You might be wondering how hypothyroidism originates. There are multiple causes.
Thyroiditis
This is a thyroid gland inflammation as a result of viruses or autoimmune disorders. Thyroiditis causes continual leaking of thyroid hormones inside the bloodstream that causes the thyroid hormones to rollercoaster.
Due to your body’s innate regulatory systems, the high degree of circulating thyroid hormones negatively impact the pituitary and hypothalamus gland which decrease hormone output from the thyroid. This thyroid hormone reduction output eventually will lead to hypothyroidism.
Thyroiditis may happen abruptly or develop over several years; the most typical form involves Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.
Autoimmune Diseases
The immune system is so wary and sharp that in some instances, it easily mistakes our healthy cells as foreign invaders and moves forward to attack them as such. This type of self-sabotage manifests itself on a bigger scale as an autoimmune disease, and results in the destruction of healthy tissues and cells.
Sometimes, the immune system may mistake the thyroid glands enzymes and cells as intruders and attack them as such.
And what is the result? Little to no healthy enzymes and cells left to make enough thyroid hormone.
Medicines
Specific medicines which treat cancers, cardiovascular issues, and bipolar disorders interfere with the thyroid’s capability of producing its hormones. Those medications involve Interleukin-2, Lithium, Interferon Alpha, and Amiodarone.
Pituitary Gland Damage
Our pituitary gland is our instructional headquarters for our thyroid. It’ll tell the thyroid when to generate hormones and when to limit the production of hormones. Damage to the pituitary that is caused by surgery, tumors, or radiation negatively could impact the thyroid’s capability of generating enough hormones.
Insufficient Iodine Absorption and Intake
Without iodine, the thyroid does not have the ability to release and produce its hormones. It is important to have a balanced diet which includes foods that are rich in iodine; but, in some instances, iodine consumption isn’t sufficient to prevent the onset of hypothyroidism. Food sources with goitrogenic compounds, kike raw cruciferous veggies, block the thyroid’s capability of using iodine, thereby causing a lack of thyroid hormones.
Gastrointestinal Disorders
There’s a direct correlation between people who have irritable bowel disease, celiac disease, and leaky gut syndrome and the development of hypothyroidism. Patients who have gastrointestinal conditions are four times more likely to have hypothyroidism than people within the general population.
Most gastrointestinal disorders cause ruptures inside the thin layer of cells which separates the intestinal lumen, the inside of the intestines that material and food pass through, from the immune cells inside its basement membrane. A breach of this fragile layer causes exposure of pathogens to the reactive immune cells inside the membrane, which causes autoimmunity.
This attack of the autoimmune system results in thyroiditis. Thyroiditis happens because the gut microbia transmits and communicates signals alongside the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. A disruption alongside the GI tract alerts the hypothalamus that there’s a homeostatic imbalance, resulting in increased signals to the anterior pituitary, and as a result, the thyroid requesting it to either increase or reduce hormonal output.
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