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The Importance of Thyroid Health

Hello dear friends.

In our last clinical tip, I shared with you why it is crucial to consider the health of our thyroid. This is because this endocrine gland produces hormones that influence almost every organ system and helps to regulate many of our physiological functions.

Due to the far-reaching impacts of our thyroid on our body, being unaware of a thyroid issue can put one at risk for certain serious conditions. These include heart disease, osteoporosis, complications in pregnancy, and infertility.

For these reasons, I previously provided you with some vital information on our thyroid gland. I reviewed the many functions of the thyroid, symptoms of thyroid imbalances, lab testing for thyroid hormones and its limitations, and highlights from two popular podcasts on ensuring proper thyroid support.

In this video, I will summarize all the key considerations for integrative thyroid care. I will also share how essential oils support thyroid function and highlight several studies on using essential oils for thyroid issues.

It is my hope that these clinical takeaways can be used to aid you and your health care providers in enhancing your thyroid health.

As always, all the links to the references, previous clinical tips, and articles will be in the resource section of the video.

So, let’s get started.

9 Key Clinical Considerations for Optimizing Thyroid Health

When dealing with thyroid disorders, it’s important to be aware that the issue may not be exclusively with the thyroid gland itself. For example, if there is an autoimmune thyroid condition, one needs to find what is triggering an immune attack on the thyroid, and importantly, how to mitigate it.

A truly integrative, naturopathic, and functional medicine approach would consider all the different aspects relating to thyroid health while incorporating a personalized and biochemical individualized approach. Yet, there are some common factors for all to consider when treating a thyroid condition. These include the following:

1. The thyroid gland impacts virtually every process and function in the body. Your metabolism, cellular energy, brain, heart, gut, liver, nervous system, reproductive system, and immune system are all affected by thyroid hormones.
2. You must support the gut and liver to ensure thyroid hormone converts into its active form. A happy gut and liver are also needed for proper absorption of the nutrients the thyroid needs to function.
3. Infections in the gut can trigger thyroid disorders and autoimmune thyroid disease. If present, they should be eliminated to restore thyroid balance.
4. Stress and strain on the adrenal glands impacts thyroid health. Specifically, cortisol and neurohormones excreted by our adrenals influence thyroid hormone conversion into its active form.
5. There is a delicate dance between estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, testosterone, and thyroid hormones. For example, estrogen dominance can lower levels of active thyroid hormone. Progesterone, on the other hand, can help raise cellular thyroid hormone receptor sensitivity. Finally, thyroid hormones aid a healthy gut to detoxify excess and inflammatory estrogens, affecting overall estrogen balance.
6. Chemicals in our environment can act to dysregulate our thyroid and hormonal system. (Check out resources on how to green your life here.)
7. Nourishing relationships can assist with hormonal health. Nurturing social connections can lower inflammation which influences hormonal balance.
8. Hormones are sensitive to blood sugar dips and spikes. Therefore, being well-nourished is imperative when optimizing hormones.
9. Lifestyle factors like exercise, stress management, and sleep can nurture thyroid health more than you think. When these are stabilized, there are less swings in hormonal levels.

How Essential Oils Support Thyroid Health

Essential oils can be an ally to support thyroid health by balancing the body overall. They help with:

• • Aiding the immune system, inflammation pathways, cellular stress, and mitochondrial health. Balancing these aspects leads to better hormonal health and cognition.
  • Supporting enzymes that help the body detoxify and acting as antioxidants. These actions protect our cells from toxic effects and assist with hormone receptor sensitivity.
  • Neuroprotection, essential oils preserve cognitive health and help to alleviate the brain fog that is common with hormone imbalances.
  • Mitigating stealth infections to prevent autoimmune activity of the thyroid. Essential oils are naturally antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal.
  • Balancing neurotransmitters, which influences hormone output. For example, thyroid hormone is linked to dopamine, estrogen to serotonin, and progesterone to GABA.
  • Enhancing digestion and assimilation. This supports the thyroid-gut link and a healthy microbiome.
  • Modulating stress, cortisol, hormones, and resulting blood sugar issues.
  • Enhancing vagal tone and parasympathetic activity. Essential oils calm the mind and body so autonomic physiological functioning can be optimal.
  • Improving our emotional health by helping us heal from trauma and adversity. This is based on the concepts of psychoaromatherapy and neuroplasticity.
  • Influencing brain function and electrical activity.

Essential oils can also aid in directly addressing common hypothyroid and hyperthyroid symptoms. These include relieving:

• pain
• inflammation
• skin issues (often hormonal and inflammatory based)
• digestive disturbances
• detoxification issues
• anxiety

This is through the mechanisms just discussed.

Studies Using Essential Oils for Thyroid Disorders

Essential oils have been shown in clinical studies to directly impact hypothyroid and hyperthyroid symptoms and thyroid disorders. Here are a few highlights:

• • Satureja khuzestanica essential oil (SKEO), along with antioxidants, was shown in a trial to help prevent lipid peroxidation and down regulate thyroid hormones in hyperthyroid rats.
  • Ginger and lemon oils helped to lessen salivary gland dysfunction in thyroid cancer patients.
  • An oil blend of peppermint, clove, black pepper, white grapefruit, and bergamot oils reduced fatigue in a study with hypothyroid patients.

Summing it Up on the Thyroid and Integrative Thyroid Care

In the past few clinical tips, we’ve discussed:

– why our thyroid health is so vital for our overall wellness.

– various symptoms and lab markers for measuring thyroid dysfunction.

– integrative resources for thyroid care.

– clinical concepts to optimize the health of our thyroid.

– how essential oils support our thyroid and mind-body in various ways.

I hope you found this information useful for optimizing your thyroid function and using essential oils for maximizing your thyroid health!

Feel free to share this with all who would benefit. Post your thoughts on YouTube and/or my blog!

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Additional Resources:

• Is Your Thyroid Causing Your Health Symptoms? Why Your Thyroid is Important and Integrative Medicine Resources for Optimizing Thyroid Health (My clinical tip with resources)
• Thyroid (Cleveland Clinic)
• Essential Oils for Thyroid Health (My article with references)
• Hashimoto’s’ Thyroiditis (My article in NDNR)
• Optimizing Thyroid Health and Healing Thyroid Disease Using Evidence-Based Integrative and Functional Medicine with Dr. Nikolas Hedberg, DC, DABCI, DACBN ( 422 of the Essential Oils Revolution Podcast with references)
• The Thyroid-Gut Axis: How to Nourish Your Microbiome with Food and Nutrients for Better Thyroid Health (My article with references)
• So You Have Hypothyroidism, Now What? (My article with references)
• Essential Oils for Thyroid Health (Ep. 420 of the Essential Oils Revolution podcast with references)
• A Naturopathic and Functional Medicine Approach to Supporting the Brain Using Essential Oils: Essential Oils for the Brain Part 2 (My clinical tip with references)

*Transcript has been edited for grammar and ease of reading.