Hypothyroid and Menopause Success
Thyroid hormones and female hormones both influence one another. Today I speak with Jennie, a current patient, regarding how we improved her thyroid health and female hormones. We did so without breaking the bank and without resorting to a excessive diet or supplement program. Simple dietary changes, support for her hormones, and improving the health of her gut yielded great results. Her cravings improved, hot flashes went away, thyroid autoimmunity improved, and her energy increased.
Hypothyroid and Menopause Success
Dr. Michael Ruscio:
Hi, this is Dr. Ruscio. I’m here with Jennie, who has had some good results here in the clinic. And I asked Jennie and kind of twisted her arm a little bit to sit down with me for a minute and kind of go through the improvement that she’s seen. And I’m wondering, would you mind just sharing with everyone?
Jennie: No, I would love to.
DrMR: Okay.
Jennie: Well, since I started working with Dr. Ruscio about…I guess it was in May, so about five or six months ago now, I came in with hypothyroid symptoms and high numbers. And since being put on the regimen to clean that up and take down the inflammation, my numbers are back down where they should be. And I’ve had some improvements with the types of behaviors I have and symptoms that are now gone.
DrMR: And one of the things you had mentioned that you just said, the thyroid was looking better. And another thing you had mentioned before we turned the camera on was your sugar cravings were a lot better.
Jennie: Yeah. The dietary regimen of pacing how I eat during the day, every few hours, what I ate, how I prepared the food, what I eliminated, have now sort of…I’m still practicing it even though we’re past the hump.
DrMR: Constant practice, yeah.
Jennie: Yeah. It’s not 100 percent. But it’s very practiceable and doable. So I’m noticing I’m not craving sugars. Or let’s say the sugar level is now even. So I’m not really craving foods and snacking and eating inappropriate times.
DrMR: Sure, sure. And then another thing that you’ve noticed that I thought was a nice clinical win for us was the hot flashes have gotten a lot better, too.
Jennie: Right, right. Yeah, because I’m smack in the middle—I should be over—with the menopause. But I guess I’m not. But, yeah, I haven’t had as many hot flashes. There have been times when I may have run low on my medication and not had it, that he had prescribed for me or given to me. And I would have hot flashes.
So when I go back on the medication again, or the supplements again, then I don’t have the hot flashes. So it’s been a good test to run out periodically.
DrMR: Sure. Sure. So a few things with Jennie that were going on, Jennie’s conversion of T4 to T3 was a little bit off. And that’s where giving her some T3 is very helpful. And we did a low dose of bioidentical HRT for her female hormones, which can be very helpful and help with the hot flashes. And Jennie’s adrenals were a little bit out of balance. And supporting the adrenals really helps with energy, which is another thing that has improved, but also with sugar cravings and satiation.
And another thing, I remember two things that were really tied into this whole piece for her gut, which getting her off gluten and some of these other foods were helpful, and then also clearing out an overgrowth of H. pylori, or I guess you could say an H. pylori infection, helped stop some of this low-level inflammation that was kind of just draining her body.
So overall you’ve done great. I think we still have a few more little steps before we’re 100 percent. But you’ve done great so far. And thank you so much for taking a minute to talk with us.
Jennie: Thank you.
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Discussion
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