Dr. Westin Childs Podcast: Thyroid | Weight Loss | Hormones

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Today we are going to be discussing the difference between synthetic thyroid medication and natural thyroid medication. You're probably thinking that natural is superior to synthetic simply based upon the name and there are many people who believe that. But once you break down the actual ingredients you can see that synthetic may not be as bad as you think. So, what is synthetic thyroid medication? Synthetic thyroid medications include Synthroid and levothyroxine (there are others but most people think of these when they think about synthetic). Synthetic medications are said to be, well, synthetic or fake. What are natural thyroid medications? Natural thyroid medications, otherwise known as NDT or natural desiccated thyroid hormone, are medications such as Armour

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Why would you want to do therapies at home? For 2 main reasons: Your doctor may only be willing to give you Synthroid (and doesn’t know about other therapies) and these therapies all help existing thyroid therapies as well. List of natural thyroid remedies and treatments: #1. The food that you put into your mouth. - Provides you with nutrients and INFORMATION - Causes or decreases inflammation - Improves gut health (20% of thyroid #2. Some medications. - Medications are 3x more expensive in the US - Available OTC in some countries Be cautious using these medications and only consider this if your doctor isn't willing to work with you. #3. Supplement protocols. Supplements work but they need to be tweaked in order to be very effective. By focusing on your gut

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ What is Hashimoto's? It is the presence of inflammation IN the thyroid gland which is OFTEN (but not always) associated with elevated antibodies. In general, if you have thyroid symptoms and you have sympoms your doctor will diagnose you with Hashimoto’s. Treatment of Hashimoto’s is DIFFERENT from hypothyroidism (regular hypothyroidism). In Hashimoto’s you want to focus on your IMMUNE SYSTEM + THYROID compared to just your thyroid if you have regular hypothyroidism. The CAUSE of your Hashimoto's matters because it directs treatment and, if you catch it early enough, you will be able to treat or even prevent further disease progression. What causes or triggers Hashimoto's? #1. Stress-related Hashimoto’s. Any sort of stress can trigger Hashimoto's. This includes

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Thyroid lab tests are important, no question, but you also need to be looking at other systems: Why? #1. Your thyroid affects almost every system in your body. #2. Your thyroid affects OTHER hormone systems and leads to imbalance. #3. Your thyroid affects your ability to absorb nutrients and leads to deficiencies. #4. These imbalances/problems/deficiencies/issues are NOT corrected with thyroid supplementation alone (or necessarily with natural therapies). Lab tests to get: FIRST - A word about insurance - these labs SHOULD be covered. Call your insurance company if you are worried, though, to prevent having to pay out of pocket. The diagnosis codes of hypothyroidism and Vitamin D deficiency work well and I've used these codes to get these covered by most ins

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ What is thyroid tunnel vision? Symptoms you have thyroid tunnel vision: #1. You believe that all of your symptoms are related to your thyroid. #2. You are constantly reading and learning more about the thyroid but nothing is helping. #3. You constantly change your dose of thyroid medication without any relief. #4. You focus on relatively inconsequential things such as fillers/dyes in medications. #5. You’ve accepted that you will never get better or get relief. What to do about it? Step #1. Get a full set of lab tests which include MORE than just your hormones. Vitamin B12, Iron, Leptin, Insulin, Cholesterol, CBC, liver function, kidney function, inflammatory markers (autoimmune markers if necessary) Step #2. Don’t neglect your thyroid but focus on other

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ So, the question: Do I like Synthroid? The answer is yes! Synthroid (and levothyroxine) still have a lot of value even though many patients don't necessarily do well on them. Before you call me a pharmaceutical shill, realize that we need to be even-handed in our discussion of thyroid medications. There ARE some people who do well on Synthroid (even if they are the minority). Why don’t people like Synthroid? #1. Their dose is probably not right (they are taking too little) You can push up free T3 and total T3 by increasing your dose. But if you dose based on your TSH you will almost always be underdosed. #2. It’s one of the most widely prescribed medications in the world People have had bad experiences on it #3. Doctors are often dismissive of concerns over Syn

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ You can read the entire blog post here: https://www.restartmed.com/high-dose-iodine/ I get a lot of questions regarding how safe iodine is if you have thyroid problems. Tons of people out there wrongly believe that iodine is harmful if you have any sort of thyroid disease. The truth is that iodine can be incredibly helpful, especially for those with thyroid conditions. My experience suggests that as long as you use iodine correctly (and sometimes with other nutrients such as selenium) it is perfectly safe and even beneficial. But how much should you use? There are 3 main categories of doses that I go through in this video. The first includes low dose iodine: - Low dose iodine includes doses ranging from 150 to 170mcg per day. Low dose is great for sensitive p

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ There is a focus among thyroid patients on optimal thyroid lab tests. These lab tests are said to be a representation of what a "healthy" level should be. Unfortunately, I think more harm comes from focusing on these levels than good and I want to explain why. Here are 5 reasons you don't want to focus solely on optimal thyroid lab tests: #1. Obtaining optimal lab tests doesn't guarantee that you will feel better. And this is really the main goal when you are being treated with thyroid medication. What you want is to feel better and relieve your symptoms of hypothyroidism but I am here to tell you that optimal lab tests do not guarantee this. #2. If you push for optimal lab tests you may end up using the wrong medication. It's not always a good idea to optimiz

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ There are 3 main thyroid conversion charts that you can use. These charts can be helpful when you are trying to switch from one type of thyroid medication to another. This could include switching from T4 only thyroid medication to other types of thyroid medications such as NDT. The main problem with most conversion charts is that they heavily favor T4 (over T3) and that they tend to underdose patients. This results in a situation where patients tend to see an INCREASE in their TSH after they switch medications. And this leads them to falsely believe that the medication doesn't work (and sometimes doctors will suggest that this is the case). The truth is that most people would benefit if they only did a more correct conversion! Even though these conversion charts

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Many people are often confused by the fact that their thyroid medication dose is likely to change over time. I've had numerous questions of people who find a dose that works for them, possibly for years, only to find out that it is no longer working. Why does this occur? The main reason has to do with the impact that thyroid medication has on TSH suppression and your body's ability to adjust its own thyroid hormone production. If you are taking medication, of any type, this process will be blunted and you will be unable to make changes as you would if you had a normally functioning gland. This means that you will need to adjust your medication to compensate for these changes. What type of things can cause changes to the demand for thyroid hormone? I've listed s

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Birth control pills can cause some serious side effects because of how they interact with your body. OCP pills (of all types) work by suppressing the normal production of both estrogen and progesterone. This can help to mask certain symptoms that may be associated with hormone imbalances but it doesn't actually solve them. Instead, man-made synthetic hormones in birth control pills act to suppress the normal hormone function in your body. This can lead to a number of serious side effects, some of which are very concerning. I'm not talking about the more typical side effects, such as breast tenderness, nausea, or headaches. I'm talking about more serious side effects, proven in clinical studies, that your doctor may not know about. Before you use birth control p

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ You can use the link above to download your free PDF version of this video. You can also find the tips listed below: #1. Look for doctors trained in integrative medicine using this search tool (Note that not all doctors on this list will be willing to use NDT and/or T3) #2. Look for doctors trained in functional medicine using this search tool (Note that not all doctors on this list will be willing to use NDT and/or T3) #3. Look for doctors trained in anti-aging medicine using this search tool (Note that not all doctors on this list will be willing to use NDT and/or T3) #4. Use google to search for “compounding pharmacies near me”, once you have a list of pharmacies call them and ask if you can have a list of doctors that prescribe bio-identical hormones or T4/T3

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ CBD oil is available over the counter in most states and can be used to help treat Hashimoto's thyroiditis. CBD is found within marijuana but it isn't the same thing as marijuana. CBD is one of many cannabinoids which can have a positive impact on your physiology and certain tissues in your body. CBD may help improve Hashimotos & thyroid function through the following ways: #1. Its influence on immune function - CBD reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines while increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines. #2. Its influence on the thyroid gland directly - Studies have shown that CBD has a direct impact on thyroid gland function. #3. Its influence on your hypothalamus - Your hypothalamus helps control metabolism, appetite, and T3 levels. Beyond these benefits, I am excite

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Every patient with thyroid disease should be aware of how biotin interacts with and interferes with thyroid lab tests. It's important to understand, however, that while biotin does interfere with the accurary of your thyroid lab tests it does NOT interfere with your thyroid itself. Biotin interacts with the thyroid lab testing assay and can make your thyroid lab tests look higher than they actually are. It does this by increasing free t3 and free t4 levels and by decreasing TSH levels. This can lead your doctor to falsely believe that you are receiving too much medication. Obviously, this is an issue for many thyroid patients who are already undertreated, to begin with! How do you fix this issue? You can simply avoid taking biotin 2-3 days PRIOR to when you get

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Over the last year or so there have been several big changes to how Google serves information to users in their search results. Two major changes between August 2018 (medic update) and June 3rd (broad core update) caused a massive drop in visibility of natural health oriented health websites. It seems that these changes were made in the name of "safety" and "quality" but the end result has been a drop in visibility for these websites. I've outlined much more information in the blog post listed below but in the video, I go over 4 major search results and how they have changed: #1. The search term "reverse T3" - The conventional mindset is that reverse T3 isn't useful and that it shouldn't be ordered. When you search for this term you get results back which suggest

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Hair loss from Hashimoto's thyroiditis should be differentiated from regular run of the mill hypothyroidism. It should come as no surprise to you that dysregulation of thyroid hormone causes hair loss. The main difference is that about 30% of Hashimoto's patients also suffer from other types of hair loss which can cause confusion. And these other causes may or may not be related to your current thyroid function. So you could be taking the right type of thyroid medication and STILL suffer from hair loss. Can thyroid hair loss be stopped? The answer is yes, but it may require some time, effort, and energy on your part. Here are your next steps if you suffer from hair loss: #1. Ensure that you are taking enough thyroid medication. - If you aren't taking enough t

Download my free thyroid resources here (including hypothyroid symptoms checklist, the complete list of thyroid lab tests + optimal ranges, foods you should avoid if you have thyroid disease, and more): https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ It's becoming more and more common for thyroid patients to experience hypothyroid symptoms despite being treated "adequately" with prescription medications. In addition, there are a number of people who suffer from hypothyroid symptoms and yet have normal thyroid lab tests and are unable to get appropriate treatment. Why does this occur? Well, for many reasons, but I think some of the most common are listed below: *And, by the way, this information is relevant whether you have a thyroid or not, whether you are taking thyroid medication or not, and regardless of what type or flavor of hypothyroidism that you have. #1. You are not on the right thyroid medication. #2. You are not taking Enough Thyroid Medication #3. Your 'Thyroid Symptoms' are not thyroid symptoms

Thyroid management and treatment can appear to be very confusing, especially as a patient. Part of this has to do with the fact that no two patients are alike. It's possible for a statement to objectively true and false simultaneously regarding treatment. This video outlines a sample of 10 different quotes and responses from patients on a wide spectrum. I discuss why certain patients feel one way with medication and why others can feel the exact opposite. The quotes used in this video are taken directly from a clinical study (link in the article). You can think of these statements as a proxy for larger segments of the population and you will probably find that you align with one or more of the statements detailed here. You can find a complete list of the statements that I discuss below: #1. "Levothyroxine was worse than nothing." #2. "On levothyroxine, I felt myself getting sicker and sicker every single day." #3. "Just please find something that gives me my life back." #4. "I feel good while on lev

This is my breakdown of the verywell health thyroid survey which went out to over 800+ thyroid patients. This survey is full of very interesting and relevant results which can potentially help guide thyroid treatment in the future. This survey was NOT done by me but this video is my commentary and opinion on the survey. You can find the entire survey and results directly at this link: https://www.verywellhealth.com/survey-finds-doctors-are-failing-thyroid-disease-patients-4583130 The main takeaways from this survey include: #1. Regarding thyroid treatment with thyroid medication, only 6 percent of people felt completely satisfied with only 1 in 5 people (or 20%) feeling completely unsatisfied in their treatment. #2. No matter how many years they have been getting treatment, only 35% of thyroid patients claim that they have gotten better. #3. 45% of people in this survey have been receiving thyroid treatment for over 10 years. The results of this survey clearly show that the current hypothyroid treat

Is the Carnivore diet safe if you have Hashimoto's? I'm not 100% convinced that it is safe in the long-term but there have been reports from some people that it can be effective. Because of this, I wanted to explore the diet and explain why it may be effective for some people. The carnivore diet includes mostly meat-based products but it also includes a small amount of dairy and eggs as well. At first glance, this may not seem very healthy, but we know that other restrictive diets have proven to be potentially therapeutic for certain individuals. One of the reasons that this diet may be effective is that it may be acting as a super elimination diet for your gut. We know that your gut can be the starting point and the perpetuating point of autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. By eliminating many foods it's possible that this diet is allowing your gut bacteria to balance and repopulate your intestinal tract. This may explain why certain people experience significant benefit on this