Thyroid Disorders in Shelby Charter Township

Some 20 million Americans are affected by thyroid disorders…that’s 1 in 13 people! And more than half of those people are unaware they have a thyroid problem because it frequently goes undiagnosed…until it gets severe.

According to the national women’s health information center, 1 in 8 women will experience a thyroid disorder during their lifetime. The reason why may surprise you because I’m sure you’ve never heard it explained to you…that’s because most doctors are only vaguely familiar with thyroid disorders. Keep reading for more information about thyroid disorders in Shelby Charter Township.

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Thyroid in Shelby Charter Township

My name is dr. Julia Rivers, and I am a board-certified chiropractor. I use a very different and natural approach to managing thyroid disorders. We treat the person and not the disease in our natural approach to managing and supporting your thyroid symptoms. We can help your thyroid symptoms
naturally.

I have been practicing for almost 18 years and am intimately familiar with treatment of the thyroid as I have Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. This is an autoimmune attack on my thyroid which we will discuss at length below.

After studying more thyroid disorders, I realized how poorly diagnosed and treated thyroid conditions are. I also noticed a very disturbing trend in the current treatment approach for these conditions,

which I’ll reveal in a moment…

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How The Thyroid Works

In healthy people, the thyroid makes just the right amounts of
two hormones, t3 and t4. These hormones have important actions throughout the body. Most importantly, they regulate many aspects of our metabolism, affecting how many calories we burn, how warm we feel, how much we weigh…and our general well-being.

In short, the thyroid "runs" our metabolism - it's literally the "gas pedal" of the body.

Thyroid hormones also have direct effects on most organs, including the heart, which beats faster and harder under the influence of increased thyroid hormones (this is why heart problems can often accompany chronic thyroid problems in women, and perhaps why heart problems are more common in women under the age of 50).

T3 is the more biologically active hormone (it’s more important for cellular function), and in fact most of t4 (80%) is converted to t3 in the body’s peripheral tissues. So t4 is just a precursor for the more active hormone, t3 one of the problems in some thyroid disorders is that you may have trouble converting t4 to t3 in your tissues. (have you been checked for this?). This can create a deficiency of t3, disrupting the body’s ability to properly regulate metabolism…leading to specific symptoms.

One of the controversial aspects of the most common thyroid medication, Synthroid, is that it is only t4. If you have difficulty converting t4 to t3
(and Synthroid is a synthetic form of t4, mind you) then this medication is not as effective.

Iodine is the primary element of t3 and t4 (t3 contains three iodine molecules and t4 contains four iodine molecules, respectively). This makes iodine essential to the production of these two important thyroid hormones.

Here’s a little known public fact related to iodine: in addition to the thyroid gland, iodine is also involved in ovarian function, and a deficiency has been linked to ovarian cysts and even ovarian cancer.

In addition, iodine is important for normal breast tissue and deficiencies have been linked to breast cancer.

Why is this relevant? Some people postulate that the primary reason for an increased incidence of thyroid disorders in women is due to the fact that their breast tissue and ovaries compete with the thyroid gland for any available iodine. Hmmm…

Many studies suggest we do not get an adequate amount of iodine—especially in the midwest. This area is notorious for low iodine levels and used to be known as the "goiter belt" as a result (a goiter is when the thyroid gland enlarges due to lack of iodine)!

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Types of Thyroid

Before we go any further, let's cover the three primary types of thyroid conditions:

1. Hypothyroidism
2. Hyperthyroidism or Grave's
3. Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

• Do you have cold feet and/or hands?
• Do you require excessive amounts of sleep to function?
• Do you feel fatigued, tired or sluggish?
• Do you gain weight easily or have difficulty losing?

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Symptoms of Hypothyroidism (slow thyroid)

• Do you have trouble with weight?
• Do you have difficult or infrequent bowel movements (constipation)?
• Are you depressed?
• Do you lack motivation?
• Do you suffer from morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses?
• Do you suffer from thinning hair or excessive hair falling out?
• Do you suffer from dryness of the skin and/or scalp?
• Do you suffer from mental sluggishness?

Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid
hormones. Since the main purpose of thyroid hormones is to "run the body's metabolism," it is logical that people with this condition will have symptoms associated with a slow metabolism.

Millions of Americans have this more common medical condition…and it often goes undetected in the early stages. Were you told that your results were "normal" and yet you continue to have symptoms?

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Symptoms of Hyperthyroid (Graves)

• Do you experience heart palpitations?
• Do you suffer from inward trembling?
• Do you have an increased pulse even at rest?
• Are you nervous and/or emotional?
• Do you suffer from insomnia?
• Do you experience night sweats?
• Do you have difficulty gaining weight?

Hyperthyroidism is the medical term to describe an overproduction of thyroid hormones. Although this condition is less common, it can precede a slowing down of the thyroid. It’s usually easier to treat though.

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Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis is a condition in which the body’s immune system
attacks the thyroid gland (this is an auto-immune disorder).

It is diagnosed by checking for thyroid antibodies (tpo & tgb) and gluten
antibodies.

Patients suffering from Hashimoto's Thyroiditis will experience symptoms of hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism…meaning they will experience some or all of the above symptoms.

Since the thyroid gland controls the body’s metabolism, it can affect all of the systems of the body such as the gut, liver, gall bladder, hormones, cholesterol, brain (via neurotransmitters), adrenal glands, breasts, ovaries, and heart.

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Treatment for Thyroid Conditions

The disturbing trend: most thyroid sufferers are treated exactly the same!

This really bothers me because I understand from my knowledge of neurology and functional medicine, that no two people react the same…especially with endocrine dysfunction.

Then why are all thyroid sufferers treated the same???

Did you know that there are many different blood tests that can be analyzed in order to determine exactly how your thyroid is affected? Most doctors just use the same old blood tests and never bother checking beyond these few tests.

Let's be clear, you may not need the thyroid medication you are on but our office would never advise you to stop taking medication ever!! What we can do is work closely with your medical doctor to assess the need.

We actually work with your m.d. to get you feeling better as quickly as possible. We want to be part of your health care team and not blame others for the way you feel.

You can regain control of your health and life now.

We use very specific blood tests, which may include any or all of the following, depending on individual determination:

• Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (tsh): the message sent from a gland in the brain (pituitary) to the thyroid.
• Free t3: an important hormone produced by the thyroid gland, considered to be the more biologically active hormone of the thyroid.
• Free t4: another important hormone produced by the thyroid gland.
• Thyroid antibodies (tgb & tpo): checked-in suspected cases of autoimmune thyroid disorders (see below).
• Reverse t3: this is a wayward (or "reverse") version of t3 and causes problems.
• Total t4: this is a reflection of how much total t4 hormone there is in the blood.
• Free thyroxine index (fti): this is an estimate of how much thyroxine is in the blood.
• Resin t3 uptake: this test measures the unsaturated binding sites on the thyroid proteins.
• Complete metabolic profile (cmp): checks electrolytes, blood sugar, and other markers that indicate any disturbances in physiology.
• Lipid panel: cholesterol, ldl, hdl, etc. because these can be related to endocrine dysfunction.
• Complete blood count (CBC) w/ differential: this checks your cells counts - white blood cells, red blood cells, and so forth as well as a specific breakdown of certain white cells that can indicate an often overlooked pattern of endocrine change.
• Urinalysis: sometimes we discover substances your body is eliminating in the urine that shouldn't be there.

We also test to see if you have an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is where your immune system attacks a particular area of the body (like the thyroid, for instance), so we test for specific thyroid antibodies to determine if you suffer from autoimmune thyroid disease.

We can also check for gluten antibodies, myelin (fatty sheath around the
nerves) antibodies, cerebellar (back part of the brain controlling balance,
coordinated movement, and spinal muscles) antibodies.

Additionally, we can test your adrenal glands (small glands on top of
the kidneys) via an adrenal stress index (asi), as many thyroid sufferers
also suffer from adrenal problems.

Have you ever been checked for any of the above antibodies or had an asi?

We may choose to enter your blood work into our functional blood chemistry analysis software database to determine which nutrients are best suited to help your specific condition.

This will facilitate a more complete and rapid recovery from your thyroid condition. Remember: no two thyroid patients are alike so not all thyroid patients should ever be treated alike!

Based on your personal blood chemistry, we can quickly determine which products will benefit you the most and get you on the road to recovery.

When nutritional supplement recommendations are not based on your current blood work, they are most often inaccurate!

This is why most holistic health care fails (no blood work).

Your specific condition must be analyzed via your blood chemistry results in order to make effective nutritional recommendations!

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What Makes Rivers' Chiropractic Center Different From Other Clinics?

#1 Complete Neurologic Testing

In Dr. Datis Kharrazian’s best-selling thyroid book, why do I still have my thyroid symptoms when my lab tests are normal?, he states on p. 172… "the brain is saturated with thyroid receptors. Healthy thyroid function is integral to healthy brain function. Brain health and sufficiency of the neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine are important for thyroid function." this is why it is very important to support you neurologically.

• Oxygen ... your brain and nervous system need two things to survive: fuel and activation. Activation comes from the treatments that are listed below. Fuel comes in the form of oxygen and glucose. You get the glucose from the food that you eat, which is why it is important to eat a healthy diet. As you age, your ability to utilize oxygen decreases. One of our treatments is to give patients enhanced air to increase their body's fuel delivery system. It's called ewot or exercise with oxygen therapy, and it's like gas in the car... if you don't have any gas in the car, you are not going anywhere. If you don't have oxygen available for your brain and nervous system, most likely, no treatment will work!
• Unilateral Adjusting ... the right brain controls the left side of the body and the left brain controls the right side. If there is a decrease of firing or impulses in one side of the brain, i only want to adjust you on the opposite side. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Also, i will only use very light-adjusting so you will not get worse! Have you ever had an adjustment and felt worse afterward? It is because the adjustment was too much for your nervous system. It over-stimulated, or (get ready for another $3 term that neurologists use) it "exceeded metabolic capacity."
• Auditory Stimulation ... Listening to sound in one ear will stimulate the opposite side of the brain and increase impulses.
• Olfactory Stimulation .. smelling different scents will stimulate the brain. Your sight, sound, taste, and touch all travel through a sensory area of your brain called the thalamus. Smell goes directly to the brain.
• Calorics ... Warm water in the ear will stimulate the semi-circular canals in your ear and fire the vestibular nerve back to your cerebellum. The cerebellum fires to the brain, the brain fires to the lower brainstem (ponto-medullary region), and your lower brainstem slows down the upper brainstem (mesencephalon).

#2 Complete and Thorough Metabolic Testing

Has your doctor specifically checked for an autoimmune disorder or Hashimoto’s Disease? There are two parts to your immune system, th1 and th2. If one of these parts is dominant, you could have an autoimmune disorder.

An autoimmune disorder is where your immune system is attacking your body causing your thyroid condition.

The first part, called our "t"-helper 1 system (th-1 system), is our immediate immune response system. It is responsible for an immediate attack against foreign invaders like bacteria, viruses, mold, fungi, or parasites.

The cells involved in the th-1 system are called macrophages, natural killer cells, and cytotoxic t- cells. It is our front-line defense.

The other part of our immune system is our t-helper 2 (th-2) system. It involves the production of antibodies to "tag" onto invaders so our th-1 system can more easily destroy the invaders. It is our b cells that are responsible for producing the antibodies.

The balance between these two sides of our immune system is very important to look at with many thyroid patients.

If one of these parts is dominant, you could have an autoimmune disorder.

An autoimmune disorder is where your immune system is attacking your body and it could be causing your thyroid problems.

You are just about guaranteed to fail using medications alone. Why? 90% of the time the primary mechanism is your immune system attacking your thyroid, which is also known as an autoimmune attack.

Medications alone do nothing to slow or stop the auto-immune attack. Since the autoimmune mechanism is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the united states, you would think that it is commonly screened for by all doctors. Unfortunately, it is rarely, if ever, checked. The reason? Doctors are too hung up on treating thyroid problems with medications. Why run extra tests if you are not going to alter the treatment based off the test results?

(Please note: autoimmune conditions trump everything that I have listed below. It must be handled first and foremost or you will never get completely better!)

1. Has your doctor specifically checked you for any food sensitivities? Each time that you eat a food that you are sensitive to such as gluten (wheat, barley, rye, and oats), dairy, eggs, soy, or yeast, it can cause your immune system to attack your thyroid. These five foods could be slowly killing you and you don't even know it because you have not been tested!
2. Has your doctor run a complete thyroid panel? Your thyroid controls your body metabolism so if you suffer from thyroid conditions…it must be thoroughly checked! I not talking about a simple test for tsh (thyroid-stimulating hormone), I am talking about the complete battery of thyroid tests which includes total t4 (tt4), free t4 (ft4), free t3, free thyroxine index (fti), resin t3 uptake, reverse t3, thyroid-binding globulin and the thyroid antibodies…tpo and tgb! Your thyroid is extremely important and needs to be checked! Did you know that many doctors consider tsh levels from .35 to 5.0 to be "normal." optimal or "functional" tsh levels should be 1.8 to 3.0. What is your tsh level? If it is not 1.8 to 3.0, have you had the full battery of thyroid tests? Has it ever been checked? If not…why?
3. Has your doctor checked your adrenal glands? Your adrenal glands are your "stress" glands and they are just as important in successfully treating your thyroid!!! An asi (adrenal stress index) needs to be run on you which will check your cortisol levels at 8 am, noon, 4 pm and 10 pm.
4. Has your doctor checked you for blood disorders such as anemias? Anemia simply means you are not going to get oxygen to your tissues. There are different kinds of anemias such as iron, b12, folic acid, etc. And we can test for each one. Anemia is very important to find and correct. Without oxygen available for your brain and nervous system, most likely, no treatment will work! No supplement will work. No nutritional program will work.

If you are male have you ever been evaluated for andropause?

If you are female has your doctor ever ordered an expanded female hormone panel?

If you are female and post-menopausal has your doctor ever assessed your risk factors for developing uterine or breast cancer?

Hormone levels are very important in controlling thyroid conditions!

If you answered "no" to any or all of these questions, then there is a good chance that your thyroid condition is not being managed properly! These tests need to be run on you to get to the bottom of your thyroid problem! "How will I know that my body is improving? Will this work for me? It's all about re-testing. That's how you and I will both know if you are improving and if our treatment is working. Our action plan is ... test, treat and re-test.

We can't spend all of this time and effort getting to the root of your problem and then just hope that our treatment protocols made the changes. We have to measure, and if necessary, change our treatment, and measure again. Not that you won't be feeling better as we make these changes, but we have to measure our change so we keep moving toward the goals we set together.

It takes time to make these changes because of the test, treat, re-test scenario. Our job is to get to the root of your problem and correct it.

The reason you are reading this report and you have not been helped is because no one was willing to sit down and listen to you, no one was willing to take the time to understand your problem, no one has done a thorough workup on you, and no one has take the time necessary to make changes.

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What if Thyroid Treatment Doesn't Work for Me?

I will be right upfront with you, the number one factor that determines success and failure with a case is how closely the patient follows our care recommendations.

If you do the things that I prescribe, then you are going to go down the road you have been wanting, probably for a long time, which is...moving toward "normal" again.

You are reading this because you are one of the smart few who wants to take control of your health, and do what it takes to help your body.

Nothing else matters when you lose your health. I love working with patients like you because you are willing to sit here and learn about your problem, and listen, and make the changes necessary to get your health back on track. To get back to the business of living the good life again.

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What Is The Cost for Treatment?

The cost of our initial review of your case and neurological exam is $250.00. As we discussed, our protocols step out of the "medical box" so we can do what is necessary, and take the time necessary, to help you. Until we know the specifics of your case, what labs we need to run, and how long we anticipate it taking to make the functional changes we need, there is no way to say what the cost is going to be.

Just rest assured that I am on your side. My job is to work with you, to help you improve your condition. My job is to deal with all of the specifics of your case, listen to you, and work with you to make the proper functional changes.

Everything can be done in steps. The first step is a case review and consultation /exam so we can get to specifics.

We have financing available through our office, and many different payment options to help out-of-pocket expenses have a very minimal impact on your financial situation. We can make it work.

Your main concern should be on getting well and feeling better again. You have the rest of your life in this body, and you can be energetic, healthy, and enjoy it, or suffer with your current symptoms.

You can be one of the fortunate few who get the proper support and management and live well or you can continue feeling like you do now. The choice is yours...but the correct option is staring right at you. It's here. I believe you know in your "gut" that this is what you need to do.

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I'm Ready To Get On Track and Start Feeling Good Again, What Do I Do?

At this point you should realize that your condition has not been managed in the most optimal way, and your current medication or therapy protocol is not going to get you where you want to go. You really should be asking, "How can I get this type of functional support approach? How can I get the kind of management you describe?"

When we are working in the functional model (looking at the mechanisms for dysfunction) there is usually a logical progression of changes that we have to make in order to improve your condition. We may identify three imbalances, let’s call them a, b, and c. Your particular case may require correcting imbalance b before we can be effective with a and c. For example, you may have an autoimmune condition and we need to correct the autoimmune condition before we can correct other conditions.

This is an advantage to you!

What usually happens is a practitioner will only look at imbalance c, because it’s their "specialty", and after two or three attempts to support that imbalance they will give up with no results achieved. Had the "specialist" looked at the big picture and had done specific lab findings like we do, they would have known that imbalance b was the area that must be corrected before they ever had a chance to fix imbalance a or c.

We can work together to truly improve your condition. Just remember that this work takes time and we are going to take the necessary steps to help you reach your goals. There is no magic bullet or any magic pill that will change your situation, a complete program of health is what we offer. Science-based without harmful drugs.

Initial consultation with dr. Julia rivers
$250.00

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What Is Included in the Initial Consultation?

A consultation and exam with Dr. Julia Rivers, D.C., to discuss your problems and concerns. We will evaluate your case and decide if you are a candidate we can accept into our program. We cannot accept everyone.

A complete case history and questionnaire.

A dietary and nutrition evaluation.

A complete analysis of dietary habits.

In addition, we are going to analyze your current supplements, herbs, natural medicines, botanicals, and homeopathics to determine whether they are beneficial or actually detrimental to your condition.

We will also review your medical records and lab tests, and we are going to go over them with a fine-tooth comb.

We are going to determine whether you have had the appropriate lab tests ordered, and make a decision of what further testing is required.

Implementation of any immediate beneficial changes we can make based off of previous labs and your history.

If you are sick and tired of living with your symptoms and slowly watching them get worse over time… if you would like to take a natural and functional approach to help and enhance your health and feel great again… then call us at (586) 739 8824 and schedule your complete case review, consultation, and exam.

We will get you scheduled and send out our new patient history and questionnaires. The cost for the initial consultation will cover the review of your history, review of past medical records, and our consultation.

Don’t continue feeling bad for another day, when the potential answer to your suffering is here, right in front of you. How would you feel, finding out years from now that the answer to your problem was right in front of your face all along...and you let it slip through your fingers? You won’t regret it.

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Ask Yourself the Following Questions

1. How have your thyroid symptoms affected your job, relationships, finances, family, or other activities?
2. What has it cost you in time, money, happiness, sleep?
3. Where do you picture yourself in the next one to three years if your thyroid problem is not taken care of?
4. What is it worth to you if we could improve your conditions?

Now, imagine your life without thyroid symptoms! Think of feeling like yourself again, and doing all of the activities and things that you used to do.

Here's what to do next...

Call my office at (586) 739-8824 and tell my staff that you are interested in setting up an appointment to discuss alternative treatments for your thyroid condition with me, Dr. Julia Rivers. If you are still not ready, then fill out the contact us section to attend of one my informative thyroid seminars. Please bring your spouse. I look forward to meeting you!

This is life-changing care!