Sensitive Thyroid-Adrenals

Sensitive thyroid and adrenal glands will need some help from you. The two most immediate things you can do is control your stress and maintain an even and steady supply of glucose in your blood."

One of the things our brain learns from infancy is how to send a hunger signal to the brain. This is a survival mechanism. A baby cannot do anything but scream and cry when hungry until fed. When that same baby becomes an adult, and get hungry, the body still sends the hungry signal, but the perception may be different if our thyroid and adrenals are out of sync. Here's a typcal scenario: Most of us are very busy, we use our brain constantly now. When the brain is in constant use, it demands a huge amount of glucose. If we do not supply it with a steady and adequate amount, the adrenal glands will be forced to call upon the liver to release glycogen. This works fine in the short term, but if it continues you can become a victim of classical conditioning. It goes something like this: We eat a high carb food like bread or potatoes, and insulin is released in blood. Because of the high carbs, too much insulin goes into circulation and the cells start to ignore it just the way you begin to ignore a sound you keep hearing over and over again. That's the way the body treat's insulin. Yor cells ignore the insulin, now you feel even more hungry because the insulin is needed to get the glucose in the blood. The body will switch to trying to use arginine to get glucose into your cells. Arginine has been spending alot of time keeping your blood vessels open and blood flowing smoothly by making nitric oxide. If you don't have enough arginine around, uh-ohh, now you're in trouble. The adrenal glands have released adrenalin and its floating around in the circulation. Better do something about it because it'll start destroying everything in its path.

This goes on and on, day after day, year after year until finally, the adrenal glands some showing signs of needing a big break. We know it too, because we always feel like we need a break. The adrenals are tired. The thyroid tries to take up the slack, they keep calling on the adrenals "Keep going you can do it!"

What happened? The liver hasn't made enough glycogen because the thyroid is on vacation. The end result? Stress. This is very stressful for the body.

If you have sensitive thyroid-adrenals, your body becomes very sensitive to stress. Many times it may manifest itself as developing gray hair at an early age, but sometimes this does not occur. Anything that lowers the function of the adrenals and thyroid will depressed them, and you will feel "depressed" from it. The depression may manifest itself as lack of energy, lack of motivation, irritability, and sleep disturbances. Generally, what affects the thyroid affects the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands and the thyroid need key nutrients in order to function. There is no "backup", meaning, if you are lacking in just one of these nutrients the impact will be quite large on these organs. If is beyond the scope of this particular title to discuss in detail how the thyroid hormones work but suffice it to say here that the thyroid needs tyrosine and iodine to make thyroid hormones T3 and T4. Anything that blocks the formation, release, or uptake of these compounds has the result of blocking the function of the thyroid gland and adrenals glands. You will be surprised at how easily these substances are blocked. Most of them come in the for of stressors from our surroundings:

Know the adrenal and thyroid troublemakers from your Air

Airstress: The air can be very disrupted in many ways to the thyroid and adrenals. I will only discuss the ones that have a major impact Iodine is an element found in group 7 of the periodic table. Anytime you breathe in any of the other elements in Group 7 on the periodic table, particularly bromine, fluorine, or chlorine, your iodine will be displaced by them. The other halogen compounds do not function as thyroid hormones with tyrosine. Remember, the thyroid uses iodine and tyrosine to make thyroid hormones. You can check your air by entering your zip code at Http:www.scorecard.org. The reason you want to also check you air is because you want to know the extent of your environmental factors. The only ones you want to be concerned with at this point is when the group 7 elements are present. For example, to use this site first enter a zipcode. Then, under the title Toxics, click on "the top chemicals released in your county". You want to see if any of the following are in your air: hydrofluoric acid, hydrochloric acid, lead, mercury or arsenic compounds. The lead and arsenic will block the body's ability to utilize iron, which can become important if you are not consuming enough iron. If the iron deficiency becomes severe enough it will manifest itself in the form of depression, which may have been preceded by anemia. The fluorine from hydrofluoric acid or the chlorine from hydrochloric acid in the air can displace iodine in your body, thus blocking the proper formation of thyroid hormone, which when levels are low, you feel lack of energy and all of the symptoms of a person who is hypothyroid. If hydrofluoric acid or hydrochloric acid is floating around in the air, you can consume large amounts of these compounds, and in fact, even more so than if you were eating them because they now have direct access to the bloodstream. The consumption becomes much greater if it enters in through the lungs. If you suffer from any chronic deseases such as heart or autoimmune disease, your adrenals and thyroid can take quite a beating if certain metals are in the air. If your air has either lead or cadmium will hammer the adrenals, causing them to lose the ability to function if you continue to ingest these compounds. If your air has arsenic, chromium, manganese, or zinc floating around in it, and you have autoimmune tendancies, your immune system can destroy your adrenals and thyroid gland due to over ingestion, especially if through the lungs, of any one of these compounds. They are the autoimmune metals. You can use the site above to check for these compounds as well.

The other major source of adrenal and thyroid troublemakers is built into computers. If you work in an area with lots of computers, and especially if the ventilation is poor, you can end up ingesting large amounts of bromine. The bromine is "off-gassed" from the computers. If you go into a public library, for example, the air may be thick with it, althouth you cannot see it. If you breathe in fumes from you home computer system and have weak adrenals/thyroid, you can set yourself up for major sleep problems as well, especially if you sleep in the room with these while they are on. The adrenal glands can become full of bromine, which will have a huge and negative impact on these organs. Note also that the pituitary gland gives a master signal to the thyroid. The pituitary gland, thyroid, and adrenal are particularly sensitive to "background" noise oscillations. The nervous systems communicates via electrial signals. An interruption in these signals blocks nerve impulses, and no amount of nutrients can stop it completely but some may help. The electrical signal can be interrupted greatly by wireless signals coming from you or your neighbors home, or if you live too close to a cell phone tower base. Living too close means living a quarter of a mile or less. You can check to see how close you live by going to www.antennasearch.com and entering in your address. These signals makes it easy for us to use technology but can be very disrupted to the the thyroid and especially the adrenal glands.

Know the adrenal and thyroid troublemakers from your Water

Unless you live in a small city that does not fluoridate your water there is a great possibility that you bathe in a combination of fluoride and chlorine each day. If chlorine is in your water, that means your water was contaminated with bacteria and needed chlorine to kill it. If fluoride is added, it means the same thing, but fluoride cannot be filtered out and cannot be boiled away like chlorine and unless you had a reverse osmosis system in your home. Thus everytime you shower and cook food with the water you ingest these compounds. That is only half the story. The other half in water is due to fact that your water may or may not contain lead, arsenic, nitrate, or cadmium. Lead will displace iron in the body. The iron is critical for functioning of both the thyroid and adrenals glands. Arsenic will displace iron in the body, and is very destructive to the adrenal glands. It can also build up in the lungs. Nitrate will bind to hemoglobin, lowering the oxygen levels in the body. This is especially not good if you have low functioning adrenals and thyroid and have developed sleep apnea. The combination of sleep apnea, which starves you of oxygen plus nitrates, which starves you of more oxygen sets you on a destructive path and the thyroid and adrenal glands will be greatly affected. The adrenals glands receive more blood for its size than any other organ in the body and is very sensitive to lack of oxygen. Nitrate is quite powerful because binds stronger than oxygen to the bloods hemoglobin. Check your water at http://www.ewg.org/tapwater/yourwater/ Enter in your zipcode and click on local findings and then your water company to examine a snapshot of your water for these compunds. If you drink bottled water, know that certain bottles contain a compound in it that is destructive for those with autoimmune tendencies (phthalate). Most plastics have them however if you were to purchase water Reverse Osmosis water in a gallon sized HDPE container, you will free up the concerns of the water issue. Bathing is another story. I can only say this--don't use more water than you have to, especially if the water contains the compounds discussed above. They will get into the blood and they thyroid and adrenals can be greatly affected by them.


Know the adrenal and thyroid troublemakers from your Food

If you cook with treated tapwater then you are aware you are consuming iodine competitors, chlorine and fluorine. If you cook with non-stick cookware, you ingest a huge amount of fluorine particles because that is what it is made of mostly. If you cook with stainless steel and have autoimmune tendencies then you can have an autoimmune reaction going on in your thyroid and adrenal glands everytime you eat out of these pots and pans, and canned food lined with nickel. Alot of canned foods are lined with an estrogen compound nowadays to avoid contact with metals, however some still use them. This is important in particular for those with autoiommune tendencies. Aluminum or even cast iron (as long as there is no ongoing infection present) may be best if you have autoimmune tendencies. Additionally, if your adrenals and thyroid are functioning on the low end, they can become extremely sensitive to even the smallest amount of any of the compounds discussed above, and additionally, to certain foods. If you eat a diet loaded with halogens and the particular elements (metals) discussed above and eat foods that decrease the functioning of the thyroid and adrenals, you set yourself up for depression. Foods that strongly inhibit the thyroid glands are soy foods, and foods from the brassica vegetable. Mustard greens, a brassica vegetable, do not have too much of an impact and in fact, contain tyrosine. If your adrenals and thyroid function is low, if is important not to consume anything that blocks the thyroid and adrenals after 2pm. This means no brassica vegetables, especially no soy (check all of your processed foods, especially the breads...only soy lecithin is okay, no peanuts or peanut butter, and no garlic or onions. Especially try not to consume soy and food dyes (they look like thyroid hormones but have no function) and the brassicas at bead time, as the affects of these are immediate. The food dyes can induce depression in adults and hyperactivity/depression in children quite quickly (within the hour). They do this by blocking the thyroid and causing hypoglycemia. These food items discussed above items have a much greater impact at bedtime, when you need your adrenals and thyroid to help you breathe properly at night and to avoid sleep apnea. If you have low thyroid/adrenal function, such habits will leave you with breathing problems while you sleep and you will wake up "cold" in the morning (body temperature below 98.6). Depending on your state of affairs, you may have to avoid these items completely to get your adrenals and thyroid functioning as best as they can without meds. It only takes ONE of these substances and the impact can last for hours to more than a day. That is how powerful each of them are. Finally, if you eat too much protein, including that from beans you never give the body the opportunity to take up tryptophan. Tryptophan, needed to make serotonin, has to compete for uptake and its largest competitors comes from high protein meals. If you suspect you have depleted your tryptophan levels, a quick and natural way to replace tryptophan in the diet to eat salmon or natural turkey, with a baked sweet potato. The carbohydrates from the sweet potato will create a path for tryptophan to be taking up into the body without having to compete with other large neutral amino acids.

Know that a grounding problem from your car or home, or a very strong wireless signal can begin to shut down your adrenals.

Modern cars run by unleaded gasoline. Old diesel engines contaminated the air. The downside of this is the air is cleaner, but the human body is made to absorb huge amounts of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) everytime you get in a car and drive. If you have an alternator problem with your car, get it fixed because what you do not want is stray voltage on top of the large amount of EMR present in a running vehicle. Cars are grounded but foreign cars tend to rank poorly when it comes to "electrical quality" (the fuel efficiency is great but it is at the cost of your body being in contact with electrical pollution form the vehicle when it is on. GMC vehicles, Volvos, and cars built before 1985 have the least problems with this issue. The adrenals are greatly impacted because this is where much of the energy originates in the human body in the form of adrenaline., and that is why alot of people feel tired after driving. If you drive and talk on a cell phone and you now have both the adrenals and the thyroid held hostage. Adrenaline is quite powerful, is listed as an explosive substance actually. However, in the small amounts which the body makes, it keeps up healthy and free from depression. The adrenal glands also contains large amounts of melanin, which is the electrical conductive material of the human body. One does not one to destroy their adrenal glands, as nothing works right without them, and other organs will began to cease functioning properly if the adrenals degenerate. In my opinion, if B12 levels are normal, a source of vitamin C before driving can go along way to help the adrenals cope with this issue. You also want to know if your home is grounded properly. If not, it'll take out your adrenal glands quicker than most other organs. Electricity can really do a number on the adrenals, and if your car or home is poorly grounded, you can not only suffer depression, but can shed years off your life for something that can be easily corrected. For more on the electrical issue, and wireless see "Electricity's dirty little secret" and "Radiate Me". This, like lead and cadmium, is a very important issue. Recently wireless has been suggested as a cause of constant irritability, a symptom that may appear in conjunction with depression. Although most may not avoid all signals from wireless, some are with our control such as our home computers, and our cell phones, especially at night. Sleep quality is extremely important for the adrenals and thyroid to function properly. It is very stressful for the body to deal with this chaos that you cannot see because the body's defences drops and the adrenals and thyroid are very receptive to the environment when you sleep. A first step for some may simply be not sleeping with the cell phone turned on.

Know if your adrenals and thyroid are handicapped from lack of certain nutrients

If you use table salt, you get iodine, but you can't have it without the chlorine that goes with it. The group 7 elements are only half of the story. The other half comes from certain metals, mainly arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury. If it becomes severe enough you feel depressed. The same can be said for the adrenals. The adrenals are extremely sensitive to cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury. The adrenals are one of the most important glands in the body and must respond to stress, a lifesaving mechanism that is critical for survival. The element cadmium is "sticky" meaning, it sticks to hormones made in the kidneys and does not let go, thus these hormones are wasted. It binds more tightly much more tights than the other metal, meaning for example, one atom of cadmium can have an affect of ten to hundreds times of that of a lighter metal like mercury. Zinc, which is critical for the functioning of the adrenals, gets used up very quickly in the presence of cadmium (especially know if this destructive compound, along with lead, is in your air or water). Mercury is lighter than cadmium, however its affect on the adrenals is quite large. Mercury is well-known for using up the vital methyl groups in your body. The methyl groups, among other functions, are critical for the formation of neurotransmitters. Vitamin B12 can be quickly used up as well as the antioxidant selenium (which also plays a supportive role in the thyroid). These same neurotransmitters are the targets for certain antidepressant medication. Without enough methyl groups in the body, you cannot make enough epinephrine (also known as adrenaline) in the adrenal glands because norepinephrine must be methylated to form adrenaline. A lack of adrenaline will leave you feeling tired and depressed. Where did the methyl groups go? If mercury is in your diet, water, or air, they get stuck to the mercury and form the well-known methyl-mercury. The body has no use for this compound, it is destructive, and it makes the body skimpy on its ability to methylate compounds. But the story does not end there. Once neurotransmitters are formed, nerves leading to the thyroid and adrenals must be activated to release the substances within. Your thyroid and adrenals can have all the thyroid hormone and adrenal hormones they need, but it will be useless if they cannot be activated to release them by nerve activation. If the nerves begin to degenerate, you will not only suffer symptoms of depression, you may have sleep apnea at night, and will be in a vicious cycle of lack of sleep/ and depression. For nerve function this is where vitamin B12 becomes critical, helps form neurotransmitters and keeps nerves coated with a substance called myelin, which speeds up the rate of a nerve signal. A lack of vitamin B12 will result in loss of nerve function as well as lead to anemia because it helps to form blood cells. If you are low on vitamin B12 and take too much vitamin C, you will destroy the little B12 you have remaining, your nerves will cease to function properly and you will also become anemic. The end result is the adrenals glands will begin to "burn out", and the other B vitamins in the adrenals will become destructive to the body, not constructive in the face of lack of B12. If you eat alot of wheat, you can deplete your body of vitamin A and E, both of which are needed by the thyroid gland. They thyroid gland must use vitamin A, not beta carotene, to form thyroid hormone. If a person's thyroid gland is functioning too low below normal, they cannot make vitamin A and must consume it as Vitamin A, and they cannot absorb vitamin B12. The result is depression, nerve conduction problems, and night blindness, trouble fighting off certain viruses, and hypersensitivities to stressors from chemicals and an inability to ward off the damaging effects of electrical signals from the environment. Vitamin D helps lift depression as well due to its affect on thyroid receptors, but must be activated by sunlight first. Unless you suffer from sarcoidosis, it may be of great benefit, especially if you live in a norther cold climate.. Vitamin A and D are powerful however and once normal levels are reached, should not be overconsumed as too much formed Vitamin A can damage the liver and too much Vitamin D can cause atheriosclerosis. The lack of these mutrients can be just as damaging however.