subject: The #1 cause of hypothyroidism is autoimmune ( Hashimoto's thyroiditis) [print this page] The #1 cause of hypothyroidism is autoimmune ( Hashimoto's thyroiditis)
The number one reason in the U.S. for chronic thyroid symptoms is Hashimoto's thyroiditis or autoimmune thyroid. This means that your immune system is attacking your thyroid, which is obviously not a good thing. It is well know that thyroid symptoms are common with women but what is not well know is that the problem is often an immune problem not a thyroid gland problem. What happens is that certain immune triggers cause your immune system to go haywire and think that your thyroid gland is a foreign invader and your body will produce antibodies to your thyroid gland and then other immune cells will start attacking an eventually destroy the gland. The immune response will wax and wane so sometimes you can develop high thyroid symptoms, like irritability, racing heart, trembling and anxiety, other times you can have low thyroid symptoms, fatigue, cold in hands and feet, cold all over, hair loss, and weight gain despite exercise. Unfortunately, thyroid hormones do nothing for this autoimmune attack. You will continue to lose more and more of your thyroid by taking the medications. It is a slow, progressive, downward slide. So the problem isn't just your thyroid: it is your immune system. You have an immune system problem, and you need to heal your immune system. Thyroid hormones are not going to help you heal your immune system. There are two parts to your immune system, TH1 and TH2, and they should be in balance, kind of like a teeter-totter effect. One should not be higher than the other. If your immune system goes out of balance because of stress (physical, chemical or emotional), one system (TH1 or TH2) will become dominant and this will cause your immune system to attack your body. There are specific blood tests that can be run to determine if you are autoimmune and if one part of your immune system is dominant.
Now the problem with an autoimmune condition is it just doesn't attack one area of your bodyyour thyroid. It can attack other areas of your body. It can attack your pancreas, causing diabetes, or it can attack your gut -- your stomach lining, (causing IBS), or it can attack your joints (rheumatoid arthritis). It can attack your entire body. To finding out if you are having an autoimmune response you need to have the immune panels, blood test run, checking the T&B lymphocytes, NK activity and the TH1 and TH2 cytokines tested. You can also have the thyroid antibodies TPO and TPA checked. If the AB's are positive, autoimmune thyroid is confirmed. If The AB's are negative is doesn't necessarily confirm you don't have it because the auto-immune attacks wax and wane. If you think your chronic thyroid symptoms may be from autoimmune activity find a natural healthcare doctor who is thoroughly trained on how to deal with these issues. In my next article we will talk about what causes the immune system to go haywire.
Dr. Michael Taggart The Kirkland Thyroid Institute
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