One of the first lessons Kevin and I learned when we started this Lyme journey were that our hormone levels had very likely been low for a long time, and may have been partially responsible for us contracting Lyme in the first place. The other culprits were heavy metal toxicity, malnutrition, and gut dysbiosis. (See my posts on heavy metal toxicity, Total Body Burden, and “A word of caution on vegetarianism” for an exploration of other risk factors.)
Thyroid: We started with thyroid blood tests. My TSH was high, Kevin’s was “normal”, with high fT3 and normal fT4, indicating that his thyroid function was fine. However, we both had signs of hypothyroidism: cold all the time, fatigued, difficulty relaxing, sluggish metabolism. And Kevin was even worse off than I was! He was cold and grey, and unable to recover from strenuous exercise when this journey started. Even his red hair had gone an odd greenish brown. But he had a negative thyroid test! So I started on my thyroid medicine and improved a little bit (it was some time before I found my optimal dose), but Kevin, because he was a “subclinical” autoimmune case, went untreated.
It wasn’t until our nutritionist friend Nancy Peregrine recommended that we read “Feeling Fat, Fuzzy, or Frazzled” that we learned about tissue tolerance, wherein the tissue is unable to take up the hormone efficiently. In cases like these, a blood test will show that there is no need for thyroid supplementation, though the patient suffers many obvious symptoms. From reading this book, we learned that there are tests able to more accurately measure the tissue levels of the thyroid hormone: Saliva tests. And what’s more, the authors of the book have set up an online portal for patients to order their own tests directly from the lab. The site is http://www.canaryclub.org. We ordered the recommended test which is a hormone panel that covers thyroid, adrenal, and sex hormone levels. This test confirmed that Kevin was severely autoimmune hypothyroid and that I was being under-treated. It is important to test all three types of hormones, as they form an interconnected axis and the levels of one effect the levels of the others. For example, having an underactive thyroid is often accompanied by hypoglycemia and therefore overactive adrenals, which compensate for the lack of thyroid hormone and blood sugar by ramping up adrenaline production, which can lead to excess cortisol and weight gain. Further complicating the issue is that this profile will often include excess estrogen as well, which further suppresses thyroid function. The vicious cycle continues… And you can only break the cycle if you know where to begin.
Accurate testing is one way to begin. There are also numerous self-assessments that one can do to determine if they fit the profile for hormone dysfunction. The book mentioned above contains self-assessments, as does the website http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/. Temperature and pulse tracking are time-honored ways of assessing thyroid function. Together with other symptoms, they are more accurate than blood work, though you won’t find many doctors who know that.
Adrenals: Strangely, Kevin and I do not fit the excess cortisol picture painted above. Unlike the typical hypothyroid scenario, our adrenals chronically underfunction (except at night, when the adrenal “burn” can keep us tossing and turning). According to the saliva test, we were both well below the reference range for the entire day except late at night (no wonder we like to stay up late!). Aside from the confirmation of the test, our symptoms were apparent: fatigue unrelieved by thyroid medication, mid-back pain, history of hypoglycemia, and allergic reactivity to molds, dusts, and yeasts. We have found that we also must support our adrenals with licorice, cortef, glandulars, and are experimenting with pregnenolone (a hormone precursor). Long-term low dose cortisol treatment is controversial, but we certainly haven’t developed any signs of excess. Our current doctor says that she has great success with physiological dosing and then weaning the person off in about a year.
Estrogens: Where are they all coming from? Kevin and I both had elevated levels of estrogen, which makes sense because excess estrogen interferes with thyroid function. However, the question remains: why are these levels elevated? One reason may be the prevalence of xenoestrogens in the environment. Unfortunately, plastics and industrial chemicals contain high levels of these estrogen mimickers. It has been postulated that the worldwide lowered sperm count and feminization of animals and humans alike is a result of this industrial contamination. High sugar intake has also been linked to excess estrogen production. Constipation and sluggish liver function are also implicated, as bowel movements and liver processing are two of the main ways that excess estrogen is eliminated from the body. When these pathways are blocked, estrogen recirculates and the levels in the body increase unnaturally. Beer is another potential source of excess estrogen (hence the “moobs” and belly of heavy beer-drinking men) though that wasn’t the case for us.
The toxicity factor: Heavy metals, parabens, and other industrial chemicals are known endocrine disruptors. Mercury inhibits thyroid function; parabens can cause excess estrogen.
Rosa Rashall's Blog 