Maintaining optimal thyroid function should be priority #1 for thyroid patients. Unfortunately, the standard methods doctors use to track thyroid function are not as accurate as you might think. The good news is that you don’t have to rely solely on these thyroid lab tests to determine your thyroid function. You can track other metrics on top of your thyroid lab tests which will give you very valuable information. Let’s talk about 5 metrics that every thyroid patient should start tracking right ...
Sep 20, 2023•12 min
Is your thyroid contributing to an overall look of fatigue or tiredness on your face? If so, you aren’t alone. And today I’m going to teach you how to get rid of this look so you that you can wake up feeling and looking refreshed. The stereotypical thyroid tired look comes from a variety of things including the impact that thyroid function can have on your face and eyes. Due to changes in your sleep and even changes in your facial shape from swelling, your thyroid can make you look chronically t...
Sep 13, 2023•7 min
I probably don’t need to convince you that not all thyroid medications are created equal. If you’ve been a thyroid patient for any length of time then you know that there are some thyroid medications that just seem to work better than others. The question is why? There are several reasons for this but one of the main reasons has to do with the inactive ingredients. Every single thyroid medication contains similar active ingredients but they differ dramatically in their inactive ingredients. And ...
Sep 07, 2023•7 min
Are you struggling to keep your appetite under control? If so you aren’t alone as this is very common among people with thyroid problems. Never been diagnosed with a thyroid problem? That doesn’t necessarily mean you are out of the clear as there are many people walking around with undiagnosed thyroid conditions. The good news is that you can get your appetite under control and here are a few tips and tricks to help make that happen: 1. Make sure you are drinking enough water. 2. Make sure you a...
Sep 07, 2023•12 min
Berberine is one of my favorite supplements out there and has been for several years. The reason is simple: berberine helps treat the biggest and most important conditions that people face including weight gain, insulin resistance, and gut dysfunction. It’s not only healthy for people who are already healthy, but it’s also amazing for people who want to stay healthy! You can use it to assist with weight loss, balance your blood sugar, build more muscle mass, or just optimize your physique. Let’s...
Aug 29, 2023•8 min
Is there a connection between the use of artificial sweeteners and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis? Well, there’s at least one case study that showed an interesting connection: One woman was able to completely put her Hashimoto’s into remission by doing one thing: avoid artificial sweeteners. Does this mean that the use of these compounds cause Hashimoto’s or that they should be avoided by everyone? It doesn’t. But it does suggest that removing them from your diet is a VERY good idea if you have this co...
Aug 29, 2023•11 min
Improving your gut health is one of the most important things you can do as a patient with Hashimoto’s. Targeting your gut can increase T4 to T3 conversion thereby providing your body with more T3, it can improve thyroid medication absorption, it can reduce inflammation, help you lose weight, and improve your overall health. Targeting your gut is a no-brainer and one of the easiest ways to do this is with the use of probiotics. But which probiotics are best? That’s exactly what we are going to b...
Aug 21, 2023•8 min
Thinking about using high-dose iodine to "help" your thyroid? Think again. I can’t think of many good reasons to use high-dose iodine for one simple reason: The benefits don’t outweigh the risks. Are there benefits to using high-dose iodine? Sure, but those benefits can be obtained using other, less dangerous, therapies and treatments. Some people disagree with this idea by suggesting that high-dose iodine is not only beneficial but necessary. Let’s break apart their arguments to see if they hol...
Aug 15, 2023•11 min
T4 is the most abundant thyroid hormone in the body by far. Roughly 80% of all thyroid hormone floating around in your body right now is in the form of T4. It may not be the most powerful, but it’s obviously very important to thyroid hormone regulation because your body can draw upon your T4 store to create various types of thyroid hormone as needed. If you are someone who is trying to optimize your thyroid function for better health or because you have hypothyroidism or Hashimoto’s, you should ...
Aug 14, 2023•9 min
You might have heard me say before that if your doctor is trying to convince you that your thyroid symptoms are from something other than your thyroid, then it’s time to see another doctor. While that is very often the case, there are absolutely other medical conditions that can mimic hypothyroid symptoms. These medical conditions can cause symptoms that are so close to that of hypothyroidism, that it’s actually really easy to confuse the two. The good news is that there are slight differences b...
Aug 08, 2023•10 min
Iodine is critical for overall health, especially thyroid health. But the question is, how much should you be getting each day? This is an incredibly contentious topic because everyone seems to have a different opinion. What I’m going to do today is break down iodine dosing in a simple and easy-to-understand way so you understand how much you should be taking to minimize negative outcomes while maximizing positive ones. When you look at the RDA for iodine you’ll see that the recommended dosing s...
Jul 27, 2023•9 min
Vitamin K2 is a fat-soluble vitamin that provides benefits that just about every thyroid patient wants. Unlike vitamin K1, vitamin K2 has a much more broad-reaching impact on multiple systems in the body including calcium regulation, cancer prevention, hormone balance, and more. And unlike vitamin K1, vitamin K2 is more difficult to get and not as well known. This presents an awesome opportunity for thyroid patients to take more of this vitamin to get the benefits that it provides. Some benefits...
Jul 27, 2023•10 min
No matter how you look at it, your diet has the ability to negatively or positively impact thyroid function. Today I want to talk about what type of changes you can make to the foods that you eat to improve your thyroid if you have hypothyroidism. These tips and tricks will help your thyroid function more optimally so that you can not only produce enough thyroid hormone but also convert that thyroid hormone into its most active form. These tips are primarily targeted at those with hypothyroidism...
Jul 11, 2023•10 min
Thyroid nodules are incredibly common and impact up to 65% of people! The number of people who have thyroid nodules goes up as they age as well leaving a huge number of people with these bundles of joy toward the end of their life. Why should you care about thyroid nodules? Because sometimes (rarely) they may be cancerous. Luckily, 95% of the time they are benign and don’t do much except cause stress to the patient who has them but if they are present, you do need to keep an eye on them to make ...
Jun 30, 2023•11 min
Armour thyroid is one of the most popular natural desiccated thyroid medications on the market. For that reason, we are going to be taking a close look at both the inactive and inactive ingredients found inside of this thyroid medication to see what it’s actually made of. I plan to do this for all thyroid medications and if you’d like to see my previous video on levothyroxine ingredients you can find that here: When it comes to active ingredients, Armour thyroid contains the following: Standardi...
Jun 14, 2023•7 min
Is Hashimoto’s considered a fatal disease? Technically, yes, but the reality is that most people will not die directly from Hashimoto’s. In order for this to happen you must neglect your health and thyroid for decades which is very unlikely to happen in developed countries like the United States. But does that mean you are free from risk if you have Hashimoto’s? Not at all. We know from twin studies that patients with hypothyroidism have a 50% increased risk of mortality compared to the average ...
Jun 07, 2023•7 min
Is Hashimoto’s a genetic condition? The short answer is yes but what’s key here is that just because you may have the underlying genetics associated with developing Hashimoto’s doesn’t guarantee that that the disease state will manifest in your body. And this is key. Understanding this genetic component will allow you to live your life in such a way as to avoid certain factors which have the potential to trigger Hashimoto’s. This means you can either a) prevent Hashimoto’s or b) treat your condi...
May 30, 2023•12 min
Ever wonder what is actually in levothyroxine? This medication is one of the most prescribed medications in the United States and yet so many people have no idea what they are actually consuming every day. Understanding what’s in this medication is important because some of the ingredients may be causing you problems. When it comes to thyroid medications there are two types of ingredients you should be aware of: 1. Active ingredients And 2. Inactive ingredients The active ingredients are usually...
May 22, 2023•6 min
Many thyroid patients with autoimmune thyroid disease like Hashimoto’s and Graves’ don’t realize this but the antibodies that cause thyroid problems (that are associated with these disease states) also cause problems in other tissues in your body. These antibodies are like heat-seeking missiles that target various proteins and receptors in your thyroid gland which results in abnormalities in thyroid function as well as thyroid gland damage. We are also learning that these antibodies can cause ha...
May 18, 2023•8 min
Early research suggests that up to 30% of thyroid patients currently taking thyroid medication may not need it. That’s great and all but what does that mean for you? How can you tell if you are in that lucky 30%? Well, if you’ve ever wondered about that I’ve got some good news for you: We have some signs that, if present, indicate that you have a higher likelihood of getting off of your thyroid medication. In addition to these positive signs, we also have some negative ones as well and today I’m...
May 10, 2023•10 min
Contrary to popular belief, hypothyroidism doesn’t have to be a disease that lasts forever. While there certainly are irreversible causes of hypothyroidism there are also plenty of reversible causes as well. And today I want to focus on just that: Reversible causes of hypothyroidism. If any of these underlying causes of hypothyroidism have caused your thyroid disease then there is hope that you may be able to get off of your thyroid medication! And that’s why understanding this information is so...
May 02, 2023•12 min
Does it feel like everyone is getting thyroid disease right now? When you look at the numbers, it’s clear that the amount of people getting diagnosed with thyroid diseases like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and hypothyroidism is increasing. The question is why? Well, no one knows for sure but I have some ideas as to why this might be the case. Let’s take a look at what conventional doctors say about this very problem and what my opinion is and why they differ. Here are some potential reasons why thyro...
Apr 27, 2023•12 min
I’ve been helping patients with Hashimoto’s for a long time and throughout that time I’ve seen a lot of bad information, misinformation, and just plain wrong information. What I want to do today is just set the record straight. Here are 4 things that I wish every patient with Hashimoto’s knew either early on in their diagnosis or right when they were diagnosed. Understanding these facts will help shape your understanding of your disease and better help you navigate the world you are about to ste...
Apr 17, 2023•10 min
Thyroid conversion is one of the most important aspects of thyroid function that thyroid patients need to be aware of. Thyroid conversion refers to the ability that your body has to take inactive thyroid hormone and turn it into active T3 thyroid hormone. Throughout your time as a thyroid patient, you may have heard others mention that they have issues with thyroid conversion. Have you ever wondered how these people know? There are a few ways to find this information and today we are going to be...
Apr 10, 2023•12 min
Did you know that with the clever use of some over-the-counter supplements and one prescription medication you can re-create all of the benefits found in natural desiccated thyroid hormone formulas? Doing this allows you to make whatever thyroid medication you are using even more effective by mimicking what makes NDT so great. Why is this important? Because when Nature-throid and WP Thyroid were removed from the market, there were a ton of thyroid patients who started doing poorly when they were...
Apr 03, 2023•11 min
Adthyza is a relatively new thyroid medication that was released within the last 1-2 years. I say new because that’s still pretty new in the grand scheme of things especially when it’s so rare to see a new thyroid medication. *note: I am not paid by Adthyza or any pharmaceutical company! I don’t even have a very favorable opinion of this medication and I’m just sharing what I think. How does Adthyza compare to other thyroid medications? Let’s discuss: First, you should know that Adthyza is a por...
Mar 27, 2023•12 min
Can certain exercises help your thyroid gland function? Not in a direct way but perhaps in an indirect way! And that’s exactly what these neck exercises are designed to do. You can indirectly support thyroid function by exercising your neck which can help in a number of different ways: #1. Neck exercises can help improve blood flow to the area of your neck. Working out the muscles in your neck will increase blood flow to the musculature itself. Your thyroid will benefit due to its proximity to t...
Mar 14, 2023•5 min
A new study of over 600,000 thyroid patients from Taiwan suggested that thyroid patients taking levothyroxine have a 50% increased risk of developing cancer at any site. While concerning, the results of this study certainly do not prove that levothyroxine causes cancer but every thyroid patient taking levothyroxine should be aware of this potential connection. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cas.14908 This information is not meant to cause fear or alarm but to simply break down this ...
Jan 23, 2023•16 min
Do you feel like your thyroid medication just isn’t working as it should? Do you still have symptoms of low thyroid even though you are taking your thyroid medication faithfully? It could be that your dose is just not high enough and that you need to increase it. This problem is actually more common than you might think. It’s been estimated that as many as 25-30% of thyroid patients may be taking too much thyroid medication at any given time. We don’t know the numbers for how many people are not...
Jan 17, 2023•12 min
Thyroid gland massage is something that has gained momentum and attention lately. And when I talk about thyroid gland massage I am not talking about massage therapy for your thyroid gland. I’m talking about actual massage of the thyroid gland itself. Why are some people considering thyroid gland massage as a treatment for hypothyroidism? Well, the reason is as follows: Because the thyroid gland is almost a spongy-like material and because it has some storage capacity of thyroid hormone, massagin...
Jan 09, 2023•13 min
