Adrenal Fatigue & Thyroid Dysfunction
The Adrenals and Thyroid are profoundly interdependent. When the Thyroid doesn’t work properly the Adrenals are put into play.
The Adrenals use cholesterol, which is made in the Liver, to make hormones and so there’s also a systemic connection between the Thyroid and Adrenals as well as with the Liver and Gall Bladder.
The more dependent we are become on our Adrenals, due to Thyroid dysfunction, the more Cholesterol is required by the Adrenals to make hormones.
Thyroid & Adrenal Seesaw
The Thyroid and Adrenals don’t tend to break. Instead, they are the glands designed to regulate the body.
However, if we have a highly inflammatory lifestyle then the chances are we will appear to have a low functioning Thyroid. This is because it’s the Adrenals job to deal with inflammation by producing Cortisol. And when the Adrenals are up the Thyroid is down.
Thyroid statistics for the USA are running as high as 90% of the population… It’s a big issue… but there has to be a fair amount of misdiagnosis going on too…
Adrenals
Any physical, emotional or chemical stressor is going to make the Adrenals work harder because they have to produce stress hormones, Adrenalin and Cortisol.
These stress hormones lower the production of TSH, aka Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, so people with chronic stress will show up as having Thyroid issues if they get tested for Thyroid function.
The number of people who are stuck in a chronic state of stress, and therefore Adrenal dominance, are growing exponentially due to long working hours, financial pressures, relationship issues, environmental toxins, poor diets and insufficient sleep.
***The above list is the root cause of ALL illness, incidentally, especially the growing toxic burdens from environmental pollutants, particularly radiation from modern technologies.
I recommend these articles for understanding stress and how to achieve stress reduction… Come back to them after reading the rest of this article:
The Ultimate Cause Of All Illness
Stress Is The Cause Of All Illness & Dysfunction
I also recommend Hormone Health Part Five as a companion piece to this article. It explores Xenoestrogens :: Endocrine disrupting synthetic oestrogens, weight gain and skin health…
Hormone Health Part Seven :: Highlights hormonal conditions such as; Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Infertility, Thyroid problems, diet-resistant weight issues, mental stress & dietary related hormone deficiencies and menopause etc…
Yo-yo Blood Sugar
The more blood sugar goes up the more the Pancreas pulls to lower it by making Insulin.
The way in which we spike our blood sugar these days is usually very dramatic. The UK eat more chocolate than any other country in Europe, and there’s nothing like unrefined sugar to send our blood sugar rocketing off the charts. But high carbs meals, which are low in complex carbohydrates will also have a similar effect.
Eating white bread is like eating a bowl of sugar in terms of what your body does in response to it. This is one of the reasons why refined foods, like white bread etc, are so bad for us…
The Pancreatic Response To High Blood Sugar
Because of the high level of refined foods, especially the levels of refined sugar we eat these days, the more of an assault this has on our bodies. The response to this assault by the Pancreas is to practically pump out Insulin as though it’s being held at gun point.
This in turn has an equally shocking impact on the body, as the Insulin spike comes crashing down and our blood sugar levels fall to a state where they are incredibly low.
Because the speed at which the sugar levels come down are so dramatic they tend to plummet too low, which then stimulates an Adrenal response.
The Adrenal Response To Low Blood Sugar
An Adrenalin and Cortisol response is the last thing we need in many respects as it guarantees weight gain as well as more time spent in ‘fight or flight’ mode, or, in medical terms; more time spent in a sympathetic nervous system state.
***The alternative to fight or flight mode is the ‘rest and restore’ mode of the parasympathetic nervous system. When we are in rest and restore the body is relaxed and can heal. When we are in fight or flight, we are ready to do battle, with all of our senses on red alert.
Learn more about your parasympathetic nervous system and how to self-regulate it here :: Using Thieves Oil 2020 For Hormone & Immune Support
The Bodies Response To Being In An Adrenal State
Because the body is constantly trying to combat the deleterious effects of being in an Adrenal state, it is always putting off what it should be doing today to ensure our body is functioning as it should be for fight or flight.
If, however, we are still in fight or flight mode tomorrow, and the day after that, then the normal functioning of the body is ultimately being permanently put to one side, in order to deal with the extraordinary problems of being in fight or flight mode. Our body neither has the time or resources to do both!
So, for example, instead of ensuring healthy sex hormone levels our body is kept dealing with stress and inflammation issues. This has a negative impact on our Anabolic Metabolism.
This hormone imbalance has a direct and significant impact on our Thyroid, predisposing us to autoimmune Thyroid, or Hashimoto’s.
Women who are constantly in an Adrenal state will also struggle to conceive. Not only are the sex hormones depleted, but the fight or flight response is all about running away from Dinosaurs, and escaping from life threatening experiences. When the body is primed for potentially lethal encounters it is not going to be able to conceive.
The modern day Dinosaurs or stressors are; chemical sensitivities, like food intolerances or environmental toxins, like pesticides and cleaning products etc… all of which I cover in some detail in:
Hormone Disrupting Substances & Cures
Weight Gain & Resistant Weight Loss
Three Types Of Stressors
There are three groups of stressors which impose a tax on our bodies and ultimately inflict damage, which will lead to dysfunction over time.
- Physical stressors
- Emotional stressors
- Chemical Stressors
Physical Stressors
Physical stressors include:
- too much exercise
- too little exercise
- too much screen time
- not enough sleep
- intestinal parasites
- heavy metals
- viruses etc…
- Electromagnetic fields (EMF) aka wireless technologies
Emotional Stressors
Emotional stressors include;
- toxic relationships (including with Self)
- overworking
- money worries etc…
Chemical Stressors
These include:
- Environmental toxins
- Food toxins
- Household toxins, (cleaning products & chemical air fresheners etc.)
***Some people are genetically capable of dealing with more stress than others. Men are much more suited to dealing with stress than women due to differences in the way our Hormonal Systems are geared.
Read about stress and how it makes us ill in a lot more detail in Stress Cause All Illness.
How The Body Breaks Down
All of the above stressors negatively affect the ability of the gut to do it’s job. They, essentially, have a debilitating effect on the gut.
The reason why 80% of the body’s immune system is in the gut is because it’s on the frontline when it comes to pathogenic infection etc. We need a fully functioning gut to keep us safe from infection.
But, because of environmental toxins, as well as an inflammatory Western diet, our guts are under siege like never before.
Poor Digestion & Infection
With compromised digestion and an increase in infection we eventually develop Leaky Gut.
Leaky gut is also caused by the consumption of grains which release a substance called Zonulin in the body, which then allows the tight junctions within the gut to separate, thereby permitting solid food particles and toxins into the bloodstream.
Systemic Dysfunction
Issues downstream are low energy, depression, chronic pain, digestion issues, hormones issues, all of which, if you go to your doctor, will end up being treated symptomatically.
So you will be prescribed an anti-inflammatory for your pain, which will likely cause you to have digestion issues, which will then be treated with an antacid, or proton pump inhibitor, which, because the true cause isn’t being addressed, may very well cause you to develop hormone and emotional issues for which you will be prescribed ‘The Pill’, or HRT, along with antidepressant for your depression.
Meanwhile, the real cause of your problems get worse, whilst you just add to your toxic burden, and symptom list, by taking toxic compounds that are doing nothing to improve your health, and everything to help harm it!
Most drugs block enzymatic pathways in the body. So instead of upregilating health, pharmaceutical medicine is all about down regulating it…
Adrenals & Inflammation
Adrenals help reduce inflammation – Cortisol is the best anti-inflammatory there is.
They also regulate energy with the use of Cortisol.
Cortisol is a Gluco-Cortico Steroid – Gluco is sugar and Cortico Steroid is stress and inflammation.
Supporting the body’s ability to regulate inflammation via the Adrenals is going to automatically help any autoimmune conditions we have.
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition, so it will improve if the Adrenals are able to manage our inflammation better.
We can do this by reducing stress, eating an anti-inflammatory diet and reducing environmental toxins, as well as getting enough sleep and cutting down exposure to blue light emitting technologies and wireless tech.
However, if the Adrenals are constantly having to deal with Insulin spikes and other unnecessary stressors then there’s going to be insufficient resources to manage inflammation in the Thyroid.
Mending Our Ways
Cutting out mental and emotional stress is critical to our recovery. In The Ultimate Cause Of All Illness I cover the absolute importance of addressing emotional health, because, if we don’t, we won’t get well and stay well.
Another one of the biggest things we can do to start remedying or hormone and gut issues is to cut out refined sugar and grains from our diet. Both of these cause the yo-yo blood sugar scenario that started the detrimental cascade within the body.
So, we need to amend our diets to achieve blood sugar stability. This means converting our body’s into a fat burning machine rather than a sugar burning system!
It takes 30 days of eating no refined sugar and refined carbohydrates to restore our bodies back into being a fat burning system…
I told somebody this recently and she said… “Oh, I could probably do that”, and I could see in her eyes that she knew a 30 day stint was going to be tough, but the rewards would be worth it.
However, I could also see something else in her eyes that really worried me. So I added, “And, then you are going to be in a fat burning state, and you will have to keep on not eating refined sugar and refined carbohydrates to reap the benefits and keep your body in a fat burning state going forward.”
“Ohhh”, came the withering, enfeebled response… any more than 30 days without all of those utterly toxic, terrible foods, was clearly just too much to ask!
It’s sad, and I feel so disheartened sometimes because I know I can’t do the work for these people who set themselves up to fail.
And I get it!
I really do!
(But, there’s hope at the end of this article!)
In The Long Term
Over time all of the sugar and other toxic convenience foods along with the courses of antibiotics we take and the pain killers we pop have an accumulative effect… and the end result isn’t pretty…
I have been there… and I had to claw my way back to okay health… there’s no way that I am going to give up trying to give up all the refined toxic food that’ll make me that ill again!
You can read more about my journey here…
New Skincare Business :: The Launch, The Laughs & The Lows
But, until your health has fallen off a cliff, like mine did, all of the scrummy treats and fun toxic cosmetics etc, all seem a little too high a cost to pay for health…
Near Infrared Therapy To The Rescue…?
In the following interview the impact of Near Infrared Therapy on our Thyroid function is amazing…
If you are short of time and need a little convincing, head to 29.50 minutes to hear the benefits of red light therapy for Thyroid health.
Adrenals & Mental Health
We tend to feel irritable, light headed and anxious when our blood sugar drops into the Adrenal activation zone, but we feel much more ‘together’ when our blood sugar is above normal levels. That’s the danger of these foods that give us the spikes. We tend to start self-medicating with them.
I, for one, am a self-medicator. I developed a chocolate addiction when I was very young, which led me to becoming an out and out sugar addict. I have struggled with this all my life.
Adrenals & Thyroid
The constant roller coaster of sugar highs and lows puts stress on the Thyroid. The surges of Insulin, followed by the surges of Adrenalin and Cortisol, produced by the Adrenals to force blood sugar levels to rise, before they plummet to a point where we would be rendered unconscious, have a direct impact on Thyroid Hormone and Thyroid activation at the cellular level.
This directly impacts the body’s ability to convert T4 to T3 systemically in the body. So, this can have a major chronic impact in the Thyroid.
Blood Sugar & Immunity
Our blood sugar levels have a direct impact on our immune system. So, if our blood sugar is constantly swinging from high to low then this knocks out our immune systems.
Autoimmune Issues
Surges of Adrenalin and Cortisol can also exacerbate autoimmune Thyroid conditions, which, as I have mentioned before, are affect anywhere between 50% and 90% of the US population these days. This is likely to correlate with UK statistics as we eat a very similar diet, by and large.
There are two main autoimmune Thyroid conditions. Hashimoto’s, or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, is the most common cause of underactive thyroid, aka hypothyroidism.
Conversely Graves’ disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism, aka overactive thyroid.
Insulin Resistance & Hormone Issues
Chronically high sugar levels = Insulin Resistance.
Insulin Resistance increases the risk of PCOS, aka Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, as well as causing Diabetes, or, at least Pre-Diabetes, and the very troublesome weight gain that none of us appreciate.
Hypoglycemic women tend to be petite, but have fluctuating moods throughout the day because they are sugar burners and not fat burners.
Gut Health
Infections affect gut health, and so infections affect the entire body!
As mentioned, 80% of our immune system is in the gut, courtesy of our microbiome, which is where we intercept most of the things entering the body that shouldn’t be there.
Pathogens can also live for a long time outside of the body, and reside in the soil or in large bodies of water where we may go swimming. These include things like Giardia Cysts, which are even resistant to deep cleaning with bleach based products, and can live in water, or soil, for several months.
I have lived in Asia, and have been infected with Giardia. I have also been infected with Fasciolopsis Buski, another parasite that can survive outside the body for a long time. And, in the case of Fasciolopsis Buski, even years!
These are some of the things which contributed to me getting really ill a few years back!
A Compromised Gut Leads To Autoimmunity
Most Thyroid issues are autoimmune based, and because most of the immune system resides in the gut, if the gut is compromised then our Thyroid is likely going to be compromised too.
The majority of immune stress is caused by leaky gut.
Undigested food particles and metabolites called LPS or endotoxins, make their way into the blood stream, causing immune stress and molecular mimickery issues.
Undigested proteins of Gluten are cross reactive with others, which, as already mentioned, instigates a Zonulin release which causes the tight junctions of the gut to unzip, causing leaky gut.
Cross-Reactivity
Cross-reactivity occurs when the proteins in one substance are like the proteins in another.
Cross-reactivity between allergenic proteins come from all grains including Oats and Corn, Buckwheat and even Quinoa etc, and have a similar surface protein to that of the Thyroid. We can have this issue with ANY or ALL grains!
Proteins are Amino Acids which make Neurotransmitters like Dopamine.
Dopamine is a really important trigger for TRH, aka Thyroid Releasing Hormone, from the Hypothalamus, which then triggers TSH, aka Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, from the Pituitary, which helps with T4 from the Thyroid, and then T3 conversion in the body
Vitamin Absorption
A compromised gut will not absorb vitamins properly.
B Vitamins
B Vitamins are particularly essential for gut health, as well as hormone and emotional health.
As well as a compromised gut, which will mean the poor absorption of B Vitamins, there are other factors which actually destroy B Vitamins also.
Most B Vitamins can’t be stored by the body and, therefore, have to be obtained from the food we eat. So, our gut has to be functioning optimally to absorb the all-important B Vitamins in our food.
Extended cooking, as well as food processing, or the consumption of alcohol, can destroy or reduce the bio-availability of most B Vitamins.
B Vitamins For The Thyroid
B Vitamins are really important for the Thyroid:
B3 Niacin: is essential for connective tissue thereby helping to maintain skin health. It also supports the nervous and digestive systems.
B5 Pantothenic acid: is the Adrenal B Vitamin and is needed to metabolise carbohydrates, proteins, fats and alcohol. It’s also needed to produce red blood cells and steroid hormones.
B6 Pyridoxine: is required for protein and carbohydrate metabolism, and like B5 it is needed in the formation of red blood cells in addition to certain brain chemicals. It is the Neurotransmitter B Vitamin because it helps synthesise Neurotransmitters, like Dopamine, which is needed for Thyroid function.
It also influences brain development, immune function and steroid hormone activity.
B7 Biotin: is needed for energy metabolism, fat synthesis, amino acid metabolism and glycogen synthesis. Vitamin B7, aka Vitamin H helps the body metabolise proteins and to process glucose. It supports the production of the connective tissue and so is important for the health of our nails, skin, and hair.
B9 Folate: is needed to make red blood cells, which carry oxygen around the body. Folate is very important for pregnant women because B9 helps to develop their baby’s nervous system during the foetal phase, as well as playing it’s part in DNA synthesis and cell growth. Women of child-bearing age need a diet rich in folate.
B12 Cyanocobalamin: is vital for our mitochondria and methylation, which has a massive impact on Thyroid as well as healthy red blood cells and DNA activation.
**** The Methylcobalamin form of B12 is the better one if you are considering supplementing with B12, as mentioned in Gut Health.
Vitamin B12 helps to produce and maintain the myelin sheath which coats our nerves, as well as supporting our mental abilities, red blood cell formation. It is also responsible for breaking down certain fatty acids and amino acids in order to produce energy.
Vitamin B12 has a close relationship with Folate. Both are dependent on the other to work properly.
Eating Liver three times a week, because it contains a lot of B12, is vitally important for Mitochondrial health and Methylation.
Healthy gut bacteria produces some B Vitamins
Mineral Absorption
Selenium is important for T4 to T3 conversion, but it’s also important for Liver health.
Iodine :: Thyroid Hormone is 4 molecules of Iodine and one molecule of Tyrosine
Zinc, Magnesium, Tyrocine, Iodine, Co Q10 and Vitamin A are all essential for Thyroid function.
Other Gut Issues
All gut issues will have an impact on hormone health, even if leaky gut isn’t present. Other gut issues will affect absorption, and poor absoption of vitamins and minerals will lead to hormone trouble.
The Mycrobiome
Bad bacteria produces toxins and good bacteria produces B Vitamins and other nutrients!
Insufficient Hydroclauric Acid
There are many causes of insufficient hydroclauric acid production, from stress to an H Pilori infection. This will then make it difficult for the food to be released into the Small Intestine and for Pancreatic Enzymes to be produced. This in turn should make the Gall Bladder contract to produce Bile, which is really important for protein and fat digestion…
Thyroid Hormone has a protein backbone called Tyrosine, so if protein digestion is an issue then our Thyroid will suffer.
Also Thyroid Binding Globulin is a protein that binds to Thyroid Hormone, and so is critical in the conversion from in active to active Thyroid Hormone.
Vitamins & Minerals For Thyroid Health
Vitamin A is very important for Thyroid Hormone synthesis, and all of the Minerals, including Magnesium, Selenium, Zinc, Copper etc, have to be ionised via the digestion so they can be carried by the blood around the body and used where needed.
Fatigue
Fatigue is an hypo-thyroidic issue.
Burn-out is also an Hyper-Thyroid issue.
Adrenals help us regulate energy by upshifting to produce more and downshifting to get us to relax so we can digest at meal times and sleep at night… Sleep is needed to repair the body, thereby dealing with stress and inflammation amid a whole host of other things…
The Mitochondria provides us with the energy to function.
Too many people, like me, who have chronic Adrenal issues have too little Cortisol in the morning and way too much at night. This needs reversing to be healthy, and break out of a downward spiral!
Too much Cortisol at night prevents us from sleeping.
Cortisol issues are also covered in depth in the article on Adaptogenic Herbs.
Adaptogenic Herbs can go a long way towards supporting Cortisol recalibration.
Broken Gut Leads To Broken Hormonal States
This is the best video on why grains are so bad for us I have ever come across. I very much hope you find the time to watch it.
Grains destroy gut health, and that destroys everything else!
Thyroid Binding Globulin
Thyroid Binding Globulin, aka TBG, is a protein that binds to T4 and T3, aka Inactive Thyroid Hormone 4, and Active Thyroid Hormone 3. T4 converts to T3, becoming the active form of Thyroid Hormone.
But Oestrogen also binds to the TBG protein.
So, when the Thyroid Binding Globulin has Oestrogen bound to it this means that it can’t carry the T4 to the Liver, or Lungs etc. to be converted into T3.
This will cause a low functioning Thyroid, but not for the reason that will be suspected. As John Bergman explains in the video below, a lot of people start taking birth control pills and soon after are diagnosed with a low functioning Thyroid.
You Are Not Sick For The Lack Of Thyroid Pharmaceuticals
There’s a saying is alt medicine circles that we are not sick owing to a lack of drugs. For example, people don’t get depressed because their body isn’t producing enough SSRI drugs. Or, we aren’t suffering from a hormone imbalance due to a lack of synthetic hormones…
John Bergman also covers this issue… I leave you in his very capable hands…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1rxW9IzYrA
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