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/ 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

Cytomel is a T3 only thyroid medication which happens to also be the most powerful thyroid medication available. The only problem? It can sometimes be associated with hair loss and, even though the medication is great, you should be aware of this problem if you are using it or thinking about using it. Before we jump in, just realize that Cytomel is the brand name T3 medication but this information also applies to liothyronine which is the generic version of Cytomel. There are 3 main ways that Cytomel may cause hair loss: #1. Hair loss related directly to the medication. - The first cause of hair loss has to do with the medication itself. The good news is that this is typically temporary and should resolve within 2-4 months (3-6 months at most). The exact mechanism of this hair loss is not known. The treatment for this issue is to give it time and to be patient! #2. Hair loss related to an excessively high dose. - This cause of Cytomel-related hair loss is dose-dependent and only occurs if your dose

Vitamin B12 deficiency is incredibly common among hypothyroid patients. In fact, it is estimated that up to 40% of all hypothyroid patients suffer from B12 deficiency or sub-optimal B12 levels in their body. What's important here is that treating your thyroid is not sufficient to fix your B12 levels! You should think of B12 deficiency and hypothyroidism as two separate conditions that need to be treated. B12 deficiency is also difficult to identify because it shares many of the same symptoms as hypothyroidism. B12 deficiency is associated with the following symptoms: - Fatigue - Weight gain - Depression - Constipation - Brain fog You can see that many of these symptoms are also seen in hypothyroidism. Testing for B12 is actually quite difficult as the serum B12 test is not always accurate. You can, however, test for B12 with the methylmalonic acid test but this test is much more expensive. When using B12 you want to make sure that you are using the right type and formulation of B12. Formulations su

The short answer is yes, the long answer is that there are still several reasons to supplement even if your thyroid has been removed. Once your thyroid has been removed it's better to think of yourself as hypothyroid rather than hyperthyroid (because many people who have their thyroid removed have it removed for this reason). That means once your thyroid is removed most of the information you find regarding hypothyroidism is relevant to you. In addition, once your thyroid has been removed and once you take thyroid medication, there are still several steps that must occur in your body in order for you to use that medication effectively. The first is that your body must activate the thyroid hormone and turn it from T4 into the active thyroid hormone T3. This process requires several key nutrients including Zinc and Selenium. Once your thyroid hormone has been activated it must then act on the cells themselves. There are several nutrients involved in this process as well as several hormone systems. H

Is it possible to stop taking your thyroid medication? The answer is maybe, and it depends on your situation. There are 3 main groups of patients that we need to discuss and you should try to figure out where you fit into these categories to determine if you can stop taking your medication. Group #1: Those who MUST take thyroid medication. - The first group are those people who must take thyroid medication for the rest of their lives. People in this category include people who have had their thyroid removed through surgery, those who have had their thyroid destroyed through RAI, and those who have end-stage Hashimoto's thyroiditis. If you fit into this category then you will NOT be able to stop taking your thyroid medication because your body is unable to produce it on its own. Group #2: Those who were placed on thyroid medication inappropriately. - There are a number of people who have been placed on thyroid medication inappropriately. These people were often placed on their medication because of o

Download my free thyroid resources here: https://www.restartmed.com/start-here Are you currently taking Natural Desiccated thyroid hormone? Maybe you are considering using this medication. Either way, there are some things you should know BEFORE you start using it. Like any medication, NDT is not a perfect medication and it does have some problems. I'm actually a big fan of NDT as a medication and I use it on a lot of my patients, but I am also aware that it isn't perfect and it doesn't work for everyone. Some of these problems include: #1. The formula keeps changing. The inactive ingredients in Armour thyroid, for instance, have changed several times throughout the last decade. Each time they have been changed there have been a number of people in which the medication seems to not be working as well. #2. It isn't always easy to get. Doctors have a bias towards T4 only thyroid medications compared to NDT formulations. NDT, while helpful, can be very difficult to get. #3. The amount of T4 and T3 i

The TSH is probably the most standard way to test for thyroid dysfunction but it's certainly not the most accurate way. There are at least 5 different conditions which, if present, can alter how reliable the TSH test really is. These conditions include: #1. Low T3 syndrome. - The first condition is low T3 syndrome. People with this condition have low levels of free T3 or total T3 but their free T4 and TSH may stay relatively normal. Free T3 should take precedence because it is the active thyroid hormone. #2. high TSH but normal T4. - Many people look at the TSH reference range and think that if they fall anywhere on that range that they are "normal". The problem is that this reference range includes people who aren't 100% healthy. Instead of using the standard reference range look at a tighter range which is less than 2.0. #3. Partial thyroidectomy with falsely normal T4/T3. - If part of your thyroid has been removed or radiated with radioactive iodine then the remaining portion must enlarge to try a

Do you have Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism? If so, download my free resources such as foods you should be avoiding, the complete list of thyroid lab tests, and more here: https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease which means if you have this disease that your body is attacking and attempting to destroy your own thyroid gland. Up to 70-90% of people with hypothyroidism have Hashimoto's (even if you don't know about it!) and this is important because Hashimoto's is treated differently compared to regular hypothyroidism. There are 5 main natural therapies that you can use to potentially help halt this autoimmune damage in your body and help heal your thyroid gland. I've personally used these therapies on many patients and found them to be quite effective. But, before you use them, please realize that they may not ALL work for you. Each person is unique and the therapies that you need may differ from the therapies that I've listed here. 5 Natural ways to treat Hashimoto

Download free thyroid resources here: https://www.restartmed.com/start-here/ Your thyroid function depends on how much iron you have. If you have low iron levels then your thyroid function may be compromised. This is especially important for people who have thyroid disease because they are very sensitive to even small changes in iron levels. And doctors are not conditioned to look at iron stores unless they find that you are anemic. But it is possible to be iron deficient even if you are not anemic and this deficiency CAN impact your thyroid negatively. Thyroid function and iron are linked in the following ways: - Low iron reduces the amount of thyroid hormone that your body can produce directly from your thyroid gland. - Low iron is associated with decreased T4 to T3 conversion. - Low iron is associated with low T3. - Low iron reduces the effectiveness of iodine supplementation. - As transferrin falls, your TSH rises. Testing for iron deficiency is actually quite easy and I recommend that all t

Free thyroid downloads and resources here: https://www.restartmed.com/start-here Can exercising help boost your thyroid? The short answer is yes, but only if you are doing it the RIGHT way. Too little exercise will have no benefit on your thyroid while overexercising may lower your free T3 and total T3. How does exercise benefit your thyroid? In 3 main ways: #1. It reduces your TSH and increases both T3 and T4 levels. - This is exactly what you want if you are hypothyroid. This combination of changes indicates that your thyroid is able to work on its own. #2. It reduces inflammation. - Reducing inflammation can indirectly help your thyroid by improving how much T3 you can create through T4 to T3 conversion. This is also helpful if you have autoimmunity from conditions such as Hashimoto's thyroiditis. #3. It improves your metabolism. - Exercising can also improve your metabolism. Your thyroid controls about 60% of your daily caloric burn so increasing this value up to normal is incredibly importan

You can download the PDF copy of this resource here: https://www.restartmed.com/start-here The foods that you eat can either positively or negatively impact your thyroid. This video is all about avoiding certain foods which have been scientifically proven to inhibit thyroid function in some way. The list of foods to avoid if you have thyroid disease includes: #1. Refined sugar - Sugar can cause insulin resistance which can negatively impact thyroid function. #2. *Gluten - Up to 2-5% of people with Hashimoto's also have Celiac disease. In addition, many more have non-celiac gluten sensitivity. #3. *Dairy - In a recent study, 8 weeks of removing dairy caused a reduction in TSH levels among patients with Hashimoto's. #4. Alcohol - Alcohol is cytotoxic to thyroid cells and suppresses both TSH and TRH. #5. Trans-Fat - Trans fat can negatively impact thyroid hormone production. #6. Industrial seed oils and fats - These fats may cause inflammation which reduces T4 to T3 conversion. #7. Highly process