Menopause

Thyroid

Thyroid Mysteries Revealed: Your Path To Wellness

Mastering The Meno(Pause) Transition Summit 3.0

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z9RRsupKQDZKsT4Wq4r7F9_gzO1OcZqZ/view?usp=drive_link

Let's start with the basics. Let's start with blood work because blood work is a very accurate way to monitor your thyroid gland. There are six levels—not one, not just the TSH—but six levels that should be run by your physician. These are, grab a pen; TSH-free T3, free T4, reverse T3, anti-TPO, and thyroid globulin antibodies. Maybe you've heard these before, and maybe you are asking for the levels. If you are, that's great. But if you aren't, then know what the levels are. But what I find is that even if you're getting the right levels run, a lot of women are being told they're fine because they look like they're in the range. Let me give you an example. Free T3, is the most important marker because free means free and bioavailable at the cellular receptor site. To make a change, to make you feel good. It's not total T3, it's not T3, it has to be free because those other ones, for instance, total T3 include T3 that is bound and is unable to be used at the cellular receptor site. That's why the free is so important. 

Now the range can be typically 2 to 4.4. If you come in at a 3.2, it sounds optimal; you're smack dab in the middle of the range. A lot of times, that's what we look for. You'll hear me say, You don't want to be too low. You don't want to be too high. You want to be in the middle. But my experience, which is very extensive at this point—23 years practicing and counting—is that most women don't feel good at that middle range, myself included. They feel good at the high end of the range at the 4.2, or they feel good above the lab range. I tend to run my free T3 at about 5.4. It's where I feel my best, and so as long as you're not having symptoms of palpitations, or diarrhea, your heart beating out of your chest, your eyes bulging, you're sweating, you're anxious. Those are all signs of too much thyroid. But if you're not having those symptoms and you're out of range and you're being monitored by a doctor who understands what they're doing, well, then it's okay. Because remember, ranges are just ranges. You are a unique butterfly. You are a unique snowflake. You are a biochemical individual. Just because this is what they decided, the lab ranges doesn't mean that you have to fall within them to feel your best. It's important that if you're getting the lab work done, that it's being analyzed properly. 

Now, the other thing that I'll see happen is that when you're on T3, you're on bioidentical thyroid hormone, and you can have your TSH suppressed. It will be suppressed. If a doctor sees someone who doesn't understand how the thyroid hormone works, they will freak out and think you're hypothyroid. Again, if you're not having those symptoms, I just ran through the anxiety, the palpitations, the diarrhea, the sweating, and the crawling out of your skin. Then you're not hypothyroid. Don't let anyone scare you. Were you readjusting your medications because of the numbers on a page? One of the most important things I do, and that I want to convey to you is to have your doctors do. If you're not a patient of mine, is that your doctor needs to look at your lab work and your doctor needs to look at you? It's the combination of who you are and how you're feeling. If your lab looks fine but you're still the poster child of an underfunctioning thyroid, then that needs to be addressed. Because then we learn that your lab levels are going to be different than the average. That's the free T3. 

The reverse T3 is an important one, and it's not often run, but if the reverse T3 is going too high, and again, the range is usually 8 to 25. To me, anything from 13, 14, 15, 16, we're getting too high, even if we're not up at the top end of the range. You can see it's important to find a doctor who understands lab results and understands the nuances in every single lab test that there is. If your reverse T3 is what I consider too high, that means the T4 in your body or T4 that you're taking is not converting to free T3, it's converting to reverse T3, and reverse T3 is tricky. It's, ha ha ha, I'm going to go sit on your cellular receptor site. I'm going to fake out your cells. I'm going to make it think it's T3, but there's going to be no activity. It blocks the actual T3 from working. There could be many reasons why your reverse T3 is too high. It could be toxicity. It can be stress in the form of toxins or adrenal stress. It could be nutrient deficiencies. It can be weight issues. There are so many different reasons that would need to be looked at. Why you're converting your T4 into reverse T3 rather than regular free T3? 

Now one of the things is you want a doctor who's looking at this and understanding this, because often if a patient has too high reverse T3, then we don't prescribe or I don't prescribe a combination armor, which is a popular one, which is a t4 T3 Synthroid, which is the common pharmaceutical, is just T4, and they are going under the assumption that you are going to turn that T4 into T3 in your body. But again, just I told you that there are reasons why we would raid too much reverse T3. There are a lot of reasons why we don't turn T4 into T3 in our bodies. Similar nutrient deficiencies include iodine deficiency, adrenal stress, chemical stress, and toxic stress. It's not a good idea to assume. If your reverse T3 is too high, I won't prescribe it. I never prescribe armor because I don't think the fillers in armor have corn, so I prescribe an NP thyroid. Or we make a free T3 in. Well wait, so I prescribe it and p thyroid instead of armor or synthroid, which has t4 23. But what I'm talking about now, sorry to confuse you. What I'm talking about now is if you reverse T3 is high, you're just going to need free T3. I prescribe just T3. I take away the T4 or so. When we give it to your body. Your body just goes up T3! It doesn't make more sense. T3 will help to bring that down and reset the stage. 

Again, we have to look at the free T3. We have to look at the reverse T3. We have to look at the thyroid globulin antibodies and the peroxidase antibodies, which are often written as anti-types because those let us know if there is an auto-immune activity against your thyroid. Different treatment. If you have autoimmune activity, you've probably heard of Hashimoto's. Then it's not just about replacing your thyroid hormone; it's about asking the million-dollar question. The two-year-old asked, Why, is my body attacking my thyroid? There were some common reasons. Gluten sensitivity, vitamin D deficiency, gluten, thiamin deficiency, mercury toxicity. But there can be lots of issues going on in your gut. Whenever I see an autoimmune issue, I'm always going and doing my favorite gut tests to see what's going on because that's where a lot of autoimmunity stems from. It stems from the improper balance in your gut microbiome at your gut lumen and in your permeability levels and so on. 

Important because I see this a lot: women are diagnosed if their doctor even checked the antibodies, and then if they are diagnosed with Hashimoto's, they're just put on thyroid hormone and no one says why. Then we're never getting to the root problem and reversing it. Then TSH is a thyroid-stimulating hormone. It's a little confusing because that's the marker that's coming from the brain. That's not sensing thyroid hormone. It's screaming down to the thyroid, hello. Make thyroid hormone. When that marker goes high, it means your thyroid production is low. Again, that range can be from points 5 to 5. I prefer to see it at about one. Anything over that, I start questioning. Again, when you go on bioidentical thyroid hormone, it's going to get suppressed. Don't let anyone scare you. That is normal. 

Then there's free T4, which is important but not as important because free T4 doesn't have any activity. It's all about the free T3 at the receptor site. But sometimes you can see someone's free T4 is high and their free T3 is low. Then, they're not converting. Sometimes you can just give things to help the conversion, and it will work. Other times I see it sounds nice in theory, but it doesn't always work in practice. That's a little bit about blood work to get you started. I also have to do pre- and post-iodine testing. This is a specialized test from one of my specialized labs to see if you're just out deficient in iodine, which is more common than usual. We do a pretest to get your iodine levels. We have you take a loading dose of 50 mg high dose. then we look to see what your body excretes. We expect your body to excrete about 80 to 90% of that iodine. It doesn't. You took the iodine. then we're seeing what you excrete. If your body has enough iodine, then your body excretes that 80 to 90% because it's. I don't need this; I can just excrete it. But if your body doesn't have enough iodine, it's one for iodine, and it holds on to it, and then your excretion maybe 15%. Then I know I need to prescribe iodine, and we need to follow you, and we need to get you to the level. 

Then one other thing I want to talk about is your temperature. Your temperature should be 98.6. You can take your temperature. You can pick up a basal body thermometer on Amazon. Every morning for a week before you get out of bed before you move around, just put it under your underarm and take your basal body temperature. If you are not at 98.6 and I see this all the time, I see 95, 96, and 97. That means your thyroid is low. That's another sign of low blood pressure. If you're a 90 over 60 gal. I used to be a 90 over 60 gal. You can reverse all this, but if you're 90 over 60, that's another sign. Low thyroid, low adrenal function. We talked about adrenals. Remember, we want to look at the adrenals before we start revving the thyroid. then we want to support them together. Of course, the thyroid can also be affiliated with or associated with your libido. You can have ringing in your ears because of low thyroid. I think I said foggy thinking before brain fog. 

There is some overlap between the different hormones. But we cannot forget about our thyroid. Our thyroid is often affected as we're going through this hormonal transition, and we're never going to feel good. We can put in the estrogen, the progesterone, and the testosterone, but if we don't give some love to our thyroid, we're never going to get to be balanced and feel our best. There's lots more to say about thyroid. I have lots to say about thyroid. I just wanted to give you this quick one-on-one. It's got lots of tips in it, so you can use this to get started. Of course, stay tuned. There's going to be so much education for me throughout the summit. After this summit, I'm so grateful you're here. I'm so happy to have you as part of my community, and together we are going to rock menopause, and we are going to be a force to be reckoned with out in the world. 

Enjoy the rest of the day, and I'll see you tomorrow. Well, I'll see you during the day because I'm interviewing everyone. But I'll be back for another little mini-talk tomorrow.

<h6>Sharon Stills, NMD</h6>
Hello and welcome back to Mastering the Menopause Transition 3.0. I'm Dr. Sharon Stills, your host, and I wanted to kick off the day with one of my MiniTalks with you, about such an important topic, your thyroid gland. I have been in practice for 23 years, and I would have to say thyroid is at the top of misdiagnoses of women being given the wrong information, whether it's being gaslit or just not having the knowledge or lazy medicine. I'm coming in here to set the record straight and help you, because if your thyroid doesn't function, there are common symptoms we know of, such as constipation, an inability to lose weight, headaches, fatigue, brain fog, dry skin, hair falling out, feeling cold all the time, joint pain, digestive issues, and heartburn. I could go on and on and on. I have a list of about 100 symptoms that could be related to thyroid, so it is a very common issue in women. I just want to give you some things to be thinking about. I want to arm you with some tools. Best I can for when you see your doctor.

https://d1tnc8rqovg0h0.cloudfront.net/2024+Summits/Meno(pause)+Summit+3.0/Transcripts/2024_MTMTS3_Mini+Talk+Day+4+Transcript+File.pdf

Dr. Sharon Stills, a licensed Naturopathic Medical Doctor with over two decades of dedicated service in transforming women’s health has been a guiding light for perimenopausal and menopausal women, empowering them to reinvent, explore, and rediscover their vitality and zest for life. Her pioneering RED Hot Sexy Meno(pause) Program encapsulates her philosophy: to Reinvent your Health, Explore your Spirit, and Discover YOUR Sexy. This unique approach has revolutionized the way women experience their transformative years, making her a sought-after expert in the field.
A proud graduate of The Sonoran University, class of 2001 with a rich background in European Biological Medicine, pro-aging therapies, and Bio-identical Hormone Replacement, Dr. Stills has successfully guided thousands of women through gentle transitions using all-natural methods. Her expertise is recognized globally, evidenced by her invitation to take part as the Co-Lead North American lecturer for the Paracelsus Academy in Switzerland when the Academy was up and running. She also is a long time contributor as a physician expert at Women’s Health Network. Her influence is also felt in academia and professional circles, sitting on the boards of the Bio-Regulatory Medicine Institute and the Archive of Healing at UCLA. Dr. Stills continues to share her knowledge through the annual Mastering your Meno(pause) transition summit and as the former host of The Science Of Self Healing podcast.
The opening of Stills Health Clinic, her new 7,000 sq. ft. clinic in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, in late fall 2024, marks another milestone in her mission to provide unparalleled naturopathic care. There along with her son, Dr Ben Stills, they will be providing unique diagnostic and therapeutic options addressing all forms of chronic illness including but not limited to cancer, autoimmunity, covid-20 and of course Meno(pause) concerns. This venture follows her previous success in founding and running one of the largest naturopathic clinics in the country.
Dr. Stills’ personal journey of overcoming her own serious health challenges underscores her commitment to the wellness path she advocates for her patients. Her life is a testament to the principles she teaches: from embracing a healthy Paleo diet and a rigorous vitamin regimen to prioritizing restorative sleep and physical movement through yoga, hiking, and dancing.
Whether meditating in solitude, cheering for the NY Jets, baking paleo cookies, or exploring the world collecting passport stamps with her family and adorable granddaughters, she embodies the RED-Hot life she champions for others.

Thyroid Mysteries Revealed: Your Path To Wellness

Sharon Stills, NMD

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Sharon Stills, NMD