What does the thyroid do and what ends up causing thyroid problems? In this article, I want to take you through the key things you need to know about thyroid health. That way, you know what to look out for and some of the solutions that you might need to seek out.
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Hypothyroidism vs. Hyperthyroidism: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments
February 4, 2025Hypothyroidism vs. Hyperthyroidism: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments
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What Does The Thyroid Do?
To get started, we need to have a super solid and clear understanding of how the thyroid functions and the role it plays in your overall health.
The thyroid gland controls three big parts of your body’s chemical process, including:
- Energy production: Are you making enough energy and how is it being stored?
- Tissue repair – How things like skin, hair, and nails repair and regenerate.
- Nerve conduction – Your ability to move and how well the brain works.
If it sounds like your thyroid gland is in charge of many important things, you’d be right! That’s why we must also be clear on what typically causes most thyroid issues.
What Causes Thyroid Problems?
By thyroid problems, I’m referring collectively to things like autoimmune thyroid disease, hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer, and thyroid nodules. The fact is that each of these things can be traced to a similar collection of causes.
I want to distinguish between ‘causes’ and contributors.’ A cause is when a problem, simply by being there, will be the primary driver of thyroid disease. Its presence alone guarantees the disease.
On the other hand, a contributor is something that can make thyroid disease a little bit more likely to happen now rather than years from now. But, contributors alone do not cause thyroid disease – they could speed it up but can’t cause it to occur.
This is important to me when discussing a term like root causes. I’ve seen online long lists of potential ‘root causes’ of thyroid disease – lists of fifty potential causes where, by checking them off, you can eventually get to the cause of your thyroid disease.
The problem I have with them is that very few things are proper causes of thyroid disease in the body. Things like mold, dietary gluten, stress, leaky gut, ingestion of toxins, and low levels of nutrients contribute, but they do not cause thyroid disease.
Key Insight: Not everyone who gets stressed gets thyroid disease! It is so important that we focus on the causes of thyroid disease while also understanding the role that contributors can play on that journey.
Four Main Causes of Thyroid Disease
Let me clarify and take you through the four leading causes of thyroid disease and what can cause issues for your thyroid. These include:
- Genetics: Thyroid disease is highly genetic.
- Gender: Most of the genes that correlate to thyroid disease are on the X chromosome; because women have two sets, they are at a greater risk.
- Age: The more years we live, the more chances exist for things to go wrong. The same is true for thyroid disease in our bodies.
- Iodine exposure: Pretty much all of the genes that relate to thyroid disease are the same that deal with iodine metabolism. Iodine is a big factor here.
Let’s zoom in on iodine. It turns out, genetic variation can create a narrower iodine tolerance window in our bodies. Because anyone can get too much of anything – iodine is no different!
Even on a good day, iodine already has a narrower window of too much and too little. If you combine that with a genetic predisposition to a small window for iodine, then things just got a lot more complicated and a lot more precise!
Key Insight: People with genetic issues can easily go above the upper limit of iodine. When that happens, it can be a huge driver for autoimmune thyroid disease.
The most common version of autoimmune thyroid disease is called Hashimoto’s disease – this can slow the thyroid and ultimately lead to hypothyroidism.
If you make some small variations, the same thing that can create the conditions for Hashimoto’s disease can also lead to Graves’ disease.
They are both highly genetic, and both can be triggered by even the slightest excesses of iodine in the system.
These same things can also be a big part of what causes structural thyroid disease. The main things here include:
- Nodules: Most adults with thyroid disease have thyroid nodules, and the risk is typically commensurate with one’s age in years.
- Goiter: Where the thyroid itself enlarges and affects about 5% of people. It can sometimes be completely random or the wrong iodine amounts.
- Cancer: This is the fastest growing type of cancer today, typically attributed to high amounts of iodine exposure.
What You Need To Know About Thyroid Disease
The main thing that I want you to get out of today’s article is that you can do something about any of these things. And when they cause symptoms, we can find ways to help manage these symptoms meaningfully – so you can feel better!
If you’re not feeling as well as you did before you were diagnosed, there is an opportunity to change things. This is especially true if you pursue the right diet, helpful nutraceuticals and other changes to your lifestyle can be a big cornerstone.
If you want to get a better sense of how your thyroid is currently performing, I would recommend taking The Thyroid Quiz today. It can give you a better sense of what you might be struggling with, and some of the first steps you can start taking today. I hope it helps.
P.S. Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you now:
- Schedule a Thyroid Second Opinion with me, Dr. C, Click Here for Details
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Dr. Alan Glen Christianson (Dr. C) is a Naturopathic Endocrinologist and the author of The NY Times bestselling Hormone Healing Cookbook, The Metabolism Reset Diet, and The Thyroid Reset Diet.
Dr. C’s gift for figuring out what works has helped hundreds of thousands reverse thyroid disease, heal their adrenals, and lose weight naturally. Learn more about the surprising story that started his quest.
