Why stress affects your thyroid

Feeling tired, constipated, experiencing low mood, hair loss and dry skin?  A low functioning thyroid may be the cause of your health concerns.

Hypothyroidism

Hypothyroid is a very common condition affecting women.  A lot of women suffer from these symptoms and get their thyroid hormones tested only to find out all their blood work is “within range.”  What the heck is going on?

Naturopathic doctors will often use reference ranges different from the conventional medical system.  For example, a TSH for a 21-50 year old female would be considered normal if it is anywhere between 0.32-5.04.  From my experience, most people start to feel the exhausting effects of having a low thyroid when the TSH is 2.0 or higher.  

There are many root causes of low thyroid function that I look at when taking a patient’s history.  I look to see if there is an autoimmune cause (Hashimoto’s thyroiditis), a sluggish liver, poor gut health, nutrient deficiencies and hormonal imbalance to name a few! 

However, the cause of low thyroid function I want to dive into today is stress.  Chronic feelings of overwhelm, working full-time, being a student and/ or raising a family can have its effects on the body.  

Stress & Your Thyroid

The normal response to stress is to increase cortisol levels.  Cortisol is our stress hormone and serves a lot of important functions that serve us when we are trying to escape a physical threat (think of running away from a bear!).  However, chronic feelings of overwhelm and stress can lead to chronically elevated levels of cortisol.

High cortisol will inhibit thyroid hormone activation resulting in lower levels of thyroid hormones and symptoms of hypothyroidism.

Interestingly, chronically elevated levels of cortisol can cause symptoms somewhat similar to hypothyroidism such as weight gain, depression, PMS symptoms, fatigue and indigestion. 

With chronic stress being such a prevalent issue affecting people in modern times, I think it’s so important to evaluate how stress affects the other systems of the body.  

If you think your chronic feelings of overwhelm are contributing to your low functioning thyroid, contact your naturopathic doctor.  After taking a full history and reviewing your blood work, we will be able to focus on a plan on the specific areas contributing to low thyroid function.

Let’s get you feeling energetic again!