The Thyroid-Menopause Connection with Dr. Eric Osansky - Episode 268 - Sandy K Nutrition - Health & Lifestyle Queen

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Sandy Kruse (00:02):
Hi everyone, it's me, Sandy Kruse of Sandy K
Nutrition, health and LifestyleQueen.
For years now, I've beenbringing to you conversations
about wellness from incredibleguests from all over the world.
Discover a fresh take onhealthy living for midlife and

(00:26):
beyond, one that embracesbalance and reason, without
letting only science dictateevery aspect of our wellness.
Join me and my guests as weexplore ways that we can age
gracefully with in-depthconversations about the thyroid,

(00:48):
about hormones and otheralternative wellness options for
you and your family.
True Wellness nurtures ahealthy body, mind, spirit and
soul, and we cover all of theseessential aspects to help you
live a balanced, joyful life.

(01:10):
Be sure to follow my show, rateit, review it and share it.
Always remember my friendsbalanced living works, my
friends, balanced Living Works.
Hi everyone, welcome to Sandy KNutrition, health and Lifestyle

(01:37):
Queen.
Today with me, I have Dr EricOsonsky and we're going to talk
all about the thyroid, one of myfavorite subjects.
The reason I love this subject,obviously, is because I had
thyroid cancer at age 41.
I'm now 55 and I am goingthrough or gone through
menopause without a thyroid.
We're going to talk about theconnection between menopause,

(02:01):
perimenopause and the thyroidgland.
Listen, you guys, you canfollow only what one doctor says
, or you can do a lot ofresearch yourself to optimize
your wellness.
I can speak from experiencethat had I not researched all

(02:25):
these different things about thethyroid gland, I would not be
as vibrant.
I would not be, as let's justsay, fit.
I would not be aging well if Ididn't optimize thyroid function
.
So this is a really importantepisode.
I ask that you share it withwhomever you might feel would

(02:49):
find it useful.
I'd ask that you share it onyour social media or anywhere
that you can share it.
It's much appreciated and itreally gives back so that I can
keep having incredible guestslike Dr Eric Osansky.
I have written my essentialthyroid guide.

(03:11):
This is a patient advocacyguide.
It is not a clinical book.
There's enough clinical booksout there if you want that.
What I have written is a verysimplified guide for those of
you who just want, like theCole's notes, you don't want to
have a clinical understanding ofyour thyroid gland.

(03:32):
It is available on Amazoneverywhere.
Follow me on all of my socialmedia channels.
It's Sandy K Nutritioneverywhere If you want to know
more about the things that Iwrite about.
I am on Substack, so follow methere.
I write short, explorativeessays that relate to wellness

(03:56):
body, mind, spirit, soul and thereason I write these
explorative essays is not todictate and tell you what your
health is, because I reallydon't believe in that.
I believe that health is sobio-individual, but unless you
have people who are kind ofgiving you those breadcrumbs,
you're never going to know whereto look.

(04:17):
I you know I'm not a big fan ofwhat's happened in this
wellness industry, where there'sit's almost become a
dictatorship Like you must dothis and you must do cold plunge
and you can't eat oxalates, andit's just like.
I'm so tired of all of thisbecause you can't make blanket
statements like that foreveryone.

(04:39):
So follow me on Substack it'ssandykruse.
substack.
com.
Follow me on my podcast.
Wherever you're listening, besure that you're following,
because I come out with a newpodcast each and every week on
Mondays.
And also for those of you whoare in business you have a small

(05:03):
business and you're doingincredible things and you're
really trying to scale up yourbusiness.
I joined forces with myhusband's company and I am now
the brand manager of the healthand beauty channel for TKG
partners and ripple distribution.
This is a sales anddistribution company and I

(05:28):
really want to bring betterbrands to more people.
It was just such a beautifulsynergistic move for me to do
that.
Sandy K Nutrition stays, but Ihave access to a lot of amazing
brands that not many people knowabout unless you're in the
space that I'm in.
So if you do have a brand andyou are ready to scale up and

(05:52):
you want to go into the Costco'sthe Best Buys here in Canada we
have the Source, we have somany and Walmart Canada and
Walmart Canada Please get intouch with me, sandy at
tkgpartnerscom or sandy atsandyknutritionca.

(06:13):
And now let's cut on through tothis amazing interview with Dr
Eric Osonsky all about thyroid.
Hi everyone, welcome to Sandy KNutrition Health and Lifestyle
Queen.
Today we are going to betalking about one of my favorite
, favorite subjects and that isthe thyroid gland.
I have Dr Eric Osonsky, whobrings over 15 years of

(06:37):
chiropractic care, functionalmedicine and nutrition expertise
After achieving remission fromGraves' hyperthyroidism.
We often talk abouthypothyroidism, so this is maybe
we'll get a little bit into thehyper side as well and he had
Graves in 2009.

(06:57):
He has dedicated his career toempowering others to address
thyroid and autoimmuneconditions naturally, as the
published author of NaturalTreatment Solutions for
Hyperthyroidism and Graves'Disease, hashimoto's Triggers
and the Hyperthyroid HealingDiet.

(07:18):
He shares actionable insightsand evidence-based strategies
Now, today, we're going to talkabout how to support your
thyroid gland throughoutperimenopause and menopause,
when many women see changes inweight.
Is thyroid a part of thiscascade of weight gain?

(07:41):
You have to stick around to theend of the conversation to find
out, but we're going to talkabout a few different causative
factors.
Of course, thyroid is going tobe the center of this discussion
and I'm really excited to haveyou here with me today, dr Eric.
Welcome.

Dr. Eric Osansky (08:00):
Sandy Kay.
Thank you so much.
Really excited to be here,sandy Kay thank you so much.

Really excited to be here, great.
So I kind of gave a tiny littlesegue on why you have such an
interest in thyroid health.
But tell us a little bit aboutyour background, because Graves'
disease is not as often talkedabout.
So maybe give us a backgroundof your history and how you got

(08:25):
into thyroid health.

Sure so, and you're right.
Hashimoto's definitely morecommon and, as a result, a lot
more practitioners focus onHashimoto's.
And so, as you mentioned, mybackground is a doctor of
chiropractic and I had atraditional chiropractic
practice for approximately sevenand a half years and then in

(08:49):
late 2007, I was a little bitoverweight.
I was around 182, wanted to belike around 165, 170.
So I was looking to lose someweight through dieting,
detoxifying, exercising, and itwas successful, losing weight.
Little did I know some of thatweight loss.
A good amount of that weightloss was due to the

(09:12):
hyperthyroidism, but I actuallydidn't find out until one day I
was walking around a retailstore, a Sam's Club.
They had one of those automatedblood pressure machines and I
took my blood pressure, whichwas normal, but my heart rate
was 90.
And I thought maybe it was justfrom walking around.
So I took my.

(09:32):
I manually took my heart ratethe next few days and it was
anywhere between 90 and 110beats per minute, which
definitely on the higher side.
So I was putting the piecestogether a little bit and and
eventually I mentioned how mygoal was to get to 165, 170.
I was down at one point, 140.

(09:54):
So I lost 42 pounds of weightand went to a primary care
doctor and the primary caredoctor diagnosed me with
hyperthyroidism.
Primary care doctor and theprimary care doctor diagnosed me
with hyperthyroidism and theneventually went to an
endocrinologist andendocrinologist diagnosed me
with Graves disease.
And at that point I didn't haveany experience with

(10:15):
hyperthyroidism, with Gravesdisease.
But as a chiropractor, we haveto take our CE credit.
So for our continuing educationcredits, I would always take
nutritional courses orfunctional medicine courses, and
there were a couple onfunctional endocrinology and
while they focused more onhypothyroidism and Hashimoto's,
they did talk a little bit abouthyperthyroidism and how you

(10:38):
could manage it naturally.
In some cases, and just likeanything else, there's an
underlying cause.
So I knew I was going to atleast attempt to try to do
things naturally, take a naturalapproach.
I had no idea if it would besuccessful, but I figured I had
nothing to lose by giving it atry.
And so yeah, long story short,I started taking a natural

(10:59):
approach, changed my diet, mylifestyle stress was a big
factor and was able to restoremy health.
And since 2009, I've been alsohelping other people with
thyroid, autoimmune thyroidconditions, more so people with
hyperthyroidism and Graves'disease, just because of my
personal journey.

I want to clarify this because for anybody who's
starting to pay attention to thethyroid gland meaning their
doctor maybe told them somethingwas off or maybe they have some
symptoms.
Whatever it is a lot of peopledon't understand what the

(11:41):
metrics are and TSH is, you know?
Listen, I'm not knocking ourdoctors because it's not their
fault, but that seems to be theonly thing they test, and it's
not even the thyroid hormoneitself.
It's a pituitary signalinghormone for your thyroid to

(12:03):
actually make the hormone.
Could you explain high TSHversus low TSH?
What is hyper?
What is hypo for everyone?

Sure so with, as you mentioned, tsh.
Thyroid stimulating hormone issecreted by the pituitary gland
and it communicates with thethyroid gland.
In the case of hypothyroidism,where you have low thyroid
hormones and T4, t3 are the mainthyroid hormones and so when
they're low, the TSH tells thethyroid gland that hey, we need

(12:39):
to increase thyroid hormones.
So we have higher amounts of T3.
In the case of hypothyroidism,typically elevated levels of TSH
, and with hyperthyroidism youhave the opposite.
So with hyperthyroidism youhave elevated T4, t3.
So elevated thyroid hormonelevels.
So pituitary wants to say wait,hold on a sec, we have way too

(13:22):
much than 0.005.
But either way, there's a lessthan because, again, it's not
detectable, because it doesn'twant to secrete any TSH.
So those are the maindifferences.
I don't know if you want me totalk about the different
antibodies associated withGraves and Hashimoto's as well.

No well, maybe we'll get into it, but I think
it's important to note that,basically, very, very simply, if
you have a TSH that's low, thenthat means you're closer to
hyperthyroidism, so that's likeeverything is sped up.
If your TSH is high, then thatactually means the opposite,

(14:03):
where everything's like slowdown.
You might feel sluggish andtired, and this is why it gets
so confusing for a lot of people.
But I mean, eric, I've lived inboth states and it's not fun,
and really it's that wholeGoldilocks theory where you want

(14:24):
to have the thyroid gland.
Just right, and it's differentfor everybody.
Like, your right may not be thesame as my right, and this is
probably where it can be a bigmiss with Western medicine,
because you know, I know Ipersonally always feel pretty

(14:44):
good at about a 1.5 TSH, butI've been at that undetectable
state, as I know you have,because after thyroid cancer,
they said they had to suppressmy thyroid function to ensure
that the thyroid cancer didn'tgrow back.
I don't think they do thatanymore, though.
Do you know if they still dothat?

(15:05):
I don't know if they do.

Yeah, good question.
I can't say.
I deal with a lot of thyroidcancer patients so I don't think
so either.
But I can't say a lot from theself-experience.
Most people are seeing me.
They're trying to those withhyperthyroidism, graves' disease
.
They're trying to prevent thesurgery, usually once they get

(15:29):
the surgery.
Every now and then I'll get apatient, but very rarely am I
seeing someone who actually wentthrough thyroid surgery or had,
especially someone who hadthyroid cancer.

For somebody who's got graves, so hyperthyroid,
sometimes they have to get to apoint where they ablate the
thyroid.
They basically destroy it,right.
They don't necessarily removeit like physically remove it,
like they did with me, but withGraves or hyperthyroidism, if

(15:58):
it's not controlled, they ablatethe thyroid, don't they?

Yes, they have what's called the rate act of
iodine, which pretty much it,like you said, ablates or kills
the cells of the thyroid gland,and so, yeah, the goal of that
is to I mean, in a perfect world, like it's funny with cats,
cats are more likely to gethyperthyroidism than

(16:24):
hypothyroidism, and I was.
I had a number of years ago aveterinarian as a patient and
she said what, what cats?
They try to get them euthyroid,which means they have like
normal thyroid levels.
But it would make sense to tryto do that with humans too.
But more times than not, theradioactive iodine is
essentially doing what thethyroidectomy is doing, which is

(16:44):
making them hypo.
Now, sometimes they might notget a high enough dose of
radioactive iodine.
So I do every now and thenthere'll be someone who gets
radioactive iodine.
They'll become hypo temporarilyand then they'll become hyper
again just because it didn'tkill off enough cells, and then
they might end up gettinganother round of radioactive
iodine.
It depends.
Sometimes I've seen I've had afew patients who received

(17:08):
radioactive iodine and becamehyper again, and then they came
across my stuff and they myinformation.
They're like you know what?
I don't want to get anotherround of radioactive iodine.
Let's see if we could save thethyroid, but more times than not
it does end up causing hypelike long-term, if not permanent
, hypothyroidism.

So I guess we should.
You know, I kind of I kind ofstarted jumping around there,
eric, because like this is likeI could, I'm trying to pack as
much in in this in this one hour.
But I think it's reallyimportant to describe, because
when I had thyroid cancer, Iliterally did not know what a
gland was, thyroid gland.
I had no idea on how importantthis little butterfly gland is.

(17:54):
Can you just give everybody arundown of what the thyroid
gland is responsible for?

Yeah, of course.
So I mean you mentionedmetabolism, like with um, with
hypothyroidism it slowseverything down, uh, and that
could lead to lower heart rate,that could lead to coldness,
that lead to constipation.
With hyperthyroidism it speedsup everything.
So I mentioned I had anelevated resting heart rate, had

(18:22):
heart palpitations, had tremors.
A lot of people have loosestools, anxiety, insomnia, the
bones.
So it affects bone health.
So more so with hypothyroidism,low thyroid affects more bone
quality, with hyperthyroidismmore bone density.
So like if you have elevatedthyroid hormone levels it

(18:43):
increases the bone turnover andthat you're more likely to get
osteopenia, osteoporosis, overtime, especially if it's
unmanaged Cholesterol.
So cholesterol metabolism youhave if you have low thyroid
hormone.
A lot of times you'll seeelevated total cholesterol on a
lipid panel, elevated LDL,hyperthyroidism.

(19:04):
Many times we'll see theopposite where cholesterol is
low, we talk about cholesterolbeing too high.
I don't like to see cholesteroltoo low.
So sometimes I'll see a totalcholesterol of like 120, which
to me is too low.
But again it's related to thehyperthyroidism in the patients
that I see.
Thyroid hormone is importantfor brain function, digestive

(19:27):
function, hair growth Again,hair loss, very common with both
hypo and hyperthyroidism.
Yeah, Absolutely.

That's a misconception.
People think that you only loseyour hair if you're hypo.
That's so not true, because onboth ends of the spectrum I had
significant hair loss.
Like I'm talking and here'swhat's really interesting I was
not even thyroid.

(20:00):
But, eric, as soon as my TSHgoes over about 2.5, I start to
have lingering.
I call it subclinicalhypothyroidism, even though it's
not classified as such, becauseI think you have to be over a
4.5 or a 5 to have subclinicalhypothyroidism.

(20:24):
This is why I'm always I'm sucha big advocate, because, think
of it almost like you have atouch of hypothyroidism, you
have a touch of hyperthyroidismif you get close to these ranges
either way.
And so hair loss I mean as soonas I get past two and a half.

(20:46):
If I do which I don't, I don'tallow it to happen anymore I
start to lose hair and I'm likedamn, like I'm sorry, but
there's nothing more disturbingthan when you have clumps just
falling out in the shower out inthe shower.
So I think it's important tonote that.

(21:11):
You know, some of thesesymptoms cross over, and some of
them cross over even withmenopause.

Yeah, I mean that is true.
I mean thyroid has an impact onthe sex hormones and there
could be overlap in the symptomsyou know you could have, like,
for example, low estrogen andassociated with menopause, and
get the hot flashes, nightsweats, but then hyperthyroidism
also causes heat intolerance,night sweats.

(21:38):
So sometimes it could beconfusing Am I entering
menopause or am I dealing withhyperthyroidism?
And of course you get overlapwith hypothyroid symptoms as
well, the weight gain, the brainfog, and again, is it the
hormone imbalances or is it thethyroid?
So it can be confusing at times.

Now I don't know if this is anything like.
I know that you're more focusedon Graves, but I do know
there's quite a bit of researchthat's not often talked about,
about how estrogen can affectthyroid function.
Do you know anything about thatstuff, eric?

Yeah, so I mean it goes both ways.
I mean, so you know you needhealthy thyroid hormone levels
for healthy estrogen, as well asprogesterone levels and then
also adrenals, which I knowthat's not part of this
conversation, but healthyadrenal is also important for
healthy sex hormones.
There's also estrogen receptorson the thyroid.

(22:42):
So, as a result, if you havelower, if, like, estrogen
decreases, thyroid function canalso decrease and then estrogen
also plays a role in the thyroidhormone receptors, so estrogen
can affect the sensitivity ofthe thyroid hormone receptor.
So if you have lower estrogen,again associated with
perimenopause and more sopostmenopause, then again that

(23:07):
could also lower thyroidhormones.
So, yeah, I mean there's alsohigh estrogen for various
reasons that we could talk about.
But yeah, if you have lowestrogen associated with
menopause, that could also causelow thyroid hormone and
hypothyroidism and lead to thoselow thyroid symptoms.

Yeah, I know the research that I did.
It's again like it's, I swearit's.
Everything is about balance.
This is life.
As soon as things get out ofbalance, that's when we can
start to have problems.
Because I've read the sameresearch that you're talking
about about really high estrogencan affect the thyroid and

(23:53):
really low estrogen can affectthe thyroid.
So this is why, when we kind ofget into that, I know a lot of
women who are estrogen dominantand even though technically they
may not have really highestrogen, but it is high in
relation to progesterone, sothat they have problems with

(24:15):
thyroid even in their 40s.
A lot of women are estrogendominant in their 40s and then
boom, they hit menopause andthey're in their 50s and then
their estrogen goes down andthen their thyroid function goes
off again.
So this is why it's reallyimportant to have practitioners
who kind of look at everythinglike the hormonal endocrinology

(24:36):
system doesn't work in silos,would you agree?

Yeah, definitely would agree.
And what makes it even morecomplex these days are the
xenoestrogens, the endocrinedisrupting chemicals.
So it's not just our naturalestrogens, but the xenoestrogens
can also bind to the thyroidreceptor and mimic I mean both
mimic estrogen and also disruptthe thyroid.

(25:02):
So, yeah, I mean, when youfactor that in combination with
our natural hormones, it getsreally complex or can get really
complex.

Yeah, Back when this was actually way before I
had thyroid cancer this wouldhave been after the birth of my
second child I started toresearch what these
xenoestrogens did, and thereason I did was only because

(25:34):
she was a newborn.
She had such bad eczema and soI was trying to figure out okay,
well, what can I do?
This is going back when I was35 years old, and back then it
wasn't as easy as now.
Now we have lots of optionsthat are phthalate-free, that
are BPA-free.
My sister and I were justtalking about how we would warm

(26:00):
up the baby bottles in plasticin the microwave and I'm like,
oh my God, like what I used todo.
But we didn't know any better.
But I did know about perfumesand scents and phthalates and
SLS.
I started to research it.

(26:20):
So I think it's important toknow that a lot of this might
relate to your own genetics andyour ability to detox these
chemicals.
Would you agree?

Yeah, no, without question, definitely
agree.
Everybody's different.
And I mean you could do a testlike the Dutch test that looks
at how you're metabolizing theestrogens.
And and yeah, there are somepeople that, like you said,
there's definitely geneticcomponents and because of that,
some people do a really good jobof detoxifying the estrogens,

(26:57):
even if they're exposed to a lotof those xenoestrogens.
And then there are other peoplewho they don't do as good of a
job and it will have a greaterimpact.
So, and you could the good newsyou can do, even with the
genetics, you can do things tosupport estrogen metabolism.
You could eat more cruciferousvegetables, eat more broccoli,

(27:17):
eat more broccoli sprouts.
If you have to takesupplementation something like
DIM or diendylmethane, dependingon the situation if someone has
low estrogen levels, theyprobably don't want to take DIM,
but yeah, so I definitely agreewith you, sandy.

Yeah, I've been taking sulforaphane for many
years now and it's just there'sdifferent-glucrate, there's DM
diendomethane, there'ssulforaphane.
You have to figure out and Iagree the Dutch test is a great
way to figure out which of thesesubstances that are natural

(27:54):
supplements can help you todetoxify.
Natural supplements can helpyou to detoxify because some are
better at phase one, some arebetter at phase two
detoxification and you know, Iknow, for me the sulforaphane is
very protective.

It just kind of it's almost like it's
redirecting that estrogen to godown a healthier pathway yeah, I
agree, a lot of people do wellon sulforaphane, especially if
they can't take the DIM.
And then you mentioned thecalcium deglucorate.
So you could do a comprehensivestool test, see if you have
elevated beta-glucuronidaselevels, which might indicate

(28:29):
that you have problems withestrogen metabolism related to
the gut, and then therefore thecalcium deglucorate might be an
indication in that case.
But yeah, how long did you sayyou've been taking the
sulforaphane for?

So I'm going to say I'm 55.
I probably started at around 49, something like that, because
DIM.
I found just kind of like youactually pointed to that that
DIM may not be great for a womanwho's close to menopause

(29:04):
because it can almost.
It's like you're detoxing toomuch of it.
That's actually what happenedto me, and what I needed was
more of the support of makingsure it was metabolized in a
healthier way.

Yeah, I agree, and I was guilty of giving them
for even those who had low, lowestrogen in the past.
I didn't know better.
I think it was Dr Carrie Jones,who I learned about who she?
She was talking about thesulforaphane.
If they have the low, if theyhave low estrogen, you don't
want to give them.
You want to go withsulforaphane if the estrogen
levels are normal or obviously,if they're high.

(29:42):
But even if they're normal butyou have the high estrogen
metabolites and the Dutch test,specifically the 4-hydroxy or
the 16-hydroxy, then that couldbe an indication for DIM.

I think that this is a good second to pause,
because a lot of women wholisten to my podcast are in and
around menopause, past menopause.
You know, I know we're talkingabout the thyroid, but all of
this connects Like even though,when we get our blood work,

(30:15):
we're going to do a panel forthyroid, we're going to do a
panel, maybe, for our sexhormones, but it really needs to
be looked at by somebody whocan look at all of it together.
Would you agree?

Yeah, I mean 100%.
I mean that's the downside ofmost medical doctors, including
endocrinologists.
Most endocrinologists youmentioned many of them just look
at TSH, more so with hypo, withhyperthyroidism, usually
they'll at least do a T4, a freeT4, but maybe they'll do, in
some cases they will do the T3as well.

(30:52):
But yeah, they won't look atthe sex hormones, let alone the
adrenals.
You try to bring up adrenalhealth to an endocrinologist and
again, they're endocrinologists.
They should also have.
I mean, not that they don'thave the knowledge, but they
don't pay attention to thecircadian rhythm of cortisol.
And you're absolutely right, youwant someone that looks at a
whole picture.

(31:12):
Because even if they look atthe estrogen levels, which they
almost never do, or not justestrogen at the estrogen levels,
which they almost never do, ornot just estrogen, but
progesterone, testosterone,they're never going to look at
the metabolism of these hormones.
They're not going to order aDutch test for you, unless if
it's an integrativeendocrinologist, which is rare.
So yeah, I agree with you 100%.
The gut too.

(31:33):
I mentioned how the gut plays abig role in metabolizing,
helping to metabolize estrogenas well.
So if you have a lot ofdysbiosis, a lot of imbalances
in the gut flora.
That also could be the reasonwhy you're not metabolizing
estrogen.
So that's part of just also notlooking, like you said, looking
at the whole picture to see why, if you have a problem with

(31:54):
estrogen metabolism, why are youhaving that problem?

Mm-hmm, if you have a problem with estrogen
metabolism.
Why are you having that problem?
Now the thyroid is okay.
I'm going to just kind of goback a little bit.
I think it's really important tonote that sometimes that we
have a lot of stress going on inour lives.
It's very difficult to mitigatethe effects of stress on our

(32:20):
bodies, but stress and stress isgood in little spurts.
And I always like to look backbecause to me, when I look
logically at wellness, I look atmore or less like a paleolithic
lifestyle.
You know, what did they do backthen?

(32:40):
Or I look at my parents, whowere farmers back in Croatia,
like old country Croatia.
How did they live?
Well, sure, they had stress, butwhen you had, when you have
prolonged stress like we'retalking, I don't know if you
could put a timeframe on it, butI did write.

(33:03):
I am writing about this becauseI'm like how stress affects me
is different than how it's goingto affect you and my resiliency
might be different than yourresiliency.
So you can't really put atimeframe.
But back when my daughter wassick, I was, you know, I was
stressed beyond belief and itwas a long time.

(33:25):
And then, even before that,eric, you know, I had a spouse
who traveled.
Every week I had a newborn andtoddler and I was alone a lot of
the time and I'm like, okay, Ican almost see what was going on
, but I couldn't at the time.

(33:46):
So I think it's important forwomen to see the symptoms and
know how stress can affect thisimportant little thyroid gland,
because now I don't have one.
So talk to us about how stresscan affect the thyroid function.

Yeah, great question.
I should start off bymentioning how stress was a big
factor I'm pretty certain a bigfactor in the development of my
grave disease condition.
And also, it's important tomention, I was in denial at the
time.
I didn't think I knew stresswas a factor, but I thought I

(34:29):
had good stress handling skillsand did adrenal saliva tests.
At the time my adrenals were inthe tank, my DHA was in the
tank, but also the emotional notjust emotional stresses, but
the physical stressors.
So I was overtraining at thetime and that also could impact
the adrenals, but I mean one.
So there's a few different waysthat stress can negatively

(34:50):
affect the thyroid.
So one is when you're dealingwith prolonged chronic stress
and you have cortisol, the bodypumping out cortisol, adrenals
pumping out cortisol for aprolonged period of time.
That will affect conversion ofT4 to T3.
Again, t3, I don't think Imentioned earlier.

(35:10):
T3 is the active form ofthyroid hormone and so it's
important to have both T4 and T3, but T3, if you have low T3,
that's really going to lead manytimes to those hypothyroid
symptoms.
So if you have prolongedchronic stress that could lead
to kind of like a state ofhypothyroidism due to that low

(35:31):
T3.
Cortisol, chronic stress alsocauses dysregulation of the
immune system and so I thinkthat's one of the factors in my
health when I was dealing orprior to dealing with Graves and
again, I also speak with peoplewith Hashimoto's and almost
always stress.
It doesn't matter if it'sGraves, hashimoto's, even

(35:53):
non-automated thyroid conditions, but in this case, when talking
about Graves, hashimoto's tomedian thyroid conditions, but
in this case, when talking aboutGraves-Hashimoto's, we have
dysregulation of the immunesystem, at least an increase in
pro-inflammatory cytokines whichpromote inflammation, and that
also is a potential mechanism ofhow stress will affect the
thyroid by impacting the immunesystem, because most of the

(36:15):
thyroid conditions around, mosthypothyroid conditions are
Hashimoto's and mosthyperthyroid conditions are
Graves' disease.
And then stress also decreasessecretory IgA.
Secretory IgA lines the mucosalsurfaces of the body, including
the gastrointestinal tract, andserves as protection.
It's not a specific leaky gutmarker, but I mean there are

(36:36):
other, more specific leaky guttests, but typically when
secretory IgA is low, usuallysomeone has a leaky gut marker.
But I mean there are other,more specific leaky gut tests,
but typically when secretory IgAis low, usually someone has a
leaky gut and that is part ofwhat's called the triad of
autoimmunity or the three-leggedstool of autoimmunity, which is
again a factor in thedevelopment of autoimmune
conditions, including Graves andHashimoto's.
And so those are a few differentways in which stress.

(37:00):
The first one that I mentionedis more of a direct mechanism of
effect, that conversion of T4to T3.
But to me the biggest concernis the impact of stress on our
immune systems and really, alongwith other factors of course,
are like increased toxic burden,but again, stress is higher
than it ever has been and justyeah, that really, I think is a

(37:23):
big factor in the prevalence ofautoimmune conditions such as
Graves and Hashimoto's.

You know, I always think the body is just so
brilliant and it's like it knowsit always wants to look for
that.
Okay, can I feel safe?
How can I feel good?
And when you're in thatconstant stress, like you know,
you're like tight and you'rewired and you're you're in that

(37:52):
state for a long time, it's likeyour thyroid gland's gonna go
okay, I better slow down, and sothat's why you'll sometimes see
that tsh go up as well.
It's like your thyroid gland isgoing to go okay, I better slow
down, and so that's why you'llsometimes see that TSH go up as
well.
It's like a reaction to sayingI need to preserve all hands on
deck, right, let's preservebodily functions, let's slow

(38:12):
everything down until Sandycalms down.
Like I'm just a big believerthat the body is just so
intelligent and knows you knowhow to react until it doesn't
know anymore what to do.

Yeah, you're right, and we didn't bring up
when talking about the markers.
There's a marker reverse T3that kind of looks at that.
When you have like elevatedreverse T3, that's the body's
way of like trying to slowthings down.
And I mean we see that withhyperthyroidism.
I don't test reverse T3 anymorebecause everybody has elevated
reverse T3 levels because of theelevation thyroid hormones.

(38:51):
But you're right, I mean thestress, the chronic stress,
could also play a big role,which is why if someone has
hypothyroidism, includingHashimoto's, it's a good idea to
look at that reverse T3, which,again, that's the inactive form
of thyroid hormone, whereas T3is the active form that I
mentioned earlier.

Yeah, and here that's not.
In Canada, that's not even ameasurement.
Reverse T3, never done.
I have an endocrinologist, he'sgreat.
He does all the markers forantibodies, free T3, free T4,
tsh.
He does a thyroglobulin whichis really important if you've

(39:32):
had thyroid cancer to make surethat there's almost no
thyroglobulin.
But reverse T3 is never done.
And the way like I love thisanalogy, I've been using it I
don't even know I think Imust've heard of this over 10

(39:53):
years ago that a good way tothink of reverse T3 is back in
the days when we used to go tothe bar and there would be all
the bouncers at the door andthey'd be blocking the doorway.
Well, reverse T3 are thebouncers at the bar, but to your
cells, so it doesn't lethormone enter your cells.

That's a pretty good analogy.

I know I always like to look back to my youth.
You know it's okay.
It's okay to do that, rightEric?

Yeah, definitely.

So we've talked about stress.
We've talked about our sexhormones, stress, we've talked
about our sex hormones.
Let's get into nutrients.
Here's a question for you,because you're an expert on
hyperthyroidism Is too muchiodine, something that could

(40:49):
exacerbate hyperthyroidism.

Could be.
I was waiting to see if you'dget into the iodine question.

Yeah, we will talk about it for sure.

Yeah, a lot of controversy with iodine.
So yeah, I mean to answer yourquestion too much iodine can be
problematic.
It can potentially increasehyperthyroidism.
It can, I mean, in some casesexacerbate the autoimmune
response.
And we're not just talkingabout iodine supplementation.
I have a podcast episode oniodine contrast agents.

(41:25):
That again, that's also aconcern as well.
So if someone hashyperthyroidism they definitely
don't want to receive like a CTscan with iodine contrast, but
they also want to be carefulwith iodine.
And.
But there's also it'sinteresting because in the hyper
I mean both, really not justthe hyperthyroid world, but
there's different perspectives.

(41:47):
There's the high iodineperspective, meaning that people
should supplement with highdose iodine, and then there's
the other perspective where youwant to just stay away from
iodine.

You mean, if you're ?

hyper.
Right, I'm talking about both.
No, I'm talking about both I'mtalking about there are
practitioners out there thatrecommend high dose iodine for
hyperthyroidism as well as forHashimoto's.
And the reason I know isbecause years ago I actually

(42:22):
took high dose iodine just andit didn't make me more hyper.
But again when I was, when Imentioned I was taking those
functional endocrinologyseminars now they were talking
about natural ways of managingthe symptoms through herbs like
bugleweed motherwort, which youmight not be familiar with, but
those are like alternatives toantithyroid medication and the

(42:44):
beta blockers.
But high-dose iodine actuallycan have the opposite effect and
block thyroid hormone if youtake really high doses of iodine
.
Now again, I'm not recommendingto take that.
I've actually I've been moredefinitely more conservative
over the years with iodine.
I'm just saying years ago I wastaught by some of these

(43:07):
seminars and other practitionersthat you do want to give iodine
and people not just whatHashimoto's which again now
there's also concern withHashimoto's and iodine, but what
and those with hyperthyroidismand and so when I first started
helping people with with thyroidand autoimmune thyroid
conditions, includinghyperthyroidism, I would do
urinary testing for iodine andthen if someone was deficient

(43:31):
would would recommend separateiodine and then if someone was
deficient would would recommendseparate iodine supplementation
and without question I saw insome cases where it backfired
and it would cause it eitherexacerbate the hyperthyroidism
or rarely but a few casesthere's engraved disease, that's
what's called thyroid eyedisease, where the immune system
attacks the tissues of the eye.

(43:51):
So again, in some cases theiodine can exacerbate the
autoimmune response and worsenthyroid eye disease, where the
immune system attacks thetissues of the eye.
So again, in some cases theiodine can exacerbate the
autoimmune response and worsenthyroid eye disease.
And that's scary and it's not agood feeling when someone says
you know, I've taken iodine,like supplements with iodine,
and now I'm feeling like morepressure in the eyes, and so
even to this day there'scontroversy.
I mean, I just saw on Substack,like a few weeks ago, a

(44:13):
practitioner talking about howyou want to take high dose
iodine and it's important tosupplement separately with
iodine.
And then there are, like I said, other perspectives, including
some people I've been on yourpodcast to recommend the
opposite, like Dr AlanChristensen who has a book, the
Thyroid Reset Diet, and herecommends the opposite.

(44:34):
So I'm trying to be somewherein between.
I don't recommend likecompletely avoiding the iodine,
but I am cautious when it comesto like just taking 25, 50
milligrams of iodine.
And you're right withhyperthyroidism and also even in
Hashimoto's can cause problems.
But, like I said, you talk to 10different practitioners and

(44:58):
practitioners who have a lot ofexperience with the thyroid.
You'll still get differentperspectives as far as who
should take iodine, who shouldavoid iodine.
But yeah, I will say I've beenon both sides of the spectrum
and, yeah, just over the years Ihave become more cautious with
iodine.
Again, not telling people notto have any iodine in their food

(45:19):
and things like that.
I think that's a little bit tooextreme.
But yeah, so we could talk moreabout this.
But again, like I said, it'sdefinitely a controversial topic
.

I think it's a massive topic and I think
there's massive discrepancies.
And I remember doing an iodineloading protocol.
This was and I don't have athyroid, but it was more.
So people don't realize thatiodine's not important only for

(45:53):
thyroid.
It's important for women, forbreast health, it's important
for the brain, it's importantfor a lot of other bodily
functions.
But I think you know I alwaysgo back to that whole Goldilocks
theory that too much is not agood thing.
Goldilocks theory that too muchis not a good thing.

(46:15):
So it's really hard becauseeven I don't even know like is
urine?
There's some controversy abouturine.
Testing for iodine isn't there.

There is.
I mean there's really noconsensus when it comes to
testing for iodine.
There's.
I mean, the blood test probablyisn't too accurate to do like
serum testing, but then there'sdifferent types of iodine
testing.
So, like you, I did the 24 houriodine loading test where you
take a 50 milligram tablet ofiodine this was years ago that I
did that test and then you lookat the excretion of iodine and

(46:49):
then there's just regular, justbasic iodine tests, like just a
spot test we just do whereyou're not consuming any iodine,
you're just doing a test andseeing how much iodine's in the
system.
And so again, there's.
Either way, there's not a lot ofresearch out there.
And, and the thing with theloading test, again, I've had a

(47:11):
lot of patients over the years,especially the first number of
years I was in practice, do theloading test and again, most
people honestly seem to do okay,but there is still risk,
especially again, like youmentioned, the hyperthyroidism
taking the 50 milligram tabletof iodorol before doing that
test.
But yeah, so there's, like Isaid there's.

(47:33):
I mean, if I see a urinary, theiodine loading test, there's
not really anything as far as Iknow in the actual research,
like if you go on PubMed urinaryiodine testing.
There is some and I mean ifsomeone, I definitely pay
attention to it.
I mean if someone does aurinary test and they low in
iodine, again I'm not going tosay, okay, let's go and take a

(47:57):
lot large doses of iodine, but Iwould want to make sure that
they are getting some iodine andthat they're not trying to,
because again there's evenendocrinologists are.
Sometimes we'll tell thepatients with hyperthyroidism to
avoid all iodine and again, itmakes sense on the surface.
You need iodine for formationof thyroid hormone.
So let's avoid completely allthe iodine if you have

(48:21):
hyperthyroidism and for somepeople that does work.
Like some people I spoke aboutthis in my book, the
Hyperthyroid Healing Diet thereare some people who do better on
a really low iodine diet,especially many people with
hyperthyroid healing diet.
There are some people who dobetter on a really low iodine
diet, especially many peoplewith hyperthyroidism.
But there are people who dofine, again, as long as they're
not overdoing it and not likeoverloading.

(48:42):
Eating like a lot of reallyhigh iodine foods, like kelp,
for example, is like one.
But I don't tell people toavoid, like, all food sources of
iodine, even if they're dealingwith hyperthyroidism.

Isn't fish too like fish, seafood, anything like
that is going to be having adecent amount of iodine.
I know kelp and sea likeseaweed.
You know you can buy theseaweed.
They're gross.
I've tried them.
I can't do it.
But you know I will do tinylittle doses.

(49:20):
And again, we're not giving anymedical advice here because
you're going to have to speakwith your own practitioner on
what's right for you.
But for me and my family,because we don't eat a lot of
iodine rich foods, like we'renot big seafood eaters fish,
kelp so I'll sometimes no, likeall of what I do is Iodoral.

(49:45):
You know Iodoral I'll take likethere's like the tiny little
doses what is it like?
Six milligrams or somethinglike that, and I'll just pulse
it in like once or twice a weekjust to make sure I have a
little bit of iodine, just to besafe.

Yeah, and again you're rotating it, so
doing it a few days a week.
But yeah, I mean you're rightIf you're, I mean you are
getting some iodine if you eateggs.
If you do eat dairy which againpeople who are, I can't say I
never have dairy, but it'slimited and those who I work
with usually are taking a breakfrom dairy while healing, so
they're not getting iodine thatway.

(50:23):
So you're right, the fish, theseafood, the shellfish is
especially higher in iodine.
I mean if you're eating likewild salmon, you're usually not
going to get like a lot ofiodine, but if you're not eating
any fish, you're right.
If you're really not eatingseafood, again you'll get some
from the eggs you eat.
And if you eat dairy, but ifyou're avoiding, if you're

(50:45):
dairy-free, not eating seafood,you very well might not be
getting enough iodine, even ifyou're eating eggs.

Here's a question Goiters Goiters so it's like the
enlarged gland or nodules.
Isn't iodine deficiency one ofthe causes of goiters?

One potential cause yeah, goiters.
There could be numerous causes.
So, like when I dealt withhyperthyroidism, I had a mild
goiter but it was due to the.
When you have too much thyroidhormone, that can cause a goiter
, when you don't have enoughiodine, and that could lead to
hypothyroidism, which could alsocause a goiter.

(51:30):
So, you're right, that couldthat's, that's one could also
cause a goiter.
So, you're right, that couldthat's, that's one.
One factor what's interesting?
Estrogen metabolism like we getthem back to estrogen problems
with estrogen metabolism couldalso be a factor with goiters,
as well as thyroid nodules.
So, getting back to tying theestrogen in with the nodules and
the goiters, insulin resistancealso could be a factor.

(51:52):
Um, just inflammation ingeneral, so that.
So yeah, I mean it's definitelya potential factor.
Um, as far as iodine deficiency, and when you're looking at a
goy, someone with a goiter, youwant to look at everything.
You want to consider, like,what could be the cause?
Is it iodine deficiency is Isit inflammation?
Is it insulin resistance?

(52:14):
Is it problems with estrogenmetabolism?
So, yeah, so, but iodinedeficiency is definitely one of
the potential causes of a goiter.

Now there are other really important nutrients for
healthy thyroid function.
Do you want to?
I know vitamin D is like bigfor any autoimmune.
I did a whole show onautoimmune conditions and I mean
vitamin D is so criticallyimportant and it's really.

(52:48):
I don't know how it is in theUS, but here in Canada it is not
paid for, like we have OHIP inCanada, so it's social, whatever
social health care, and it'snot paid for unless there is an
actual reason to test for it.

(53:09):
So I can get mine tested,probably for free, because I
don't have a thyroid gland.
Maybe there's these littleboxes that need to be checked,
kind of thing, but it's notcommon to test for it in Canada
and I'm like it is so importantto be in a healthy level of

(53:30):
vitamin D, even as apreventative factor, one
preventative factor for allautoimmune diseases.

Yeah, no, I definitely agree.
It is crazy for them not to.
I mean because, again, vitamin,even in sunny places like
Arizona and Florida you havepeople who are vitamin D
deficient.
But then as you go further upNorth, it's it's, it's more
common.
I mean, pretty much it'swidespread.
If you go to Arizona, it's hot,but who wants to go outside

(54:00):
when it's like 115 degrees?
So they're still inside and notgetting the sun exposure they
need or they're they're wearingsunblock when they're outside
and not getting the benefits ofvitamin D.
Yeah, vitamin D, withoutquestion important for optimal
immune system health.
And then, just like youmentioned the thyroid, you gotta
consider lab ranges versusoptimal ranges of vitamin D.

(54:26):
I know in Canada they use adifferent unit of measurement,
like nanomoles per liter.
So, like here, like in theUnited States, you want at least
50, some will say even like 60to 80, whereas, like in, if you
make the conversion in Canadait'd be like 50, I'm sorry, 125,
like nanomoles per liter wouldbe like the minimum that you
want.

(54:46):
But if you look at thereference ranges I forgot the
ranges but some will say ifyou're like 75, you're good,
you're good to go, Maybe from abone health perspective possibly
.
But immune system standpoint,it seems that most functional
medicine practitioners agreethat the lab ranges are way too
low.
Their lab ranges are way toolow.

(55:08):
So I supplement with vitamin D,d3 on a regular basis.
You probably also know you wantto make sure to take K2 to
guide the calcium into the boneif you're taking D3.
But yeah, so vitamin for bothGraves, hashimoto's, other
autoimmune conditions.
Vitamin D is important.

(55:28):
Iron is another importantnutrient when it comes to
thyroid health and it's one ofthose like you mentioned the
Goldilocks with iodine.
Same thing with iron.
You don't want.
I mean, a lot of people talkabout iron deficiency,
especially in menstruating women, even though, again, I see iron
deficiency in men andpostmenopausal women, which it's

(55:50):
obviously not due tomenstruation but could be other
factors.
Maybe they're vegans, maybetheir gut health isn't optimal,
they have low stomach acid, soyou don't want iron to be too
low.
But if iron's too high thatcould cause oxidative stress,
which isn't good for the immunesystem.
But iron is important forthyroid hormone production, so

(56:13):
it plays a role in the enzymethyroid peroxidase.
So yeah, you have low iron thatcould lead to low thyroid
hormone levels.
Zinc is important as well.
Selenium Selenium is so muchresearch with selenium and
thyroid just conversion it couldplay a role in.

(56:34):
But then again, immune system.
There are a number of differentstudies showing that selenium
supplementation could helplowering thyroid antibodies,
those thyroid peroxidase or TPOantibodies, as well as even
engraves, those thyroidstimulating immunoglobulins, can
help with thyroid eye diseasethat I briefly mentioned earlier
.
So selenium, which is aprecursor or it's a co-factor

(56:57):
for glutathione, so glutathioneis the master antioxidant.
So you need healthy seleniumlevels to have healthy
glutathione levels, healthyselenium levels to have healthy
glutathione levels.
Vitamin A Vitamin A is importantfor immune system health, but
also it's important to supportthe thyroid receptor and there's
a condition called thyroidhormone resistance where the

(57:18):
thought kind of like insulinresistance, insulin resistance
you have too much insulin butit's not getting into the cell.
That could happen in some caseswith the thyroid hormones, where
TSH is maybe normal on thehigher side, but thyroid hormone
levels on the blood test willalso look higher and the reason
it's higher is because, again,you have that thyroid hormone

(57:40):
resistance and so in that caseyou might need to do things to
support the receptor.
Zinc actually supports thereceptor, but so does vitamin A.
Tyrosine, which is an aminoacid, is important when it comes
to thyroid hormone production,which is why you see tyrosine in
a lot of these thyroid supportsupplements, and so I mean all

(58:02):
the nutrients are important.
Magnesium is another one, Imean, but yeah, I mean without
question these, the ones I justmentioned, are one of the more
important ones when you look atthe research when it comes to
thyroid health, thyroid hormoneproduction, as well as helping
with the immune system.

So really, the bottom line is for anybody who's
listening, who's perimenopausalor menopausal if you go on a
diet that is heavily restrictedof any particular food group,
you may become deficient inthese nutrients.
I come from, you know, a bit ofa long history of avoiding

(58:45):
certain foods, trying differentdiets, chasing my body
pre-thyroidectomy, and I don'tthink it served me, and I think
what serves me is eating a dietthat is a variety of different
whole foods and having differentfoods all the time, because

(59:07):
then you're going to make it'salmost like you're going to make
sure that you get thosenutrients in the food that
you're eating.

Yeah, I agree.
I mean some diets likeketogenic could be really
restrictive and again, not tosay there's not a time and place
for them.
But you got to be carefulbecause some people will be on
keto for six months or a yearand that could also have a
negative effect directly onthyroid.
But, as you mentioned also, youmight not be getting the

(59:36):
nutrients you need and that alsocould affect not only thyroid
but other areas.
So, I agree, we want whole,healthy foods, protein, of
course.
These days a lot is out thereabout protein and I agree you
definitely want to make sure youget enough protein.
But I think the variety isreally important too.
If you're just eating three orfour or five different foods,

(59:59):
it's going to be hard to get thenutrients that you need.

Sandy Kruse (01:00:03):
Yeah, and you know I want to go back to the whole
this is really interesting thestomach acid thing and you
mentioned iron.
So I was like I was always likeon the cusp, my ferritin was
low.
There were times that myferritin was like eight.

(01:00:25):
You know, it was really reallylow and I was in my forties, I
had had my thyroid out.
I was put on a PPI, eric, andso you know I have I'm not going
to get into all the detailshere, but I was told that

(01:00:45):
because I had, they told me Ihad Barrett's esophagus and that
I had just had thyroid cancer,I was at risk for now having
esophageal cancer.
So I better take these.
So, and I didn't even haveheartburn at the time.
So what I started to do andthis was oh, it was probably

(01:01:06):
when I went back to nutritioncollege I started to fake my own
digestion because I'm like I'mon the way to becoming fully
anemic if I don't do something.
So I started taking higherdoses of hydrochloric acid
without any side effect noheartburn, no issues and I

(01:01:31):
personally avoided becominganemic and I'm not saying that's
for everyone because there arecontraindications to doing this,
like if you have ulcers orthings like that, but I think it
saved me and it saved me fromgoing down an even worse

(01:01:54):
trajectory in health.
So you know, for anybody who'slistening, there are things that
sometimes we can't help.
Even you mentioned vitamin A isreally important.
We can't help.
Even you mentioned vitamin A isreally important.
Vitamin D is really important.
I carry a number of geneticsnips that make it difficult for

(01:02:18):
me to convert and use thosenutrients, even though I might
be eating it, I might be takingit, I might be out in the sun,
you know.
And then you know I was readinga research article maybe you
read this about how low vitaminD might be such a huge issue,
even in the states where it's alittle bit warmer and there's

(01:02:39):
enough sunshine, because obesitycan get in the way of absorbing
the vitamin D, even if you'reout there getting it or trying
to get it.
Have you heard that study?

Dr. Eric Osansky (01:02:52):
I have not.
I've not come across that study.
So in obese patients or peoplewho are obese, just the
absorption of vitamin D isdecreased.

Yeah.
So I mean, it's just honestly.
It's like you can get into thisvicious cycle of issues.
Like you know, you're amenopausal woman and then all of
a sudden you're like, oh my God, I'm starting to gain weight,
so I'm going to exercise my headoff so that I can try and keep

(01:03:26):
this weight off, but you don'trealize that that's actually
exacerbating your issues withstress.
So it's like you know, how doyou win?
How do you win?

I agree, and again, I was guilty of that as
well, with the overtraining atleast, and also the dieting and
detoxing.
So yeah, you're right, I meanyou win by balance.
I mean balance is the key.

Yeah, I think that's it.
I think that's it.
I think, as humans, it's harderto achieve that balance in this
modern day life, especiallywhen you don't know what's in
your food anymore.
And anyway, I think theimportant thing is to remain
balanced in choosing whole foods, organic when possible, and of

(01:04:18):
course, there's always good,better, best with your food
choices, choices, and thenhaving a practitioner who
understands the body as a whole.

Yeah, again, we spoke a little bit about this
earlier with looking at thewhole picture.
So, yeah, obviously I'm biasedbecause I'm one of those
practitioners, but there aremany out there, that's the good
news.
There are more and morefunctional medicine
practitioners out there who dolook at the whole picture.
And I mean the challenge isthat many of them might not be
on your insurance plan so youmight have to pay out of pocket.
But again, to me it's worth itgoing, I mean compared to going

(01:04:59):
to a doctor.
And again, there's a time andplace, obviously, for
conventional medical doctors.
I will say a lot of my patientswith Graves are seeing an
endocrinologist because some ofthem even though I manage it
naturally and a lot of mypatients manage it naturally
some people do need to take theanti-thar medication.
So again, that's the time andplace to see the endocrinologist
.
And some people do need thyroidhormone replacement.

(01:05:21):
So again, there's a time andplace for the medical doctors.
The problem is many timesthat's all they're doing Just
take the levothyroxine orwhatever they're recommending,
sometimes maybe some Cytomel,but most of the time just
Synthroid or another type oflevothyroxine, and then with
hyperthyroidism, just the threeoptions are antithyroid meds,

(01:05:42):
radioactive iodine thyroidsurgery.
Yeah, diet doesn't make adifference.
Diet doesn't make a difference.
Stress doesn't make adifference.
So, you're right, you really dowant to.
All this does make a difference.
I mean, what you put in yourbody is important, not just diet
wise, but cleaners, cosmetics,the stress that we mentioned, I
mean the mold that works.
I mean all these things.

(01:06:03):
And because of that, you doneed someone who looks at the
whole picture.
And if there's anybody who notonly just dismisses diet, but
then there are some people thatthat's all they focus on Okay,
you just eat a healthy diet andthat's all you need to do.
But again, unfortunately, somany conditions these days are
more complex and you need to gobeyond diet and lifestyle.

(01:06:25):
That being said, if you don'tincorporate the foundations,
you're not going to heal.
But yeah, so get them back tosomeone who looks at the whole
entire picture.
Yeah, I definitely think that'sa necessity if you're dealing
with really any type of healthcondition.

So I would recommend anybody who's
listening to this find afunctional medicine practitioner
who will, if you're goingthrough perimenopause, menopause
, who will even just begin withdoing blood work.
That is all of it.
So not just TSH, but we kind oftouched on it TSH, free T3,

(01:07:09):
free T4, antibodies If you canget reverse T3, great.
And then take a look at all thesex hormones as well.
Right, that's important too.
So, in closing, how would youlike to have anybody who's

(01:07:30):
listening come find you what's,what are the best resources and,
if there's anything that wemissed, that we didn't cover off
, that you'd like to talk about,please do so hit a lot.

We hit a lot of information.
So so, yeah, just as you, asyou said, sandy, just important
to find someone who looks at theentire picture.
And I agree just that, even ifit's just starting out with
doing a conference, a bloodpanel and not just doing the
basics, I mean, the basics areimportant, but you want to go
beyond the basics and then alsolike, yeah, looking at it,
besides sex hormones, likeadrenals, important, but again,
maybe at first it's just lookingat the blood test and then

(01:08:11):
maybe you go beyond thateventually.
But, yeah, people, there's, Iguess, three main resources.
I would say One would be thepodcast, say my Thyroid, which I
definitely would love to haveyou as a guest on that, so we'll
be chatting again.
So, and you could just visitsave my thyroid on your favorite
podcast platform or just typein save my thyroidcom.

(01:08:35):
Second, my books.
I have two books onhyperthyroidism, natural
treatment, solutions forhyperthyroidism and Graves'
disease Now it's in thirdedition, which came out in 2023,
the hyperthyroid healing diet,which is my most recent book,
from 2024.
And then I have, for those whohave Hashimoto's I have a book
called Hashimoto's triggers,which is a really comprehensive

(01:08:56):
book on finding and removing thetriggers of Hashimoto's.
And then I have a newslettercalled healthy gut, healthy
thyroid, and so you could checkthat out by visiting
savemythyroidcom.
Forward slash newsletter.

That's great.
Thank you so much, Eric.
It was such a pleasure chattingwith you.

Yeah, same here.
Sandy, Really appreciate youhaving me on and thank you so

(01:09:39):
much.

And yeah, I agree, this was a really wonderful
conversation.
You help to support my contentand help me to keep going and
bringing these conversations toyou each and every week.
Join me next week for a newtopic, new guest, new exciting
conversations to help you liveyour best life.

All Episodes

The Thyroid-Menopause Connection with Dr. Eric Osansky - Episode 268

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

The Breakfast Club

Crime Junkie

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The Thyroid-Menopause Connection with Dr. Eric Osansky - Episode 268