Stress & Low Thyroid

Stress & Low Thyroid Function

Unmanaged stress can lead to health problems!
Stress affects every single organ from our body but most importantly our adrenal glands (AKA our stress glands). The purpose of these glands is to help us cope with stress. Your resiliency, energy, endurance and immune system all depend on the proper functioning of these glands.

When your cortisol (the hormone produced by out adrenals) levels are off balance (high or low), you can experience the following symptoms:
- Difficulty getting up in the morning
- Chronic fatigue
- Craving for salty or sweet foods
- Increased efforts to do everyday tasks
- Decreased sex drive
- Decreased ability to handle stress
- Increased time to recover from illness or exercise
- Light – headed when standing up quickly
- Depression “why bother” type of attitude
- Less enjoyment or happiness with life
- Thoughts less focused & memory less accurate
- People seem a lot more irritating than they used to

It is important to test your cortisol levels and then figure out the proper treatment plan to recover your adrenal glands.
Failing to do so, you run the risk of stress affecting the function of your thyroid gland.

Read More on Low Thryoid Function
The earliest signs and symptoms of low thyroid function can occur several years prior to lab studies being abnormal. This is very confusing because you complain of being tired and the thyroid lab tests appear to be normal.

In addition, conventional medicine has a wide range in lab tests of what they consider a “normal” thyroid function. The more recent studies suggest that women feel better at a much narrower range levels of the different thyroid hormones. At the clinic, we offer comprehensive evaluations of the thyroid gland (see TESTING).

Most of the time, low thyroid function is just a consequence of other hormonal imbalances such as, adrenal stress or fatigue, excess estrogen, progesterone deficiency, etc. So it is not only important to treat the thyroid gland but also to evaluate the other hormonal imbalances in order to achieve optimal health.

Some of the more common signs and symptoms of low thyroid functions include:
- Depression
- Low energy
- Weight gain
- Constipation
- Loss of the later 1/3 of eyebrows
- Hair loss
- Headaches/migraines
- Fluid retention
- Decreased memory
- Aches and pains
- Feeling cold all the time

If you think you have a lot of symptoms of adrenal imbalance or low thyroid function and would like a thorough evaluation, call us for an appointment 905-239-3900.