The thyroid gland is of huge importance for many of the body systems to integrate and function better. Many of our body functions will collapse without the support of the thyroid gland and its functions. Now, unfortunately, a gland of such importance is vulnerable to many kinds of attacks and diseases. One of them is Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis – an autoimmune disorder, which has some linkage with toxicity.
Although many experts believe that there is no linkage of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis with toxicity, recent shreds of evidence have shown a connection between these two. Heavy metals are found in playing a crucial role in this disease. Further discussion will make it clear why toxins like heavy metals are culprits for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
Hashimoto’ thyroiditis is a disease in which the immune system takes charge against the body’s thyroid gland and starts harming its tissues. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease and is also called chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis.
This condition results in hypothyroidism, in which the thyroid gland produces a low amount of hormones than it should. Now, a huge problem occurs because thyroid hormones are responsible for playing many roles in the body.
- Raise the basal metabolic rate
- Thickens endometrium in females
- Increase catabolism of carbohydrates and proteins
- Enhance ventilation rate
- Increases cardiac output
- Enhance sympathetic activity
Considering all these important functions, we can guess how important it is for the thyroid gland to produce sufficient hormones and why Hashimoto’s thyroiditis diagnosis and its causes are real concerns.
Symptoms of Hashimoto’s disease
- Weight gain
- Slow heart rate
- Memory lapses
- Fragile nails
- Stiffness of joints and pain
- Puffy face
- Weakness of muscles
- Too much menstrual bleeding
- Hypersensitivity to cold
- Tongue enlargement
- Trouble in getting pregnant
- Muscle aches
- Hair loss
Now, every symptom mentioned above doubles in effect as a result of metal toxicity (mercury toxicity in particular). This indicates that there is a connection between Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and metal toxicity.
Causes of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
The superficial cause of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is the attack of the immune system to ruin the thyroid gland. But, what compels the immune system and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis antibodies to attack its body organ? Isn’t it interesting!
How mercury toxicity can be the cause for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
The thyroid gland cannot perform its function without the availability of the proper amount of iodine. Iodine is required for the thyroid gland to produce T3 and T4 thyroid hormones.
The thyroid gland is highly receptive to iodine, and it readily absorbs any iodine available for it in the body.
Now, it’s very unfortunate for the thyroid that both iodine and mercury are chemically the same and have identical structures. Due to this, the thyroid gland is unable to differentiate between these two, and instead of iodine, it also starts to accumulate mercury inside its tissues.
Two problems may evolve because of this storage of mercury inside the thyroid gland.
First, if the thyroid gland continues to accumulate mercury instead of iodine, less space will be available for the iodine’s storage. So, because of this low availability of iodine, the thyroid gland cannot produce sufficient levels of T3 and T4, and as a result, hypothyroidism will occur.
Second, this excessive storage of mercury inside the thyroid gland puts a body at risk of developing an autoimmune disease. Now, it is not crystal clear how the accumulations of heavy metals (i.e. mercury) give rise to an autoimmune disease, but studies have shown that there is a link between these two.
A study conducted in 2011 in which those women who had high exposure to mercury were two times more likely to possess thyroid antibodies.
Two prevalent explanations for the immune system’s attack
There are two possible explanations for this attack of the immune system on the thyroid gland.
One suggested explanation of why the immune system attacks the thyroid is that mercury damages cells of the thyroid gland along with other cells of the body as well. After this, the immune system starts to attack these damaged cells because the immune system can no longer perceive them as their own body cells. Instead, the immune system thinks of these damaged cells as foreign entities and starts harming them.
The second popular notion is that the immune system sets on big alert to do away with mercury, and in doing so, the immune system gets so stressed out that it starts to ruin the entire thyroid gland.
Treatment of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
There is no reliable treatment for Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, although certain methods are used to deal with this disease. Treatment of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis with normal TSH is also used to manage hormone levels and metabolism.
The treatment depends on the cause, and since the doctors are missing the point that mercury toxicity is playing a critical role in Hashimoto’s disease, they are unable to treat it properly.
Detoxification of mercury would be an ideal step to deal with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis since mercury’s extravagant accumulation is the main component in this disease.
Detoxification with TRS
To prevent yourself from mercury toxicity and so Hashimoto’s disease, we suggest to detox yourself with TRS.
Mercury detoxification is essential to initiate the recovery
One of the most common symptoms of hypothyroidism that people do not usually notice is less sweating or no sweating. Perspiration helps us in expelling toxins out of our body, but when we don’t perspire enough, we remain with most of the toxins in our body that can do much harm. Thus, a person needs to sweat daily to get rid of toxins and taking daily exercise is a great way to do this.
You can also take a detox bath that will help you eliminate toxins from your body. The sauna can do the same if you are looking for some alternative.
It is better to avoid grains if you are in the midst of thyroid disease because the grains bother the thyroid gland and can much worsen your condition. The intake of grains helps in raising the levels of insulin in the blood, but excessive intake leads to overload and may cause inflammation in the body.
Selenium also helps the body in dealing with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Adequate levels of iodine and selenium help the thyroid gland in dealing with many dangers.
“I’m now 29 weeks pregnant and my past labs have shown my TSH levels to be super low. My PCP told me to monitor it in case it swings the other way, and I’d need medication. I was also encouraged to see an endocrinologist to explore what can be done. My first lab showed my levels at 0.005 and my second at 0.020. After starting TRS, my levels are now at 1.490, which is normal.
My midwife asked me what I did, since TSH levels don’t just balance themselves out on their own, not during pregnancy for sure! The only thing that changed was starting TRS.
I can’t know for sure that it was TRS, but I also don’t believe in coincidence”
“TRS definitely worked for my sister, she used to have a big lump on her neck and after one year using trs the lump disappeared. She is off her medication now, fully healed no more thyroid problem.”