The day that I found out I had thyroid nodules, the first thing that came to mind was, “Is it cancerous?” I know that many of my patients have shared the same sentiment and it doesn’t stop there. Quite often women with thyroid nodules or cysts will experience troubles taking a deep breath and even tightness in the chest. Instead of thinking that this may be a nodule or cyst, many individuals will think it’s cardiac-related and will go to the emerg thinking that they’re having a heart attack.
This may all sound extreme but when you factor in that 30% of women in their 30’s will get a thyroid nodule and 40% of women in their 40’s will get one and 50% of women in their 50’s will be diagnosed with one, this can’t be ignored. The reality is, it’s more common than we think! In fact thyroid health in general, is an area that requires further education in general so if you haven’t done so yet, make sure to download my FREE Thyroid 411 Guide now.
It’s why I decided to create a video about:
What are thyroid nodules?
What causes thyroid nodules to grow?
How do you treat thyroid nodules naturally?
Frankly I’ve decided to dedicate more video time to the subject of thyroid health because I’m seeing so many women go undiagnosed and untreated.
Okay so let’s begin with the first topic question…
What are thyroid nodules and what causes them to grow?
This is probably one of the most important questions to ask. The causative factors are several to consider: iodine deficiency, estrogen dominance (because estrogen signals the body to “grow!”), gut dysfunction (i.e. leaky gut) and heavy metal toxicity.
For the purpose of this blog post (because I could go on about this topic), I will only be focusing on iodine deficiency and heavy metal toxicity.
Now before I go on, I must say that it’s absolutely imperative that you do not take iodine without the guidance of a skilled practitioner who can assess your mineral status and support your iodine co-factors. If iodine is taken on its own without doing these steps, you can actually damage the thyroid.
It’s the reason why in Sexy Lady Balls, my hormone membership program, we offer Hair Trace Mineral Analysis (as an upgrade) to evaluate where an individual’s mineral status is to then safely add in iodine.
The reality is North America is notoriously low in iodine consumption. The main areas of iodine concentration in the body are the thyroid, breasts and ovaries. So when deficiency strikes, you’ll see higher rates of thyroid nodules, fibrocystic changes to the breasts and ovarian cysts. Iodine deficiency has been identified as a significant public health problem in 129 countries. Approximately one-third of the world’s population lives in iodine deficient areas and up to 72% of the world’s population is affected by an iodine deficiency disorder. One area in particular is the Great Lakes here in Canada and the US where iodine is especially deficient.
This isn’t at all surprising when you factor in that RDA of iodine is 150μg/day which will barely support the body. Dr. Guy Abraham, one of the world’s leading researchers on iodine has shown that the daily intake of iodine is 2mg/day which is 14x the RDA.
When iodine is deficient, the architecture of the glandular tissue becomes disrupted and the tissue becomes cystic. Cysts unlike nodules are fluid-filled sacs that have a distinct border from the surrounding normal tissue. When palpated, cysts are generally soft and compressible.
If iodine deficiency persists, the cysts become nodular – that is, they become more firm upon palpation.
Even if we did consume the proper amount of iodine, we have to factor in what’s rampant in our society that inhibits it. In this week’s video I covered the following iodine inhibitors which are considered toxic halides: bromine, chloride and fluoride.
Let’s begin with fluoride:
Fluoride is found in water supply and there is a lot of controversy on this one because the government states that it’ll help improve the strength of our teeth. Much of the research done on this is outdated and in fact, research has shown that fluoride has the ability to cause long-lasting negative health effects in various bodily systems.
And believe it or not there are a lot of medications that have fluoride in them like antacids like Prevacid, antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Celexa and Lexapro and even the antifungal Diflucan which many women use to treat a yeast infection.
Then there’s chloride:
Chloride can be most commonly found as a disinfectant in pools but it can also be found in teeth whiteners and in the artificial sweetener, Splenda. A byproduct of chlorine use is the production of dioxin.
Dioxin is one of the most toxic carcinogens known to mankind because it doesn’t really breakdown in the environment. Chlorine and their byproducts are linked with birth defects, cancer, reproductive disorders and a breakdown in the immune system.
Lastly there’s bromine:
Bromine, like the other halides mentioned interferes with iodine uptake and utilization in the thyroid gland. If we look back in time, we’ll discover that iodine use to be found in bread until researchers mistakenly felt that it should be removed in fear of the effects on the thyroid. Instead they replaced it with bromine. The single act of replacing an essential element iodine with the goitrogen bromine, might be responsible for the rapid decline in iodine levels (which is near 50% since the 1970’s).
So what can be done about thyroid nodules and cysts?
I’m glad you asked…
- Get your mineral status assessed. As mentioned, we offer this as an upgrade in Sexy Lady Balls, my hormone membership program as an upgrade. Once you go about this process, we ship out the kit to anywhere in the world. You’ll be taken through your results by one of my practitioners who will then develop an action plan for you. But you absolutely cannot just begin taking iodine without looking at the WHOLE case first.
- Support iodine co-factors like: liposomal vitamin C at 4,000mg per day (Canadians, you can get it here by Designs for Health) and seleniomethionine at 200mcg from either Pure Encapsulations or Cytomatrix.
- Consume half your body weight in ounces and add several pinches of Celtic Sea Salt. The water will help to flush your body and the salt helps to remineralize and detox out some of these toxic halides like bromine.
- Go organic. Non-organic crops are generally fumigated and will inhibit thyroid function.
- Struggling with swelling of your nodules that may impair breathing? Take Wobenzym Plus. I will say this again: I have no affiliation to this supplement. I recommend it because it’s helped me and many of my patients breathe easier again. This is one of the most well-researched supplements on the market and it works amazingly well to eat away at inflammation. Take 3 capsules 3x a day 1 hour away from meals, medications or supplements,
Lastly, I have SO MUCH more info to give you, so please make sure if you haven’t done so already to click below to receive my FREE Thyroid Guide. I’ll send you the guide and emails thereafter with more tools that will help give the answers (and empowerment) you need to take control of your health.
Until next time,
See ya!
xo
Melissa