What is the Cause of Hashimoto's?
To better understand Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, let’s dig into this concept. Hashimoto directly affects the thyroid gland, which is in charge of making the hormones that run all of the body's metabolic functions; this is why it has an impact on how your body turns food you consume into energy.
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease. Your body doesn’t recognize your thyroid as your own and attacks it.
Now let’s know all the details about Hashimotos and how they impact health!
Hypothyroidism
Thyroid gland may stop producing enough hormones, when this happens it is an indicator that the immune system is damaged, that is when hashimoto’s hypothyroidism occurs.
Thyroid hormones regulate the body’s metabolism. If metabolism doesn’t work properly, the body can’t turn food into energy at a healthy rate. Which is what creates one of the main side effects of Hashimoto's, low energy. Without a sufficient amount of energy, your body won’t operate normally and your body functions will begin to slow.
Hypothyroidism is a condition with many effects that makes patient life hard at different levels. Here are some more examples of hypothyroidism effects:
Weight gain, feeling tired a lot of the time and constant low energy.
Memory problems.
Women with hypothyroidism suffer irregular menstrual cycles and difficulty becoming pregnant.
Trouble with bowel movements, constipation, heartburn, or other digestive problems.
In both men and women, sexual dysfunction can occur.
Symptoms of Hashimoto’s
At first, Hashimoto’s patients may be symptom free, but as the condition progresses the thyroid glands start to enlarge, someone with Hashimoto’s has neck/throat enlargement or swollen, this is known as a goiter.
Hashimoto’s disease is very common and can be found in about 5 out of every 100 people in the US.
Another symptom of a patient suffering from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, is weight gain from slowed metabolism. Usually forming from water and salt gain in the body. Being diagnosed with hashimoto’s raises your risk of developing other autoimmune disorders that also create fatigue and weight gain, such as:
Deficiency in vitamin B12
Celiac disease
Low cortisol levels
Developing type 1 diabetes
Other symptoms worth to mention are:
Fatigue and sluggishness
Increased sensitivity to cold
Constipation
Pale, dry skin
A puffy face
Brittle nails
Risk Factors
The following are considered Hashimoto's risk factors:
Sex. Women are at higher risk of getting Hashimoto's disease.
Age. Hashimoto's disease can occur no matter the age, but most likely occurs in middle aged patients.
Heredity. You're at higher risk for Hashimoto's disease if others in your family have thyroid or other autoimmune diseases.
Other autoimmune diseases. Having another autoimmune disease increases your risk of developing Hashimoto's disease.
Radiation exposure. People exposed to high levels of environmental radiation are more likely to develop Hashimoto's disease.
Why does this happen?
Doctors aren't certain as to why the immune system, which is supposed to defend the body from harmful viruses and bacteria, sometimes turns against the body's healthy tissues. The exact cause of Hashimoto's is not known, but many factors are proven to heighten the risk of developing the disease, like the ones we mentioned above.
In someone with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, a bunch of damaged immune cells attack the thyroid. Called lymphocytes, these immune cells are where the other term for Hashimoto’s comes: chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis.
When these lymphocytes come into contact with the thyroid, they destroy everything. The cells, blood vessels and tissue in the gland. This process of the thyroid being destroyed is slow. Which explains why a lot of people who do have Hashimoto’s thyroiditis go a long period of time without symptoms and diagnosis.
Treatment for Hashimoto’s
The medical treatment for Hashimoto¡s frequently involves replacement therapy with thyroid hormone, so on a daily basis, the patients need to take synthetic thyroid hormone called levothyroxine (T4), liothyronine (T3), or natural desiccated thyroid (T4 and T·) to correct low levels.
This treatment is effective for some of the patients, not all of them. Patients may suffer back and forth of symptoms while trying to find the correct dosage. Other individuals don’t tolerate or absorb thyroid hormone well.
For those that tolerate the treatment, it keeps being a challenge because it only covers up the symptoms without really providing healing. Changing your diet and taking an herbal supplement are two ways you can help your thyroid condition, these options may have fewer side effects than taking artificial hormones as a thyroid medication.
A natural approach
Taking herbal supplements to help address a low or underactive thyroid may be helpful for people who aren’t responding well to medications. As medications are not recommended by us at Pure Health, we believe a more natural approach to treating Hashimoto’s should be available. So, that’s exactly what we’ve created!
When considering hormone treatment, it is important to go over all factors that may explain why the immune system is attacking the thyroid gland.
Integrative and functional medical doctors have great success treating Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism with things such as:
Dietary Modifications
Gut Repair
Nutrition
Stress Reduction
If you’ve been told that you should just live with Hashimoto’s, or that artificial hormone treatment is your only option, is because some may not be aware of these natural treatments that help to retrain the immune system to live in synchrony with the thyroid gland.
About the treatment
Hashimoto's thyroiditis should be diagnosed by blood tests that measure thyroid gland function and blood tests that look for antibodies against proteins found in the thyroid gland.
The outcome of relief with treatment for someone with Hashimoto's thyroiditis is excellent with proper care.
There is no cure for Hashimoto's thyroiditis.
In most patients, hypothyroidism results from the inflammatory process.
How we can help you find relief from our natural approach
There are different stages to suffering with an autoimmune disorder-
Stage One: Positive antibody tests to a body tissue with no symptoms in that tissue.
Stage Two: Positive antibody tests to a body tissue with symptoms being experienced in that tissue.
Stage Three: Positive tests for antibodies plus symptoms, with evidence of the destruction of that specific body tissue.
From there, at Pure Health we have a comprehensive approach to treating Hashimoto’s with an autoimmune program for those struggling with Hashimoto’s and several other autoimmune diseases.
Schedule your next appointment with us and find out if our treatment is the right fit for you!