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The Thyroid Secret

Shame is inflammatory: the thyroid, autoimmunity and serotonin

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A quick reminder that The Thyroid Secret online documentary replays air this weekend – all 9 episodes will be available to watch! It comes highly recommended! (You can still register here)

In Episode 5, The Stress Sickness, Michelle Corey, Functional Medical Practitioner, Nutritionist and author of the groundbreaking book The Thyroid Cure, The Functional Mind-Body Approach to Reversing Your Autoimmune Condition and Reclaiming Your Health, talks about the connection between shame and inflammation:

We know that shame is inflammatory. In fact, there was a study done where they had students sit for 20 minutes and think about some experience in their life that was shameful. They measured their blood afterwards, and they found spikes in inflammatory cytokines. We know that, from that study that induced shame cause a lot of inflammation. Unfortunately, we live in a global culture of shaming.

…shame is not something people really wanted to talk about, even psychologists or psychotherapists. Because shame is shameful. When you think about something shameful, it’s like the worst thing…

It’s very uncomfortable to speak about. I think just getting into the conversations about it. Just even journaling is one of the ways, because it is inflammatory. I have found, because I work with the autoimmunity [community], and there has been a big connection between abuse and autoimmunity in my practice that there is a lot of shame there. Just having someone be there to truly share your experience in a nonjudgmental way. Not in the way that I’m going to fix you, but just hear your story and have empathy for you. That’s one of the ways that shame dissolves. Because empathy is the antidote to shame. If we can have empathy for ourselves, if others can have empathy for us.”

She is talking about autoimmunity but this topic of shame and empathy is very relevant for my community – that means you of course – simply because of the shame and stigma around anxiety and mental health in general.

In case you’re interested here is the study Michelle is referring to: Immunological effects of induced shame and guilt, published in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2004.

I so appreciate everyone in the series, including Dr. Izabella Wentz, for sharing their powerful stories without shame so we can all be inspired and learn from them and have hope!

It’s not easy. I know because I used to have anxiety and panic attacks myself and made the choice to talk openly about the struggles I had. I was cautioned by a well-meaning mentor not to talk about it. She warned me that it was not professional and just not done in the field. I chose to be open and share anyway and I’m really glad I made this decision. It’s so important for healing on so many levels – for me and especially for those of you who hear my story and have hope!

In this same episode the topic of negative thoughts, the fears that we’re holding and the [negative] beliefs that we have about the body are discussed by Marc David and Emily Joy Rosen, founders of The Institute for the Psychology of Eating.

Marc shares this about these impacts on autoimmunity and the body attacking itself:

Autoimmune disease. That’s an autoimmune disease literally of our thinking, it’s self attacking self. It makes perfect sense to me because we know mind and body track one another. If I’m attacking self with negative thoughts, physiology can often follow where all of a sudden the body starts to attack itself. Or the body can attack its own thyroid gland. Which is, wow, how does that happen?

And Emily talks about how these thoughts impact treatment protocols:

I’m not saying that’s the only factor whatsoever. I think it is really important to look at the [negative] thoughts that we’re thinking. The fears that we’re holding, and the beliefs that we have about the body. Because they will impact the efficacy of any treatment protocol.

I wholeheartedly agree with both Marc and Emily and would like to add that these are all classic signs of low serotonin (that we can easily address):

  • negative thoughts (or negative self-talk)
  • fears and phobias and
  • the [negative] beliefs that we have about the body (often seen as low self-esteem or lack of confidence)

We could even connect the shame Michelle Corey talks about to low serotonin. The definition of ashamed is “reluctant to do or say something through fear of embarrassment or humiliation” or “hesitant or afraid to do or say something.” It sounds like low serotonin doesn’t it?

The wonderful thing is that these signs of low serotonin can be eliminated with some key nutrients.

The quickest and most effective way to boost serotonin is with the amino acids tryptophan and 5-HTP. I discuss the amino acids in the documentary: I touch on them in episode 2 and you hear me go into more detail in the FULL interview (which is part of the Deluxe GOLD package if you’re considering purchasing the series). Other ways include assessing and addressing low zinc, low vitamin B6, a need for inositol or curcumin or saffron, leaky gut and an out of balance microbiome. Eating GMOs, trans fats and gluten is detrimental. Exercising, eating grass-fed red meat and wild fish and supporting the adrenals is beneficial.

I hope you enjoyed this snippet and enjoy the replays!

And a quick reminder: did you know you can own the entire Thyroid Secret documentary series for yourself?

  • The Premium Silver Package, includes all 9 video episodes of The Thyroid Secret documentary series, complete easy to read transcriptions and MP3 audio recordings of each episode
  • The Deluxe Gold Package includes over 100+ amazing expert video interviews and 64 patient stories in over 76 hours of videos, transcriptions and MP3 audio recordings of each full length interview.

I’d love to hear some of the highlights you found useful and practical? Please share below in the comments.

PS. Feel free to share The Thyroid Secret online documentary with friends and family – all 9 replays air this weekend.

Anxiety and the thyroid: how to make the amino acids more effective

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Did you know that thyroid disease can be a root cause of anxiety? In fact, most of my anxious clients have thyroid issues.

Having an excess amount of thyroid hormone can make us extremely anxious, irritable and on edge. This is one symptom that is commonly attributed to Graves’ disease but can also happen in Hashimoto’s.

In the early stages of Hashimoto’s, the thyroid is under attack by the immune system. Thyroid cells are broken down, and they release thyroid hormones into the bloodstream. This causes thyroid hormone surges or a transient hyperthyroidism.

I know how awful anxiety can feel, I had anxiety, panic attacks and pyroluria (social anxiety) in my late 30s, together with an underactive thyroid, adrenal issues, gluten sensitivity, heavy metals, low progesterone (I call it my perfect storm!).   

I’m excited to share that there is a way out and that you don’t have to feel this way forever. Everyone is different, but two of the things that worked wonders for me and now work for my clients are nutrition and targeted individual amino acids (like GABA and tryptophan).

But are you aware that the amino acids will be effective for addressing low GABA and low serotonin (in their typical quick manner, often providing relief in 5 to 10 minutes) ONLY when thyroid health is optimal (not many people know this!)

And by optimizing your thyroid health, I don’t just mean taking thyroid medications….

Dr. Izabella Wentz, the Thyroid Pharmacist, is a personal friend of mine – we’re both members of Mindshare, a collaboration of like-minded functional medicine practitioners. 

Magdalena Wzelaki, Niki Gratrix, Izabella Wentz, myself and Julie Matthews

I adore Izabella and love how she is connecting all the dots with the research and the feedback she receives from her community.  She is trailblazing and always focused on the why of how a condition develops.

She has found that thyroid disease is triggered by a combination of food sensitivities, nutrient depletions, intestinal permeability, chronic infections, toxins and also a faulty stress response.

The thing about thyroid disease, just like anxiety, is that it’s a sign of a bigger imbalance in your body – while thyroid medications and glandulars can certainly help, they do not get to the underlying root cause of the condition, and thyroid conditions, which are usually autoimmune in nature, may progress to other types of autoimmune disorders.

Hashimoto’s, a condition that affects up to 27% of the population in the United States has 5 stages to it. Out of the 90 million or so people that have it, close to 80 million don’t know that they have it. Often, they are in the earlier stages that are missed by conventional tests.

Hashimoto’s is the primary cause of hypothyroidism, accounting for 95% of cases of hypothyroid in the United States. This condition occurs when the immune system recognizes the thyroid gland as foreign invader and launches an attack against it, eventually destroying enough of the thyroid to produce hypothyroidism.

The five stages of Hashimoto’s are:

1) In the first stage, for all intents and purposes, you will just have the genetic predisposition

2) In the second stage, you start developing an autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland – at this stage, you will also have thyroid symptoms (the most common one is anxiety), but the TSH test will still be normal. Only the thyroid antibodies will be elevated at that point, and at this stage people are often misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression

3) The third stage is when the thyroid gland starts to have more damage than it can repair, and begins to fail. More symptoms are seen, but doctors often miss this stage as well because the TSH is only “slightly” elevated according to their reference ranges

4) The fourth stage, we see overt hypothyroidism. At this page a person has had a significant amount of thyroid damage, and their thyroid fully loses its ability to compensate and create thyroid hormone

5) The fifth stage is the scariest, this is when a thyroid condition progresses to another autoimmune condition. The immune system finds another target to attack, and person may end up with lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Sjogren’s or even multiple sclerosis.

The only treatment that is offered by conventional medicine is thyroid hormones, which is prescribed in stage 4. When that can help of course, it doesn’t address most people’s symptoms and doesn’t stop the progression of the condition and autoimmunity. There is no conventional treatment for stopping or reversing the progression, but luckily we have functional medicine and nutrition to the rescue!

A shocking thing that Izabella has shared, is that it takes people on average of 10 years to get diagnosed, and this is also the time it takes to get from stage 2 to stage 4 of Hashimoto’s! Izabella was actually misdiagnosed with anxiety and chronic fatigue for almost a decade before she got the Hashimoto’s diagnosis, and many people are told that they have intractable infertility, lifelong anxiety that they are told they will have to “manage” forever or even told they have treatment-resistant depression, or that they are simply overweight and lazy.

I know that many of my clients with anxiety are likely still in the earliest stages of Hashimoto’s, and there is hope that you can eliminate your symptoms, AND you can actually prevent the damage to the thyroid gland if you intervene at this point.

Izabella created the Thyroid Secret documentary series to help you connect the dots of your own thyroid condition, so that you can rebuild your health and eliminate your symptoms (and potentially your health conditions). She shares her latest research in overcoming thyroid disorders, and interviews the top experts who share their best strategies as well.

I was so excited when Izabella asked me to join the Thyroid Secret as an expert – in fact my interview was the very last thing I did in the United States, before I moved to Australia! This topic is so important to me (and so key for my clients and you to know about) that I did the interview in an empty house, with just a few chairs and our almost-packed suitcases, and just a few hours to spare before we got on the plane!

Here are a few pictures (I was ironing my clothes on a spare table in the mostly empty study!):

The Thyroid Secret covers not just the symptoms of thyroid disease (like anxiety) that can masquerade as mental illness, but also the triggers that can cause both conditions, and the solutions and protocols you need to recover your health.

When your thyroid is working as it should be, the amazing amino acids like GABA and tryptophan are truly effective in 5-10 minutes – so you really can say they are amazing!  You will see incredible results – anxiety relief right away – and a feeling of hope while you dig deeper for root causes that can take longer to address.

I wrote this blog for everyone using amino acids and not seeing results.  And also for everyone with a thyroid condition or if you have unresolved symptoms that could be related to your thyroid.

I do hope you’re already signed up and are enjoying watching, listening and learning as much as I am.

If you haven’t yet signed up you can still join as my guest to view the entire series at no cost (it started March 1). Just use this link to register.

We’ve come together in this Thyroid Secret documentary to give you this information because you deserve to feel on top of the world again!

Got questions or feedback? Your favorite speaker and some takeaways?

Did you find that GABA, tryptophan and other amino acids were more effective once you addressed your thyroid health? If you’re a practitioner do you see this with patients/clients?

Please share in the blog comments below.