Episode 168: How Your Thyroid Affects Weight Loss and Metabolism

[00:00:00] Welcome back to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss, where I help you get on track and stay on track with your weight loss journey.

[00:00:09] I'm Your Host, Dr. Alicia Shelly, so let's get started!

[00:00:28] Welcome to the Back on Track Achieving Healthy Weight Loss podcast.

[00:00:32] I'm Your Host, Dr. Alicia Shelly.

[00:00:35] Imagine battling your weight only to find out that it is a small,

[00:00:40] small, gland located in your neck is making it difficult for you to lose weight.

[00:00:48] Today, this small gland that we're going to talk about is your thyroid gland.

[00:00:54] So, this thyroid gland sometimes can simply work against you and we're going to talk all about it.

[00:01:00] So, we're going to focus today on the thyroid hormone. Now, the thyroid is a small gland

[00:01:06] like I mentioned, located in the neck. It's small but it has a huge impact on the body.

[00:01:13] It produces hormones that control how the body uses energy,

[00:01:17] impacting the metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

[00:01:23] These hormones influence nearly every cell in the body. Determining how quickly

[00:01:28] our slowly-the-body's metabolism functions is also one way how the thyroid works.

[00:01:34] So, the thyroid hormone can increase your basal metabolic rate.

[00:01:40] Now, the basal metabolic rate is the amount of energy or calories that your body needs

[00:01:46] to perform basic functions like breathing, circling blood and maintaining your body

[00:01:52] temperature, especially when you're at risk. And it's an essential, the number of calories

[00:01:58] that you would burn if you did nothing but lay in bed all day. So, essentially, the number of calories

[00:02:04] you would burn if you did nothing but lay in bed all day. The higher the thyroid hormone levels are,

[00:02:10] the more it speeds up your metabolism. While the lower levels, if you have a low levels of

[00:02:16] thyroid hormone, it slows your metabolism damp. Thyroid hormones also regulate how the body converts

[00:02:22] nutrients, like carbohydrates, fats and proteins, into enter. And they influence the rate

[00:02:28] at which these macro nutrients are broken down and utilized so you can speed it up,

[00:02:33] take the slowdown. Also, thyroid hormones help with generating body heat,

[00:02:38] and it does is by increasing your metabolic activity. This is why people with high-profiritism

[00:02:43] or low thyroid function often feel cold while those with high-purfyritism or high-fibyroid

[00:02:50] function feel overheated. So, we're going to talk about three hormones that are important

[00:02:55] to thyroid metabolism. You may see your doctor actually ordering these hormones. So, this thyroid

[00:03:02] stimulating hormone or the T-S-8 is produced by the pituitary gland and it stimulates the thyroid

[00:03:10] to produce thyroid hormone. And when your thyroid hormone or your T3T4 levels are low,

[00:03:18] the pituitary release more of that T-S-8 to stimulate the thyroid to produce more hormone.

[00:03:24] When the T3 or T4 levels are high, the T-S-A's production is D-freeze. Now, what are T4

[00:03:33] T3? You may be asking. So, thyroxene or T4 is the primary hormone that's produced by the thyroid

[00:03:42] in its relatively inactive, but it serves as a precursive to the more active form T3. So,

[00:03:49] try ito-fibyroidine or T3. This is the hormone that is the active form of thyroid hormone.

[00:03:56] And it is converted from T4 and various tissues such as the liver and kidney.

[00:04:02] And T3 is the active thyroid hormone and directly influences metabolic activity at the cellular level.

[00:04:09] So, let me just recap just in case I may have lost you. So, when the levels T3T4 levels are low,

[00:04:17] your pituitary gland will release the thyroid stimulating hormone to stimulate the thyroid

[00:04:23] that's in the neck to produce more that T4 which is the inactive form of. Then, that T4 goes into

[00:04:31] the liver or the kidneys and it's converted to T3 which is more active. So, they're all important

[00:04:39] and definitely you should see it on your laboratory list of these hormones being checked.

[00:04:46] But let's kind of talk about the conditions that can affect the thyroid. Now, I mentioned earlier

[00:04:51] about hyperthyroidism or overactive thyroid. This is when the thyroid gland produces too much

[00:05:00] of the T4 and T3 and you can develop hyperthyroidism. Some of the symptoms that you see with

[00:05:08] hyperthyroidism is weight loss despite eating the same or even more than usual. Your body is

[00:05:15] overworking like the metabolism is revving up so you're losing weight instead of maintaining your weight.

[00:05:21] Also, you have hyperthyroidism it could cause your heart beat to be fast but you can feel palpitations.

[00:05:28] It can increase your appetite even though you're still losing weight. People tend to be a little

[00:05:34] nervous anxious, irritable, girly, all the things. You just feel like your body is just working

[00:05:40] an over time. Sometimes they can be sweet, have a lot of sweating, you have some heat intolerance,

[00:05:47] meaning that you feel excessively warm even though you're in a cool environment. You may have

[00:05:53] shimmers in your hands or fingers. You may feel more tired or have muscle weakness, especially in

[00:05:59] your arms and legs. You may find it difficult to sleep and you have frequent bowel movements or

[00:06:05] diarrhea because everything is just working and over and over and over again. You can also see

[00:06:10] changes in your menstrual path, whether it's irregular periods or even a lighter period. And as

[00:06:16] sometimes you look at have thinning of the hair or fragile skin but most importantly they

[00:06:21] sometimes begin to develop thyroid eye disease or bulging eyes or what they call graze, a

[00:06:28] bowel muppathy where it's just bulging eyes coming out. And certain conditions where you see a

[00:06:34] lot of hyperthyroidism is in gravestosies which is the most common. Gravestosies is an autoimmune

[00:06:41] disorder where basically the body attacks the thyroid causing it to become overact so your body

[00:06:48] is attacking it and attacking it and this is used in hormones right and left. Also some thyroid

[00:06:55] nodules can produce excessive thyroid hormone on that can lead to more hormones being released.

[00:07:03] Thyroid diet is which is an inflammation of the thyroid can cause the gland to leak a lot of

[00:07:09] hormones. Now you see this and people who are like critically ill but in the ICU sometimes if

[00:07:16] thyroid can become inflamed and they're just having high levels of thyroid being released.

[00:07:22] Also if someone is in taking too much iodine or excess iodine that can trigger hyperthyroidism.

[00:07:28] And usually hyperthyroidism is diagnosed by blood work so you check that TSH or the

[00:07:35] thyroid stimulating hormone and that's usually low and the T4 is usually high. And this is also

[00:07:43] not only doing the blood work also some doctors will ask for an ultrasound to look at the thyroid

[00:07:48] or thyroid scan and nuclear medicine thyroid scan to look at it. Usually treatment for

[00:07:54] hyperthyroidism is anti thyroid medications that you would take. Sometimes they'll do radioactive

[00:08:00] iodine therapy to destroy part of that thyroid gland that's overproducing. Sometimes they'll just

[00:08:06] remove the thyroid gland altogether and then they'll usually put people on a beta blocker to

[00:08:13] kind of slow down the fast heart rate in the tremors so they won't feel so uncar.

[00:08:19] Now let's switch gears and talk about what happens if your thyroid is chewed to this can occur

[00:08:25] when your TSH is elevated? Your thyroid similarly hormone is elevated but your T4 levels are above.

[00:08:33] And these symptoms people feel are more fatigued like of energy because remember their thyroid's low

[00:08:40] metabolism is slow and down so they just feel super tired. Also you start to gain weight despite eating

[00:08:48] regular. You're like I don't know where is weight coming from? Just pop it over.

[00:08:52] But people tend to be cold intolerance meaning they're feeling cold when others feel

[00:08:57] comfortable and they have dry skin and thinning hair sometimes constipation, depression or low mood,

[00:09:05] muscle weakness and joint pain, a slow heart instead of a fast heart rate. Memory problems

[00:09:11] and just heavy or irregular menstrual periods. Conditions I can lead to hypothyroidism include

[00:09:18] Hashimoto's thyroiditis which also is an autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks

[00:09:24] with thyroid again but that thyroid is not producing any and it can lead to hypothyroidism.

[00:09:31] Also if you had thyroid surgery would they remove part or all of the thyroid gland that can lead

[00:09:37] to hypothyroidism? If you've had radiation therapy for other reasons like either thyroid

[00:09:43] cancer or head and neck cancer that too can damage a thyroid gland and leading to hypothyroidism.

[00:09:50] Sometimes iodine deficiency not getting enough iodine can lead to hypothyroidism and this is very

[00:09:56] especially in developed countries because salt they have iodine and salt and different foods that we

[00:10:03] eat to kind of make sure people aren't eating too less and there are certain medications that can

[00:10:08] contribute to hypothyroidism like lithium which can affect the thyroid function and some

[00:10:15] babies are even born with an underactive thyroid gland or congenital hypothyroidism.

[00:10:21] And you can diagnose hypothyroidism with simple blood tests like I mentioned tests in the TSA

[00:10:27] P3T4 also sometimes they like to test for thyroid antibodies to see if you have haschimodos

[00:10:34] to seeds. The primary treatment for hypothyroidism is the thyroid hormone replacement therapy.

[00:10:41] Typically a synthetic hormone called lewethiroxin. Also this lewethiroxin helps to restore

[00:10:47] the normal hormone levels and reduce symptoms and it's usually monitored rather frequently.

[00:10:53] I usually treat men as like long but when managed properly most people with hypothyroidism

[00:10:59] lead normal lives. Also it's important that you check with your doctors to make sure that

[00:11:04] your levels, thyroid levels are balanced as well. Now there is a condition that we didn't talk about

[00:11:09] but it's the subclinip hypothyroidism and this subclinical hypothyroidism is more of like a milder

[00:11:16] early stage of hypothyroidism. The thyroid function is slightly abnormal but many people

[00:11:23] may not have sick. So I like to think of subclinical hypothyroidism as when the thyroid

[00:11:29] plant isn't producing enough hormone to meet the body's needs but it's not low enough to be

[00:11:35] classified as oral hypothyroidism. Usually you see an elevated thyroid stimulating hormone

[00:11:42] but there's normal levels of thyroid of T3 and T4 and so the causes that usually occurs

[00:11:50] I don't mean disorders over hypothyroidism or Hashimoto's thyroiditis where the immune system is

[00:11:56] still attacking it but it has it is not full below. Like you have the antibodies but you still have

[00:12:03] a normal amount of T4 T3 hormones. Also having too little or too much iodine and your diet can affect

[00:12:11] the thyroid function and can lead to subclinical hypothyroidism. Also you've had past treatments

[00:12:17] of thyroid issues or cancer that can gradually cause declining thyroid function. Also,

[00:12:25] EAT I do find subclinical hypothyroidism common in older adults specifically women so that is

[00:12:32] something we monitor. Most people don't have noticeable symptoms when they have subclinical hypothyroidism

[00:12:38] but some may experience mild signs such as fatigue, mild weight gain, cold intolerance,

[00:12:45] dry skin and some mood changes. And people who are at the most risk for subclinical

[00:12:51] hypothyroidism is most commonly women over the age of 60 people with a family history of thyroid

[00:12:58] disease in pregnancy sometime that can cause subclinical hypothyroidism so definitely that

[00:13:04] will be tested if you're pregnant and then people who have other autoimmune diseases like

[00:13:09] head-line diabetes or celiac disease they're at higher risk for subclinical hypothyroidism.

[00:13:15] As far as the treatment is concerned, most doctors will monitor your thyroid levels over time

[00:13:22] for those who tend to are having symptoms sometimes doctors will treat with hormone with

[00:13:29] legal perox and if it's low and then in pregnancy they will monitor how low it is as well.

[00:13:36] So it is important to kind of follow up with your doctor to know what's the best treatment

[00:13:40] for you. So you can also see subclinical hypothyroidism so when it's not too high but it's

[00:13:49] mildly high or mildly active and so some of those causes tend to be grave disease as not quite

[00:13:55] there but it's getting there thyroid nodules that can be producing a little bit more hormone

[00:14:01] but not enough for it to be full blown. Sometimes people taking too much thyroid hormone medication

[00:14:07] that can make them more subclinical and then that thyroiditis or people taking iodine supplements.

[00:14:14] So with that being said thyroid plays a major role in balancing our metabolism and our wheat

[00:14:21] and if it's too high or too low it can make us feel unwell it could cause us to gain weight

[00:14:26] or it causes us to lose weight. So it's important that you speak to your doctor if you experience

[00:14:31] any of these symptoms that I mentioned because we want to make sure that you're getting tested and

[00:14:35] treated. Well I thank you so much for your time and for joining us on the back-on track

[00:14:41] achieving healthy weight loss bypass. If you like this episode please don't forget to share with

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