Colorado Springs Functional Medicine

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Obesity: A Sign of Extreme Intelligence but a Monster Ego

This post is for all those fatties out there. You know who I’m talking about…fatty, fatty, fat, fat.  Yeah, I called you fat, look at me I’m skinny.  Never stopped me from getting…slapped in the face.  Before you turn this off or post negative comments, hear me out for 3 seconds.

Being fat is a sign of extreme, high-level intelligence. Yes, that’s right.  When you are assessing that booty and belly shake in the mirror, don’t think disgusting. Think Einstein, Hawking, or even Dwight K. Schrute.

Being fat is a sign of extreme, high-level intelligence. Click To Tweet

Your body NEVER does stupid stuff. It always gives you the absolute best chance of surviving the next 30 seconds, even if it’s at the expense of your next 30 years.

Why would the body take excess energy substrate and convert it to fat?  Because it’s the preferred fuel for your brain and body to operate.  Animals that go into hibernation are living off their fat stores.  Humans don’t hibernate but there is (or was) a great possibility that we would go without food for a lengthy time.

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You Don’t Have Adrenal Fatigue | Stop Making Your Identity a Catch Phrase

For those that aren’t familiar with the adrenal glands, they have huge function in your health expression.  Every second of your day, your nervous system has to organize and coordinate your life experiences:  What you eat, how you think, how you move, wind changes, social influences, spiritual experiences, and congruency in purpose and practices.

With every single item, within microseconds, your nervous system has to decide if these particular influences will cause you harm or cause you happiness.  More often than not, your nervous system will be cautious and engage functions that shift you into immediate survival and protection. The first set of organs that your nervous system talks to are your adrenals.

Functional medicine Colorado SpringsThere are two major hormone groups (but many more) that the adrenals release to help you adapt when life throws curve balls at you.  One group is the catecholamines (adrenaline, epinephrine, norepinephrine, etc) that primarily work on functions of heart rate, blood pressure, muscle contraction, and triggering your brain for reaction over reason.  The other class is cortisol that primarily works to get your body to release stored energy (sugar) to give you instant fuel to escape a potential danger.

The longer someone is in the this state of protection, the more the body creates a default setting into that expression.  And the longer than is expressed, the more apt you favor catabolism (tissue destruction).  This sounds bad but no reaction or symptom is stupid.  These expressions are creating pathways for you to buy time to escape what is potentially life threatening. The more this reaction is repeated, the harder it is to keep up with the demands.  It’s like if you sprinted instead of walked to do everything.  You’re going to get tired.

Tired ≠ Fatigue

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Pathetic Thyroid Apathy

I am really starting to feel bad for other other doctors that work in a traditional setting.  Under the surface, over 80% of doctors in this country are disillusioned with medicine and over 60% are considering quitting in the next 2 years.  But most people in the healthcare service industry are pretty good at hiding that painful reality…until lately.

I’m seeing more and more lab results from patients that went to their doctor with a genuine concern that is affecting their life.  I can’t tell you how many people have showed me those labs,  looking at their thyroid specifically, with ONLY a TSH and maybe some metabolic markers and were told, ‘you’re fine.’

Functional Medicine Colorado SpringsThe other day, I got one with just a TSH and vitamin D and she was told her thyroid was all good. I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not lazy healthcare, it’s pathetic and apathetic healthcare.  If someone is coming to me with a list of complaints asking for me to help figure out what it could be, I’m going to dig.  Running a panel of 2 values just shows me that doctor is done caring.  Time to find a new one.

Let’s dive into what a full assessment might look like for your thyroid.

There’s a host of symptoms that can arise with a thyroid imbalance: fatigue, cold sensitivity, constipation, dry skin, unexplained weight gain, difficulty losing weight, brittle nails, constipation, enlarged thyroid, high cholesterol, irritability, sensitivity to cold, sexual dysfunction, slow heart rate, sluggishness, or irregular uterine bleeding.  But guess what?  There’s a host of other issues that can cause these as well.

How do you know if your doctor is apathetic?  They run tests, deem them ‘normal’ and end the discussion, even though you are struggling.  If you persist, they hand you off to a ‘specialist’ or suggest you take an antidepressant to numb you to what you’re feeling.   If my wife had these symptoms, was told that her labs were fine, and there was no plan to look at potential other causes, we would find another doctor.

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VDR – A Missing Piece in Your Hashimoto Journey

My last post was about MTHFR.  If these letters are new to you or you think I just called you an insult, please go back and review before proceeding.

Letters like MTHFR, COMT, MTRR, and today’s topic of VDR have to do with your DNA code.  Genetically, the human race is virtually identical.  You can take a female from Sri Lanka, mate her with a dude from Alaska, and they will produce a gorgeous baby with all the right parts and capacities for that human to become a world leader someday.

Functional Medicine Colorado Springs

The goofy letters I listed above fall into the category of what makes us unique.  MTHFR is used in how we process folic acid.  MTRR is used on how we process B12.  COMT has roles in breaking down neurotransmitters like dopamine and epinephrine.  Regardless of your stance on creation and/or evolution, the one point of agreement is that today’s modern human has been around for 10,000 years.  This means your DNA code has been unchanged from classic hunter-gatherer type populations.

What has changed immensely is our environment.  That’s why this has the greatest factor on your overall health expression.  With that same DNA code being passed from generation to generation for 10,000 years, there’s potential that the basic blue print over time can have a typo here and there or even a little fading at times.

It’s these ‘typos’ that may create challenges the more your environment is compromised in your eating, movement, thought, social, and spiritual patterns.  They are called SNPs (snips).  Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.

One I want to highlight today is the VDR.

Vitamin D Receptor

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TSH Chase

I think I’ve fielded more thyroid questions and concerns this past week from patients than ever before.  The running theme among them is that they are fed up with their doctor playing what I call the ‘TSH Chase.’

I also think one of the laziest healthcare practices is diagnosing and trying to manage someone’s thyroid condition just with a TSH score.  If you don’t have a thyroid problem, or don’t think you have one, the rest of this probably doesn’t pertain to you and may be a bit boring.  If you feel like crap and have been told your thyroid is fine due to a ‘normal’ TSH score, then you may want to consider to keep reading.

TSHLong story short, your thyroid is involved in basically every system in the body.  And as a result of that involvement, is the canary in the coal mine.  It’s very sensitive to dysfunctions in other systems in the body.  You can’t affect one system without affecting every system.  The minute your doctor tries to compartmentalize your internal systems is the minute you need to find someone else that looks at the body as a whole.

Did you know that your lipids (cholesterol, Triglycerides, etc) creeping up could indicate that your thyroid is imbalanced?

Did you know that digestive difficulties could be a sign your thyroid is dysfunctional?

Did you know thyroid hormones probably have more input into the brain and nervous system development of a fetus than just getting enough folic acid?

Did you know that women with miscarriages often have a misdiagnosed thyroid condition?

The thyroid is not just for metabolism function.  Therefore I feel it needs a thorough analysis on lab work, opposed to the lazy way out of just testing a TSH score and calling it good.  This would be like assessing your entire car’s function by just checking tire pressure.

Here’s the thing, let’s say your TSH is abnormal.  Yes, it could be an abnormal thyroid.  It could also be an abnormal pituitary.  It could be an abnormal hypothalamus.  It could be an abnormal conversion problem.  It could be inflammation interfering with function.  It could be an insulin resistance problem not allowing for proper receptor binding.  It could be an auto-immune problem.  It could be a sedentary living problem.  It could be an autonomic imbalance problem.  It could be an adrenal imbalance.  It could be a DNA receptor problem.  It could be a globulin problem.  It could be a toxicity problem.  It could be a methylation problem.  It could be a nutrient deficiency problem.  It could be an estrogen problem.  It could be a Vagus nerve/upper cervical spine problem.  Anything else?

Do you see how ridiculous it is to just test for TSH and chase the TSH value with Synthroid?  Or just supplement with uber amounts of iodine and call it good?

What specific thyroid tests do I like to see on lab work?  These are just to get the baseline.

TSH

Free and Total T4

Free and Total T3

T3 Uptake

Reverse T3

TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies)

TgAb (Thyroglobulin Antibodies)

Sex Hormone Binding Globulin

Diurnal Cortisol

Homocysteine

CRP

A1C

Remember you can’t separate one system from every other system.  These thyroid values are going to have to be put into context along with other factors that analyze the 5 pillars of illness:  Autonomic Imbalance, Adrenal Dysfunction, Immune Imbalance, Insulin Resistance, and Inflammation.

It’s also more than just having them tested but interpreted from a functional perspective.  The ‘normal’ lab values seen on lab work labels you, along with 95% of the population, as healthy.  You’re telling me that 9 out of every 10 friends you have is healthy?  Just look at your friend’s Facebook statuses.  You probably can’t find 3 out of 10.

Stop settling for the standard healthcare model of throwing you on Synthroid for the rest of your life to satisfy the TSH chase.  You want a different outcome?  Let’s do it.  You know how to find me.