by Amanda Malachesky | Aug 7, 2017 | Chronic Illness, Digestion, Functional Medicine and Coaching, Functional Nutrition
You might think that since I’m a health care practitioner, and I help people sort out the root causes of all manner of health problems that I myself am in perfect health.
Well, wrong…
I wish it were true. The unfortunate truth is that I came to this field because of my own complex, confusing, seemingly-non-diagnosable, multi-tiered illness. And though all of us in these shoes desperately wish for a quick solution to our problems, the cold, hard truth is that the path from A to B is rarely a straight and simple line. It often requires some experimental investigating and self-treatments. Sometimes the steps are clear right away, but other times, they are not.
My training with Functional Diagnostic Nutrition taught me about using specialty lab testing to identify hidden stressors, factors I may not have realized were affecting my health. I was my own first client, and my testing revealed important imbalances and hidden infections I hadn’t known were there. So I began supporting my body to try to correct what I found.
I made improvements, to my digestion, and my moods. I worked hard to readjust my lifestyle habits to support health (i.e. I no longer stayed up till midnight every night, I incorporated daily exercise, and worked on reducing stress). But despite all my best efforts, I remain plagued by food intolerances that make it nearly impossible to eat out or at someone else’s home. I struggle with moods, and I know that my hormones are not right.
So now what?
My Newest, Known Health Challenge: SIBO
Now, I move into deeper layers of inquiry. All the first-line options have not produced the results I’m looking for, and so I look deeper and consider the question: What stone remains unturned? What have I ignored, or maybe not noticed?
Up until now, I hadn’t examined the possibility that I have SIBO, or Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth. I lack a few of the normally prominent symptoms, such as horrible bloating, which may be due to the painstaking work I’ve done identifying food triggers. I do have persistent, stubborn constipation, a rosacea-like redness on my face, and have not been able to resolve some of my gut health markers or food sensitivities. All of this, in spite of doing everything “right”. So I finally ran the SIBO test.
The results? I do indeed have methane-dominant SIBO, which causes the telltale constipation. In fact, the test uses a provoking agent, to encourage the bacteria to produce their gases for measurement. I experienced a dramatic increase in symptoms within the five days after the test, so this was another positive indicator for SIBO.
So now I have a new plan to move forward, and I will begin incorporating it next week.
Getting to Point B
The end goal of health maintenance and my coaching with clients, is to help them get to that Point B they are trying so hard to reach. But as I said, the path is never a straight line. Sometimes, we take several wrong turns before the right one turns up. Or we do support work, but it’s not enough. But we need to keep trying, systematically, until we discover what helps move things forward. The mistakes we make along the way provide equally important information. They inform us about our (in)tolerances, our unique physiology, what is already working, or what needs more support. The result of this inquiry is a personalized health plan, tailored just for YOU.
Even more important is having a practitioner or coach committed to working with you through this process. Doing this work on your own is confusing, frustrating, discouraging, maddening, and you may be often confronted by a desire to give up. By a process of tracking, trial, and noting success or failure, we move ever closer to understanding the source of the problem and root cause resolution.
My personal goal is to be able to walk into any restaurant and (within reason) eat most items on the menu, and to be able to go to dinner at a friend’s home without calling ahead to find out what will be served. Now that I’ve eliminated foods that seem to cause problems to alleviate my symptoms, addressed parasites, added in general digestive support, and removed endometriosis via surgery, my next step is to encourage my small intestinal health back to normal.
I’m going to keep at it with my own personal health, and so can you. If you’re interested in the kind of support I’m describing here, schedule a free discovery session here.
by Amanda Malachesky | Apr 5, 2017 | Chronic Illness, Symptoms, Thyroid
The thyroid gland is a small, butterfly-shaped organ located in the neck. The thyroid is an endocrine gland, and is the primary gland that controls our body’s metabolic rate. Thyroid hormone is used by all organs and systems.
The Most Common Thyroid Symptoms Are:
- fatigue
- cold hands and feet
- hair loss
- constipation
- dry skin
- anxiety or depression, or manic cycling (from manic to depressive)
- poor wound healing
- infertility
- too many others to list here….
Thyroid problems are very common, and Synthroid, the synthetic thyroid replacement medication, is the third most common prescription in the U.S. Usually, the medication is prescribed after a blood test reveals high Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). However, Synthroid does nothing to address the underlying cause of the underactive thyroid gland.
Assessing the Thyroid
Thyroid hormone is created, released, transported, and used by a series of processes in the brain and body, and many things can disrupt the successful creation and conversion of thyroid hormone. A careful assessment of a complete thyroid blood panel is necessary to know where to direct action to correct a thyroid imbalance. This test includes:
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
- Free T3
- Free T4
- T3
- T4
- rT3 (reverse T3)
- Thyroid antibodies: TPO and TG
Evaluating the TSH value, as is most commonly done, only tells us that the body is trying to produce more thyroid hormone to make up for a deficiency, but it doesn’t tell us WHY the body has too little thyroid hormone. If you suspect a thyroid condition, you may need to advocate for yourself with your doctor to run the whole panel. Evaluating the full panel allows a pracitioner to identify where the hormone is losing its effectiveness. For more information about how to interpret your thyroid labs, as well as lots of other thyroid resources, check out Stop the Thyroid Madness.
Thyroid Disruptors
Many factors can disrupt thyroid function. Stress can really disrupt thyroid function. When we are stressed, our body has elevated levels of a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol inhibits the production of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), inhibits the body from converting T4 hormone (the transport form of thyroid hormone) into T3 hormone (the useable form of thyroid hormone), raises levels of rT3, which blocks the T3 receptor sites. Often, when stress is appropriately managed, and the adrenal system supported, thyroid levels return to normal. In this case, the thyroid dysfunction is a secondary problem.
Gut dysbiosis is another player in thyroid dysfunction. Some bacteria produce toxins, called Lipopolysaccharides, which decrease TSH AND disrupt the conversion of T4 to T3, while certain healthy bacteria assist with the successful conversion of certain intermediary forms of T3 into useable T3 hormone. Infection with pathogens can also impact the liver, as it tries to clean up their waste products, and T4 is converted into T3 in the liver. As with cortisol levels and stress above, when gut dysbiosis is corrected, by eliminating pathogens in the digestive system, thyroid symptoms often improve or disappear.
Problems can also occur at the cellular level: high stress, endotoxins (as mentioned above), systemic inflammation, and nutritional deficiencies can all disrupt the ability of cells to utilize the thyroid hormone at the cellular level. Addressing these kinds of root causes requires digestive function evaluation, nutrient status labs, and dietary and lifestyle modification.
Dietary choices can also have a huge impact on thyroid health, particularly with regards to autoimmune thyroid conditions. Testing for antibodies allows us to see whether the body is producing autoantibodies to thyroid tissue and damaging the thyroid gland. Antibodies will usually be elevated long before the organ has sustained permanent damage. Autoantibodies and autoimmune processes in general indicate that the digestive system needs support with it’s microbiome community, as well as the integrity of the barrier of the intestine. Consumption of certain foods, including gluten, diary, soy, and sugar are particularly damaging for those with autoimmune processes, which will be evident by checking for elevated TPO and TG antibody levels. If you’d like more information about how to get started avoiding these foods, click here to get a free recipe ebook by Dr. Izabella Wentz.
Help Your Thyroid Heal
A thyroid diagnosis doesn’t have to be a lifelong sentence to medication and feeling bad. Many people have been able to get into remission by addressing their gut health, adopting a thyroid-supportive diet and lifestyle, and for those that aren’t able to stop taking medication, using more bio-identical thyroid medications to provide more functional support.
If you know or suspect you have a thyroid condition, work with a functional health care practitioner who can help you fully evaluate your thyroid, test your gut for dysbiosis, and provide supportive dietary and lifestyle recommendations.
As a starting place for diet, you can explore and use the Autoimmune Paleo Diet. This diet removes foods that aggravate autoimmune conditions, and is anti-inflammatory. Changing your diet can be difficult, but it can also be the gateway to a positive change in your health. If you’d like to learn more about the Autoimmune Paleo Diet, Dr. Izabella Wentz, who recently released The Thyroid Secret film series, is offering a free, two-week cookbook and meal plan.
Click here to get your free copy.
The recipe book has 14-days-worth of delicious meal plans and recipes, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack for two weeks. It also has a shopping list for each week, so that you can go to the store, stock up on everything you need and move on with your life.
If you would like support evaluating your thyroid, you can schedule a consultation with Amanda here.
