Hormones... they are everywhere...

So I have decided to throw in a little educational post today, so for those

of you looking for mind numbing info, you are in for a treat! ha!  

Just kidding!  Honestly, this is actually really interesting info!

So in order to talk about this, I first need to go back... back to our first and very short pregnancy.

Now if you remember right, we had decided to stop the fertility drugs and get healthy.  Well, part of that meant supplementing some of the areas in my body that I KNEW were an issue, even if the numbers on my lab results didn't say so.  

Here is a list of some of my symptoms, many of them you might relate to!

Fatigue, weakness

Depression, irritability

Mind fog, memory loss

Digestive issues – usually constipation

Weight gain or difficulty losing weight

Dry/rough skin, dry/brittle hair, HAIR LOSS... holy clogged drain!

Eczema

Cold intolerance

Low body temperature (I knew this from our first try at "charting")

Slow pulse (our life insurance nurse caught this!)

Menstrual cycle abnormalities

Difficulty conceiving or carrying pregnancy

Some of these were things that I didn't realize were even symptoms at all, I just thought it was me.  It was normal to be tired, irritable, full of crap (lol), unable to lose weight, itchy, going bald, cold ALL.THE.TIME, have extreme PMS, and unable to get pregnant.

NOPE!  It is not just me, and it is not normal either!  Like I said last post, our bodies are made so intricately to work that when one aspect is not functioning, it can have detrimental effects on other areas.

Guess what problem also has all these same symptoms?  And then some actually...

Anyone?  Thyroid System Dysfunction.  Did you know that if your thyroid is not functioning properly, you can actually be considered in the medical world to be infertile, even if all of their thyroid tests are "normal"?!   That was the boat I was in, I knew that something was wrong with my thyroid, but my Dr.'s kept saying it was fine.  I begged to have a full hormone panel run, but never got the tests I asked for.  So I decided to take it into my own hands.  I decided to do whatever I could to kickstart my thyroid.  And I did.  I started to take a supplement called Thyromin by Young Living and I also started using oils including Endoflex and Sclaressense to help support my Endocrine System.  Guess what happened?  I lost weight, my skin got a little better, my temps started to go up along with my pulse, and WE GOT PREGNANT.  Now mind you, I stopped taking the supplement when I was pregnant because of the extremely high amount of iodine in it, but I truly believe that it played a huge part in us getting pregnant!  John admits that I was a totally different person when I was on this supplement and he believes wholeheartedly that my thyroid is affecting my health and our fertility!  

How does it exactly help with that you might be asking?

Well here is where the nerdy educational part comes in...

Your thyroid is a gland that sits in your neck around your windpipe.  It produces thyroid hormones which control your body's metabolism and control the growth and development of your fetus while pregnant.  But healthy thyroid function is also needed for controlling heart rate, blood pressure, and brain function!  Now I won't go into complete detail, but here's a quick rundown on how the thyroid works:

Hypothalmus tells the Pituitary Gland to make TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone).

You guessed it, TSH tells the Thyroid to produce Thyroid Hormone, mainly T4.

T4 is carried into the cells and produces T3 (this is the active form of the hormone and tells your cells what they are supposed to do)

So that's the basics.  Now most doctors will diagnose Thyroid Dysfunction based on your TSH and T4 levels.  Any numbers too high or low could be caused by the thyroid itself, OR any other problems upstream such as the hypothalmus or pituitary...  Problem is, sometimes these numbers are within normal ranges, but many of the symptoms of Thyroid Dysfunction are still there.

There is another form of T3 that is OFTEN never looked at.  This is called rT3 (reverse T3) and this is the INACTIVE form of T3.  Why would you need this?  Well your body makes this as a way to get rid of any unnecessary T4.  Your body is continuously making T4, but as T3 levels rise, you may not need that much of it so it has to have a sort of "shut off" system in place.  Long term medication use, chronic inflammation (endo?!), physical injury, stress causing Adrenal Dysfunction (causing too much cortisol, which inhibits conversion of T4 to T3 and increases rT3, THIS IS THE MOST RECOGNIZED CAUSE!!!!), illnesses, starvation or severe calorie restriction, diabetes, Lyme Disease, and even low iron levels (decreases your bloods ability to carry T4, so it gets elevated equaling excess rT3) can cause elevated levels of rT3 in your system!  Often times when your rT3 is elevated, your T4, T3, and TSH levels will be normal.

This rT3 dominance causes decreased metabolism and is associated with decreased body temperature.  This occurs because rT3 and T3 both bind to the same receptors in your cells, but with too much rT3 it is able to bind to the receptors and block your active T3 from being able to do it's job.  This causes many of the chemical reactions in the body to slow down.  When these reactions slow down, less heat is produced and the body temperature starts to decrease.  rT3 is a blood test that can be run, but often is not.  The best indicator is T3/rT3 ratio, this needs to be above 10, but many homeopathic doctors like to see that number to be above 20 for optimal function.   The last thing that is done is a series of body temperatures.  This is done using a Basal Body Thermometer.  Average body temperature needs to be above 98.2 for normal thyroid function and body function. 

Here are my labs:

Thyroid System Dysfunction is a very controversial condition.  It is sometimes referred to as Wilson's Syndrome, but the American Thyroid Association does not even admit that it exists.  This is why it is so hard to be diagnosed.  So now what?  Well I do know a few people that have been able to find naturopathic doctors and SOME medical doctors that have treated this with great success!  At Pope Paul VI Institute they are working to evaluate a select group of patients that have not responded to other forms of treatment, but are being selected for treatment of this condition.  They are labeling it Thyroid System Dysfunction because they believe it to be a result of the thyroid hormone on a variety of different organ systems in the body.  WELL!!!  That was a LOT of science, hope you are hanging in there!  I got just a little bit more for you!

So, how does the thyroid affect your fertility?  I knew you would ask!
In men, this can cause decreases in sperm production as the body needs a certain temperature for sperm to be produced and survive.  In women, there are a lot of effects (both on mom and fetus)... I won't go into them all, but want to talk about one specifically.

If a woman is estrogen dominant, this means that their estrogen levels are much higher than their progesterone levels during the duration of their cycle.  Now, mind you, your estrogen levels may be totally normal, BUT the problem is that there is not enough progesterone to oppose the activity of the estrogen.  This excess estrogen causes the liver to produce a hormone known as Thyroid Binding Globulin.  This binds to T4 and inhibits cells from being able to use it. Thus you have enough T4, but are not able to use it.  Also did you know that your ovaries produce the majority of your progesterone?  It does, but if it is not keeping up, your body has a "back up" system to help out!  Did you know that your ADRENALS also produce progesterone?  Well now you do!  They make SOME progesterone, read that again, SOME.  Now, remember how we said that stress causes adrenal dysfunction?  Well when your adrenals get overworked they make too much cortisol trying to keep uo with everything... Go back up 4 paragraphs and read that again!  Eventually your adrenals will give up (adrenal fatigue) and you will not have a back up for making progesterone.  Remember how I said that our body is so intricately made?!  It is all a vicious circle!

Here are my progesterone levels during the 2nd half of my cycle.  Notice they are low!

There are so many things that you can do to help protect these systems from dysfunction!  CONTROL YOUR STRESS!   I know, easier said than done, but it needs to be done... for your health!  There are also supplements that can help your adrenals (note: talk to your doctor before starting any supplement regimen or find a naturopath!).  Diet, diet, diet!  That is one!  Avoiding inflammatory foods that cause your system to be overworked, this includes things like dairy, red meat, alcohol, wheat and gluten, to name a few.  Do your research on Anti Inflammatory and Autoimmune Diets.  For your thyroid be sure you are getting enough sleep and also concentrate on low impact exercise and weight training as opposed to extended cardio!  (I believe this is why I hate to run, it just wasn't meant to be! ha!)  I truly believe that the best thing you can do is to get a correct diagnosis!  The thyroid has such a grave effect on so many other systems in the body that you want to be sure you are treating it with what it needs!  Find yourself a doctor that you trust and doesn't throw away your concerns!  I feel so lucky to have found this path we are on!  I am excited to get my life back!

Right now we are working with our Doctor to record my basal body temperatures for 10 days and that will determine where we go with my thyroid dysfunction.  But we are also working with her to start taking a compounded bio-identical progesterone in order to get those levels to where they need to be to achieve pregnancy, but also to hopefully attain a normal menstrual cycle!  That sounds like heaven!  Ok, I have bored you enough for today!  I am glad I got that all of my brain!  It was getting full in there ;)  I am headed to Omaha today for hopefully my last time and will have all that fun info for you on our next Journey post!