Tiffany Flaten, M.Ed., MSN, CNS, and wellness coach and is a thyroid expert in nutrition. In this episode of the Health Detective Podcast, Tiffany and Dr. Lauryn explore the Wild West of the thyroid, discussing symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of this widespread epidemic.

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Highlights

4:08 - Tiffany talks about how her own thyroid conditions led her to her to study nutrition and help others

8:47 - Some hallmarks symptoms of thyroid conditions.

11:45 - The importance of the thyroid

14:21 - The unfortunate lack of thoroughness when diagnosing thyroid conditions.

17:59 - Causes of thyroid conditions

20:44 - The connection between pregnancy and Hashimoto’s disease.

23:28 - Common causes of stress that Tiffany sees in the people she works with.

26:24 - The type of people that tend to suffer from thyroid conditions

28:38 - How to start healing your thyroid condition

31:33 - The nutrients linked to thyroid health

34:57 - Foods that tend to cause flair ups

36:29 - How to find out more about Tiffany and her work

37:25 - A cool health insight

38:44 - A chronic wellness hack

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About Tiffany Flaten

Tiffany Flaten, M.Ed., MSN, CNS and wellness coach and is a thyroid expert in nutrition. As founder of Rock Bottom Wellness and Tiffany Flaten Health, LLC, Tiffany helps thyroid patients improve their symptoms through proper nutrition education. She’s helped hundreds of women and men get to the root cause, find a way up from rock bottom, be their own best advocate, and shortcut the path to an amazing life. Rock Bottom Thyroid Treatment: An 8-Week Thyroid Diet for People with “Normal” Thyroid Test Results to Thrive, Not Just Survive is Tiffany’s first book. Meet others on the journey to better thyroid health at www.rockbottomwellness.com/group. Book a free Thyroid Breakthrough Session with Tiffany at www.rockbottomwellness.com/breakthrough to get a personalized plan for the next leg of your thyroid journey.

Connect with Tiffany

Website | rockbottomwellness.com

Facebook | Rock Bottom Wellness

Facebook Group | Nutrition for Thyroid Health

Instagram | tiffanyflatenhealth

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Connect with Dr. Lauryn

Facebook | Dr. Lauryn Lax

Twitter | @drlaurynlax

Instagram | @drlaurynlax

Website | drlauryn.com 

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Transcript (Episode website contains full transcript)

Dr. Lauryn (00:02):

Well, hello. Hello. Welcome to the Health Detective Podcast, a show dedicated to quieting the noise in the health, food, and fitness world. I'm your host, Dr. Lauryn, former TV news journalist, and chronic illness patient, gone health detective, and functional medicine expert, helping patients worldwide radically take their health back into their own hands. On this show, we have real conversations with a variety of guests who are all about being a little bit of a health detective in their own way, from New York Times bestselling authors, professional athletes, research nerds like myself, serial entrepreneurs, business owners, underdog, overcomers, and expert clinicians. Ultimately get ready to uncover the truth and expose the lies in both conventional health wisdom and diet culture as we know it so you can reach your optimal potential.

(00:47):

Well, today we're talking all about the wild wild west of the thyroid, which is something I personally dealt with at thyroid condition, Hashimoto's, hypothyroidism, as well as I would say 60 to 70% of the patients that I see in clinical practice.

(01:01):

And a lot of my own thyroid issues stemmed from a history of chronic stress, chronic dieting, <laugh> definitely in my eating disorder days. And on the back end, just recognizing and being diagnosed with all sorts of autoimmune conditions in relation to stress and both my gut microbiome, which we're gonna nerd out on some more. Today we have Tiffany Flaten in the house. She is a nutritionist, thyroid expert, and wellness coach. Also the founder of the company Rock Bottom Wellness. And she really helps thyroid patients improve their symptoms through proper nutrition education. That is her wheelhouse. She's written a book, "Rock Bottom Thyroid Treatment" and "Eight Week Thyroid Diet for people with normal thyroid test results to thrive, not to just survive". And you are gonna love hearing her story. You know, experience is always the best teacher, and Tiffany is no different. Her own health journey took her down the trajectory she's on today, now, empowering so many people, so many patients, and clients to really take their health back into their own hands as well.

(02:00):

So this show is for you if you wanna know all about Thyroid 101, how to know if you have thyroid conditions, what to look for, classic signs and symptoms. Yes. also looking at which lab test can help show you that, to treatment actually for it. And all the angles that you can come from supporting the thyroid beyond just taking a pill for the ill, which in some cases can be helpful for somewhat thyroid conditions. So we do talk about just the Wild West, not only of thyroid conditions itself and being diagnosed, but what to do about it. I learned some interesting hacks from her, and one hack that she shared with me off the air was how supplementation with which is an amino acid supplement, actually she has seen that significantly lower folk's antibodies basically from a Hashimotos perspective.

(02:54):

So if there is that flare happening from an autoimmunity of the thyroid, which goes misdiagnosed a lot, that hack with that amino acid supplementation can be really helpful, she shared. So really excited to get to this episode. And, of course, if you guys are liking the show, please don't hesitate to leave a review. Your reviews help others become their own health detective in their life. So that five stars is so appreciated. Of course, if you have questions or you have a topic idea, something you'd love to see us dig a little bit deeper and be detectives four on this show, please don't hesitate to reach out to me on my website, dr Lauryn dot com. That's Dr. Lauryn d r l a u r y n dot com. Can't wait to hear from you. All right, let's get to the show.

(03:42):

Well, Tiffany, I'm so excited to have you in the house today to just chat about the wild west of the thyroid, which I think we're gonna have a lot of ears peaked towards that because it is a widespread epidemic really amidst modern, especially womankind. But we can kind of get into that in a minute. But would love to know a little bit about really your story background and what got you doing this work that you're doing in the world.

Tiffany (04:08):

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. Any opportunity to, you know, to explain to people, like you said, the wild wild west of the thyroid and how you can actually help yourself is so important. So thank you. My background and my history of why I'm doing what I do now, it comes from my own issues with my thyroid. I had What I truly believe was an undiagnosed thyroid condition. I'm just assuming hypothyroidism. I don't believe I had the autoimmune piece as in Hashimotos or Graves, but I believe I had undiagnosed thyroid conditions because my TSH was always in the, you know, normal range, and that's all that was tested. But I had all kinds of symptoms, depression, anxiety, were probably, you know, at my worst probably that was the worst symptom, but there was the debilitating fatigue was a part of it that would sort of ebb and flow throughout my life starting in high school actually.

(05:02):

And so it got worse and worse through college. And then after my first child, it got worse, you know, which you hear so often. And then eventually, you know, jumped a few years after that first child, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer just at a regular checkup for a yearly checkup, and she palpated in my, my throat, and she noticed a lump, and it was pretty big. And actually, after I knew it was there, I could just see it by looking in the mirror. So I don't know how I missed it for all those years. And they had said, you know, it's still growing, thankfully so, but it said that it had probably been in my system for about 10 years based on the size and that it had spread to the lymph nodes at that point. So, of course, that drives you into fear mode when you hear the C word.

(05:49):

It kind of just raises a whole nother level of stress and anxiety and worry, you know, just changes things. And I just went through the process, the typical process of surgery and treatment and then surgery again cuz it came back a year later and more treatments and then just watching it, the watch and weight method of scanning and that kind of stuff Yearly or actually I was going every four months for a while and checking things out with my blood work and my medications. And the biggest problem for me, yes, the cancer was a problem, but I had horrible symptoms, and I would say the majority of my symptoms or the most frustrating was the fatigue. It was unbearable. I can only describe it as pregnancy fatigue. So if any of your listeners have gone through that, that's the only way I can describe it and kind of relate it to people, which made it hard to do my job, of course, and to, you know, deal with little kids and, and just have any interest in going to anything social, going to a movie with friends or anything.

(06:53):

It was just not going to happen. And it was just super frustrating cuz I could not get back to what I tried to describe as normal, and I didn't even really know what that was. I just knew it was better than what I was feeling, and I wasn't getting any support and help, any guidance from my doctors. It was just, this is how it is, get used to it, you know, this is all we can do. Take your Synthroid and be done. That's it. And I just wasn't gonna take that <laugh>, I wasn't gonna live like that cuz I, it was not living actually. So I went back to school to become a nutritionist, and where I'm located, you know, I went through the process of getting a master's in nutrition and doing the certified nutrition specialist board certification so that I could practice and help people do the same thing and overcome their issues and to at least support what they're doing with their doctors, with managing their medication cuz that obviously needs to be done.

(07:47):

And so I just have been finding more and more people who have those same but different kinds of scenarios that are just not getting support. And that's what I wanted to focus on because it took me probably a good eight to 10 years to start feeling like my old self and that old self that was from a long time ago. I mean, that was from early high school probably where I felt with, you know, with energy and all that kind of thing and, and not being depressed, and I just wanted to really help people not have to deal with that for 10 or more years until they could live life. So that's my story, my background.

Dr. Lauryn (08:23):

Definitely. And so cool that, yeah, you are living life now and helping others get their lives back. And just, let's kind of like paint the picture here first. So wild west of thyroid, it is very synonymous with a lot of just everyday conditions or everyday symptoms rather than probably experience. Can you kind of share what would be some of the hallmark signs and symptoms of a thyroid condition first?

Tiffany (08:47):

Yeah, so it's true, it overlaps with so many things, and it gets explained away by, you're just stressed out, you know, know you just have a lot on your plate. So I would say the telltale for sure or the obvious thing would be, you know, some kind of growth, a goer, or some kind of nodule around your neck area. That would be definitely something to look at. Those are not always cancerous, actually a lot of them, most of them are not cancerous. So that, but then the fatigue that is just unrelenting and gut health is a big factor in a lot of people with thyroid issues, and I would say anxiety. Those are the things that bring people into me where they need resolve because they've been on antidepressants, they've taken PPIs for 20 years, and they have a normal thyroid, but when they bring their tests to me, they look not optimal. You know, they're not optimally functioning, and nutrients sort of tell us a different story when you look at their cellular level nutrients, and you can do a lot, a lot with that to help bring, resolve a lot of those symptoms. But those are the tell tales that, that I see.

Dr. Lauryn (09:58):

I see too a lot of inability to like lose weight or like feel like they're at a body composition even for gain weight for some like, just like an unhealthy weight. Either way. I know in my like elevated T3 syndrome when I had that I had a lot of weight gain resistance and then hair loss I see a lot of as well.

Tiffany (10:20):

Yeah. So the things I mentioned were sort of those things that I need to go get help. Those are the symptoms that they are to the point where they can't handle anymore. They look for that one more person to help them. They always come with the hair loss. I can't lose weight. Some I, I've only had a couple that are the opposite. So yeah, they mostly wanna do that. So we, it's like those things sort of work itself out, and they, it's like a secondary concern for them personally, which is weird cuz weight loss is always a thing for most people it seems like. But by the time they come to me, they're sick and tired of being sick and tired, and if they can feel normal and have energy to not nap every single day for two or three hours at a time, they are like, great, that's awesome. Now, if the weight sort of starts to come off and resolve, awesome. But that's not their first priority by the time they come to me, which is kind of unusual, but they're done, they're over it

Dr. Lauryn (11:13):

Before diving into kind of like how to even know if you have a thyroid condition, et cetera, let's kinda like talk about, besides the symptoms, like the actual diagnosis of it, what does the thyroid do? Like why is it important? We hear that word, and I feel like for just a human population, we're not always educated on our own bodies, like what all the functions and structures do. And yet we can hear like, oh, I have a thyroid issue because I've, I feel these symptoms. But, like, yeah, what is the magnitude of the thyroid, and why is it so important for the body?

Tiffany (11:45):

It's interesting you say that you know, my background and even interest prior to going into undergrad, always interested in the human body. And I knew that the thyroid, you know, you think of thyroid, and you think of energy and weight, of course. So those are the two things people mostly know of. So it's funny you say that, though, about people who don't really know what their body does. That's very, very true. And even for myself, who someone is interested in, I used to teach, when I was diagnosed with cancer, I was teaching anatomy and physiology, and I got diagnosed on October 12th, 2007. And I went back to the classroom, you know, the next day or whatever, we were starting a unit on the endocrine system, and the first thing was the thyroid blend. And I was reading, and I was preparing some stuff, and I was ready to talk, and I, I've taught this many times by now, and the sentence, it's like it came 3D off the page, it said the thyroid gland affects every cell in the body.

(12:43):

And that was the first time I'd ever read that and heard it like that where it's, this impacts everything. So we need to have a healthy thyroid. So basically, you know, we know that the thyroid creates with the direction from the pituitary gland to create the thyroid hormone sort of in a negative feedback system, like a thermostat in your house for your furnace, your air, air, and your cooling and heating in your house. And it makes a hormone to produce and send out to all the tissues to, you know, regulate body temperature, metabolism, and many other things. So it's very involved. And so when it's off a little bit, you know, and everybody has a different threshold of where they feel symptoms, you know, it can be pretty impactful in an, in a negative way a lot of times.

Dr. Lauryn (13:31):

Yeah. Also, in clinical practice, I oftentimes talk about the HPAT axis. Yes. So like yes, hypothalamus, pituitary, adrenal, and thyroid axis all work together as your body's like balancer stress management system down to like the energy system as well, metabolic and mitochondrial affecting our energy. So knowing that you have a thyroid condition beyond the symptoms like, you know, thyroid conditions go missed still oftentimes and like hence the work that you're doing and perhaps like the underlying before having cancer was probably something for you there as well. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. But talk a little bit about why that is, and I'm just so flabbergasted still just from a diagnostic perspective that there's usually just two markers looked at on most people's blood work in general. Why is that?

Tiffany (14:20):

Yeah, I don't understand. I've asked, when I've interviewed people on my podcast, I've asked why are we looking at just this and not always, you know, on air, so to speak. And the answers I get are, you know, it some, it's tied to how the insurance wants you to run those tests. And I've had pushback for my own daughter to have a full panel run, and they just will not do it. So I, I don't understand why, but I can't remember, remember what you asked right before that?

Dr. Lauryn (14:52):

Yeah, just diagnosing it. So, so we look, so the two markers we're talking about are TSH and T4 for those that are listening on a blood work panel. Whereas, like, I don't even know the number of markers that you can run for a complete thyroid panel. And just considering that 90% of thyroid issues are actually related to an autoimmunity of the thyroids. So like A Hashimotos or Graves and the antibodies are typically never checked in a conventional setting.

Tiffany (15:17):

They aren't. And so what I tell people if they're, if they're not sure if they have not been diagnosed, and I also have people who have been diagnosed, and they still don't get full panels, run every, you know, at least yearly. So that's interesting to me, being their own medications and stuff. But I would say you gotta have the free t4, free T3 to know how conversion is and then the TPO antibodies and the thyroglobulin antibodies and then you know, reverse t3, which I know in my experience, I know the providers I have seen laugh that one off and I don't know if that has changed. I have not asked for that for a long time from them. So maybe it's becoming a little bit more mainstream, I guess. I don't know. But it's interesting because we have that range that are pretty large for especially TSH.

(16:07):

And then we have what's more optimal and functional. And I see often people have a lot of symptoms primarily, you know, the inability to lose weight, the fatigue and a lot of the low like depression, low stomach acid, that kind of thing. Even though they're in the normal range but they're high normal, and they just get sort of passed off as that They just need to eat less, exercise more, and just power through, fake it until you make it kind of thing, which is how I lived for a lot of years. And it's exhausting. It's stressful.

Dr. Lauryn (16:40):

Right. Well, and also considering like what are the norm ranges too? So like on a TSH, I feel like it switches sometimes between like 2.0 to 2.5, but anything below or above that rather would be subclinical. Whereas the current cutoff on a blood work panel is 4.5, I believe, for a TSH. Is that accurate?

Tiffany (17:01):

Yeah, I think, and it changes between labs, too. When I first started, the range for normal was 0.5 to 5.5. Now I'm seeing more 4.5, and you know, 0.5 to 4.5, and I've even seen a couple of labs that are a little lower than that. So we're moving in the right direction, tightening that up, I think.

Dr. Lauryn (17:21):

Well, and then also the different shades of hypothyroidism, and you can actually have hypothyroid symptomology without like you're saying, expressed fully on, on blood work too. And kind of talk about the undertones of, like, what would be causes of that. Because you know, there's hypothyroidism overtly high TSH would be just one shade of hypothyroidism and there's like, I think there's like 26 in my studies with like Dr. There, but kind of like what would be some of the other, I guess, drivers of thyroid and thyroid issues that are really common that you do see, like from a clinical perspective?

Tiffany (17:59):

I think specifically the one thing is high level of stress or an event, I'm thinking of two scenarios that are, were really obvious where they ended up with an actual Hashimotos. They had a two-year work project where it was, you know, burning the candles at both ends 80 hours a week. It was a high stakes, you know, project for almost two years, and a couple of years later they, or not even a couple of years it was, it was sooner than that, ended up with Hashimotos. You see that with pregnant women and after, you know, within six months to a year, they end up with a Hashimoto's results. So that's a really stress based that HPAT, you know, that whole access at play there. And then the other thing is just that debilitating fatigue. I see that a lot where they feel like they need to sleep all the time. They can sleep 11 hours at night and wake up and feel like they've never slept. And so that's what I try to help work on them with nutrients to help support that whole process, the whole day-night patterns for themselves and you know, support that stress management system nutritionally.

Dr. Lauryn (19:14):

So like, kind of as from a functional perspective, we like to think about what are the root causes of this thyroid issue versus just like, okay, we found the thyroid issue, like let's suppress it now. Mm-Hmm <affirmative> for context, for the listeners that are not familiar with that word, Hashimotos, we've talked a little bit about it here, but that's really just the body's attack of the thyroid tissue itself. Self-attack and autoimmune can present in multiple ways. So some people have like a genetic predisposition to have like Hashimotos, whereas others may have celiac. It's interesting that you say that about pregnancy like I see that a lot too, like post-pregnancy, post-partum Hashimotos being on set, and I think, I don't know about what you see thematically like why that would be the case beyond stress because there is lack of sleep happening in postpartum.

(19:58):

Yeah. There's a lot of stress on the body going through such a change and, but I see the gut microbiome also being significantly a big part of that because your microbiome shifts dramatically, especially in that third trimester. And they've done, I mean, like in just studies comparing a woman's microbiome in that third stage to those with like obesity and find that they have similar microbiomes mm-hmm <affirmative> just because of like harvesting calories, like how things are operating down there normal part of pregnancy or going through that. But if you're not optimizing with nutrients like you're helping your patients do as well. I imagine the gut microbiome has a big thing to do with like why Hashimotos happens postpartum.

Tiffany (20:44):

Yeah, there's lots of connections to that, and one of the biggest ones is it seems that thyroid patients often have really low stomach acid. And so then what you're, what the problem is is you're not able to digest and absorb especially bigger molecules like proteins. And so that does not get assimilated into the body and become more nutrient-deficient. You can be malnourished in pregnancy sometimes you can't eat, you know, because you're sick, you know, so it just is sort of a, a perfect storm, I guess you could say, which when the baby's born oftentimes, you know, you think okay, everything is gonna change back and sometimes it can just put you over the edge enough to cause your body to wake up and say, okay, I'm fighting against something. And that's where that autoimmune system comes into play. Also, I think the blood sugar balance, which that causes a lot of stress on the system.

(21:37):

So that's all connected, and you know, the problem is so many times in the conventional setting we get treated very com it's very compartmentalized, and it's sort of like this doesn't have to do with that. So blood sugar imbalance, whether it's not that it's even prediabetic even or type two diabetes, it's imbalanced, and it causes stress on your system and we have to deal with the stress and the blood sugar in, you know, nutritionally as best as we can. And that helps to level things out, too, and relieve that stress. But if we're not taught or talked to that these things all interrelate, you know, we don't even see them. So as a patient, if you're going through this kind of thing, it's really important to really self-advocate and try to connect dots and find someone who will help you connect the dots.

Dr. Lauryn (22:26):

Yeah, and kind of like piggybacking on that stress, like, you know, stress goes beyond just mental stress or perceived stress, like stress over like a deadline for work or a paper or being stuck in traffic. And like I know in my own health journey with the thyroid issues specifically like T3 syndrome, which would be like that low t3 basically the active thyroid hormone. A lot of the stress in my life comes from overtraining and living in mold and like chronic mold exposure. And then just kind of like even, I'd say insufficiency dysbiosis like in my gut, gut balances from eating the same exact foods every single day. So like, just not much variety, and that was just like enough for my body to be like, you know, I'm outta balance, and so it's just like it's gonna extract from my energy source, which was my thyroid in order to keep up running from, keep running from my bear. But kind of like, yeah, what are common stressors you see in the folks that you work with that perhaps go and mental can be a part of it as well?

Tiffany (23:28):

For sure. I like that you brought that up because it's that there's stress causing issues in your body, and then there's our perceived stress. So I'll talk to people on sort of a, you know, a pre-call to see what we're gonna do as far as working together, and they're like, Oh no, no, I, I love my job, and my marriage is good and all these things. So I'm like, okay, there's maybe stress isn't really impacting them too much now we get into the call, and they're like, I take care of my elderly parents. My brother died, I have, you know, financial issues, I have a diagnosis of this, that, and the other thing. I mean, it's just, it's just funny how we get used to the stress and strain, and the push struggle strives in our life because that's just like modern-day society or something.

(24:14):

And so they downplay all the things that are impacting their health in order to just, I suppose just, push through. Cause you can't just stop living cuz, you have all these things coming at you. But I see that sometimes you have to coach them on, okay, this actually does impact you in this setting. But it's things like, I mean, it's definitely job stress, it's financial stress, it's relationship stress. And then if they have their own health stress with the diagnosis, a lot of times I see people that already have been diagnosed with two or three other autoimmune disorders and chronic pain, chronic pain and IBS stuff, you know, gut stuff where there's that stress of came in a new place. I'm not sure where the bathrooms are. I'm not sure if I aid at the right time before coming here, so I don't have issues. And that constant stress because their symptomology of all these different things are impacting them, and then they've commuted to work, and they've been in traffic bumper to bumper for, you know, an hour and a half or something, and all of that adds up in a big way. But most things are their chronic stress from life. Things like their family or financial, those types of things. If they have stress from a health issue that they already know they have. I would say those are the two main things.

Dr. Lauryn (25:36):

You know, in German new medicine, we even do a lot of work with like our issues showing up in our tissues. And so, like how and most disease symptomology is onset by significant emotional stressor and this can happen multiple times throughout our lives. So there's usually some stress component that like leads to that like tipping point perhaps where like the rugs like pulled from underneath you. And Louis Hayes talks a lot about this in her work, too but like the thyroid being connected to lack of communication in our lives, like in that throat chakra. Do you see that, and what would be like some themes that you see like just within your patients and like yeah, how they show up in the world or how they like Even treat themselves talk to themselves?

Tiffany (26:23):

Yeah, I love that question. I think what I see are people who are sort of rule followers, they don't make waves, they don't say how they really feel. They're just those good girls and boys, you know, just do whatever they need to do to get the job done, finish their project. They're not gonna speak up about someone else maybe taking credit for their work. You know, just, just a general example, I see that a lot. There's that common theme of people just not using their voice and feeling sort of, you know, like a shadow and just a wallflower, and that is a common connection

Dr. Lauryn (27:04):

For sure. Yeah, I think that's a really just common observation, and yeah

Tiffany (27:08):

And I believe that for me, too that I think that was definitely a manifestation of something to do with that for me with the cancer.

Dr. Lauryn (27:15):

Yeah, amazing. Like epiphany when we look back at our own health journey like that's what was going on. Part of that well talk, talking about kind of like getting out of a thyroid issue or like, you know, it's not something I think a lot of folks think like they're stuck with like hypothyroidism forever is something that can be reversible. Sometimes there is also medication intervention that perhaps has to and does and can be really effective for folks, and it's not like medicine versus like herbals or like natural. There can be a blend right there as well. And perhaps sometimes actually when you bring up or boost your gut health and like improve your nutrient status, sometimes your medication needs change perhaps like in like I see a lot of that with my patients having to adjust their dosage but kind of like, yeah there is a lot of avenues you can go down. We've talked about blood sugar, we've talked about the gut, we've talked about just like overt nutrients, stress, like where do you start climbing out of a thyroid issue? And there there's also could be viruses or like environmental influences like Xeno estrogens and BPA water bottles too. Like I talked about mold. So there is quite a wild west, too, of just like options for avenues for treating or healing from a thyroid condition and and feeling better getting your energy back. Where do you start?

Tiffany (28:38):

Well, where I start because that's my wheelhouse is looking at nutrient deficiencies. That's mostly where I start with people depending on their location, just, you know, other parameters. But we look at cellular level nutrients and look at nutrients that go into supporting, you know, that energy system, that Creb cycle. But also, you know, what is impacting what, what deficiencies do they have that maybe are impacting their ability to manage their stress and their adrenals, the adrenal nutrients, what nutrients might be deficient that are affecting their gut health and therefore their absorption of nutrients in general. What nutrients are deficient that may be not supporting the thyroid function as well. And what I have seen, I mean obviously, I don't diagnose a thyroid issue or medicate people or write prescriptions, but what I can do is say you need to go back to your doctor and you know, in a few months after working through this protocol and changing your diet and get your levels checked again cuz you might need to modify your medications cuz you don't wanna start being overmedicated and all the symptoms that come from that.

(29:44):

And so that is really impactful. But if they're working on, you know, all of those things, it's, it's not just, okay, we're gonna take some zinc and selenium, and that'll support your thyroid, and all your troubles will be gone. We have to look at that stress management system that gut health, we need to look at blood sugar imbalance, we need to look at obviously then the thyroid nutrients and a lot of times its nutrients that they would never, ever make a connection to. People, I think, are pretty, they understand that zinc and selenium we hear about that are tied to the thyroid all the time, but no one really talks about vitamin A or iodine or, you know, anything like that. So that's where I start with people, and if I have a full panel to look at, which is ideal, you know, we can look at that thyroid hormone conversion issue so that T4 to t3, if that conversion isn't happening, so many times I see people, it gets improved while they manage that stress and support those adrenals with, you know, all the B's and vitamin C to really help their adrenals function better.

(30:49):

So that conversion issue becomes less of an issue. That's like the first place I start, and then I, you know, have to refer out to if, if we wanna get really into the mold and that kind of stuff because in, you know, different viral things or you know, then we move on to people who specialize in that because that's a whole other animal <laugh>. Yeah. You know, it's huge. Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Lauryn (31:13):

Well and deficiency wise, nutrient wise, like the most common themes like you mentioned vitamin A, like talk about a little bit about the food sources of these deficiencies and as well as like iodine we hear about like is it good, is it not good? It exacerbates, for some, is it just because there's a deficiency of actually selenium that's not paired with the iodine?

Tiffany (31:33):

Yeah, it's hard, and the, the testing that I do doesn't include the iodine, so I honestly don't deal with it too much because of, you know, there are people that it can exacerbate symptoms, especially if they're in that autoimmune situation. So I will only talk about that really if they are actively working with their thyroid doctor, you know, their endocrinologist specifically for that to monitor those things. And looking, looking at antibodies on a regular basis. But I'd say the vitamin As far as foods go, it's always, you know, nuts, seeds, lots of fruits and vegetables, lots of produce, and focus on yellow and orange for the vitamin A. Sometimes if you're so deficient, some people are having horrible gut health symptoms, and if you have a vitamin A deficiency, it's amazing what high doses, you know, like a therapeutic level of vitamin A in a certain form.

(32:27):

Retinyl palmitate is the preferred form. If you have that severe deficiency and that mucosal lining is kind of messed up from years of eating poor foods or being on PPIs or whatever it might be. That really helps to support that. You might have to add that with those, you know, yellow and orange foods to really boost that vitamin A level that helps with that. Keeping the or you know, that if you have a deficient zinc level and you have a kind of a moderate vitamin A level, if you can boost zinc, then vitamin A usually will follow. So it just really depends on the severity of their symptoms. It depends on the levels of their deficiencies and then how they're medicated and how they're working with their doctor on their medicine. Yeah, so nuts, I mean whole foods, I mean whole foods plants good quality. If you're eating animal products, good quality grass-fed animal products to up the, you know, omegas and the, and the zinc like grass fed beef, for example, things like that. Brazil nuts for the selenium. That's, that's kind of my focus on that.

Dr. Lauryn (33:29):

Organ meats as well, like power-packed vitamin A, zinc. And if that's not palatable, there are organ meat capsules nowadays. 

Tiffany (33:39):

Yes, and that helps a ton too. And I, I have talked with someone about a seasoning that he's created with organ meats.

Dr. Lauryn (33:51):

Pluck!