Is your thyroid stopping you from losing weight?
One in five people in the UK suffer from thyroid problems – especially women.
An under-active thyroid can affect heart rate, bowel activity, skin, muscle and other organs.
Symptoms for an under-active gland include tiredness, lack of concentration, poor memory and muscle aches, while an overactive gland can be spotted by eye problems, hair thinning, a tender neck and constant hunger.
One key issue is fluoridation of the UK water supply, which thyroid campaigners claim can affect thyroid sufferers greatly.
Stress and your thyroid
Its that pesky STRESS word again….
Have you got thyroid problems – Are they diagnosed?
Are you on medication for thyroid issues?
Are you aware the HUGE impact the food you eat has on the thyroid?
So, what is the thyroid and what does it actually do?
The thyroid gland sits at the base of the throat and produces the hormone, thyroxine. Thyroxine primarily tells cells to speed up their energy production – metabolism. When you are in a state of prolonged stress and your cortisol is high in response to this stress, thyroxine levels fall dramatically. This is because the adrenal hormone cortisol, is directly antagonistic to thyroxine. The thyroid is trying to conserve energy by slowing down the metabolism in
response to an emergency situation.
Don’t forget – your body cannot tell the difference with stress from being stuck in traffic to stress as you are in life threatening situation – the chemical response is always the same.
As a result, thyroxine levels fall. Lots of people suspect that their battle with weight loss is down to a poor metabolism & thyroid dis-function.
Nutrition and food choices play such a HUGE role in thyroid dis function.
The Thyroid tests measure two things:-
Thyroid stimulating hormone - TSH and the level of thyroxine
TSH is produced by the pituitary gland and it tells the thyroid gland to produce more thyroxine.
It produces two types of thyroxine.
T4 is a pre-hormone that gets converted into T3 which is the active hormone.
T3 is the one that counts.
When cortisol levels rise under stress, TSH levels fall so there is less stimulation of the thyroid gland.
It is important to recognise that cortisol stops the inactive T4 from converting to the active T3. So, low TSH and low T3 are indicators of prolonged stress.
