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The thyroid and adrenals have an intricate and complex relationship. In Traditional medicine, adrenal issues are black or white not gray. There is adrenal insufficiency known as Addison's Disease or Cushing's Syndrome. Often times, we see people administered thyroid medications feel great for the first 2-3 weeks then symptoms come back with a vengeance often times worse. This is known as a "cortisol dump. This is often occurs because there was an improper evaluation of the adrenal functional first to rule out low cortisol levels. If you look on the insert of thyroid medication it specifically states "Before administering thyroid medicine check for adrenal insufficiency and low cortisol". This is commonly neglected. .
Think as the thyroid as the engine and cortisol as the gas in your car. If you have a powerful engine you need a bigger gas tank to be able to go further distances otherwise you will be running on fumes. When we are running on fumes, we are running on pure adrenaline. This can result increase agitation, depression, hyper sensitivity to stress, digestion issues, etc. When you start providing the engine with sufficient fuel by addressing adrenal function, the engine will be able to run smoother and for longer durations without having to make too many pitstops. These pitstops are napping and feeling fatigue with the mind feeling like it's crack. These symptoms are commonly experienced by many people with chronic health issue. Sadly these people end up being medicated with psychiatric meds not addressing the underlying cause.
These are tests recommend for thyroid evaluation:
Free t3
Free t4
TSH
TPO
TGAB
Total T4
Reverse t3
The same can apply for the when treating low cortisol levels using herbs and other modalities. If a person has higher TSH >2.0 ( even considering > 1.5) with normal ft3 and ft4, with flatline cortisol, addressing the adrenals may cause symptoms of high and low thyroid symptoms for a period of 2-3 weeks till the body stabilizes. As low levels of cortisol enter into normal range between 4-6 weeks, thyroid hormone in the blood will be pushed into the tissue making it more available to the body. This is known as a "thyroid dump". This can be a very stressful, scary and emotional time as the body begins to stabilize. Sometimes the thyroid will normalize, but other times a true hypothyroidism will be revealed needing proper medication or support. Often when symptoms are at the worse, this would be the best time to test thyroid levels to see if thyroid support is necessary.
For evaluation of functional thyroid and adrenals, I use Dutch Hormone Complete testing. This shows how much gas is in the tank, but also the fuel mileage of the engine. This helps not only make the proper recommendations for the adrenal and thyroid, but the order.
The study reference below is based on Addison's; however, thyroid and adrenal physiology still apply.
The endocrine system is like an orchestra you can not make beautiful music if only one section is tuned up. You need to make sure all the sections are well tuned ..
“What came first cart or the horse?”
Low cortisol will stress then eventually deplete thyroid, prolong untreated low thyroid will stress then deplete cortisol reserve
Before addressing thyroid and adrenals you need to get the lay of the land. This is done by proper evaluation of the underlying pathology ruling out pathogens, gut biome, environment, stink'n thinking from past, present, or transgenerational emotions, lifestyle, overtraining in athletes etc should be conducted by looking at history and labs
.
The thyroid and adrenals have an intricate and complex relationship. In Traditional medicine, adrenal issues are black or white not gray. There is adrenal insufficiency known as Addison's Disease or Cushing's Syndrome. Often times, we see people administered thyroid medications feel great for the first 2-3 weeks then symptoms come back with a vengeance often times worse. This is known as a "cortisol dump. This is often occurs because there was an improper evaluation of the adrenal functional first to rule out low cortisol levels. If you look on the insert of thyroid medication it specifically states "Before administering thyroid medicine check for adrenal insufficiency and low cortisol". This is commonly neglected. .
Think as the thyroid as the engine and cortisol as the gas in your car. If you have a powerful engine you need a bigger gas tank to be able to go further distances otherwise you will be running on fumes. When we are running on fumes, we are running on pure adrenaline. This can result increase agitation, depression, hyper sensitivity to stress, digestion issues, etc. When you start providing the engine with sufficient fuel by addressing adrenal function, the engine will be able to run smoother and for longer durations without having to make too many pitstops. These pitstops are napping and feeling fatigue with the mind feeling like it's crack. These symptoms are commonly experienced by many people with chronic health issue. Sadly these people end up being medicated with psychiatric meds not addressing the underlying cause.
These are tests recommend for thyroid evaluation:
Free t3
Free t4
TSH
TPO
TGAB
Total T4
Reverse t3
The same can apply for the when treating low cortisol levels using herbs and other modalities. If a person has higher TSH >2.0 ( even considering > 1.5) with normal ft3 and ft4, with flatline cortisol, addressing the adrenals may cause symptoms of high and low thyroid symptoms for a period of 2-3 weeks till the body stabilizes. As low levels of cortisol enter into normal range between 4-6 weeks, thyroid hormone in the blood will be pushed into the tissue making it more available to the body. This is known as a "thyroid dump". This can be a very stressful, scary and emotional time as the body begins to stabilize. Sometimes the thyroid will normalize, but other times a true hypothyroidism will be revealed needing proper medication or support. Often when symptoms are at the worse, this would be the best time to test thyroid levels to see if thyroid support is necessary.
For evaluation of functional thyroid and adrenals, I use Dutch Hormone Complete testing. This shows how much gas is in the tank, but also the fuel mileage of the engine. This helps not only make the proper recommendations for the adrenal and thyroid, but the order.
The study reference below is based on Addison's; however, thyroid and adrenal physiology still apply.
The endocrine system is like an orchestra you can not make beautiful music if only one section is tuned up. You need to make sure all the sections are well tuned ..
“What came first cart or the horse?”
Low cortisol will stress then eventually deplete thyroid, prolong untreated low thyroid will stress then deplete cortisol reserve
Before addressing thyroid and adrenals you need to get the lay of the land. This is done by proper evaluation of the underlying pathology ruling out pathogens, gut biome, environment, stink'n thinking from past, present, or transgenerational emotions, lifestyle, overtraining in athletes etc should be conducted by looking at history and labs
How is a thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) test used in the workup of Addison disease?
Thyroid-stimulating hormone{ref46} Increased thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), with or without low thyroxine, with or without associated thyroid autoantibodies, and with or without symptoms of hy... more
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