Low Thyroid in 21 Lessons (Article 10)

Hello,

I am Dr Michael Teplisky, a holistic medical doctor from LowThyroidDoctor.com and this is lecture 10 in our seminar about low thyroid called “Hypothyroidism in 21 Lectures.” 

In the last lecture I started talking about symptoms of low thyroid, covering the body from top to bottom. As I mentioned, the number of symptoms is very large because there are so many organs in the body, each organ producing a few to a dozen symptoms. That’s why I had to split the symptoms into 2 lectures. But even with 2 lectures I will not be able to mention all the symptoms for every organ, only the most common ones. 

Last time we started at the top, talking about the skin, hair, the brain, eyes, and ears. Today we’ll keep going down, starting with the heart. 

The job of the Heart muscle is to pump the blood, making sure it circulates through the network of arteries, capillaries and veins in the whole body. 

In low thyroid, heart becomes weaker and does not pump the blood as effectively. The heart slows down. This means reduced circulation. It can be mild to severe. To compensate for that, the heart muscle may enlarge, which makes the situation worse, because bigger heart needs more thyroid, more nutrients, more oxygen, which are not coming because of reduced circulation. This may lead to heart failure. 

Thyroid hormones relax the muscles around the arteries, making it easier for the blood to flow, and reduce the blood pressure. Low thyroid makes arteries narrower, so the heart needs to work harder. Sometimes high blood pressure develops. 

Because of heart weakness there is water retention, causing puffiness of the skin, fluid around the heart, fluid around the lungs and other places. 

Low thyroid is an independent risk factor for hardening of the arteries and heart disease.

The job of the Lungs is to inhale air rich in oxygen and exhale stale air rich in CO2. This requires the action of the muscles inside the lungs and the muscle called the diaphragm, located right under the lungs. All the muscles become weaker, so the lung function goes down. The air exchange is less efficient. Plus, there may be some fluid accumulating around the lungs, called pleural effusion.  This may lead to shortness of breath, especially on exertion, but even at rest in severe cases. There is also an increased risk of respiratory infections.

Liver is the busiest organ in the body. It produces a number of important proteins, it is necessary for sugar metabolism, it is involved in detoxification, it produces bile and cholesterol, It converts T4 to T3, it is involved in metabolism of medications, it is important for normal blood clotting and does dozens of other things. Hypothyroidism interferes with all that, it interferes with detoxification, worsens sugar control, increases cholesterol, makes bile thicker, increases the likelihood of gallstones. It can also increase certain liver enzymes in the blood. And it can cause fat accumulation in the liver and cause Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease or NAFLD. Liver removes medications from the blood, so if you are taking certain medications and have low thyroid, you should check with your doctor if you need to decrease the dose. 

Kidneys. The job of the kidneys is to remove toxins and extra water. All this slows down in low thyroid. There is water retention. This leads to puffiness of the face, puffiness of eyelids, swelling of the hands and feet, carpal tunnel syndrome. Your tongue becomes slightly swollen and presses against the teeth. If you stick your tongue out in front of the mirror, you will see teeth marks. 

Bladder muscle becomes weaker, so it does not push out urine as effectively. This could lead to more frequent urinations, sort of like in men with enlarged prostate. It also increases the risk of the urinary tract infections, especially in women.

Kidneys regulate minerals sodium, potassium, chloride, zinc, magnesium, calcium and many others. In hypothyroidism, sodium, potassium and other minerals may be low on the blood test. 

Ovaries and testicles. Low thyroid causes decreased libido in both men and women. It also causes infertility or difficulty conceiving in both men and women.

Women can have problems with menstruations. They can become less or more frequent or totally irregular or they last longer than usual. Often, women have very heavy periods, with so much blood loss that it can cause anemia. There are also problems with ovulation, it may happen irregularly or stop altogether. This also can cause infertility.

In men, there is decreased testosterone production and decreased sperm production. And the sperm is not as active as it should be, which also contributes to fertility problems. 

Muscles become painful and weak. Joints become painful and stiff, pain usually affects hands, knees, other large joints. It can be so bad that it is confused with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Low thyroid reduces bone turnover, so new bone tissue is made more slowly, while old, dead tissue that should be removed, is not removed properly, making the bones more brittle. 

Immune system Is like the military, it consists of many different types of white cells and the organs that make them and train them. And just like the military, it protects you against enemies, like bacteria, viruses, toxins and everything that is not part of you. Or even your own abnormal cells, like cancer cells. 

Some white cells engage in hand-to-hand fighting with the microbes and other things that are trying to invade you. Most white cells, like neutrophils and macrophages, are much bigger than the bugs. So the white cells just swallow them, the way a snake swallows a mouse or a fox.

Some white cells fight by making antibodies against the bugs. Some produce certain chemicals that make holes in the membrane of the microorganisms, which destroys them. Sort of like making a hole in a balloon. Other while cells have other functions. All this requires a lot of energy, and all white cells suffer when thyroid is low. Which makes the immune system weaker. Which means, it does not defend you as well, so you become more susceptible to infections, like frequent colds and flues, sinusitis, sore throat, canker sores. And because immune system also protects you from cancer, the risk of cancers increases. 

Immune cells are present everywhere in the body, but the bulk of the cells, about 80%, are located in the vicinity of the intestine, because that’s where most pathogens get in. 

Immune system is responsible for 2 important thyroid conditions. One is Hashimotos, which is the #1 cause of low thyroid in US. Another is Graves disease, which causes overactive thyroid, a condition also called hyperthyroidism. In both cases there is nothing wrong with the thyroid, it’s the overactive immune system that does all the damage. The immune system causes various auto-immune diseases, such as Hashimoto’s, Graves disease, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis and many others.

We’ll have a few lectures about how and why this happens and how to deal with that. 

GI tract. Gi tract starts in the mouth, followed by esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small and large intestine and ends at the anus. The intestine is about 30-35 feet long and it has a natural slow movement, which propels everything forward. This movement is called peristalsis. Its purpose is to push stool, bad bacteria and fungi (multiple of fungus), like Candida, slowly forward and out. As the muscles of the intestine become weaker and less energetic, this movement slows down. The most obvious result of that is constipation. Less obvious is the fact that bad bacteria and Candida are not pushed out, so they stay and create what’s known as bacterial overgrowth. The full name is SIBO, small intestine bacterial overgrowth. There is also SIFO, small intestine fungal overgrowth. The same process is going on in the large intestine, the difference being that usually only large intestine has lots of bacteria.  This situation is called dysbiosis, which means bacterial disbalance.  In general, there are trillions of different bacteria in the intestine, some good, some bad. Ideally good should predominate, because bad bacteria are called bad for a reason, and most yeasts or fungi are not much better. They produce toxins, they cause gut irritation, gut inflammation, and leaky gut syndrome. Normally gut is like a wall of a castle, preventing unauthorized things from getting in. Leaky gut is just the opposite, it allows bad things to get inside. This triggers the immune response, which stimulates the immune system even more, creating a vicious cycle, because overstimulated immune system is what is attacking your thyroid gland. 

As I said, it is impossible to list all the hypothyroid symptoms, but the main thing to get out of this lecture is that everything becomes sluggish and every part of the body, every organ becomes affected.

Because so many people are not treated for hypothyroidism, this can lead to worsening of symptoms and the appearance of serious health issues, like cardiovascular, emotional and psychiatric, autoimmune conditions and many others, so it should be treated. 

Please make sure to subscribe to my newsletter which you will get about once a week. If you know someone who might benefit from this information, please forward it to them. Also, if you have questions or comments, please email them to info@LowThyroidDoctor.com. I try to read and answer all of them, time permitting.  

Also, please keep in mind that if you suspect that you have low thyroid or you are being treated and are not getting better, you can get a free, no obligation 30 min phone consultation with me to see if I can help you get better. Just book it online or call my office at 718-769-0997. 

I’ll see you in the next lecture. 

Until then, I am Dr. Michael Teplisky from LowThyroidDoctor.com wishing you the best of health.