Medications are a common, conventional treatment for many thyroid issues and can reduce your symptoms to help you find relief. But many times, medications are often only a short-term solution for thyroid conditions, as symptoms may return once treatment is stopped.
Functional medicine uses a different approach, focusing on addressing the root causes of your symptoms rather than just the symptoms themselves.
Here’s more about the benefits of functional medicine for thyroid issues, and how it can help you gain more control over your hormones.
Understanding Thyroid Issues and Their Root Causes
Thyroid issues can affect anyone but tend to be more common in those with autoimmune conditions, nutrient deficiencies, and/or chronic stress. Regular exposure to environmental toxins is another common cause of thyroid issues.
Autoimmune conditions linked to thyroid diseases include:
- Graves’ disease
- Hashimoto thyroiditis
- Type 1 diabetes
- Celiac disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Lupus
- Pernicious anemia (a form of anemia that inhibits the body’s absorption of vitamin B12)
In some autoimmune disorders, the immune system can attack healthy thyroid tissue, triggering thyroid disease. Deficiencies in essential nutrients including zinc, iodine, and vitamin A are also linked to thyroid issues, while long-term stress can interfere with hormone balance and production.
A thyroid functional medicine doctor can work with you to identify the true root causes of your condition, and use the findings to develop a highly personalized treatment plan.
Why Thyroid Health Requires More Than Medication
Medications for thyroid disease often address only certain components of the disease and not the disease as a whole.
For instance, beta blockers are commonly prescribed to manage rapid heart rate in hyperthyroidism. However, this medication has no direct effect on the thyroid.
Antithyroid medications such as methimazole and propylthiouracil work by blocking the production of thyroid hormones indefinitely. Thyroid hormones play an important role in managing your metabolism, energy, cognitive health, and more therefore, using these medications may increase your risk for other problems later on.
In short, medications cannot fully address all root causes of thyroid issues. Many times, additional interventions are needed to reduce your symptoms and rebalance your hormones.
What Is the Functional Medicine Approach to Thyroid Health?
Functional medicine investigates why your symptoms exist in the first place and targets those specific root causes. It offers holistic thyroid support that boosts your energy, sleep hygiene, cognitive function, and mood.
Thyroid issues typically affect all these metrics and more, which is why functional medicine for thyroid health is essential. In functional medicine, your provider also checks thyroid levels to determine the best personalized treatment approach.
Key Ways Functional Medicine Supports Thyroid Health Beyond Medication
While conventional medicine may rely heavily on medications to support thyroid health, functional medicine focuses more on lifestyle behaviors and changes that can make a positive, long-term difference.
Implementing healthy behaviors can reduce your symptoms, balance your hormones, and reduce your risk for other chronic conditions, including heart disease and diabetes.
Functional medicine supports thyroid health in these ways:
- It helps reduce inflammation. Chronic inflammation can magnify symptoms of thyroid disease, but functional medicine helps you adopt an anti-inflammatory diet that supports immunity.
- It helps reduce stress. Chronic stress can upset the balance of all your hormones—including those produced by your thyroid. Functional medicine encourages activities like yoga, deep breathing, and quality sleep that can naturally lower stress.
- It helps improve your gut microbiome. Imbalances in good vs. bad gut bacteria can affect your thyroid hormone production. Functional medicine focuses on improving your gut health to resolve any hormone imbalances.
- It helps optimize your nutrient intake. A thyroid functional medicine doctor can run specialized diagnostic tests to determine whether nutrient deficiencies are contributing to thyroid issues. If so, you can modify your diet as needed to include those essential nutrients.
The Role of Nutrition in Functional Thyroid Care
Certain vitamins and nutrients play an essential role in thyroid health, as they support optimal thyroid function.
These nutrients include:
- Iodine
- Selenium
- Iron
- Zinc
- Copper
- Magnesium
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B12
Deficiencies in one or more of these nutrients have been linked to thyroid disease. Functional medicine for thyroid issues may involve eating more foods that contain high amounts of these nutrients, or taking nutritional supplements that support any deficits.
In instances where autoimmune responses are driving your symptoms, a functional medicine doctor may look into whether food sensitivities are the root cause. Gluten and dairy in particular are common culprits of autoimmune-related thyroid problems, in which case these foods can be eliminated from the diet to reduce symptoms.
Exploring the Gut-Thyroid Connection
While poor gut health can affect thyroid function, poor thyroid function may also trigger problems with gut health at the same time.
Low levels of thyroid hormone, such as those seen in hypothyroidism, can slow gut movement—increasing the risk for chronic constipation. It may also affect stomach acid production, increasing the risk for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth, or SIBO. Over time, SIBO may lead to weight gain, fatigue, and more serious complications such as bone disease and pancreatitis.
On the other hand, poor gut health can inhibit your body’s absorption of essential nutrients, raising the risk for thyroid issues. Gut inflammation may lead to autoimmune conditions such as Hashimoto thyroiditis, which is linked to thyroid issues.
How SouthPark Functional Medicine Approaches Thyroid Treatment
If you have symptoms of a thyroid disease, Dr. Mahtani, our functional medicine doctor in Charlotte, NC, can perform a medication review and also identify and treat the root causes of your symptoms.
Dr. Mahtani offers functional medicine for thyroid issues that involves examining autoimmune triggers, nutrient deficiencies, and your hormonal health. As a holistic thyroid doctor, she can integrate lifestyle, nutrition, and stress balance into a personalized treatment plan that supports the restoration of your thyroid health.
Contact us at 980-414-4600 or at reception@southparkfm.com to learn more about your treatment options.
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