Hypothyroidism is common as we age, and a functional medicine approach to optimize the thyroid will help the body with several important body processes. Functions that were normal earlier in life such as hormone production are one of the most important and the thyroid hormone is prime when it comes to running numerous body processes. I compare the thyroid to the “oil in the car” as maintenance and regular oil changes will keep the car engine in top shape. An optimized thyroid will help the body with metabolism, energy, and other key body processes.
Thyroid and the Effects of Aging Include Weight Gain
The effect of environmental toxicities, nutritional deficiencies, and poor gut health as we age can cause major imbalances to our thyroid function. Heavy metals, BPA and other plastics, and pesticides are damaging to the thyroid gland. Essentially our thyroid gland runs the metabolic rate and keeps all metabolic processes running at full speed for each of us to get through the day seamlessly.
However, once your thyroid starts slowing down, it can have myriad effects on our metabolism including weight gain, fatigue, hair loss, constipation, digestive problems, and 50+ other symptoms!
If your thyroid is not functioning well, you may experience brain fog, forgetfulness, even memory issues; much like how you feel after not having 2 consecutive nights sleep. The gut and our digestion are important to absorb nutrients from fats, carbohydrates, and proteins but when our thyroid gland does not work, the entire digestive process including stomach acid production, pancreatic enzymes and biliary function are suboptimal.
The medical system would be inundated with people asking for thyroid medications if patients were properly diagnosed in a timely manner. The difficult part to fathom is the labs created to diagnose thyroid disease were created 100+ years ago by comparing blood work from 30 male volunteers. Over the years, the ranges and testing have been improved but the criteria to make a diagnosis has become stricter leaving many early and subclinical cases undiagnosed. The changes in our planet’s valuable resources, the plastic pollution, and the water quality since then has led to an epidemic of obesity which is secondary to abnormal thyroid function as one of the main causes. Of course, there are other causes contributing to weight gain including poor diet, genetic diseases, psychiatric problems, and many medications – but this is a topic for another day.
Functional Medicine Testing for Hypothyroidism and Weight Gain
The big roadblock in diagnosing thyroid issues is the lab criteria created many years ago as I mentioned above. It is often noted that numbers can vary based on supplements you are taking, day and time of the blood draw, and associated nutritional issues that can cause results to not be reliable enough for a prompt diagnosis. For example, taking biotin can cause false negative results on TSH result and false positive result on your FT3 and FT4.
Hypothyroidism or other thyroid issues and weight gain need to be evaluated thoroughly by a functional medicine or integrative doctor to ensure the entire thyroid panel is done for a complete and accurate picture of what is happening as the body is slowing down. Traditional Western medicine testing for thyroid issues is to do TSH alone as a screening tool. However, TSH levels fluctuate over time within a person, in euthyroid individuals (normal thyroid function) as well as in most (un)treated patients with thyroid disorders, ranging from minutes, hours, months, to years. These within-person variations in TSH levels are mainly caused by pulsatile secretion, circadian rhythm, seasons, and ageing. In functional medicine, we are accustomed to check at least 10-14 different kinds of labs to evaluate for suboptimal or subclinical hypothyroidism. Speak to your provider, get complete testing, get tested for thyroid antibodies at least once and consider a short trial of medication (then test again if you have many symptoms of thyroid-associated weight gain).
Undiagnosed Hypothyroidism Affects Certain Groups
Gaining weight without a change in diet, sleep, or activity or weight gain that is not responding to fasting, eating a clean diet, HIIT training, etc. could mean that your thyroid may not be working optimally. Women after 30 and those who gain weight after pregnancies as well as teenage girls with PCOD are all susceptible or at high risk of undiagnosed hypothyroidism. Find a doctor who is willing to test you thoroughly. Subclinical hypothyroidism can progress to overt hypothyroidism, especially if antithyroid antibodies are present, and has been associated with adverse metabolic (obesity), cardiovascular (vascular disease), reproductive, maternal-fetal, neuromuscular, and cognitive abnormalities and lower quality of life.
Men and Thyroid Issues
Men get thyroid issues too and factors are mostly similar but less likely to be autoimmune unless their mother or grandmother had Hashimoto’s disease, which then makes it transmissible and silent until diagnosed with proper testing. Poor nutrition, low Vitamin D levels, stress, poor sleep are other factors that can affect thyroid function which in turn can cause low testosterone. This leads to a loss of libido, obesity, gut issues, and other problems in young or older men.
The current rate of obesity in the U.S. is 35% and will reach close to 50% in a few years. The primary reason is environment, food and chemical pollution leading to damage of crucial organs in the body of which the thyroid remains the foremost. Watch out!!
