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Exploring the Thyroid

More people have thyroid issues than they realize. Again, it is not yet the root cause of illness and disease. Keep troubleshooting the why – WHY do we have the thyroid diseases and issues? That does not mean we ignore thyroid health, instead, we deal with it and keep seeking for the WHY behind it. I know my WHY’s. Do you know yours?

When we crash hard we end up with many health issues to deal with. It can feel overwhelming because there are so many things wrong. Yet, when dealing with the basics first it helps us to turn our body in the right direction towards health. Then we can work on the root causes which create bodies inhospitable to illness and disease.

Each one of these days of troubleshooting can show us how important it is to be aware of our bodies and the complexities along with the simple basics. Taking it slow and easy helps us so we do not go to war with our bodies to try to get better. Our bodies are our friends, not our enemies.

Thyroid Health

Yesterday when I showed you the rash I had last week, I realized that my thyroid stood out in the rash. It actually was the only thing that did not have the rash on it. I have thyroid disease, mine is Hashimottos. It has already healed significantly in the last 6 months while I have been on the WHY protocol (fixing the WHYs and not just the symptoms). How did I get Hashimottos, how did I treat it and why it is not the root cause of my physical dilemma???

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locate your thyroid

For anyone who does not know where the thyroid is located, this is a perfect illustration. It is located on the neck. On me, you can clearly see it.

This can be a good thing to troubleshoot because boy-oh-boy can it cause health issues.

There are some very simple things that can be done to contribute to thyroid health that make us feel better. When we feel better, we calm down more and can move into a healing atmosphere – creating an inhospitable body to illness and disease.

When my body took a nose-dive 6 years ago I had little concept of my thyroid disease. Then when I was diagnosed with Lyme disease, the thyroid issue seemed irrelevant at the time in comparison to all of the Lyme issues I was having. Now I know that they are connected.

As I spent year after year pushing through life as fast and hard as I could, it took its toll. After decades of this level of stress, my hormones got out of whack, both from my pushing and my health issues.

Let’s look at how this can be approached in a better way than how I handled it. This is the beauty of healing stories. I have learned from others stories. I have also taken great lengths to get educated so I stop doing things the hard lengthy way. There is an easier and shorter way of getting through a healing journey.

Understanding the Thyroid

Get educated on what the thyroid does and how easily it gets stressed from our choices and the toxic environment we live in.

I trust the work of Sayer Ji at GreenMedInfo because he uses science and evidence-based research to back up his plain English explanations of health issues. He takes the complicated facts and turns them into an understandable education.

Dr. Izabella Wentz is well known for her work in the thyroid world. She is the doctor who blesses us with the Thyroid Summit every year, giving us detailed information and interviewing other experts on the subject.

Endocrine System (our hormones)

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Overview in a nutshell

Men and woman have an endocrine system which includes the thyroid. The balance of hormones is crucial for our endocrine system health.

When we get stressed by factors such as physical, emotional or environmental, our hormones get disrupted, out of balance.

Cortisol is a well-known stress hormone. When our stress levels rise for whatever reason, it increases our cortisol. If we are at war or running from a tiger trying to eat us, this is appropriate. Instead, our modern lifestyle is filled with stressors which cause a constant disruption of the correct balance of hormones. Eventually, it may create disease like thyroid disease which includes Hashimottos.

What can we do?

Awareness — Being aware of some of the causes of thyroid disease can help us to adjust and create a healthy thyroid environment.

There are endocrine disruptors everywhere.

  • When we inhale perfumes, cologne, air fresheners, soaps, cleaning supplies, or any chemical, it disrupts our hormones.
  • We allow too much stress in our lives, which disrupts our hormones.
  • We don’t pay attention to the natural rhythms of our body, like sleep rhythms or digestion rhythms.

Actions — When we become aware, we then can take very simple actions.

  • Replace all perfumes, colognes, air fresheners, soaps, shampoos, cleaning supplies, etc. with natural alternatives.
  • Monitor our own stress levels.
    • Don’t watch the news right before you go to bed.
    • Create healthy boundaries for relationships.
    • Balance work with fun.
    • Engage more in “community.” If you don’t have friends and family, learn how to create a “community” out of nothing, it can be done!
    • You get the picture. You have heard this for years. REDUCE STRESS.
  • Natural rhythms matter, they reduce stress on the body
    • Get to bed between 9-11 p.m. so your body can do its nighttime ritual of detoxing and regenerating organs and body systems.
    • Eating in rhythm with our digestive system. High noon is high digestion. Heavy meals before bed just bog us down.
    • Eat with the natural rhythm of the seasons. Apples in the Fall, dried spices in the Winter, fresh fruit and veggies in the Spring and Summer.
  • Iodine, the right kind, in the right balance, can be very beneficial for thyroid health.

Can you feel your thyroid stress?

For me, when my thyroid was at its worse it felt like I was being choked, constantly. I could not even have one hair touch my throat or I would feel like someone was tightening the death grip on me. I finally figured out that it had to my thyroid but I did not have a doctor who knew what to do with the situation of all the crazy health stuff going on at the same time. I lived with the “choking” for 3 years straight, miserable experience.

It was when my ascending aorta became 100% blocked and was creating heart failure I was provided with someone who knew what they were doing. The vascular scientist who saved my life also identified and treated me for Hashimottos on the spot. She said it was one of the worse cases of Hashimottos she had seen.

When she found the thyroid issue through an ultrasound, she was able to relieve the intensity. That day when she saved my life, she immediately reduced my vascular shutdown. Having blood and oxygen now flowing better, there was not as much stress on my body. Less stress allowed my hormones to balance better which lowered the intensity of the Hashimottos. Within 2 1/2 months, the vascular scientist was pleased with the results on my thyroid. I did not take any special medicine for it, instead, I reduced the offending stress that caused it.

“An ultrasound reveals what’s happening with your thyroid. It shows whether or not you have changes consistent with Hashimoto’s, which could be characterized by changes in blood flow to the thyroid gland, a shrunken or enlarged thyroid, or even a “rubbery” thyroid. If you have nodules present, then they need to be watched, and an ultrasound can spot tumors that need to be biopsied or examined.”Dr. Izabella Wentz 

Deal with the stress or it may deal with you

When we do not deal with our stress levels, eventually they deal with us. I cannot tell you how many stories I have heard about people pushing through life only to find themselves sicker than they ever imagined.

I know, when we are somewhat healthy, we don’t want to hear this. Now that you are here and chronically ill, you know exactly what I am talking about. We do contribute to our own health issues.

To work towards healing and health, we have to face these hard facts and turn this around. As we learn about all the things that have already gone wrong in our bodies, we can adjust to better choices that will create an inhospitable body to disease. That helps us move through the current health journey and sustain it.

Every single doctor, health care practitioner, health coach that I respect has gone down this path themselves. Only to find out for themselves that as individuals, and as a global society, we have to make better choices to be able to sustain health. We can do this. We can change the course of our health by our choices.

My job, at the moment, is to make sure we are on that same page.

Do you believe that you have some control over your health by your choices?

Keep contacting me in any way you want. I will have this discussion with you so that we get on the same page. Our choices matter for our health.

Maribeth Baxter, MBNC (Certified Mind-Body Nourishment Coach)

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