On Christmas morning Leslie M., 9 months pregnant, began having contractions with her 3rd child. The pregnancy up to that point, had been uneventful except for a bit of recent increased blood sugar that her doctor felt was “borderline” and should settle down once the baby came. She delivered a beautiful baby girl that night and everything was wonderful, but within weeks, her body began to tell a different story. She had spells of imbalance, heart palpitations, and fatigue that began to restrict her normally very active life. Her brain felt like it was working in a fog of anxiety and her children were beginning to be a source of drudgery instead of pleasure. Eventually, she gained weight and depression set in.
Her symptoms were explained away by her doctor as “postpartum blues,” but Leslie knew something else was going on. She realized that her problems were entirely different from anything she had experienced before and began to worry that this would be a permanent condition. The fact that her doctor was dismissive made her feel totally alone.
When hearing Leslie’s story, many of us may think that she was simply frightened or depressed about the increased responsibility of caring for a larger family, or that she was not getting enough sleep, or enough time for herself. But little known to her, the physical, emotional, and physiological stress of pregnancy caused changes in her DNA—that’s right, a gene (or two) turned from off to on—leading to a condition called Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) is a common autoimmune disease affecting the thyroid. The prevalence of the disease has been increasing in recent years, and in many cases, it clusters in families. The affected genes make the immune system susceptible to hyper-function. This leads to a kind of immune hyper-vigilance that attacks the thyroid, causing initial thyroid inflammation. This inflammation increases the production of thyroid hormone, and in Leslie’s case, anxiety, heart palpitations and fatigue. This initial stage of dysfunction may last a few months, but in time, the thyroid is slowly and permanently damaged, resulting in eventual low thyroid function. This is when I usually end up seeing the patient—when their symptoms are severe fatigue, depression, brain fog, thinning hair, GI issues and weight gain.
Not all thyroid problems are caused by Hashimoto’s Disease, but it is estimated that 70-90% of the women who have low-thyroid function actually have Hashimoto’s, making it the most common autoimmune disease. Other causes of low thyroid function are inadequate iodine intake and surgical or medical treatment of a hyper-thyroid gland. You can see that if you have a low thyroid condition (other than low iodine), it probably began with some kind of physical or mental stress that caused a change in your particular susceptible genes, turning a genetic switch that lead to your symptoms. The important point is that this is an immune and inflammatory condition, is not strictly a thyroid problem.
The good news is that this overactive immune condition can be markedly improved using a specific, natural, non-medical approach. That’s what happened with Leslie. We found that she had a specific kind of altered immune response involving Th1 cytokines. Once this was discovered, we were able to stabilize her immune system and her thyroid function with targeted nutritional supplements and an anti-inflammatory diet. She lost weight, her brain fog went away and she was able to exercise like she wanted. Best of all, she began to experience her children as the incredible blessings they always had been.
Dr. Don Davis, D.C., DACNB is a BOARD CERTIFIED CHIROPRACTIC NEUROLOGIST in Walnut Creek. He has been serving individuals with chronic pain for 30 years. For information about how you can get a free consultation with Dr. Davis, call (925) 279-4324 (HEAL) or WalnutCreekThyroidInstitute.com
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