Thyroid Investigator

Supplements

Jan 262017

Insulin resistance

Supplements can also be helpful in reversing insulin resistance. Your doctor can check for insulin resistance with
a fasting, 1 hour and 2 hour insulin test, along with glucose testing. I recommend the following be taken daily if
you have insulin resistance, 1-2 TBS flax seeds, 2000 mg fish oil, 2000 units vitamin D, 600 mg magnesium glycinate,
a B-complex supplement, 300 mg alpha-lipoic acid, and 500 mg of chromium daily. I also recommend including cinnamon
and green tea as part of the daily diet; these can also be taken in supplement form to help reduce insulin resistance.

Adrenal Support

Jan 262017

Adrenal support
A daily multivitamin with B-complex and magnesium as well as a class of herbs called adaptogens (Rhodiola, Ashwagandha, Holy Basil)

10 Signs That Your Adrenals Are On Overdrive

Ashwagandha: The Soothing Adaptogen
Ashwagandha has over 4,000 years of traditional use in India. It is considered both a food and a tonic medicine for improving energy, memory and learning, promoting libido, and preventing premature aging. Ashwagandha is calming and anti-inflammatory. It is used to improve sleep, reduce anxiety, improve memory, and reduce inflammation and oxidative stress (damage from inflammation). It boosts the immune system, is included in the treatment of arthritis and can be beneficial in the treatment of fertility challenges.

Dose: 3 to 6 grams of the dried herb in capsule form daily OR 1 to 4 mL (20-80 drops) of tincture, in water, 3 times per day

Cautions: Not for use in pregnancy; though not likely to be a problem, use cautiously if you are sensitive to plants in the nightshade family; avoid with pharmaceutical sedatives and pain medications.

Rhodiola: The Spirit Calming, Anti-Anxiety Adaptogen
Rhodiola extract helps promote a calm emotional state and supports strong mental performance, optimal immune function, and hormonal balance. It is a key adaptogen for reducing anxiety. It improves mental and physical stamina, improves sleep, and reduces stress, “burn out,” and irritability. It boosts the immune system, decreases the frequency of colds and infections, and reduces inflammation. It is used in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome as well as fibromyalgia. It can be beneficial for poor appetite and as part of a treatment plan for chronic stress headaches.

Dose: 200-400 mg in capsules or tablets daily OR 2-3 mL (40-60 drops) of tincture, in water, 2-3 times daily. Use products standardized to 2-3% rosavin and 0.8-1% salidroside

Cautions: Avoid if you have bipolar depression with manic behavior.

Holy Basil: The Vitalizer
Holy or “sacred” basil has been revered in India for over 5,000 years as an herb that calms the mind and spirit, and promotes longevity. In Ayurvedic medicine it is called Tulsi, which means “incomparable one.” It is used to improve energy and relieve fatigue, for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions, and to lower blood glucose, triglycerides, and cholesterol. Holy basil may also protect the liver, helps with nicotine withdrawal, and elevates the mood, especially providing relief from mild depression. While this herb is related to common basil, it is a different species and common basil is not a substitute.

Dose: 2-3 mL (40–60 drops) of tincture, in water, three times daily

Cautions: None known.

Shatavari: The Hormonal Harmonizer, Queen of Women’s Adaptogens
Shatavari is considered the “Queen of Herbs” in Ayurvedic medicine, where it is beloved as one of the most powerful rejuvenating tonics for women. It is nourishing and calming, as well as hormonally balancing; it is used for irritability and many hormonal imbalances affecting the mood, for example, emotional symptoms of PMS and menopause. It is also used as a fertility tonic and may be used for vaginal dryness, low libido, and sleep problems in perimenopause. In addition, research suggests benefits for improving immunity, antioxidant activity, improved insulin secretion, reduction in gastric acidity, and the prevention of stress ulcers. It has mild estrogenic and cholesterol-lowering effects.

Dose: 2-4 mL (40-80 drops) of tincture, in water, 2-3 times daily

Cautions: Avoid if you have a history of estrogen-receptor positive cancer.

Eleuthero: The Performance and Focus Enhancer
Eleuthero is one of the most well-researched adaptogens. It is used to increase mental alertness and performance, enhance concentration and increase energy and stamina, reduce stress and fatigue, reduce dream-disrupted sleep and insomnia, and enhance immunity and improve detoxification. It is anabolic, which means it helps build muscle and prevents the breakdown of muscle as we age.

Dose: 2-3 g of dried root in capsule daily OR 2-4 mL of tincture, in water, 2-3 times daily

Cautions: There have been rare cases of insomnia reported with Eleuthero; if you have insomnia, either select a different adaptogen, or consider taking only before noon; also Eleuthero is not recommended for those with high blood pressure.

Reishi Mushroom: The Immune Nourisher
Reishi mushrooms are highly regarded in Chinese medicine to nourish and support adrenal function. While Reishi is best known for promoting health immunity, resistance to colds and infections, and reducing inflammation, Reishi also helps support the body’s natural abilities to detoxify from environmental exposures, and also calms the nervous system, promoting deeper, more relaxing and restorative sleep.

Dose: 3-9 grams of the dried mushroom in capsules or tablets daily OR 2-4 mL of reishi tincture, in water 2-3 times daily

Cautions: Avoid with blood thinners and medications that lower blood pressure, based on theoretical risks of drug interactions.

Adaptogens for women

Adaptogens: Herbs for Beating Stress, Fighting Fatigue & Banishing Cravings

Some of Adaptogen products that contain the above herbs include:

Stress Manager (Herb Pharm): A blend of the liquid extracts of Eleuthero root, Reishi fruiting body, Holy Basil leaf, Rhodiola root, and Schisandra berry

Adrenal Health (Gaia Herbs): Capsules with a blend of Ashwagandha, Holy Basil, Rhodiola, Schisandra, and Wild Oats

Vital Adapt (Natura Natural Products): A blend of the liquid extracts of many well-known adaptogenic botanicals including Eleuthrococcus, Rhodiola, Schizandra and Ashwagandha.

HPA Adapt (Integrative Therapeutics): Capsules with a combination of 5 adaptogenic herbs such as rhodiola, Sensoril brand ashwagandha, and eleuthero root extract. (Note: This product is only available through licensed health professionals, so someone would have to order it for you.)

Supply Support

Thyroid Nourishment

Jan 262017

Thyroid glands nourishment

Ensure your diet and your daily supplements provide you with iodine, selenium, and zinc which are three key nutrients needed by the thyroid gland for basic functioning.

Sea vegetables such as 1 tablespoon of dulse flakes daily provides you with a nice dose of iodine,

Just 1-2 Brazil nuts each day provide you with ample selenium, and

Zinc is found in beef, oysters, dark meat chicken, cashews, pumpkin seeds, almonds, yogurt, and many other sources.

10 things to know about your thyroid

articles.mercola.com/thyroid.aspx

Video
Natural Ways to Help Maintain a Healthy Immune System

8 min

Pasture Raised and Wild Caught

Jan 262017

Pasture-raised animal products and wild-caught fish: as nature intended
Several studies have been done comparing the nutrient content of pasture-raised (PR) and grain-fed (confinement animal feeding operations, or CAFO) animal products.

PR animal products are superior to CAFO in 2 primary respects:

they have a better fatty acid profile, and

higher levels of vitamins and other micronutrients.

Grain-fed animals have lower levels of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats like EPA and DHA.

The more grain in an animal’s diet, the lower the omega-3 levels in their meat.
For example, grass-fed beef typically has 3 times more omega-3 than grain-fed beef.
In addition to higher levels of beneficial omega-3 fat, pasture-raised animal products also have much higher levels of several vitamins and minerals, including:
• 288 percent more vitamin E
• 54 percent more beta-carotene
• Twice as much riboflavin (B2)
• Three times as much thiamin (B1)
• Four times as much selenium
• 30 percent more calcium
• 5 percent more magnesium

We see a similar difference between eggs from hens raised on pasture, and those raised in confinement.
Eggs from pasture-raised hens contain as much as 10 times more omega-3 than eggs from factory hens, and they are significantly higher in B12 and folate. They also have higher levels of fat-soluble antioxidants like vitamin E and a denser concentration of vitamin A.

In the case of fish, farmed fish contain less omega-3 relative to linoleic acid (omega-6).
For example, wild salmon contains 10 times more omega-3 than omega-6, whereas farmed salmon has less than 4 times the amount of omega-3 than omega-6. Another study found that consuming standard farmed salmon, raised on diets high in omega-6, raises blood levels of certain inflammatory chemicals linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer.

Wild salmon also contains 4 times as much vitamin D as farmed salmon, which is especially important since up to 50 percent of Americans are deficient in this important vitamin.

Organic and local produce

Jan 262017

There’s an important factor that determines the quality of foods we eat, and that’s how it’s grown, harvested and/or raised.

The highest quality produce (fruits and vegetables) is local and organic;

the highest quality meat, dairy products, and eggs come from pasture-raised animals;

and the highest quality fish is wild-caught.

Organic and local produce: more nutrients, fewer chemicals

Organic plant foods contain, on average, 25 percent higher concentrations of 11 nutrients than their conventional counterparts.
In particular, they tend to be higher in important polyphenols and antioxidants like vitamin C, vitamin E, and quercetin.

Even more relevant in determining nutrient content is where your produce comes from, and in particular, how long it’s been out of the ground before you eat it. Most of the produce sold at large supermarket chains is grown hundreds – if not thousands – of miles away, in places like California, Florida, and Mexico. This is especially true when you’re eating foods that are out of season in your local area (like a banana in mid-winter).

A typical carrot, for example, may have travelled miles to reach your dinner table. Days—maybe more than a week—have passed since it was picked, packaged and trucked to the store, where it can sit on the shelves even longer.

The problem with this is that food starts to change as soon as it’s harvested and its nutrient content begins to deteriorate. Total vitamin C content of red peppers, tomatoes, apricots, peaches and papayas has been shown to be higher when these crops are picked ripe from the plant.

A study compared the Vitamin C content of supermarket broccoli in season and supermarket broccoli out of season (shipped from another country). The out-of-season broccoli had only half the vitamin C of the seasonal broccoli.

Without exposure to light (photosynthesis), many vegetables lose their nutrient value.

If you buy vegetables from the supermarket that were picked a week ago, transported to the store in a dark truck, and then stored in the middle of a pile in the produce section, and then you put them in your dark refrigerator for several more days before eating them, chances are they’ve lost much of their nutrient value. A study found that spinach lost 47 percent of its folate after 8 days.

This is why buying your produce at local farmer’s markets, or even better, picking it from your backyard garden, are better options than buying conventional produce shipped from hundreds or thousands of miles away. Fruits and vegetables from local farms are usually stored within one or two days of picking, which means their nutrient content will be higher. And as anyone who’s eaten a fresh tomato right off the vine will tell you, local produce tastes so much better than conventional produce it might as well be considered a completely different food.

Another important benefit of organic produce, of course, is that it’s grown without pesticides, herbicides and other harmful chemicals that have been shown to cause health problems – especially in vulnerable populations like children. A study published in the journal Pediatrics concluded that children exposed to organophosphate pesticides at levels typically found in conventional produce and are more likely to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

A panel of scientists convened to study the effect of environmental toxins on cancer released a report in 2010 urging Americans to eat organic produce grown without pesticides, fertilizers or other chemicals. The report states that the government has grossly underestimated the number of cancers caused by environmental toxins. Furthermore, the report especially highlights the risk of toxins in conventionally grown foods to unborn children. Exposure to harmful chemicals during this critical period can set a child up for lifelong endocrine disruption, hormone imbalances, and other problems.

Healthy Eating Guide

Jan 242017

Healthy Eating Guide:

1/ Sugar, processed foods, cookies, candy, soda – remove wherever possible.

2/ Never get too hungry.
*Eat breakfast within an hour of waking up and if you’re a coffee drinker, have your morning cup with or after your meal, but not before or instead of it.
*Eat a modest sized meal every 3-4 hours.
*Eat a good quality protein and fat at every meal.
*Have an afternoon snack of some nuts, a protein shake or smoothie, a green drink, a hard-boiled egg, some hummus with vegetables.

3/ Good carbs are allowed. Whole grains and starchy vegetables (sweet potatoes, winter squash, even modest amounts of white potatoes baked or roasted as long as they are not covered in sour cream!)
*Generally, try to skip carbs at breakfast; or keep it to ½ a portion (1 piece of whole grain toast) and don’t ever start your day with sweetened carbs (cereals, granola, muffins, pancakes with maple syrup, even if they’re paleo pancakes).
A Good breakfast includes a high quality protein. Good choices: eggs, a protein shake, or oatmeal.
If you opt for oatmeal or another grain, add some nuts and good quality fat such as coconut oil or almond butter for more sustainable energy.
*At lunch have 1 portion of a whole grain or a starchy energy vegetable and at dinner have 1-2 portions. Examples include half a cup of cooked quinoa, red or pink or black rice, brown rice, and millet, a sweet potato, a portion of winter squash or baked or roasted white potatoes.
*Eating a healthy carbohydrate about 5 hours before bed has been shown to normalize cortisol, improve sleep, and help reduce excess weight. But don’t eat anything within 3 hours of bed, because that can do the opposite.

Oats types and recipes
dish.allrecipes.com/whats-the-difference-between-types-of-oats/
J.Oliver recipes for oat porridge

4/ Get enough sleep 7-8 hours.
*Get to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each day.
*Turn off all electronics ideally an hour before you try to go to sleep, because the blue light disrupts melatonin production, the counterbalance to cortisol which also helps us detox our brains and hormones while we sleep.
*Skip the alcohol in the evening – even a glass of good red wine has been shown to cause sleep disruptions, especially in women.

5/ Indulge now and then. Consider 2-3 squares of chocolate in the afternoon fair game!

6/ Worry less about being fat. And love your body more.

7/ Eat “Hari-hachi-bu” way, it is the Japanese concept of eating until one is only 80% full – eating enough to feel comfortably satisfied but stopping before you feel “full” – and way before you feel “stuffed.”

8/ Exercise 15-20 min a day (any form of movement, walking, dancing, yoga).

9/ Healing inflamation – Antioxidant rich foods include berries (fresh or frozen) and leafy green vegetables; supplements include resveratrol, NAC, and quercetin, as well as vitamin C.

10/ Nourishing adrenals (Sleep, relaxation, exercise, take adaptogens).

11/ Graze to prevent spikes in blood sugar (Grazing on healthy foods will keep blood sugar steady).

Eat slowly, when seated and relaxed.
Studies show that digestion cannot occur unless the body is relaxed. This means no eating on the run.
Its simple logic from our past history really, when active, under stress or in “Flight mode” the body does not want energy used for digesting food, it needs to be available for instant release to muscles should you need to take flight / run. So eating on the run never allows the digestion process to happen properly so the food effectively passes straight through without the nutrients being extracted.

Eating slowly allows the “Full” reflex time to react. Eating too fast for many people means that they are well past full by the time the Full reflex has kicked in.

Tests to perform

Jan 072017

TSH , Free (T3) , Free (T4)

TSH levels increase when the T4 levels drop, and the TSH falls when T4 levels increase.
A TSH test alone does not consider overall thyroid metabolism, H.P.A. feedback loops, or autoimmune factors that are identified by thyroid antibody testing.
A high TSH with or without changes in T4 or T3 is diagnostic to determine hypothyroidism. If the thyroid is not making enough T4 the pituitary will pump out TSH to stimulate its production.
A low TSH is used to determine hyperthyroid activity. If the thyroid is overactive, such as in Grave’s disease, the antibodies bind to active thyrotropin (TSH) receptors on the thyroid cells and stimulate T4 production without the influence of TSH. Some antibodies may inhibit thyroid function by inactivating instead of stimulating thyrotropin receptors. This is called an autoimmune hypothyroid. These patterns will demonstrate a hypothyroid pattern (elevated TSH) with elevated thyroid antibodies.
TSH Laboratory Reference Range: 0.35 – 5.5 (varies from one lab to another). (Australian Lab still using 0.5 to 5)
There are new ranges released in 2012 but many labs still continue to use the old ranges.
TSH Functional or Optimal Reference Range: 1.5 to 3.0

Selenium, Zinc and Iodine

Iron

If you don’t have iron, your body will not make tyrosine and therefore, not make T4

Magnesium

Your body will also not be able to make adrenaline without iron and it is adrenaline that holds magnesium in the blood.

Calcium

Magnesium is important for absorption of calcium.
you NEED calcium and other trace minerals to become alkaline

Potassium

Parathyroid hormone

Vitamin D

Get the two Vitamin D blood tests done,
25-‐OHD
and
125-‐OHD,
“optimal” Vitamin D level is around the high-‐end of normal which is 80-‐100 ng/ml.

Thyroid and Low levels of 25(OH)D along with elevated levels of 1,25(OH)2D has been documented in several autoimmune disorders. It has been suggested that VDR dysregulation resulting from infections or disease results in decreased CYP24 activity resulting in increased 1,25(OH)2D levels which in turn result in decreased 25(OH)D levels as a result of the physiologic negative feedback.
Lower serum 1,25(OH)2D but not 25(OH)D has been documented in patients with thyroid cancer as compared with normal individuals.

Thyroid Function Test

Full blood examination

Cholesterol

Poor thyroid function is another potential cause of elevated LDL-P particle number. Thyroid hormone has multiple effects on the regulation of lipid production, absorption, and metabolism. It stimulates the expression of HMG-CoA reductase, which is an enzyme in the liver involved in the production of cholesterol.

A complete test might consist of the following:

Complete Metabolic Panel, not a basic metabolic panel. You have a thyroid disorder and you need as much information as POSSIBLE!

A complete thyroid panel which needs to include TSH, Free T3, Free T4, Total T4, Free Thyroxine Index, Resin T3 Uptake,TPO and TGB antibodies,TBG and Reverse T3.
You NEED to know as much about your thyroid gland as possible and ALL of these blood tests will tell you.

A complete lipid panel and a CBC with auto differential which breaks down the white and red blood cells.

Testing for gluten reactivity, gut function, cross-‐ reactive foods and other parts of your body that your immune system could be attacking.

Leaky gut

An ASI (Adrenal Stress Index) which checks your adrenal glands.
Your adrenal glands are your “stress glands.”

Long standing adrenal stress can:
•increase thyroid binding protein activity which prevents thyroid hormone from entering the cell,
•impedes the production of T4 to T3,
•causes cells to lose their sensitivity to thyroid hormone and
•weakens the immune system.

A 2105 stool microbial test looking to see if you have parasites or h-‐pylori or fungi or mold in your gut.

An Organic acid test which tests for carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, energy production markers,

body pH has to be between 6.4 – 7.0

Newer Entries