Your thyroid might be causing cellulite!

It has been a long time since I have done a post but I have been learning lots of new information that I want to share with you all.  I have been reading a lot on hormones and how they effect our bodies in almost every single way thinkable.  It all started because I have cellulite I can't drop.  People say heredity, but I don't believe in heredity.  I believe in familial patterns that contribute to certain health issues.  For instance we may have a trained way of eating or cultural ways that may not be healthy and contribute to a whole slew of diseases.  So as I was reading and talking to experts in the field I learned extra estrogen is the cause of cellulite as well as the spider veins all over my legs.  But as I continued to read I stumbled upon something that I have been looking for the answer to for 20 years.  I hit puberty in 7th grade and by 8th grade I found it very difficult to hold my head up in class due to fatigue.   During high school I was so tired by the time school was over that I thought there should be a 2 hour break until practice so I could go home and take a nap to have energy to exercise.  I depended on those bus rides to away meets to get a power nap in.  I think my fatigue prevented me from performing at higher levels.  My mom had a 2 1/2 pound goiter thyroid removed when she was 27, and I remember her saying she felt as if something was wrong when she was in high school.  I had my Thyroid Stimulating Hormone levels checked and they always came back normal.  Despite being thin I exhibit every other symptom of hypothyroidism, fatigue, mental fog, 10 day menustrual cycle, cold intolerance, etc.  I went off to college and was sleeping 13-16 hours a day, then I came to rely on coffee to have more energy.  When my best friend had cancer 10 years ago I began getting deep into nutrition.  I decided that it might help my own life.  Gluten free I thought was working because I started it during the summer months, but winter came around and I was exhausted again.  Turned out my vitamin D levels were low, but even taking a vitamin I saw no real increase in energy.  I even did a Vitamin B12 shot thinking it might help, but I saw no difference.   Cutting sugar from diet prevented me from having miserable crashes and drinking a ton of water helped me to have more energy, but there is still this underlying fatigue.  As I was reading up on estrogen I read that excess can prevent the conversion of T4 to T3.  T3 is the active form of thyroxine, it's what gives us energy and our body heat.  Most of the time the doctors only check TSH levels, but don't check T3, T4, TPO or thyroglobulin antibodies.  If you don't already know I am a RN.  One day I asked a general practitioner if he knew anything about this and he said the thyroid antibodies are usually only elevated in cancer patients.  Here's the deal all 4 of the other levels are usually elevated before the TSH levels are elevated.  If it goes untreated it will lead to thyroid cancer.  As I continued to do research I found that I had more symptoms that I didn't know were thyroid related, eczema, acne, depression (seasonal affective disorder for me), and I could probably add hypotension onto the list.  Back in my college days there were times I was turned away from donating plasma due to hypotension.

Now that I have told my story let me tell you some more facts.  Up to 60% of Americans have an untreated thyroid disorder.  Our thyroid produces 1 tsp of thyroxine a year.  Here are some of the 54 diseases that can be caused by an underactive thyroid:

Allergies, anxiety, arthritis, cancer, candida, chronic fatigue, coronary artery disease, cystic breasts, cystic ovaries, depression, diabetes, endometriosis, gout, hypertension, hypotension, infertility, mental disorders, multiple sclerosis, obesity, PMS, psoriasis.

Here is some of they symptoms you may exhibit:

Acne, arthritis, ateriosclerosis, constipation, cold extremeties, decreased hearing, depression, eczema, fatigue (A.M fatigue), headaches, hypercholesterol, hyper/hypotension, infertility, mental impairment, menstrual disorders, ovarian cysts, parasthesias, PMS, poor memory, psoriasis, recurrent infections, slowed movements, voice hoarseness.

Physical signs may be anemia, dry skin, edema, goiter, hair loss, hypertension, hypotension, macroglossia, periorbital edema, poor eyebrow growth, puffy face, or sluggish reflexes.

What I also found to be really interesting is that if your normal axillary temperature is below 97.8 before getting out of bed in the morning then it is a sign of hypothyroidism.  This is the time of day when your body temperature is at its lowest.  I don't currently have a thermometer at home.  One day I had my long sleeve t-shirt on with my scrub top over with a fleece jacket on.  After literally running around at work for 3 hours.  I should've been warmed up by then, but my temperature was 96.8 degrees.

Nutritional deficiencies may inhibit T4 from converting to T3.  Which may be iodine, iron, selenium, zinc, Vit A, B12, B3, B6, B12 as well as medications such as amiodarone, beta blockers, birth control pills, iodinated contrast agents, lithium, methimazole, phenytoin, propylthiouracil, SSRIs, and theophyline.  Soy protein and soy isoflavones in the diet also reduce T4 absorption, T4 to T3 conversion, and increase autoimmune thyroid disease.

I am currently doing research on healing my own thyroid, and bringing all of my hormones back into balance so that will be a whole another blog when I find the answer.