The Hidden Cause of Hashimoto’s

Hashimoto's Reversibility and Hope 0:00

What I would like to say is that if you have been told that Hashimoto's is not reversible, you cannot do anything to lower the antibodies, that is NOT correct. Through our protocols, or through a lot of other functional medicine protocols too, You can lower your antibodies and you can get your life back. So do not lose hope. You just have to work on the right things, address the underlying root causes, That's where the magic happens. You will see so much better in how you're feeling. Your blood work will get better and you will the life back that you deserve.

So do not lose hope. Take the right step and You are going to get Better. Welcome to the Functional Edge. I'm Dr. Julia Ward, and this is where science meets real-world strategies for living healthier, sharper and stronger. From uncovering hidden environmental toxins to unlocking peak performance and mental clarity, we cover it all. Ready to take control of your health and thrive? Let's dive in. Hello and welcome to the Functional Edge podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Julia Ward, medical director and founder of Balanced Body Function Medicine.

Today we're honored to welcome Dr Anshul Gupta to our show. In this episode, Doctor Gupte will be sharing insights on thyroid health, autoimmune conditions, and the functional medicine approach to uncovering root causes, particularly in complex conditions like Hashimoto's thyroiditis. A board-certified medicine physician with advanced training in functional and integrative medicine, Dr.

Podcast Introduction and Guest Overview 1:23

Gupta previously worked at the Cleveland Clinic's Department of Functional Medicine and now focuses on helping patients address chronic illness through personalized lifestyle, nutrition, and targeted interventions. So stay tuned for an engaging conversation that promises to empower and inspire your path to wellness. Welcome Dr Gupt and thank you for being here. Absolutely. It's really a pleasure being over here. Thank you so much for the work that you're doing. You know, your podcast is amazing.

So much great information that your sharing with people. so thank you for having me over. Awesome. thank You. For our listeners who have heard the term but don't fully understand it, how do you define Hashimoto's in a way that goes beyond an autoimmune thyroid condition? And what are the most common early symptoms that often get missed? Absolutely. So basically like you know a lot of people have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism or they know that they have low thyroid and for that, they are typically prescribed the medicine which is the levothyroxine.

Very few people actually know the reason behind their hypathyroid ism which this Hashimoto's disease because they're not getting the complete blood book for it. Hashimoto's disease is a condition where people, bodies are producing antibodies which is doing a slow destruction of their thyroid gland. Now people think that you know these antibodies are only affecting their Thyroid gland but in reality these Antibodies and this autoimmune process not only damages the thyroid Gland but damages other systems of the body specifically mitochondria, their gut, the brain and as well as the other hormones.

What Hashimoto's Is and Common Symptoms 3:00

And that is typically the reason that people will have whole different kinds of symptoms with Hashimoto's disease. Some of the few common symptoms that we will present with is that, you know, they feel tired a lot of time. They are fatigued. Doesn't matter what they do. If you're tired, there to take a nap. They are having weight issues where it doesn't matter what they do, they are unable to lose weight. Then they have brain fog issues. They feel their brain is not as sharp as before. they will have mood changes, depression, anxiety, not able to tolerate stress as compared to before and then plus gut related symptoms whether it is IBS or constipation, bloating, gas or even feeling having cold intolerance.They will feel cold all the time.

So these are just some common symptoms that people present with Hashimoto's or low thyroid condition but in reality it is because of that underlying autoimmunity, underlying inflammation which is damaging the mitochondria and the other parts of the body that these symptoms happen in these Hashimoto's people. So why do you think so many patients are told that their labs are, quote, normal, yet they still feel exhausted, inflamed, and unwell? And what's being overlooked in conventional care? So again, coming back to the issue with hypothyroidism, most people are taught that they have hypathyroid.

The only test they get is TSH. Now T SH doesn't give us the complete picture of how the thyroid is functioning. Plus, it also doesn' tell us whether a person has Hashimoto's disease. Now interestingly going to the pathophysiology of how the thyroid hormone is being produced in our body, TSH is actually not an actual thyroid hormones and most people don't realize it. T SH is a signaling hormone, your pituitary gland which is your master endocrine gland. secretes TSH which is the thyroid stimulating hormone that goes to your thyroid gland and sends the signal to the gland to produce actual thyroid hormone which the T4 hormone.

Now this T 4 hormone is what we call as inactive thyroid hormones and goes into your body and needs to be converted to T3 which your cells can utilize. Now if you're only testing your TSH, you are not testing T3 and T4, You do not know quote unquote what is going on with your thyroid. So that's one reason that people are told that they have normal thyroid labs because they are only checking their T SH. The second reason is not checking the antibodies. Research shows that people can have Hashimoto's disease 4-5 years antibodies even before they finally get diagnosed with hypothyroidism or when their TSH gets abnormal.

Well, all of these 4 to 5 years they have symptoms because the disease process is ongoing and damaging the body. So very important to check the antibodies and two antibodies to be checked for Hashimoto's disease are TPO, which is a thyroid peroxidase antibody and the other one is called thyroglobulin antibodies. Now interestingly, these antibody tests can be done in each and every lab across the country. So you don't need to go to advanced lab testing, you do not need any specific orders. Your regular doctor can even put those orders and if your antibody levels are higher than the reference range of that particular lab, that is diagnostic of Hashimoto's disease.

You don't need an ultrasound, you don´t need a biopsy, You dont need advanced testing. The presence of antibody itself tells you that you have Hashimotosis. That's very important reason that lot of lab work are normal because people are not getting complete testing. The second problem that is happening is that the only treatment which is being provided to these Hashimoto's people is replacement of thyroid hormone which the T4 hormone called Levoteroxine medicine. Now the problem in Hashimoto's disease is two-pronged.

One is that they do have deficiency of thyroid hormone but the primary problem is this underlying inflammation and autoimmunity.

Why Normal Labs Miss Hashimoto's 6:54

And most people do not know that this levothyroxine medicine doesn't do anything to address the underlying auto-immunity or inflammation. So they are not even tackling the primary problem which is the reason of these symptoms and that is a reason that people continue to have symptoms. And research suggests more than 60% of people who have Hashimoto's disease, who are taking medications and their blood work is normal still continue have to symptoms because again the underlying problem is not being addressed.

You've dedicated a large part of your work to Hashimoto's. What drew you specifically to this condition and how did your personal journey shape the way you approach these patients today? Absolutely. So in our functional medicine world, you know, like this is always a joke that any MD who enters a functional medical realm doesn't do it unless him or her have gone through a personal So my journey was that, you know, I have a family dog. You know I was practicing in a private practice and suddenly couple of years into my practice I started having a lot of symptoms.

I Was feeling tired to the point that I had to take a nap during the afternoon just to function. After my clinic day was done, You Know, i will feel brain foggy that i was not able to concentrate on things. i Was gaining a Lot of weight even though i did not change anything in my diet or workouts and then plus you Know i, was starting having this horrible stomach pain. I had no idea why I was having this stomach pain. Initially, I thought maybe it is acid reflux. I started taking an over-the-counter acid-reflux medications.

They were not doing anything. Then I though maybe I need to go stronger. So I've started some, you know, omeprazole and PPI medications, even they were doing nothing. And the pain was so severe that I would double over that had to sometimes think about even going to the emergency room. But then I realized that what are they going do? They might just give me some pain medications and stuff because I did not have any other symptoms. Then I thought, well, maybe I'm not a smart doctor. Maybe I need to go to these specialists.

So I went to my specialist friends, coded endoscopies, ultrasounds, blood work, bunch of testing. Everything came back normal. I had there no idea what was going on with me and they added more medications to regimen. And I was only 32 years of age, taking five different medications just for my stomach. And that hit me hard that, you know, do I have to take these medications for my lifelong? Is there a way out of it? That's where somebody said, well, people like you go to functional medicine, so why don't you try it.

So I got trained into functional medicines, started applying the protocols in my own life and then completely transformed my life. You know I changed my diet, took some basic supplements and within one month the stomach pain was gone. And then within six months, you know, like, I was off all medications and I lost more than 40 pounds during that time. And my energy levels were so great. I wasn't best physical shape that I even participated in a five care rugged maniac and that was never an athletic person.

So for me to do that, it was really a big thing. That hit me hard. It was like wow, basic changes in my lifestyle with some supplements literally changed my life. This is something that i need to for other people too. So opportunity came to work at the Cleveland Clinic, functional medicine department, they wanted to do research. And over there, I realized that I was seeing all of these patients, and they had all similar things. They were all middle-aged females and had similar symptoms like mine.

they were brain foggy, had weight issues, were tired or fatigued and were taking medications. The primary factor was that they all were diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease or thyroid disorders. And they were all told, you are on right medication, nothing can be done. So I immediately thought, okay, I need to help these females because they have similar conditions as mine. I started researching Hashimoto's disease made by a three-step process and implemented it and we saw amazing results. Not only their quality of life improved but we were first time able to lower the thyroid antibodies which they had been told by their endocrine specialist that you cannot lower your antibodies doesn't matter what you do and you were able lower them sometimes even bring them back to normal.

That's where I started doing this Hashimoto's thing now. And how do hormones, stress physiology, and immune activation intersect in women with Hashimoto's, especially during the perimenopause and menopausal periods? So Hashimoto's conditions is basically triggered by a whole bunch of things. And hormonal complexity is a very important phenomenon over here. That's one of the reasons that females are a little bit more prone to Hashimatosis as compared to males because of complexity of their hormones.

Dr. Gupta's Personal Health Journey 11:23

Because again, females go through these changes in their hormones, specifically in the perimenopausal areas. At the time of peripenoposal time, the female hormones are changing rapidly. Their estrogen is going down, their progesterone is also off. That's the type which creates stress in female's body because any hormonal shift is a stress for the body and body doesn't like it and that can be triggering for Hashimoto's disease or autoimmunity. Similar things happen with physiological stress also.

We see very common that when people have gone through stressful work environment or stressful relationships or even post pregnancy because there is a big hormonal shift which is happening, the hormones go out of sync and that is the reason that triggers this whole autoimmune cascade of things and leads to Hashimoto's disease. So that's where the whole hormonal system of our body is like a big symphony and each and every hormone is playing a role but is connected with each other. And when one hormone isn't in sync, then it creates the dysfunction of the hormone.

That's the reason that whether it is your adrenal which is the cortisol, whether is you female hormones or whether your thyroid hormone, one goes out of sync The whole organ symphony of your hormones go out of sync and that leads to Hashimoto's or other hormonal problems. You talk extensively about the Mito thyroid connection. Can you explain what that means in practical terms and why supporting mitochondria is essential for thyroid healing? Absolutely, so when I was researching Hashimoto's disease and I looked at all the symptoms you know and it was not making sense that if you are replacing the thyroid hormone and if all symptoms are because of just deficiency of thyroid hormones, then replacing thyroid will fix it.

But again research suggests that it doesn't. So there has to be something which is going on. And what I looked into research was that there was a research study done. What they did was they took thyroid gland of Hashimoto's patients and they looked it under the microscope and what they realized was the thyroid was completely filled with dysfunctional mitochondria. Those have very high amount of mitochondria but they were not all working and that was actually the primary reason that I realized which is happening in Hashimoto's disease that this destruction of Mitochondria is actually, the reason of the symptoms and we all know that thyroid and mitochondrion are interconnected the thyroid hormone controls the mitochondrial function.

What I realized was that it is actually the opposite that mitochondria is responsible for producing the Thyroid hormone in the thyroid gland and it was because of the dysfunction of mitochondrion that we have symptoms. Because if you see, all of thyroid symptoms are actually mitochondial symptoms, mitochondia is the power of cell. So fatigue obviously happens because the Mitochondrial dysfunction. Highest concentration of mitochondria is in your brain, so that's the reason brain fog is a major symptom.

Mitochondria produces heat in the body and that is the main reason cold intolerance is major. It also controls the peristalsis movement in our gut and constipation or bloating is again a big issue. So that's where you realize, okay, there is a connection between your mitochondria and your thyroid. And just replacing thyroid hormone is not going to do it. So you have to support and work on regeneration of mitochondrion. Then only you can improve and support Hashimoto's disease. Now that makes total sense.

Yeah. What breaks down first in Hashimoto's patients? Is it the thyroid itself or the mitochondrial that power every cell? And how does that change how we should treat the disease? So as far as I am concerned, I feel it's the mitochondria which gets damaged first and that's a reason that further leads to the damage in the thyroid gland and your thyroid is unable to produce a thyroid hormone because your mitochondrion is not functioning. Do have a research study like you know whether it is a chicken or egg situation what happens first.

So I don't have it but that's my personal belief that is going on but I believe both are being damaged and that the reason we have to work on both repair of mitochondria and thyroid that needs to be done. But definitely first we need to stop the destruction that whole autoimmune cascade, whole inflammation which is happening in the body which has linear destruction. We need work that first.

Hormones, Stress, and Autoimmune Triggers 15:48

And then we are to working on rejuvenating of the mitochondrion and then obviously we're to re-juvination of thyroid gland. And this is where the functional medicine model of care is very different because the conventional model is just replacing the thyroid hormone. That thyroid replacement is not either stopping the damage, it is NOT replacing your mitochondria, It is Not working on rejuvenation of thyroid gland itself. So that's where protocol or the process of functional medicines or our 3 step process heavily focuses on regeneration and stopping damage to the Thyroid and Mitochondria.

And how does chronic inflammation and immune activation divert energy away from metabolism and towards defense and how do that show up clinically? So our body has only limited amount of resources to function and we have so many different functions that are going on in our bodies. One is definitely energy production, second one is obviously reproduction and then third one obviously making defense as a priority where we want to defend our body with everyday organisms we are being exposed to whether it is infections, you know, parasites, bacteria, viruses which is all around us, right?

When body is broken down, when there is too much inflammation in the body then body has to divert resources to tackle this inflammation. and then it has to prioritize on what I need to shut down or take away the resources so I can lower this inflammation so i can function better. It's kind of a survival mechanism and when that is doing it, the executive functions of our body gets affected the first. So the Executive function is obviously reproduction. We see a very high chances of infertility in females or males which is rising up because of this whole autoimmune cascade of Hashimoto's disease because the 1st thing which gets shutdown is a reproduction The second thing that gets affected is the energy production.

Okay, well let me produce less amount of energy, so at least I am functioning, but I'm not functioning at the optimal level. And then obviously that we are conserving this whole metabolism of our body so that, we don't starve ourselves to death. That's the reason the metabolism also gets slowed down in Hashimoto's patients, that's reason they do not lose weight even they want to. So that is what is happening, the diversion of the resources. Got it. Yeah. And I'm curious if you have any experience since we're talking about mitochondria and inflammation with hyperbaric oxygen chambers and Hashimoto's, if that has been shown to help out clinically.

So we don't have a head-to-head study where we saw that, you know, hyperbolic oxygen treatment in Hashimoto specifically will rejuvenate the thyroid gland. But we see that in hashimoto patients. Again, brain fog is a very major issue that we And hyperbaric oxygen definitely improves the brain functioning. So a lot of people with brain fog, you know, see the mental clarity is coming back. They will feel more energy generally in their body. And plus they will see that there is a little bit of lower inflammation as compared to before.

If a person has brainfog issues where the Brain is not functioning, they feel that they are forgetting or not able to concentrate,

The Mitochondria-Thyroid Connection 18:48

then hyperbolic oxygen, definitely we see a great improvement in those Hashimoto's patients. So, in your experience, Hashimoto's doesn't just happen. What are the most common environmental or lifestyle triggers that push someone over the edge? Through my research, what I identified was that there were five major root causes or triggers, that kind of comes together to trigger Hashimottosis. And these five main root cause, one of them is food sensitivity. We are seeing more and more people are developing sensitivity to either gluten, dairy, soy and other kinds of food.

Gluten being number one. We have research studies which do support that. People who are eliminated gluten see an improvement in Hashimoto's disease. So food sensitivity being a number-one cause that because our food industry or the food habits are not the best and definitely that affects, you know, how we make antibodies and also leads to leaky gut problems. That's first root cause. The second root causes is definitely toxins. Each and every day in our body, you know, we pour more and more toxins.

There are so many synthetic chemicals our environment has today and all of those things get concentrated in your body. Whether it is heavy metals like lead and mercury or arsenic, which you have known for a very long time, they have negative effects on our bodies. Or whether it is the environmental toxins like glycosates or whether is BPAs in our plastics or whole bunch of other chemicals or if there is a mole toxins which we know now hijack our thyroid gland. All of these things actually go directly to a thyroid glands.

So a Thyroid gland basically acts as a sponge and even small amount of toxins the body get exposed to it directly goes through the thyroid Gland and then slowly and slowly a part of it gets deposited over there. and then finding one day it leads to the toxic level and that leads the immune barrier breakdown and again that triggers Hashimoto's disease. So toxins definitely are a major reason. Now here most people think, well, I don't think I never got exposed to any major toxins. Well, it is the accumulation or total exposure of toxins over the course of years which leads into the toxin build up in your system.

That's the major issue that we see in Hashimoto's patients. The third one as you're talking about is stress, whether it is your emotional stress physical stress or hormone related stress that we just spoke about perimenopause or even like you know after pregnancies or any other stress your body get exposed to that again triggers Hashimoto's disease. Then the fourth one is nutritional deficiencies. Your thyroid gland need specific vitamins and minerals, specifically zinc, selenium, magnesium, B vitamins, D vitamins.

All of these things play a very significant role in keeping your thyroid glands in good shape. Deficiency of this vitamins & minerals lead to again triggering of Hashimoto's disease. And lot of people are low in these vitamins and minerals because even our food chain currently is low. So even though we might be eating the best of the diet, we may still be low on them. Do you also recommend iodine? So iodines is a double-edged sword. Okay, so the research says that too much of iodide causes Hashimoto's and too little iodides also causes hashimoto disease.

So that's the reason we have to make this recommendation on an individual level. So certain people who are eating lot of seafood or seaweed or sea vegetables, we recommend not to have iodine supplements. But on the other hand, if person is not eating any seafood, sea vegetable or fish or any other source of iodines, then yes, iodine definitely is a good supplement to add on. So it basically depends on individual approach for that. And the last root cause over here is infections. You know, like we know about like parasites in the gut, which can lead to Hashimoto's disease.

We know Epstein-Barr virus reactivation. Several research studies do show that causes Hashimoto's the disease, and now we are dealing with long COVID as also a trigger for a lot of people having Hashimaoto disease So these chronic infections in our system also leads to triggering of Hashimoto's.

What Breaks Down First in Hashimoto's 22:48

And what people should know is that it's never just one root cause. It's a combination of two to three root causes coming together which ultimately leads Hashimotosy. So just cleaning up your diet or maybe just improving your lifestyle alone sometimes doesn't give the people the benefit. They have to look at all the root-causes, work on all of them, then only they are going to see improvement. Let's talk about heavy metals and mold for a minute. Heavy metals are a topic that can feel overwhelming for patients.

What are the most common sources of exposure you see and how are these metals, how do they interfere with the thyroid signaling and the immune balance? So the most common heavy metals that has shown you know research studies to interfere with thyroid issues one is lead, the second one mercury and third one arsenic. So these three definitely we have research study which do so that you can affect the thyroid negatively for a long time and there are other heavy metal we do not have direct research like in aluminium and other things but they can also contribute.

The mechanism of system is very similar in terms of what we call as either molecular mimicry or either breaking down the immune barrier in the cell. So what happens is that these heavy metals interfere with thyroid hormone production. That's the first thing which is happening. because they get absorbed into thyroid gland so either they can interfere with absorption of the iodine or you know a conversion of iodines into the thyroid hormone production. So that's one way they interfere. The second thing is that these heavy metals once they are deposited in the Thyroid gland what happens is your body cells think they're external sources so they want to produce antibodies against them.

And lot of these heavy metals, specifically mercury and lead, has very similar molecular structure as compared to your thyroid hormone. And that's the reason when your body is producing antibodies, they actually damage your Thyroid gland instead of damaging or removing these Heavy metals. So that is called Molecular Mimicry. That again is the second reason. The third reason is breaking the immune barrier. When these heavy metals keeps on getting deposited into our cells then our immune system kind of again feels overwhelmed in taking care of these Heavy

Inflammation, Energy, and Metabolism 24:58

metals to keep them at bay. And then finally that level reaches where our Immune system breaks down. And when our immune system breaks down, we have two parts to our system. One is what we call as a damaging to your body immune systems and the other one is protective immune. When our immunity barrier is broken down the system which is damaging our body gets activated and it never gets shut down and that's where these antibodies are made and this activation of this immune breaks our thyroid gland and leads to Hashimoto's disease.

So these are the different mechanisms why these heavy metals can actually cause issues with our body. Now what is the exposure sources? So mercury typically comes from fish. So fish which is heavily polluted with mercury, that's one source. The second source is obviously silver filling. People who have had silver fillings as a child, those silver filings in their mouth have mercury in them and over the course of time it breaks down and can release mercury into the system. Lead typically can come from lead paints but obviously we do not have lead paint these days but what we are seeing is that lot of restored houses, they never got stripped completely from the lead panes but people kept on painting on top of them quote after quote.

So again they can release lead. The second source is water. Lot of the municipal or community waters or even well water is polluted from Lead. That is the second sources of lead that we see people happening. Arsenic, a typical source of arsenic is rice. So if you're eating rice, which is coming from Asian countries like India, Pakistan, and other places, their soil is very high in arsenics. That is a major source in our system. I would just add that those of us born before 1984 used to breathe in the leaded gasoline that was the thing before unleaded gas.

It doesn't just circulate in your system, it just goes in and settles in in bones and then comes out at later dates. So yeah, very interesting. Mold exposure is increasingly recognized in chronic illness. How do mold toxins specifically worsen Hashimoto's? And why do some patients seem more uniquely sensitive than others? So mold is actually an interesting phenomenon. We all kind of knew about mold toxins causing diseases like a long time ago. The major research actually was done in livestock. Because the livestock was fed this grain which was infested with mold.

Hyperbaric Oxygen for Brain Fog 27:28

And we came to know that they had a whole bunch of issues, autoimmune and thyroid. or what not but we never thought that you know the same mold can affect the human body until like you 10-15 years ago some of the functional medicine dogs thought well maybe this mold is the reason that we are having so many autoimmune diseases and then yes the research do suggest that these mold toxins when you our body get exposed to them they do interfere with our hormone production as well as also create something called SERS which is CIRS which chronic inflammatory response syndrome basically again when these mole toxins are being produced in our body they hijack our immune system and then again same thing the TH1 and TH2 response the two responses that I was talking about in our immunity, whereas one is protective and one damaging to our body, the mold actually again activates the TH response which damages our bodies and leads to inflammation producing chemicals.

And these inflammation cytokines and chemicals lead to what we call as SIRs. These Sirs start damaging different parts of our own body. The main ones are the thyroid gland. So it interferes with thyroid hormone production and damages the thyroid gland cells so that the cells are not able to produce thyroid hormones and ultimately leads to hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's disease. And so when mold or metals are part of the picture, and doing an aggressive detox can actually backfire if the nervous system and mitochondria aren't supported first,

Root Causes: Food, Toxins, Stress, Deficiencies, Infections 28:58

is that right? That is correct. Yes. A lot of people who listen to me or somebody else talking about detox, the first thing they go online is that look for a detox bundle, start using it, and that actually harms their body. Actually, a lot our clients come to see us. Dr. Gupta, I think I have made things worse for me. I said, what happened? I heard somebody talking what mold and then I say, yes, you know, like I see mold in my basement, so let me start detox and they do the detox. And they feel worse.

They have brain fog issues, their energy goes down. The reason being detox is a process and then you have to do it in a safe and a proper manner. There are three different phases of detox. Most people are just working on phase one of the detox that actually cause recirculation of these toxins and actually damages your body more. So detox is not the first thing that you need, you actually need to work on your gut, your mitochondria, inflammation, nutrient deficiencies and once all those channels are optimized then you start the detoxification.

So absolutely very important point that don't start your detox tomorrow, even if you have high monotoxins there is a process involved into it. You need work all the different phases of detox. You've incorporated peptides into your work with Hashimoto's patients. So which peptide are most promising and what roles do they play? Like immune modulation, mitochondrial repair, or gut integrity? Absolutely. What are peptids? A lot of people have heard of them, but they don't know exactly. Peptides are a small collection of amino acids.

They're similar to proteins. Proteins are also a collection amino acid, proteins are bigger numbers of the amino While peptides are very short-chain amino acids coming together, they are naturally made by our body. But through research, we have known more and more peptide which have therapeutic potential. The most common or the oldest peptid we all know about is insulin. Insulin is a peptite our bodies make and we've been using it as a medicine for a long time. Similarly, We've identified at least 100 different peptids which has different roles to play in our own body and some of those peptidae have great potentials.

So couple of the peptides that we have seen like you know improvement in our protocols one of them is gut related peptide one is BPC 157 which is typically produced by our gut which again reduces inflammation in the gut it is really good for gut healing so we use that along with that is KPV that's another gut-healing peptid specifically people who have lot of inflammation or have issues with SIBO or Candida issues in the gut, KPV can be very good by improving the Gut immunity and healing the guts.

So that's the first range of peptides that we use. The second region of Peptides are Immunomodulator Peptides. You know like two peptide over here is Thymosin alpha 1 and Thymosin beta 4. Both of these ones are basically working on retraining our immune system so that our system doesn't hurt our body, in fact it protects our bodies again. So these are the two peptides that we use which can reduce inflammation, again they are good for healing. And some people like Hashimoto's are very sensitive, like any supplement you give them, any meditation they get, they react to it.

So these immunomodulator peptides are really good because they lower down kind of this sensitivity in their body. So at least we can start them on a proper protocol that way. And then obviously comes the mitochondrial peptide, which is the mortise, is a great peptid which supports the mitocondrial health. Because again, as you're talking about, a lot of people will have fatigue issues, brain fog issues and low energy. This mortice can help them support their mitochondria health and improving it.

The other peptides which we don't use very often but people with Hashimoto's disease who have issues with either sleep problems or have very much anxious or they have stress issues. Then Cmax and Clang are two category peptide which can be very very useful improving their brain activity reducing the stress reducing like you know mood changes and things and help support their Brain health. Yeah, but peptides are kind of fitting into a larger healing strategy. They're never just standalone treatments.

Is that correct? That is correct. Yes. So, you know, like we can obviously, go on and on about the peptide and things.

Heavy Metals and Mold Exposure 33:08

But, there is a major role of a peptid and then obviously there are several minor roles. The peptids I spoke about, their major roles are defined over there, But they have so many other kind-of side roles which they improve on. So introducing one peptide works on so many different pathways in our body and then help our bodies in so different ways. So absolutely that one Peptide helps our Body in many underlying mechanisms that is very difficult to define like what exactly they are doing and also what all benefits they're going to do to our Bodies.

So for someone listening who has been told their Hashimoto's is progressive and irreversible, what do you want them to understand about the body's capacity to heal? What I would like to say is that, you know, if you have been that Hashimoto's are not reversible, You cannot do anything to lower the antibodies. That is not correct. You know, through our protocols, you know or through any like lot of other functional medicine protocols too, You can lower the antibodies, and you can get your life back.

So do not lose hope. You just have to work on the right things. you have address the underlying root causes, then that's where the magic happens. We will see so much better in how you're feeling, your blood work will get better, And you will the life-back that you deserve. Do not loose hope, take the Right Step, & you are going to get Better. Awesome. And what are three to five things patients can start doing tomorrow to begin reversing Hashimoto's like before lab supplements or advanced therapies?

I'm a big proponent of lifestyle changes. So that is a foundation. Anybody, everybody who's listening has Archimotor's or thyroid disease, they need to start working on their lifestyle. What that means is that start work on your diet. You know, clean up your day to day itself. Give up the bad food, give up inflammatory food. Stop eating all that junk that we have been sold for decades now. So stop eating, you know, like the processed food, stop going to fried foods, processed foods. Stop eating sugary foods if you are able to give up gluten and dairy, that is great.

Steadily start doing that and start eating healthy foods what that means is that include lots and lots of good non starchy colorful vegetables. Each and every vegetable that you are eating has a color and each and ever color in that vegetable is an antioxidant, vitamin and mineral that your putting in your body which is helping in lowering the antibodies as well as supporting your thyroid gland. So eat your veggies. Your grandma was absolutely correct when she said eat you veggies so that's what you should start doing first.

Eat your rainbow of veggies Exactly. The second thing is good quality proteins, okay? Yes. Eat those amino acids, you know, L-tyrosine, l-glutamine, all of those great amino acid, we need that, so good-quality protein. So if you can eat chicken, fish, even meat, if get grass-fed organic meats, great. If you are vegan or vegetarian, eat your lentils, legumes, your nuts and seeds, but get your proteins. Very important. Can. Third thing, is, good, quality fats, again, We have been fat-shamed for a long time.

All fats are bad. Not correct. We need good fats. Your thyroid needs good fat, your brain needs fat. So include those great fats which can be coming from your fatty fishes, those omega-3s or it can come from nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, olive oil, avocado oils, even avocados. All of those are good facts that you need to include. So that's the basic of these diets. Clean up your diet, include healing foods, which will be good for your thyroid gland. The second one is stress management strategies.

Yes, you might not feel stressed out, You can handle stress. You are a strong person. Absolutely. But we all need a break. That means that include 10 to 15 minutes of stress reduction exercises, which can be deep breathing, meditation, journaling, gratitude journalling, any of those things. But that 10-15 minutes is your time, you need to work and give a break to your adrenal glands. You are going to feel so much better from it. And the third thing is body movement. Okay. Now this is where I call it body movements and not exercising because unfortunately for Hashimoto's disease, high intensity exercising can backfire.

So start with a gentle body moment. Again, 15-20 minutes, you know, mix cardio and strengthening. That is the best exercising regimen for hashimoto. If that is even too much for you, start going for a walk. Go for gentle yoga, Pilates, anything that you can do. Move your body for 10-15-20 minutes a day.

Detox Caution and Peptide Therapies 37:38

That again will lower inflammation, support your thyroid gland. So these are the three basic things that each and every person can start doing tomorrow itself which is going to give them long lasting benefits in not only improving their Hashimoto's but also rebalancing all the other hormones and their body in general. Absolutely. That's great advice. I love that. If you could change one thing about Hashimoto's and how it's diagnosed and treated in mainstream medicine, what would that be and why?

I just want everybody to get the complete thyroid blood work. You know, I wish that each and every person gets the Hashimoto's antibody testing done. because that will help us to identify Hashimoto's at a very very early stages because right now it is taking a long time for the diagnosis and by the time the damage has already been done. So early diagnosis is the key Hashimoto's antibodies as well as TSH, T3,T4, you know complete thyroid panel will give us a complete picture you over what is happening in a person's body with Hashimatosis.

And second of all also realizing sometimes levothyroxine T4 medicine is not alone and that's where lifestyle changes can be useful and adding sometimes for some people T3 hormone medication is a not a bad idea because there are some subset of people who do not convert that T 4 to T 3 and they need that t3 hormones you know on top of the t4 hormone and it will be very very useful for them. So first of all, complete testing and then also realizing that yes, there are some people who might need T3 on top of the T4.

I think if conventional medicine can do that itself, they'll be doing a big service for a lot of people. Great. So finally, after working with thousands of patients, what gives you the most hope about the future of thyroid and autoimmune care? I feel that now we're realizing that thyroid and autoimmunity is complex. We all were told that well, thyroid is easy, they get diagnosed with it, you give them levoteroxine, send them home, check their TSH, if it is fine, your job is done. Whether the patient has symptoms or not, whether they're getting better or that doesn't matter, that is what you need to focus on.

But now people are realizing that, well, why are so many of my patients not getting better? So they're realizing the autoimmunity is complex, the immune failure, there is a reason behind it. Suddenly, we do not have a generation of people, you know, which are getting diagnosed with auto-immunity, while the last generation, they were literally any autoimmune diseases. So now realizing it is complex. So they're looking for more reasons why, you know, like it's automatically is happening. And then also being open about that diet can play a role.

Yes, stress management can be a roll. yes, exercising is great. and even some basic supplements like even vitamin D itself. You know it so much good for their patients and they are checking it regularly. so that gives me hope that at least they've been open. you know and then looking for other reasons and complex phenomenon of what is driving the whole autoimmune cascade of things and looking comprehensive

Healing Hashimoto's and Practical Next Steps 40:38

approaches to manage thyroid patients and lot of centers are actually looking at diseases as not just one thing they can do but combining a team of approach where you know patients are supported from all different angles and providing them the team approach of let's say a coach or a nutritionist or other ancillary services that can provide them that valuable feedback which will so improve the disease process. So that gives me hope that you that the conventional medicine is looking for other ways of helping their patients out and hopefully that will become mainstream and more and That's awesome.

That is great. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been so enlightening. Thank you everyone for joing me on the functional edge. I hope today's episode gave you fresh insights and practical tools to level up your life. If you found value in what you heard, don't forget to hit the subscribe and share the podcast with someone who needs it and leave a review. Is the best way to support our mission of bringing powerful health solutions to more people. So for more resources, updates, and behind the scenes content, visit drjuliaward.com.

And Dr. Gupta, how do people get in touch with you if they want to explore more about your services? So we have couple of ways so I share a lot of content through my YouTube channel. The YouTube name is AnshulGuptaMD and you know like we share content which is like actionable steps for people so they can watch videos over there. Plus my website has great blogs. Again the website name Ansulguptamd.com. We do provide virtual services so people can work with us from anywhere in the country and they get more information on the websites about working as well as reading more about the thyroid health.

Great, great. Well, thank you so much again and until next time stay strong, stay healthy and keep living on the functional edge. Thank you for joining me on The Functional Edge. I hope today's episode gave you fresh insights and practical tools to level up your life. If you found value in what you heard, don't forget to hit subscribe, share the podcast with someone who needs it and leave a review. It's the best way to support our mission of bringing powerful health solutions to more people. For more resources, updates, and behind-the-scenes content, visit drjuliaward.com.

Until next time, stay strong, Stay healthy, And keep living on the functional edge.