HYPOTHYROIDISM is a common condition in which your thyroid gland struggles (and may eventually fail) to produce sufficient thyroid hormones. When your thyroid gland is sluggish or underactive, these insufficient hormones (important for regulating the body’s many metabolic functions) can adversely affect the circulation throughout the body. As a results, blood flow to your extremities is decreased, resulting in the common low thyroid symptom of always being cold, especially in the hands and feet. In this article, we will discuss 15 ways hypothyroidism affects HAIR, SKIN and NAILS.
Fortunately, the problem of STUBBORN, UNRESOLVED HYPOTHYROIDISM and its effects on hair, skin and nails can be solved if you know what symptoms to look for, the REAL UNDERLYING CAUSE, and the cutting-edge substances proven to improve NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES and REMOVE the CELLULAR TOXICITIES that may alter optimal thyroid function.
So, let’s examine the importance of OPTIMAL THYROID FUNCTION how a safe, natural and science-based approach to detecting and correcting optimal levels can restore your overall health and make you look, feel and function at your best.
15 WAYS LOW THYROID (HYPOTHYROIDISM) CAN NEGATIVELY AFFECT YOUR HAIR, SKIN AND NAILS:
- Overall hair loss
- Premature baldness (especially in women)
- Thinning of the outer third of the eyebrows
- Thin, dry, course hair
- Hair loss on the lower legs, arms and armpits
- Loss of eyelashes
- Psoriasis and/or eczema
- Dry, patchy skin
- Acne
- Lower eye orbital puffiness
- Premature wrinkles on hands and face
- Yellow, ridged nailbeds
- Brittle, peeling nails that break
- Infections (Fungal) in nails
- Ingrown toenails
HAIR
Hair loss or unusual, premature thinning is a common sign of HYPOTHYROIDISM. Thyroid hormones play an important role in the growth and health of hair follicles. When you have a sluggish thyroid, hormones are decreased and the hair follicles become weak.
Hair loss in this scenario is not usually isolated in a specific area of the scalp. Dermatologists refer to this as DIFFUSE hair loss. In other words, the hair loss is EVERYWHERE. Also, your hair becomes noticeable thin, dry and brittle. It may break easily just by daily brushing and you see it more in the shower, sink or on the hairbrush. It also appears less shiny and lustrous.
SKIN
Another common symptom of HYPOTHYROIDISM is DRY SKIN. Thyroid hormones play an essential role in maintaining the skin’s MOISTURE levels. They also regulate skin cell RENEWAL. When there is a deficiency, the skin renewal cycle slows and skin often becomes DRY and ITCHY.
FOLLICULITIS, or INFLAMMATION of the follicles, is another condition caused by low thyroid function.
In a healthy scalp, hair follicles are always regenerating, going through different phases such as growth, shedding and regrowth. However, low thyroid can interfere with this process. What you start to notice here is INFLAMMATION – small RED bumps, or tiny blisters on the skin.
One of the main signs of any type of inflammation is REDNESS. Another is SWELLING. So, these bumps are unsightly, can emerge anywhere on the body, and are painful. PAIN, is another classic sign of inflammation, too.
It is important to understand INFLAMMATION a bit more. The best definition of inflammation is simple this…
INFLAMMATION is the body’s response to an injury.
A better, more accurate definition is…
INFLAMMATION is the body’s intelligent, HEALING response to an injury.
So, actually inflammation is a GOOD thing!
The problem is that when inflammation does not go away like it should after the body’s healing is complete. When this happens it results in persistent, stubborn symptoms of redness, swelling, pain and most important, LOSS OF FUNCTION. In other words, the inflamed part of your body is not functioning as it should.
This condition, CHRONIC INFLAMMATION is the cause of virtually ALL disease including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, strokes and many of the cognitive problems we see today such as early dementia and Alzheimer’s.
NAILS
Lastly, thyroid dysfunction can have a negative impact on your nails. The primary abnormality is NAIL SHAPE and/or COLOR. So, an early sign of thyroid problems may be the appearance of things like RIDGES, SPLITTING, PEELING, YELLOWING.
One of the earliest, most common symptoms is simply BRITTLE nails. You notice that formerly strong nails become weak and easily break of split. This may progress to ridges or more obvious dents right on the nails.
In more advanced cases of hypothyroidism, the nails may become yellow or brown and may get unusually THICK. Dermatologists refer to this condition as ONYCHOLYSIS and is often the result of slowed metabolism (decreased blood flow) to the nails.
The REAL CAUSE of VIRTUALLY ALL HYPOTHYROIDISM
HASHIMOTO’S DISEASE is an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE where your own IMMUNE system attacks your thyroid gland, causing symptoms of a low, or sluggish thyroid.
This, as we are discussing today, is called HYPOTHYROIDISM.
In other words, MOST (about 90% according to the scientific literature) of the tens of millions of diagnosed cases of HYPOTHYROIDISM in this country are, in fact, CAUSED by an autoimmune disease known as HASHIMOTO’S.
However, as crazy as it sounds, most people who are diagnosed with HYPOTHYROIDISM are NEVER tested and told that the REASON their thyroid is malfunctioning is because their own IMMUNE SYSTEM is attacking it!
That’s because most conventionally trained doctors treat HYPOTHYROIDISM EXACTLY the same way whether they know it is HASHIMOTO’S or not.
So, if they are going to treat it the same way, which is to simply give the person SYNTHETIC hormone every day, then there is no reason to test for the AUTOIMMUNE component.
However, once you know that the CAUSE is an out-of-control IMMUNE SYSTEM, there are ways to CALM that immune system down.
What’s even more frustrating is the fact that MANY people are never even diagnosed with HYPOTHYROIDISM to begin with, due to incomplete testing and misunderstanding of the disease.
It is EXTREMELY COMMON, for example for a person (this is MUCH more common in women) to have many LOW THYROID SYMPTOMS (including, but not limited to all of the HAIR, SKIN and NAIL symptoms we are discussing today) and be told by their endocrinologist:
“Your lab tests are normal. You’re fine.”
Not only do they have the classic signs of LOW thyroid and told they are fine, but in most cases, they may actually have an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE.
So, there are MILLIONS of individuals who have UNDIAGNOSED HYPOTHYROIDISM, (90% of which are actually HASHIMOTO’S) and DON’T EVEN KNOW IT!
The Top 4 REAL Root Causes of Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
(These conditions CAUSE Hashimoto’s)
As a reminder, most conventionally trained doctors and researchers believe that autoimmune diseases can’t be effectively halted and so they prescribe SYNTHETIC THYROID HORMONE (levothyroxine) every day to try and solve the problem.
Wrong!
So, if you don’t want to watch your own body destroy your thyroid gland, let’s talk about some potential triggers of Hashimoto’s:
#1. STRESS (physical, mental or emotional)
The first is STRESS.
STRESS is probably the single most important trigger of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
And by stress, I am referring to all types of stress.
These include:
- Emotional stress– This type of stress stems from issues such as the stress from relationships.
- Physical stress– Physical stress includes things like exercise, trauma or accidents, overtraining/intense workouts, and so on.
- Social stress– Social stress tends to be more mental in origin and can stem from anything that you perceive as pressure. This may include things like issues with your work environment and so on.
Major life events can have a dramatic impact on your health and can trigger the onset of all sorts of diseases including Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune diseases.
Does this mean hope is lost?
Not at all. There are still things that you can do to increase how well your body TOLERATES stress but it’s unlikely that you will be able to completely eliminate stress from your life, especially in all of its forms.
#2. INFECTIONS
Another common trigger of Hashimoto’s (and other autoimmune diseases) are INFECTIONS.
EBV – Epstein Barr Virus
EBV stands for Epstein Barr VIRUS but you may know it as mono (infectious mononucleosis).
The EBV virus is really good at evading your immune system and once you get this infection it stays with you for life.
If your body gets the virus under control it hides in your cells where it can come out again during times of stress or when the immune system is weakened.
(This is similar to chickenpox)
Once you get chickenpox you are immune from getting chickenpox but during stressful times in your life, the same virus can reappear as SHINGLES.
Treating the EBV virus, in this case, can potentially have a positive impact on Hashimoto’s.
- Pylori bacterial infection
Other infections also have the potential to trigger Hashimoto’s.
While EBV is a VIRUS a similar process can occur through certain BACTERIAL infections.
- Pylori is one of those.
- Pylori is well known by the scientific community because it causes stomach ulcers.
It prefers to live in a LOW STOMACH ACID environment so anything that you do to reduce the acidity in your stomach may create a breeding ground for it to thrive.
Therefore, you risk developing this type of infection as you take drugs and therapies which lower your stomach acid.
Even over the counter medications such as acid blockers can do this.
Once an infection has taken root, it gets into your stomach lining and causes inflammation in the stomach wall.
An infection with H. Pylori also causes issues with the immune system.
Infections with H. Pylori have been implicated in triggering Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
For this reason, it’s a very good idea to check for H. Pylori infection if you have Hashimoto’s.
#3. NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES
You probably already know that nutrient levels play an important role in how your body functions.
As an example, let’s talk about Vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D deficiency by itself isn’t going to cause Hashimoto’s but a low vitamin D level makes you more susceptible to stress and/or infections because it can impair your overall immune system resilience.
With that in mind, let’s talk about some of the MOST IMPORTANT NUTRIENTS and how they relate to both thyroid function as well as immune function.
Some of the most important:
- Vitamin D– Vitamin D deficiency is common among the entire population but especially in those with Hashimoto’s. You can easily test for Vitamin D deficiency with lab tests and you should if you have Hashimoto’s. Normalizing Vitamin D levels will help your immune system function.
- Selenium– Selenium plays an important role in reducing thyroid inflammation. In fact, low selenium may allow for thyroid gland inflammation to occur which sets you up for developing thyroid autoimmunity.
- Glutathione– Glutathione is really an extension of selenium because your body can NOT make glutathione if your selenium levels are too low. Glutathione helps reduce thyroid gland inflammation.
- Zinc– Many thyroid patients are zinc deficient.
Testing for nutrient deficiencies is something that every patient with Hashimoto’s should do!
#4. FOOD INTOLERANCES/SENSITIVITIES
Gluten sensitivity
This means people who cannot tolerate GLUTEN.
Gluten is a protein from wheat that can cause INFLAMMATION in both the gut and the body.
(Many people are sensitive to it but they just don’t know it!)
This INFLAMMATION causes problems in the lining of your gut and leads to something called LEAKY GUT which is damage to the lining of your intestines which is there to protect YOU from foreign objects getting into the bloodstream.
As the damage increases, larger particles of bacteria can enter into your bloodstream and then interact with your immune system.
This series of steps can then lead to autoimmunity as your immune system attacks what it sees as an invader.
In CELIAC disease, your immune system creates antibodies to gluten which causes inflammation and damage throughout the body.
In NON-CELIAC GLUTEN SENSITIVITY, (NCGS), your body has a difficult time managing gluten and responds to gluten with inflammation, diarrhea, constipation, visceral hypersensitivity, and immune disruption.
It’s not a true autoimmune disease but it’s still a problem and it should be taken seriously!
The good news is that you don’t really have to worry much about diagnosing one over the other.
Why?
Because it’s easy to treat the problem by simply taking gluten out of your diet!
Because the prevalence of gluten issues is high among patients with Hashimoto’s, removing gluten (and ideally ALL grains) from your diet for 90 days may significantly help improve inflammation and immune function in your body.
#5. ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS/TOXICITY (including HEAVY METALS and PESTICIDES)
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL TOXICITY is a potentially hazardous condition from TOXINS IN OUR ENVIRONMENT.
Environmental Toxins are synthetic chemicals that disrupt our biology. They often mimic our hormones, our ENDOCRINE SYSTEM, acting as endocrine disruptors.
They have been linked to cancer and the development of other CHRONIC diseases.
This includes the increased prevalence of Autism, Alzheimer’s and other extremely debilitating neurological disorders.
Even though they have NEVER been fully evaluated for long-term safety, they have the potential to wreak havoc on the body.
Some types are more destructive than others, but all do some degree of harm.
The REAL problem is…
We live in a sea of toxicity. ENVIRONMENTAL TOXINS ARE EVERYWHERE!
They saturate the soil, water, air, household products, cosmetics AND our food chain. MANY of the products that fill the shelves of your local grocery store and FULL of all kinds of environmental TOXINS.
They have been called ‘FOREVER CHEMICALS’, because they can persist in the environment for years without breaking down.
In addition to several types of CANCER and serious neurological problems, they have also been linked to THYROID problems, especially AUTOIMMUNE THYROID (HASHIMOTO’S) because they trigger the IMMUNE SYSTEM to attack your THYROID GLAND.
Advanced Testing for TOXICITY in the Body
In many cases, TOXICITY can be DIRECTLY addressed. (See OPTIMIZING DETOXIFICATION PROTOCOL information below)
However, without ADVANCED TESTING it is difficult to know with certainty that your body has accumulated these poisons. It’s also difficult to diagnose since conventional medicine does not prioritize the FACT that they are a problem.
Fortunately, while most doctors IGNORE the role of these TOXIC METALS, Functional Medicine providers do consider ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS that affect health and have ADVANCED TESTING that can uncover these HIDDEN factors of poor health.
If you would like to KNOW if you have ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS and/or HEAVY METAL TOXICITY, an advanced yet simple test is a Urine Test. Excreting an elevated level of these HEAVY METALS is a sure sign of toxicity, and a big clue to one of the biggest TRIGGERS of AUTOIMMUNE THYROID.
The best, most advanced lab that offers HEAVY METAL testing is Vibrant America.
Ultimate KEY to REMOVING ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS, PESTICIDES AND HEAVY METALS –
Optimize DETOXIFICATION
Normally, your immune system defends against the daily assault of all ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS, including PESTICIDES and HEAVY METAL TOXICITY, but ONLY WHEN it is working correctly and NOT being OVERWHELMED by the extremely high TOXIC BURDEN all around us.
Failure of your body’s natural ability to detoxify itself from toxins results in health issues, including AUTOIMMUNE THYROID.
Supporting the body’s ability to bind to and eliminate toxins is a key part of healing from this TOXIC exposure.
So, you MUST support your body’s natural detoxification and drainage systems.
New, emerging technology, designed to help remove TOXINS and SUPPORTING DRAINAGE systems (your body’s NATURAL ability to eliminate poisons from itself) are necessary to successfully recover from this kind of toxicity.
Let’s examine this more closely…
How do I get rid of these toxins in my body?
Special agents that BIND toxins in the gut and in other tissues so they can be more easily excreted are required for this.
An excellent, natural REMEDY for BINDING environmental toxins is called CARBON TECHNOLOGY
Made of specially-selected and precisely-formulated extracts of fulvic and humic acids, Carbon Technology uses these natural substances to tightly BIND toxins to help remove them from your body via stools.
The fulvic and humic acids in Carbon Technology have advantages to binders like activated charcoal and bentonite clay, two common binders.
One big advantage is that Carbon Technology can travel beyond the gut.
Also, fulvic and humic acid extracts are a good source of nutrition, including amino acids, phytochemicals and minerals. This is good since cells damaged by pesticides and environmental chemicals NEED TO SELF-REPAIR.
Clear out OTHER PATHOGENS
Because ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS, including PESTICIDES and HEAVY METALS can weaken your immune system, OTHER CHRONIC INFECTIONS — such as PARASITES AND VIRUSES — may more easily take hold in your body.
It becomes a vicious cycle because then these PARASITES make the body more vulnerable to CHEMICAL toxicity.
Either way, removing unwanted PARASITES from the body helps reduce the STRESS on the WHOLE BODY.
There Is Hope
Persistent, unresolved problems with your HAIR, SKIN and NAILS can be successfully addressed by addressing the ROOT CAUSES of low thyroid, the most common (but routinely ignored) being an AUTOIMMUNE attack on your own thyroid.
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (AUTOIMMUNE THYROID) can appear to be an unsolvable disease but it is a stubborn puzzle that CAN be solved.
Most conventional doctors are more interested in MANAGING Hashimoto’s with thyroid medication than they are digging deep to try and reverse it by addressing WHY the thyroid is being attacked by your own IMMUNE SYSTEM.
While it may not be possible to completely cure any AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE, there are things that you can do to put it into remission by SIGNIFICANTLY calming down an out-of-control IMMUNE SYSTEM.
It starts by addressing ROOT CAUSES.
Changing up your DIET (to solve NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES), taking WHOLE FOOD (not SYNTHETIC) supplements, checking for things like GLUTEN SENSITIVITY as well as other bacterial or viral INFECTIONS and OPTIMIZING your body’s own DETOXIFICATION systems are the best way to help you look and feel your best.
Dr. Bob was born and raised in Florham Park, New Jersey.
He loved the philosophy of vitalism, which teaches about the incredible, innate intelligence of our bodies and its power to self-heal when given the opportunity.
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