Postpartum Thyroiditis

Postpartum thyroiditis affects millions of women, and they don’t realize it.

It’s hard to believe that my daughter is one month old already. The past four weeks have felt like several months. I have a four year-old son, so it’s been a while since I’ve had a newborn. It’s definitely been a shock to my system. Additionally, my baby girl is a much different baby than my son was. She’s more fussy, and has a HUGE appetite. I’m breastfeeding her, so it’s been a major challenge.

Obviously, like any new mom, I’m tired, thirsty, and hungry all the time. I’m also finding myself going to old habits that I haven’t had for a couple years. For example, I’ve busted out the coffee pot. I’ve eaten too much sugar. I really want a glass of wine…like REALLY want one. Caffeine, sugar, and alcohol: so what? These are the three items on a mom’s food pyramid. What’s the big deal? Am I from another planet? Some might say that…

Backstabbers

Caffeine, sugar, and alcohol are what I would call the backstabbers. They bring you energy, comfort, and relaxation in the short-term, but what they can silently do to a woman’s hormones and overall health in the long-term is the ultimate stab in the back. I know because I’ve experienced it. When I discovered I was hypothyroid, I learned that caffeine, sugar, and alcohol were major culprits in my thyroid dysfunction. These three things promote stress hormones, dehydrate your body, contribute to yeast overgrowth in the gut, and encourage estrogen dominance. Research on sugar has pointed to its ability to FEED cancer cells.

If I can offer anyone advice on what they can do to balance/optimize their hormones, it would be to eliminate these three things for a month and see how you feel. Obviously, you’re going to feel the withdrawal effects in the first week or so. After that, many people (including myself) feel a fog lifted. Others describe “breaking a vicious cycle” of “needing” those things over and over again to survive the day.

So how do you get the energy, comfort, and relaxation you need that would come from those things? It all starts with self-care.

Self-Care or Self-Defeat?

Oh yes…the big buzz word. Self-care is a popular term right now, but there’s a deeper meaning behind it for me. Self-care is something I’ve had to work really hard at over the past three years in healing my hypothyroidism. Eating well is just one aspect of self-care. Additionally, I’ve learned to ask for help, ask for time, and be easier with myself and with life in general. I used to think, “I can’t go to yoga…it’s too much time away from home.” Or I’d say, “I shouldn’t go for a walk because I’m behind on (fill in the blank).” I’d come up with every excuse in the book NOT to do something for myself.

What I had to learn is that caring for myself is not selfish. It’s necessary. It’s especially necessary if you’re dealing with a health issue. We’ve all heard that “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” That is true. Plus, you end up filling your cup with too much caffeine and wine. Again, I know those are the things most moms survive by, and I did too. But that changed for me, and when it did, so did my health and general wellbeing.

Too many women are neglecting their needs during the years that they need to take care of themselves the most. Click To Tweet

More women of child-bearing age are depressed, anxious, and sick. It seems as though self-defeat is trumping self-care. Many women are living in isolation, taking on everything themselves, and not asking for help. I have been there and know. I have also talked to girls who say, “I don’t have the family nearby or support to get a break” or “I don’t have time to do a, b, or c.” These are the things we need to fix. These are the roots of becoming dependent on “foods” that stab us in the back and enable us to not be well….

Postpartum Thyroiditis: The Root of Depression and Anxiety in Moms?

We hear a lot about postpartum depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic attacks, and other emotional and mental problems starting for women after they have a child. Your thyroid calls the shots on many processes in the body. It regulates metabolism, body temperature, muscle tone, appetite, the reproductive system, the heart, the kidneys, and your brain. So, what if common disorders in women in their child-bearing years are starting with a faulty thyroid? This is known as Postpartum Thyroiditis.

What is Postpartum Thyroiditis?

Postpartum Thyroiditis is when the thyroid gland becomes inflamed within the first year after childbirth. Depending upon various factors, Postpartum Thyroiditis can last several weeks to several months. I believe that our systems do need to naturally slow down at this time to conserve energy, but there’s a fine line between that and having it turn into a problem.

A dysfunctional thyroid overlaps with postpartum depression and other disorders that women face after having a baby.Click To Tweet If you’ve had depression, panic attacks, or severe anxiety after having a baby, you may want to consider your thyroid and overall hormonal health.

In many cases, a dysfunctional thyroid is to blame, but it goes undetected. Even blood tests many times don’t tell the true story. You really have to base things on how you feel. For some women, the thyroid returns to normal function after 12-18 months from the time symptoms start. For others, the thyroid may become permanently dysfunctional.

Symptoms of Postpartum Thyroiditis

Many times, the thyroid goes from an overactive state (hyperthyroidism) to an under active state (hypothyroidism). At first, women may experience anxiety, irritability, insomnia, fatigue, unexplained weight loss, rapid heartbeat or heart palpitations, increased sensitivity to heat, and even tremors. These are all symptoms of hyperthyroidism.

Then, after several months of being in this state, the thyroid cells become damaged. Next, the thyroid may start swinging from overactive (hyperthyroid) to under active (hypothyroid). Symptoms of hypothyroidism are lack of energy, aches and pains/joint pain, brain fog, weight gain, memory issues, difficulty concentrating, dry skin, constipation, and sensitivity to cold. Not everyone swings from hyper to hypo; some people may just have one or the other that they are dealing with. For me, I just had hypothyroidism. I never started out with symptoms of it being overactive.

What Causes Postpartum Thyroiditis?

There seems to be two parties of women suffering from postpartum thyroiditis. The one party has an autoimmune thyroid condition that presents itself due to the changes that take place within our immune systems during pregnancy and birth. You may have heard of Hashimoto’s disease, which is when your immune system attacks your thyroid gland. Pregnancy can “wake up” this condition in women, which has roots in higher than normal levels of anti-thyroid antibodies.

The second party consists of women who are simply malnourished. When I say that, you may envision someone who’s not eating enough, or is starving themselves. This really isn’t the case. What’s really happening is that it’s not a matter of “how much” is eaten, but rather a matter of “what” is being eaten and “how” it’s being processed. Your nutritional stores are everything, and if you’re not eating well and assimilating proper vitamins and minerals from your food, then that’s the foundation for a thyroid disorder or any illness to start. 

The Importance of What Happens in Our Bellies

I’m not a doctor, but I am an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach. I have had about 3 years of experience in healing my own thyroid/hormonal troubles, and working with others who have had success in eliminating similar troubles. I have also read and followed the works of functional medicine doctors and other health experts who treat thyroid disorders. Ultimately, having the higher than normal levels of anti-thyroid antibodies is many times related to a dysfunction that is occurring within the gut.

Additionally, if your gut is not functioning properly, you will not absorb nutrition properly.

If you're not absorbing the nutrition that your thyroid and endocrine system need, then illness is inevitable.Click To Tweet About 80% of our immune system is found in our gut, and what feeds our immune system is the world of bacteria inside; the microbiome. There are different foods and environmental factors that can disrupt the health of that bacterial system that is responsible for the performance of our immune function, digestion, and our hormones.

The bottom line is that if you’re having dysfunction in the gut, then you’re going to have dysfunction show up in other areas of your body.

What you eat and how it is digested are critical elements to your overall health.Click To Tweet

What If You Think You’re Eating Well….BUT You’re NOT

Before I started the journey to healing my thyroid holistically, I thought I was eating healthy. Many times when I start working with clients, they think they are eating healthy. By the standards set in mainstream media, or within the American health system, we’re being fed some bologna. No pun intended. What many people don’t realize is:

 

 

1. We are individuals with specific reactions to dietary choices. There are foods that simply don’t agree with our system that need to be taken out of our diet. Once you heal the system and work out the bad bugs, then you can try to reintroduce those foods down the road in their best quality.
2. Everything is in the details. A very important detail of your food is the quality. For example, let’s look at a beef steak. What did that cow eat? Did they eat corn and grain, or grass and hay? What was that cow’s living environment? Did it live in poop up to its knees in a crowded barn, or graze on healthy, green pastures? These factors determine the quality of the meat you’re eating. Let’s say the cow ate food that inflamed their gut, and produced unhealthy fat on their body. They also lived in a barn with hundreds of other cows in the dark, and rarely saw the light of day. Eating meat and dairy from an animal like that over the course of years will create the same conditions in you as the animal. 

You can read more about the top culprits to people’s digestive health in my free eBook or in My Healing Eating Plan.

Take Care of Mommy

Pregnancy and child birth are no joke. I am tired of both of these things being taken so lightly in our society. As strong and amazing as women are, we need some serious TLC after being pregnant and giving birth. I’m not talking a few weeks. I’m talking months. How can we do a better job of preventing thyroid disorders, hormonal imbalance, depression, and other health-related disorders in women who are of child-bearing age?

1. Prioritize quality food and meals. (Physical Nourishment) Do whatever you need to do with your time and money budgets to put wholesome, quality food at the top of the list in your home. What you eat is a critical factor in your thyroid and overall hormonal health. If you need help with this, then please visit My Healing Eating Plan or download my free eBook.
2. Take quality vitamins and probiotics. (Supplements) In many cases, food isn’t enough in maintaining your nutritional stores or replenishing them during/after pregnancy, breastfeeding, and birth. Climate change is affecting the quality of protein crops and produce, so consider that too. Additionally, digestion has to be primed in order for the body to assimilate nutrients to maintain proper hormone levels and make thyroid hormone. Stress and environmental factors affect your body’s ability to do that, so make sure to take probiotics. In order to have healthy hormones and a healthy thyroid, you need vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, C, D, iodine, magnesium, selenium, zinc, B2, and B12. Protein is extremely important too.
3. Include sea vegetables into your diet for iodine. (Physical Nourishment) Iodine is an important element in the production of thyroid hormone, and it also helps maintain healthy breasts. If you aren’t getting proper amounts of iodine in your diet, then you’ll become deficient. Deficiency in iodine is serious because your body can’t make iodine; you have to get it from an outside source. You can include something like dulse flakes as a way to salt your food and get the iodine you need, or you can take a supplement like kelp to keep your iodine levels up. Your doctor or medical practitioner can test you for your iodine level, and you should consult with them.
4. Ask for help with household tasks. (Home Environment/Stress Reduction) Everyone should be involved in the day to day care of the home. Too often, one person shoulders the load of running the household. It’s not fair for one person to handle all/the majority of the household tasks. This puts an incredible amount of stress on one person, and stress is no good for the hormones. Tasks can be split up amongst children too. It’s never too early to teach kids how to clean up their toys, make their bed, help with meal time, or be the “go for” to help Mom and Dad get things. I reward my son for simply getting me stuff during the day while I’m breastfeeding. Every week or so, we escape the house to get ice cream or get a lego set. It’s our little time, and his “pay check” for helping me.
5. Take time for yourself….daily. (Stress Reduction) A walk outside, a relaxing bath, or twenty minutes to sit on the porch and drink a cup of tea are simple ways to quell stress. Managing stress is crucial to balancing hormones and optimizing thyroid function. We are juggling a lot each day, and every mom needs a little time to herself. A small amount of peace and quiet goes a long way in providing mental and emotional stability. Remember, you have to speak up and ask for this. You are not being selfish; it’s necessary.
6. Connect with your girlfriends and fellow moms. (Friendship) Social connection has been proven time and again to be a fierce factor in wellness. Laughing and bonding with other women feeds the production of healthy hormones and reduces stress. Raising children is an extremely challenging season, and having a shoulder to cry or laugh on is critical. Play dates are great, but don’t forget to build in the occasional adult time. When I get together for dinner with my friends, I look at that as a fountain of youth. As hard as it can be to tear yourself away from home, and as much as you convince yourself that you don’t need that time out, you DO need it.
7. Connect with your spouse. (Love and Intimacy) Feeling loved and having intimacy feed us on a deep level. When we don’t get enough quality time with our partner, it can drive us to go to other things for fulfillment. Those things include sugary, sweet treats, alcohol, and indulging in other unhealthy behavior. Kids make us forget our keys, phones, and why we married our spouse. Marriage is like anything else; it won’t survive without nourishment. Happy parents are first and foremost happy partners. Additionally, this teaches your kids that Mommy and Daddy need time away from the kids. It’s not always about them, and that’s a healthy thing to learn.

   

8. Set appropriate boundaries. (Stress Reduction)We all have that one person who crosses the line time and time again. Most times, this is someone who you can’t completely cut out from your life. On the flip side, you can’t have a flood of stress hormones wrecking your health. It’s necessary to set appropriate boundaries. In order to avoid the confrontations and stress, you may have to limit time with this person. Whatever the situation may be, you know the answer. Speak up. Act on it.

The Bottom Line

Awareness is key. If we’re aware of the things that affect our wellbeing, we can make steps each day to give ourselves the best life we can. Being well doesn’t just mean eating good food and getting your exercise each day. It’s a matter of being aware that every aspect of your life affects your health. There are people who eat really well and get plenty of exercise, but their stress levels are high. Their relationships are poor, and they won’t ask for help. They have family or friends who take advantage of them, or don’t respect their way of living and raising their children.

Speak up for yourself and your health. You have one family to raise, and one life to live. Let’s make it the best we can. I say this to myself just as much to anyone else.

 

From my heart,

Lindsay

*Please note: I am not a doctor, and I’m not claiming to be able to heal anyone. I am simply offering suggestions based upon my experience with thyroid illness, as well as my education at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. Please contact me or comment below if you have any questions. Thank you!

*Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”