By Dr. Josh Redd, Chiropractic Physician, RedRiver Health and Wellness Center
Brain symptoms are very common among our Hashimoto’s and autoimmune patients. That’s because Hashimoto’s can impact the brain in various ways.
Do any of these symptoms resonate with you?
- Fatigue
- Brain fog
- Depression
- Slow mental speed
- Poor brain endurance, meaning you tire easily from reading, driving, working, noisy areas, etc.
- Worsening memory
- Anxiety
- Sleep problems
- Low motivation
- Irritable, grouchy
- Worsening balance
- Drop things easily
- Handwriting getting worse
- Worsening muscle function
- Brain symptoms after eating certain foods
- Chronic gut symptoms
These are just a few symptoms of declining brain function that we commonly see in our Hashimoto’s and autoimmune patients.
In this article I’m going to go over the reasons why your brain is not working well—because they can be different from person to person—and teach you what to do about it.
HOW HASHIMOTO’S CAN CAUSE POOR BRAIN FUNCTION
When a patient with Hashimoto’s comes to our office, they’re inevitably suffering from brain-based symptoms: Depression, fatigue, brain fog, loss of motivation, anxiety, memory loss, and more.
Unmanaged Hashimoto’s has a severe impact on brain health for several reasons:
- The brain depends on sufficient thyroid hormone to function and is not getting enough, or levels fluctuate.
- The autoimmune mechanisms that damage the thyroid gland can also attack the brain.
- The inflammation that goes along with autoimmune Hashimoto’s inflames the brain, causing symptoms.
- The person is having immune reactions to undiagnosed food and chemical sensitivities, which inflames the brain and impairs brain function.
Thyroid levels and the brain
If you think you might have low thyroid problems, if you still have thyroid symptoms despite taking thyroid meds, or if it seems like the doctor has to constantly increase your dose, your brain’s neurons may not be getting enough thyroid hormone to function.
This means each neuron is not going to be able to function optimally and overall brain function slows down and becomes less efficient. This is one reason symptoms like depression, fatigue, and brain fog are so common with Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism.
What is Hashimoto’s?
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease that damages the thyroid gland. More than 90 percent of cases of hypothyroidism are caused by Hashimoto’s. It is identified by positive TPO and/or TGB antibodies on a lab test.
Every cell in the body needs thyroid hormones
Every cell in the body needs thyroid hormones to function properly, and the brain’s neurons are no exception. An unmanaged or undiagnosed thyroid condition can mean your brain is not receiving enough thyroid hormone. This can accelerate the degeneration of your brain.
This also impacts how well your organs work. That’s because of a large nerve called the vagus nerve that runs between the brain and the organs. When brain function declines, so does vagal nerve activity. As a result, the organs do not receive sufficient stimulation from the brain.
This means the stomach does not make enough stomach acid and the pancreas does not make enough enzymes to digest foods. The liver does not make enough bile and fat digestion suffers. The large intestine is not activated to move food through the colon, leading to constipation. These are just a few examples of how compromised brain activity can diminish function throughout the body.
Why the right thyroid meds matter for your brain
To optimize your brain function, you need to be aware of several things.
First, while you may need thyroid hormone medication, if your thyroid autoimmunity is out of control, you’ll never find balance with thyroid function.
This means you need to stabilize your thyroid function by managing your autoimmune thyroid condition. Next, it means you need to find the right kind of thyroid medication and a dose that works for you. Please refer to the articles and guides on my clinic site RedRiver Health and Wellness for more information about that.
For instance, many doctors only prescribe a synthetic T4 only medication.
However, your body must convert T4 to T3 for it to be usable by the cells.
Many people cannot do this efficiently.
Many patients do better with the addition of a T3 thyroid hormone replacement. Some do better with bioidentical thyroid hormone replacement versus synthetic.
Also, be aware that some brands of thyroid hormone meds have fillers such as cornstarch that you may have a sensitivity to.
Luckily, there is now a thyroid hormone on the market called Tirosint that is free of fillers. It may be a good fit if you react to the fillers that are commonly used in medications.
Work with your prescribing physician to find the best thyroid medication option for you while also working on taming inflammation and thyroid autoimmunity.
I’ll be addressing how to tame inflammation and autoimmunity in upcoming articles. If you’d like all the information right away, download my free guide, 12 Ways to Improve Brain Function When You Have Hashimoto’s or Autoimmunity at this link.
To learn more about our services and to schedule a free consultation, please visit redriverhealthandwellness.com. We work with your prescribing physician for optimal results. Do not discontinue medication or hormone replacement therapy without consulting your prescribing physician.