. I see three generations of women in here sometimes from all over the place that have thyroid issues. So that is one of the reasons.

Some of the other reasons that cause this blurriness of the line between self-tolerance and non self-tolerance, well, it could be infections. So now I’m referring to chronic types of things: bacterial, viral, or parasitic. You could have bacteria or yeast infections causing these different radicals in the body, causing a whole different cascade of inflammation to go on.

Other factors include old age, stress, and lack of sleep, hydrogenated oils, junk food diet, physical trauma, and systemic acid in your body.

Researchers are also discussing that pesticides could also play a big role on this too. Plastics and food allergies can also contribute to the rise in auto immune. There are some suggestions as far as vaccines and low vitamin D causing these types of problems.

Auto immune conditions can cause poor digestion. Why is that? Because about fifty-seventy percent of our immune system by weight is in our gut, it’s in our gastrointestinal system. You may be able to relate to this if you have constipation, upset stomach, diarrhea, taking medications for heart burn or other digestive problems. These can accompany other thyroid symptoms like your hair falling out, fatigued, lethargy, cold hands and feet, and depression.

You know what, there are things we can do to test to see if you have any of these things going on in your gut. There are tests that you can do. There are stool tests and there are – some of them out there are really great. Others of them out there, you might as well just save your pennies. They are really lacking.

I’m going to be going over that in another post. I have a new post coming out that will talk about the differences the tests. Some doctors will just do a little testing or they’ll do a different type of test that maybe antiquated – why? Well, they probably just don’t know any better. They probably haven’t done any of the recent research in the past five, ten, twenty years – maybe they haven’t really done anything. They may just be doing what everyone else is doing and that is the problem.

You have to constantly educate yourself as a healthcare provider because there is more and more information out there. You’ve got to find someone who understands about the autoimmune conditions.

If you’re suffering with low thyroid symptoms, you’ve got to get tested.

Then once you get tested, you have to find someone who knows how to help you and how to manage that.

Just taking thyroid medication is just a small piece of the puzzle. Is it important? Yeah. But is it going to make you feel optimal? No. If it did, you’d be out there enjoying life right now, you wouldn’t be watching this video. You’d feel as though you had control over your life. So get out there and find a doctor who understands what we’ve talked about and take control of your health.