Hypothyroidism: What is getting missed!

You're always exhausted. You're cold all the time—or maybe your body temperature is all over the place. Your digestion has slowed down. Food sits like a rock in your stomach, you're constantly bloated, and maybe you've even noticed a strange taste in your mouth.

Something isn't right.

Maybe this all started after an illness or “COVID” infection which seems to be on repeat these days. Or maybe you've been dealing with these symptoms for years, slowly adjusting your life around the way you feel.

Your weight has changed even though you're not eating differently. Your brain feels foggy. You can barely remember what you had for dinner last night, and now your doctor is telling you that your cholesterol is high.

You've changed your diet. You've bought the supplements. You've done the research.

You're putting in the effort, but you're still not feeling well.

And to make things even more confusing, your symptoms seem cyclical. Some weeks you feel almost normal, and other weeks you feel like an entirely different person. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it.

Now you're wondering if it's perimenopause. Maybe you've started researching bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), trying to figure out whether estrogen or progesterone is the missing piece.

But here's what I want you to think about.

What if nobody has really looked at whether your body has the raw materials it needs to make thyroid hormones in the first place?

What if your stomach acid is low, you're not absorbing your nutrients, your blood sugar is all over the place, and your liver is struggling to keep up?

And yes, what your other hormones are doing matters, too.

Unfortunately, there is not a diet book, supplement protocol, or social media post that's going to give you all the answers but they WILL keep you distracted and make feeling better take longer.

First, Can You Actually Digest and Absorb Your Food?

One of the first things I want my clients to understand is that your thyroid depends on nutrients, minerals, and cofactors to manufacture thyroid hormones and function correctly.

We're talking about iron, selenium, zinc, iodine, and several other important nutrients.

But here's the part that often gets missed.

You can eat the healthiest diet in the world, but what good is it if you're not digesting and absorbing those nutrients?

This is why I'm so interested in your gut health.

I want to know what happens when you eat protein. Does meat sit heavily in your stomach? Do you get bloated? Do you feel full long after you've finished eating? Are you reaching for antacids?

And more importantly, are you making adequate stomach acid?

I see so many women, and men, who appear to be struggling with digestion. Some have been taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) for years. Others are constantly popping Tums, and when we look at their thyroid labs, things aren't looking so great.

Stomach acid is involved in breaking down protein and making important nutrients available for absorption. It helps turn on some of those switches and lightbulbs that allow the rest of your digestive process to do its job.

So before we jump into another thyroid supplement or restrictive diet, I want to start at the top.

When you eat food, are you actually breaking it down?

Are you absorbing the nutrients?

Are you breaking those proteins down into the amino acids your body needs for fuel, repair, neurotransmitter production, and everything else happening behind the scenes?

During our work together, I'm going to use testing and your health history to help us answer those questions.

And if you're not digesting and absorbing your food properly, I'm going to find out why.

Maybe there's an infection like H. pylori interfering with stomach acid production and contributing to nutrient depletion.

If that's part of your picture, we're going to address it and support your body as we work through that infection.

Because I don't want to keep throwing nutrients at a body that isn't able to use them properly.

Before You Decide You Just Don't Do Well With Animal Protein, Let's Talk

I hear this often.

"I don't feel good when I eat meat."

Okay. But why?

Is it the protein itself? Is your stomach acid low? Is your digestive system struggling to break that food down? Are you constipated?

When did this start?

These are the questions I want answered before someone decides they need to eliminate another entire food group.

Animal proteins provide important nutrients, including iron and zinc, that are involved in thyroid function.

And if you're already struggling with nutritional deficiencies, continually shrinking your list of safe foods may be moving you in the wrong direction.

Let's figure out why certain foods make you feel uncomfortable before deciding you can't eat it.

Food as Medicine Doesn't Mean You Can't Eat Tacos

Once we understand what's happening with digestion, we're going to look at how you're nourishing your body.

And when I talk about using food as medicine, I'm not telling you that you can never go out on a Saturday afternoon and enjoy tacos from your favorite taco truck.

Please, enjoy your tacos.

I'm talking about learning how to plug nutrients into your week in a way that works for your body, your lifestyle, your stressors, and your actual life.

Not a perfect life where you have two hours to prepare every meal and never experience stress.

Your life.

I want you to understand which foods are providing the nutrients your body needs, how to put meals together, and how to recognize when your body isn't handling something well.

And you might be surprised by how much can change when we start with digestion and nourishment.

You may finally start having regular bowel movements. Your bloating may improve. Your stomach may look flatter, and you may notice that your energy is beginning to come back.

Sometimes these foundational changes make an enormous difference.

And this is the part I see getting overlooked.

You may have already completed several gut-healing programs. Maybe you've worked through detox protocols, herbal antimicrobials, or different eradication programs.

But did anyone investigate whether you were making adequate stomach acid?

Did anyone look at why those organisms may have been able to establish themselves in the first place?

Stomach acid is one of your body's important defenses against organisms entering through the digestive tract.

If we're not paying attention to what's happening at the very beginning of digestion, we may be missing an important part of the story.

Your Thyroid and Iron: Another Piece of the Puzzle

Iron isn't just about preventing anemia.

It's also involved in the production of thyroid hormones.

Your thyroid uses an enzyme called thyroid peroxidase (TPO), and iron is one of the nutrients needed for that enzyme to do its job.

So when someone comes to me with fatigue, brain fog, poor concentration, and symptoms of hypothyroidism, I want to understand their iron status.

But I'm not just looking at whether they're eating iron-rich foods.

I'm interested in whether their digestive system is allowing them to absorb that iron.

Stomach acid helps make dietary iron available for absorption. Vitamin C also helps with the absorption of non-heme iron.

And if someone has been dealing with digestive problems, intestinal inflammation, or long-term acid-suppressing medications, that matters.

You can be eating iron-containing foods and still struggle to absorb enough.

But here's another important point.

More iron is not automatically better.

Excess iron can contribute to oxidative stress and tissue damage. And ferritin, which is often used to evaluate iron stores, can also increase during inflammation.

So I'm not interested in looking at one ferritin result and deciding you need more iron.

I want to understand the whole picture.

Are you deficient? Are you absorbing it? Is inflammation affecting your iron markers?

These distinctions matter.

Blood Sugar, Insulin, and Your Thyroid: We Need to Talk About This

Let's talk about something that I think deserves a lot more attention in the thyroid conversation.

Blood sugar.

Because insulin resistance and thyroid dysfunction can go hand in hand.

When you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises and your body releases insulin to help move that glucose into your cells.

Insulin is also a storage hormone.

And when insulin levels are persistently elevated, your body is receiving ongoing signals to store energy.

Now we're looking at a situation where someone may be struggling with weight gain, inflammation, fatigue, and changes in thyroid function, all while being told to simply eat less and exercise more.

But what if their metabolism is already struggling?

What if their body is spending too much time in fat-storage mode?

What if insulin resistance is contributing to inflammation, joint pain, and the way their body is responding to thyroid hormones?

This is why I want to look at blood sugar and insulin regulation, not just your TSH.

And there's another piece to this.

Stress.

Cortisol, Stress, and the Lion You're Apparently Running From

Cortisol helps your body respond to stress and maintain available fuel.

One of its jobs is helping your body produce glucose.

Think about escaping a lion.

You need energy, and you need it right now. Your body makes more glucose available so that you can run.

Perfect.

Except most of us aren't running from lions.

We're waking up after five hours of sleep, skipping breakfast, drinking coffee, managing children, rushing to work, dealing with difficult relationships, and trying to keep up with schedules that never seem to let up.

Your body still needs to respond to those stressors.

And when that stress response is repeatedly activated, it can complicate glucose and insulin regulation.

You may find yourself dealing with blood sugar fluctuations, mood changes, energy crashes, cravings, and feeling completely wired at night.

And this can happen even when you're putting real effort into your food choices.

You can't understand someone's blood sugar by looking only at what's on their plate.

We need to understand what's happening in the rest of their life, too.

Your Thyroid Is the Meat in the Sandwich

I like to think of the thyroid as the meat in the sandwich, sitting between your brain, adrenals, and reproductive hormones.

These systems are constantly communicating.

And when one part of that conversation changes, the others may respond.

This is why I'm so interested in cortisol patterns, sleep, stress tolerance, blood sugar regulation, and reproductive hormones when someone comes to me with thyroid symptoms.

If someone is completely depleted, has no energy, and is barely making it through the day, I want to understand that before focusing only on stimulating thyroid activity.

Think about revving up an engine that barely has any fuel.

That's not necessarily going to make the car run better.

I want to understand whether we're dealing with low cortisol patterns, elevated stress responses, blood sugar instability, or other hormonal changes.

And the order in which we address these things matters.

Sometimes we need to work on blood sugar and stress physiology before focusing more heavily on thyroid or reproductive hormone support.

Sometimes several of these areas need attention together.

We need to listen to what the body is telling us rather than forcing it to do something it isn't ready to do.

Hypothyroidism and High Cholesterol: Is Anyone Connecting These Dots?

Maybe your doctor recently told you that your cholesterol is elevated.

Now you're thinking you need to cut out eggs, avoid saturated fat, and start another diet.

But has anyone looked at your thyroid?

Thyroid hormones play an important role in cholesterol metabolism and how efficiently your body clears lipids from circulation.

When thyroid function slows, cholesterol clearance can slow down as well.

So elevated cholesterol isn't always just a conversation about what you're eating.

It can be another clue about what's happening metabolically.

And when cholesterol changes show up alongside fatigue, constipation, weight changes, and cold intolerance, I want to understand whether thyroid function is part of the picture.

Especially if your liver markers or blood sugar regulation are also changing.

Which brings me to another organ I think deserves far more attention.

Your Liver Is Doing a Lot More Than Detoxing

Your liver is doing an enormous amount of work every single day.

It's regulating glucose storage and release, processing amino acids, producing important proteins, storing certain vitamins and minerals, metabolizing hormones, and handling substances arriving from your digestive tract.

It also produces bile to support fat digestion.

And yes, it participates in converting T4, the less active thyroid hormone, into T3, the more active form your cells use.

So when someone comes to me with thyroid dysfunction, insulin resistance, digestive complaints, and hormonal symptoms, why would I leave the liver out of that conversation?

I wouldn't.

I want to understand what's happening physically, emotionally, and environmentally.

What are you eating? How are you sleeping? Are you drinking alcohol regularly? What medications are you taking?

What are you exposed to in your home?

Are you living or working in an environment that's adding to your overall burden?

And what about the stress you're carrying?

Your relationships, your responsibilities, your emotional health?

I'm interested in all of it.

Because supporting liver function isn't just about taking a supplement with milk thistle in it.

It's about understanding everything your body is being asked to process and how we can begin reducing that burden.

Gut Health and Hashimoto's: What Is Your Immune System Responding To?

Let's talk about Hashimoto's.

Hashimoto's is an autoimmune thyroid condition.

In simple terms, your immune system has identified structures within your thyroid as targets.

And that thyroid takes a beating, over and over again.

Two of the antibodies we commonly look at are:

• Thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb)

• Thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb)

We will test for these in your Comprehensive Blood Chemistry Panel.

And I want to know whether you've ever had positive thyroid antibodies, even if your current labs look ok. Because once you’ve had positive thyroid antibodies, you have thyroid autoimmunity and we need to take that into account as we work through your health history.

Have you ever been told you have Hashimoto's?

Have your antibody levels changed over time?

Have you had periods where your thyroid seemed overactive and other periods where it seemed underactive?

Have you ever been evaluated for Graves' disease?

I want to know what else your immune system has been dealing with.

Infections, Hashimoto's, and Immune Regulation

When I'm working with someone who has Hashimoto's, I'm also interested in their infection history.

Did their thyroid symptoms begin after a significant illness?

Have they dealt with recurrent infections?

Was there a time when they felt relatively healthy, and then suddenly everything changed?

Epstein-Barr virus is one of the infections I consider when evaluating someone with thyroid autoimmunity.

I'm also interested in bacterial infections, digestive pathogens, and other factors that may be influencing immune activity.

And I'm going to look at your health timeline.

What happened first?

Was there an infection? A stressful period? A change in digestion? An environmental exposure? Did you recently buy a new sofa that is constantly off gassing! Yes, I have seen clients thyroids swell up the size of golf balls after sitting on their new toxic couch or mattress!

Once we've identified the pieces that may be contributing to immune dysfunction, I want to work on helping your body regulate its immune response.

And just as importantly, I want you to understand what we're doing and why.

If infections or symptoms resurface in the future, I want you to have tools and a plan so you're not feeling completely lost or dependent on scheduling another appointment every time something changes.

I want you to feel confident taking care of your body.

That's a big part of what I'm trying to accomplish with my clients.

Brain Fog, Mood Changes, and That Feeling of Not Being Yourself

This is another area I want people to pay attention to.

Your thyroid hormones influence brain function, mood, energy, concentration, and sleep.

And sometimes the symptoms are much more noticeable mentally than physically.

Maybe you're forgetting words.

You walk into a room and can't remember why you're there.

You're unusually anxious, irritable, or depressed.

Or you're just not feeling like yourself anymore.

And the frustrating part is that many of these symptoms overlap with iron deficiency, blood sugar dysregulation, inflammatory conditions, and changes in reproductive hormones.

Immune activity can also influence neurological signaling, neurotransmission, and brain metabolism.

This is particularly important when evaluating children and adolescents who are suddenly struggling with attention, school performance, mood, irritability, or sleep.

I want to know what else was happening when those symptoms began.

Was there an illness?

Did digestion change?

Did sleep become disrupted?

Was there a significant stressor?

And if someone isn't digesting and absorbing nutrients properly, are they getting the building materials they need for energy production and neurotransmitter synthesis?

These are the questions that help us begin connecting the dots.

So, What Does Working on Your Thyroid Actually Look Like?

When you come to me with thyroid symptoms, I'm not going to hand you a generic thyroid diet and a bottle of supplements and send you on your way.

I want your story.

I want to understand when things changed and what was happening in your life when they did.

We're going to look at digestion, nutrient absorption, blood sugar regulation, stress physiology, liver function, immune health, and hormonal patterns.

And we're going to use appropriate functional testing to help us understand what's going on.

Because I want to know where your body needs support rather than guessing.

Maybe we discover you're not adequately breaking down and absorbing your food.

Maybe we uncover an infection that's been contributing to digestive dysfunction.

Maybe your blood sugar and insulin regulation need attention.

Maybe your thyroid symptoms are overlapping with perimenopause, chronic stress, or inflammation.

Or maybe several of those things are happening at once.

That's why your health history matters.

And that's why the order in which we approach these things matters, too.

I want to help you understand what your body is doing, why it may be struggling, and what we can do to begin changing that.

I also want you to walk away from our work together knowing how to support yourself.

Because the goal isn't to keep you dependent on appointments, endless supplement protocols, or another round of testing every time a symptom shows up.

The goal is for you to feel better, understand your body, and have the tools to recognize when something needs attention.

You've probably already spent a lot of time and money trying to figure this out.

You've changed your food, tried the supplements, and followed the advice.

And maybe nobody has stopped to ask why your body isn't responding.

That's where I want to start.

At Symbiosis Wellness, I take a root-cause approach to thyroid, metabolic, and hormonal health, looking beyond individual symptoms to understand the larger picture.

If you've been struggling with hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's, fatigue, digestive problems, or symptoms that don't seem to fit neatly into one diagnosis, I'd love to hear your story.

Schedule a complimentary discovery call, and let's chat about what has been overlooked.