Thyroid Disease: What Do You Do When The

Medications Dont Work?

Thyroid Disease: What Do You Do When The Medications Dont Work?

by Dr. Michael Taggart - Jun 26, 2014

According to the most up to date research approximately 90% of

patients with hypothyroidism have it as a result of an auto-immune reaction
called Hashimotos. Its the number one reason you still have thyroid symptoms
despite taking medications and visiting many doctors without finding any lasting relief.
These symptoms include some or all, including: low energy, thinning hair, dry skin,
thinning of the outer 1/3 of the eyebrow, depression, constipation, feeling cold all the
time, chronic musculo-skeletal pain and an inability to lose weight even on a low
calorie diet.
Hashimotos: The most common auto-immune condition.
An estimated 24 million Americans or 7-8% of the population are affected by
Hashimotos.

Auto-immunity occurs when the immune system becomes imbalanced and will attempt
to destroy your own body tissues by mistake. There is a subtle balance between not
enough immune response and too much response.
How our Immune system works:
Lets take about basic immune function to help you understand the problem. In your
body you have a part of the immune system that destroys cells its called the TH1
system or T cells, lets call that part of the immune system the swat team. Some of
the names of the cells in this system are cyto-toxic killer cells, you get the idea.
The other side of the immune system is the TH2 system of the B cells some of the
names of these cells are T-helper cells and T-regulatory cells. This part of the immune
system puts a target, anti-body on invading and abnormal cells so that the swat team
(TH1) can find the bad guys and take them out.
To have a healthy immune system the TH1 and TH2 sides of the immune system must
be balanced. When one side becomes dominate things start going wrong causing an
inappropriate response. For example if the TH1 system becomes overactive the swat
team is going to go overboard and take out tissues that it shouldnt be destroying. If
the TH2 system becomes dominate the immune system would be overdoing it by
putting a tag (antibody) on tissues that it shouldnt be targeting for destruction by the
TH1 cells.
The third side of the immune system is the TH3, Th17 system this part of the immune
system if functioning properly helps keep the TH1 and TH2 systems from tilting into
dominance either way.
If I have and Auto-immune condition why did I develop it?
If you have an auto-immune condition its because you have a genetic predisposition
to develop this disorder. This does not mean that those characteristics will always
manifest, you have to experience the second part to develop auto-immunity. The
triggers!
Important point:
I always ask my patients on the first visits does anyone else in your family that is a
blood relative have similar problems, mother, grandmother, aunt, uncle etc.
If they have similar symptoms or another named auto-immune condition or were just
chronic ill but no diagnosis was ever given, this is a strong indication of auto-immunity.
For example my step father has four daughters, his youngest was diagnosed with
celiac disease which is an auto-immune disorder of the colon in which the genes are
not present to digest gluten,and both of her daughters are Celiac as well. The oldest
daughter Karin started experiencing chronic fatigue and chronic pain in her 50s, with
my guidance she was able to find the right doctors and discovered that she had was

celiac as well. Their grandmother suffered with chronic health problems but was never
given any labels but it was suggested that she might have lupus an autoimmune
disorder. The other two daughters have been checked and are not celiac.
To develop auto-immunity you have to have the second piece of the equation. The
triggers!
There are several metabolic syndromes that will activate the auto-immune genes!
These are the major players:
Chronic infections- when you have an exposure to a microbe your immune system

will initiate a response and typically your immune system wins the battle. However
ever there are instances in which your immune system cannot defeat the microorganism. This can happen as a result of other conditions you have developed that
would mitigate a proper immune response. We will discuss some of these issues
below.
Digestive problems- 80% of your immune system is found in the gut, low

hydrochloric acid, constipation/diarrhea, gas bloating are all signs that your gut is
unhealthy. The chronic infections are often found here which eventually will damage
the lining of the intestines causing a leaky gut syndrome
Food allergies/sensitivity- the resulting inflammation of the leaky gut syndrome will

cause undigested food proteins and toxins to slip past the barrier in the intestinal
lining. These proteins will be detected by the immune system and will be treated as
an invader, the immune system will initiate a strong response increasing
inflammation and will remember the next time you eat the same or similar foods,
aggravating the problem over and over again.
Low Vitamin D- Vitamin D is really a hormone and is one of the most important

substances in the body. You can synthesize enough without any dietary intake by
direct sun exposure for 20 minutes. Unfortunately with modern life we spend most
of the day indoors and especially if you live in areas where there arent a lot of
sunny days, like where I live, in the northwest it can be a real problem. Every patient
I see gets checked for Vitamin D regardless of the complaint. Vitamin D is also an
import part of the TH3 system which helps keeps TH1-TH2 dominance in check.
Blood Sugar Problems- Blood sugar problems are the #1 health problem affecting

Americans. Diabetes and pre-diabetes (insulin resistance) are an epidemic in the

U.S. and a growing problem world- wide. When your diet is too rich in
carbohydrates, especially grains your body over produces insulin, over time the
receptor sites for insulin that allow the blood sugar to get into the cell for energy
stop responding to insulin so the blood sugar stays in the blood stream, raising your
levels. This will also increase your fat storage because the body will attempt to
convert the blood sugar to fat increasing your waistline. Insulin is inflammatory,
inflammation damages the intestinal lining, impairs gland to gland communication
and further drives more immune imbalance.

 Environmental toxins- heavy metal and chemical exposure from pesticides,

xenoestrogens, BPA form plastics to name a few; these toxins are found abundantly
in our society through products we use or are exposed too.
Low levels of essential fatty acids- Every cell has a fatty layer around, the brain is

mostly made of fat; low fatty acid levels disrupt cell function and promote
inflammation. Americans tend to be lacking Omega 3 fatty acids. These oils are
found in fish oil and some algaes and nuts such as flax and Chia seeds.
Adrenal gland dysfunction- the adrenal glands sit on the top of the kidneys and

preform many vital functions including sex hormone production (estrogen and
testosterone thru DHEA production) and progestrone in small quantities. The
adrenal hormone Aldostrone is involved in salt balance. Production of cortisol by the
adrenal gland is involved in regulating the bodys use of fats, proteins, and
carbohydrates. Is very much associated with blood sugar regulation. Cortisol has a
big effect on sleep because it opposed melatonin the sleep hormone made by the
pineal gland. Your adrenal gland also makes adrenaline (epinephrine) and
noradrenaline (norepinephrine) these substances help you deal with stress. The
factors that stress the adrenals gland are all the above factors: digestive
inflammation, chronic infections, blood sugar imbalances and food allergies.
To address your condition to must first determine if your thyroid problem is autoimmune, certain test as well as symptoms and your response to previous care will all
point to Hashimotos.
Run Thyroid Antibody testing positive for TPO and TPG:
If the antibodies are positive you have confirmed auto-immunity, if they show negative
it does not rule out the condition. There are several reasons for this: Most
Hashimotos is TH1 dominate so TH2 antibody production is suppressed so there may
not be enough anti-body production to show a positive test. Another factor is that autoimmune attack waxes and wanes to if you are in a waning phase antibodies may show
negative.
The next factor that will point to Hashimotos is your family history and the onset of
symptoms. Auto-immunity runs in families, do other blood relatives have similar
symptoms, have thyroid problems? Did your health deteriorated after getting pregnant
or after subsequent pregnancies. A lot of immune shifting occurs carrying the fetus.
Did peri-menopause or puberty bring on symptoms?
The last factor is your response to past care. You initially started thyroid replacement
or you were told your thyroid levels are normal yet you had many symptoms.
Thyroid replacement did relieve symptoms at first but now the dosage has to keep
being increased to keep symptoms and TSH in range.
Your doctor has to lower and raise your replacement because your TSH is unstable

 Thyroid replacement made you feel worse or it was helpful initially but know its not
working
Your tried natural thyroid (armour) you felt worse
You have tried herbal formulas and you reacted badly to them
You have been to many doctors and no one is helping
Your blood work, history and response to care will all point to auto-immunity. Thyroid
replacement may be a component of your care plan but it will not be effective as a
stand-alone treatment because thyroid replacement does not address the immune
system. Tradition medical care does not have any treatment for Hashimotos.
There is no drug you can take to reverse the triggers for auto-immunity.
To get help you are going to have to work outside the traditional medical approach of
symptom-drug paradigm and test for an address all the triggers. To get relief you will
need to find a doctor who uses a natural, functional medicine approach and is an
expert in addressing Hashimotos.
Posted by Thavam