Patient-Centered, Whole-Person, Functional Metabolic Care For Hashimoto's and Low Thyroid

Hashimoto’s Hypothryoidism – What Are The Treatment Options?

Doctor Chris Heimlich, DC, DACNB, of the Scottsdale Phoenix metro area Comments:

Eighty percent of hypothyroidism in the United States is caused by an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. An autoimmune disease is an illness that occurs when the tissues of your body are attacked by its own immune system. With Hashimoto’s it is the thyroid gland that is under attack.

The recent research also shows there is a strong incidence a part of the brain called the cerebellum that is also targeted and attacked with patients that have Hashimoto’s.

Although, Hashimoto’s Disease can cause hyperthyroidism, it most commonly causes hypothyroidism, which is a low thyroid state. Typically Hashimoto’s is a slow gradual immune attack, resulting in thyroid cell death, eventually destroying enough cells to cause low thyroid symptoms.

Medical management of Hashimoto’s disease doesn’t change because the mechanism is autoimmune, although it should. Replacement thyroid hormones are still the treatment of choice. Absolutely no attention is given to the autoimmune destruction itself. This is because the use of steroids to calm the immune system down could cause more harm than benefit in the overall health of the patient.

Focusing the clinical management on slowing and modulating the autoimmune attack is crucial in Hashimoto’s Disease. How can you have a properly functioning thyroid if the body is continually attacking and killing it?

We take a functional approach to naturally supporting and modulating the immune system in autoimmune cases. We do special lab panels to measure the specifics of the immune response. We look at inflammatory cytokines, lymphocyte subpopulation analysis, and natural killer cells. Natural management of autoimmune conditions is complex. Support that is specific to the individual immune system is essential if you truly want to help Hashimoto’s Disease.

I see people every day that have medical histories that scream that they have an autoimmune problem, yet they continue to suffer because no one ever looked at the whole picture.

If you suffer with a thyroid problem and you would like to become a patient in our office just click on the Schedule tab or give us a call at 480-991-9355.

Dr Chris Heimlich, Board Certified Chiropractic Physician and Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist

How Do You Know If Your Autoimmune?

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Scottsdale Phoenix Metro Area Doctor Shares how to know if you are autoimmune

How to know if you are autoimmune?

How do you know if you’re autoimmune?  How do you know if your immune system is attacking your body?  We run tests to see if you have an autoimmune thyroid or Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  Specifically, TPO and TGB antibodies can be tested through a blood draw.

A good clue that you have an autoimmune disease is that you have tried everything out there and still have the same symptoms.  If you are taking a ton of supplements and still feel cruddy, chances are you have an autoimmune condition.  I just had a patient come in four weeks ago with a bag of 36 supplements.   The crazy thing is, she still felt horrible.

p.s. That is way too many supplements for anyone to be on.  That is called the shotgun approach and is not used in our office.

Another way that people will know if they’re autoimmune is that their symptoms may wax and wane.  Symptoms that wax and wane are a sure sign that you are most likely suffering from an autoimmune condition.

Autoimmune conditions run in packs.   That means that if you already know you have one autoimmune condition, there is a good chance you have another.  So if you have been diagnosed with Sjorgren’s syndrome, psoriasis, rheumatoid arthriitis, ulcerative colitis, scleroderma and or lupus, and you have some of the symptoms listed below, chances are you have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

Here are a few of the symptoms associated with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis:

  • Tired, sluggish
  • Heart palpations
  • Night sweats
  • Mental sluggishness
  • Dryness of skin and scalp
  • Outer third of eyebrow thins
  • Insomnia
  • Nervousness and emotional
  • Increased weight gain even with low-caloric diet
  • Difficult, infrequent bowel movements
  • Morning headaches
  • Thinning of hair

Another way to tell is if your life fell apart after you got sick or had a huge stress or physical trauma in your life.  You have a stack of medical records sky high from going from doctor to doctor and none of them can find out why you are having all this suffering.

Many women may develop an autoimmune condition following a pregnancy.  Usually, woman are TH2 dominant in the third trimester and TH1 dominant postpartum.  This means that your immune system is out of balance.

And finally, as I’ve mentioned, there’s positive testing via the immune panels and TPO and TGB antibodies.  You see, your immune system is designed to protect you.  When your immune system runs amuck, it starts attacking different parts of your body, and it’s important to know that once you realize you have an autoimmune condition, you need to get checked, and you need to manage that autoimmune condition with the right thyroid treatment.

I see people every day that have medical histories that scream that they have an autoimmune problem, yet they continue to suffer because no one ever looked at the whole picture.

If you suffer with a thyroid problem and you would like to become a patient in our office just click on the Schedule tab or give us a call at 480-991-9355.

Dr Chris Heimlich, Board Certified Chiropractic Physician and Board Eligible Chiropractic and Functional Neurologist

Low Thyroid Symptoms and Blood Sugar Levels

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Scottsdale Phoenix Metro Area Doctor Shares how Hypothyroid Symptoms are affected by Blood Sugar Levels

Let’s take a look at the important role of balanced blood sugar levels and your low thyroid symptoms

Proper Blood Sugar levels are critical for anyone with low thyroid function.  Normal blood glucose levels medically have a broad range of anywhere from 70 to 105.  Functional or optimal blood glucose levels are 85 to 99.  According to the American Diabetic Association, a blood sugar level reading of 106 to 126 is called, “Insulin resistance,” and anything above 127 is diabetes.

I know you may be thinking, I don’t have diabetes.  Here is the thing, you don’t have to be diabetic to have blood sugar problems.  Your body does not like to have the range too high or too low.  Anytime the range gets out of the normal, you start to get inflammatory chemicals released in the body.  This is not a good thing.

Here is a scary example of how the traditional model can go wrong.  One of my patients, Todd, came in for me to take a look at his hip.  During the exam I noticed several indicators pointing towards blood sugar problems.  This guy was sharp.  He had already figured he had diabetes.

He had all the signs and symptoms.  He did all the research on the web pertaining to it.  He told me he had asked his doctor to test him.   His doctor told him he was a lucky man.  He did not have diabetes.  His blood test showed he was one point away from it.

Suffice it to say we took a different approach and Todd did not have to go on any medications.  We were able to control it with diet, exercise, and proper supplementation.  He no longer has any of the symptoms of diabetes.

Here are a few symptoms of when the Glucose, or blood sugar, is not regulated properly:

  • Poor memory, forgetful
  • Fatigue after meals
  • Increased thirst & appetite
  • Waist girth is equal or larger than hip girth
  • Feel shaky, jittery, tremors
  • Blurred vision
  • Depend on coffee to get going in am
  • Lightheaded if meals are missed
  • Crave sweets during the day
  • Agitated, easily upset, nervous
  • Wake up nauseated

So how does this impact my thyroid?

Blood sugar and adrenal problems go hand in hand.  If you have one, you are going to have the other.  This will negatively impact the liver, anterior pituitary, gut, heart, and hippocampus.  Remember, most of our inactive form of our thyroid hormone T4 gets converted to the active form T3 in the peripheral tissues.  The point to remember is that fluctuations in blood sugar drastically affect the thyroid glands function in multiple ways.  Supporting hypothyroidism is futile if your blood sugar level is too high or too low.

When blood sugar is off you start to get some or all of the low thyroid symptoms below:

  • Fatigue
  • Weight Gain
  • Depression
  • Constipation
  • Hair falls out easily
  • Dry skin
  • Poor circulation and numbness in hand and feet
  • Morning headaches that wear off as day progresses

Diabetes is becoming so prevalent in the United States that authorities are predicting that it may bankrupt the healthcare system.

I see people everyday that have medical histories that scream that they have a thyroid problem, yet they continue to suffer because no one ever looked at the whole picture.  There are natural thyroid treatment options in the Scottsdale and Phoenix Metro area by a doctor who cares. 

If you suffer with a thyroid problem and you would like to become a patient in our office just click on the Schedule tab or give us a call at 480-991-9355.

– Dr Chris Heimlich, Board Certified Chiropractic Physician and Board Eligible Chiropractic and Functional Neurologist

A Common Mistake Made By Women Suffering With Low Thyroid

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Director of the Arizona Thyroid Institute in Scottsdale, AZ Reveals A Common Mistake Made By Women Suffering With Low Thyroid:

A long time ago someone miss-interpreted some research and they concluded that tyrosine would be good for thyroid metabolism.

There’s never been a single study to show that tyrosine improves thyroid hormone metabolism.

Tyrosine in fact doesn’t do anything good for improving thyroid metabolism.  What it does more often than not is actually suppresses thyroid metabolism by converting into sympathetic nervous system chemicals, adrenaline and noradrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine and what those things actually do is end up suppressing thyroid function.

Here is an all too common scenario… a woman starts getting low thyroid symptoms  like hair loss, quick weight gain, depression, feeling cold all over, constipation, brain fog.

Next she seeks help at her local health food store or she goes to the mall or she even sees a well-meaning alternative medicine practitioner. And that person, since they don’t understand the full spectrum of what can be causing low thyroid, suggests tyrosine–which will probably only make her symptoms worse.

This is where things can go wrong.  There are about 24 different ways the thyroid can go wrong…and tyrosine is NOT one of them.

The woman is told to take the tyrosine, and probably iodine as well.  I have already talked about iodine and the hidden dangers of taking it in an earlier blog.   So they give the woman tyrosine and what usually happens is…nothing happens.  Or they give her tyrosine and because tyrosine is converted into chemicals that will further squash her pituitary and thyroid…she feels worse. Yuck!

Tyrosine support should not be used with someone with low thyroid.

It just shouldn’t.  There are formulas available that do not contain tyrosine–But better yet, don’t even try to supplement yourself.  Find someone that understands the complex nature of thyroid hormones.  And it is more complicated than iodine and tyrosine.

The number one cause of low thyroid in America is an autoimmune disease called Hashimoto’s.

If you have Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroiditis, it needs to be controlled right now. Because if you don’t get it under control, that autoimmune process is going to march through your body and find other things to kill…such as your pancreas, brain, and cartilage. It’s going to ruin your life.

So it’s time to do your homework.  If you’ve got low thyroid problems, please, don’t take tyrosine.  Find a thyroid doctor that can actually do the detective work and find out what’s wrong.

Hidden Causes Of Low Thyroid #4 – Broad Spectrum Immune Support | Arizona Thyroid Institute in Scottsdale, AZ near Phoenix

Dr. Chris Heimlich DC, Scottsdale Phoenix Metro Area  Doctor Shares The Fourth of 7 Low Thyroid Mistakes Patients and Doctors Make….