Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 2 DISCLAIMER ........................................................................................................................................ 3 CHAPTER 1: WHAT YOUR THYROID AFFECTS ................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOUR THYROID? .................................................................... 7 Tried Everything and You Are Not Getting Better? ......................................................................... 13 Understanding Autoimmune Disease (Hashimoto’s) ....................................................................... 14 Hormones ...................................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER 3: THYROID AND DIET ..................................................................................................... 20 Hypothyroid Autoimmune diet (Phase 1) ........................................................................................ 20 Maintenance Diet (Phase 2)............................................................................................................ 24 Carbohydrate Addiction.................................................................................................................. 27 GMO’s ............................................................................................................................................ 28 CHAPTER 4: BLOOD TESTING AND VALUES..................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER 5: ADVANCED TESTING ................................................................................................... 50 CHAPTER 6: WHAT CAN YOU DO TO START FEELING BETTER? ....................................................... 52 Repairing Gut Function ................................................................................................................... 52 Detoxification - Vitamin C Flush ...................................................................................................... 56 The Liver......................................................................................................................................... 57 Is your Body pH balanced?.............................................................................................................. 57 The Pink Salt Flush: Intestinal Cleansing.......................................................................................... 60 Thyroid Support.............................................................................................................................. 61 Water is Key ................................................................................................................................... 63 DETOX With Infrared Sauna Therapy .............................................................................................. 64 Why Detoxify? ................................................................................................................................ 65 Organic Food .................................................................................................................................. 66 Juicing 101...................................................................................................................................... 68 Why You Should Go Grain-Free ....................................................................................................... 71 CHAPTER 7: CASE STUDIES ............................................................................................................. 79 RESOURCES AND FINAL WORDS ........................................................................................................ 83 INTRODUCTION My name is Dr. Tom Sladic. I have a private practice in the State of Michigan. I am a member of the Institute for Functional Medicine and the American College of Nutrition. I am a Certified Nutrition Specialist and Chiropractic Physician. I wrote this book to help those suffering from hypothyroidism get the answers and help they need. I have helped hundreds of patients get better and I wanted to share my strategies with those who continue to suffer. This book is meant to be a guide so that you can get some insight into what might be happening in your own situation. The solutions are a completely natural approach that delivers consistently excellent results. I will show you what I do for my patients so that they get well. I will also share some examples of different cases at the end of this book. You might find that you could benefit from some advanced testing and some blood tests that you may not have heard of before. You will get to know the diets and supplements I use for my patients in different cases. If you find yourself falling into a certain category, you’ll know exactly what to do. I suggest that you work with a professional in regard to the nutritional protocols and be sure to get high-quality supplements. Many of my patients are on medications prior to seeing me and they continue to take these as we work together. Do not stop taking any medications that you are prescribed. Over time, you will notice that you start to feel much better as your health improves. At that point, your doctor may reduce the amount of medication you are taking. I will also share with you the type of blood tests I perform, which you can use to monitor your health. 2 DISCLAIMER The information and recommendations in this book are not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice. It is the sole responsibility of the user to determine if the procedures are appropriate. This author cannot be held responsible for the information or any inadvertent errors resulting from attempting any of the protocols. The nutritional supplements mentioned are not intended to be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. This book should not be used as replacement for any medical treatment. 3 CHAPTER 1: WHAT YOUR THYROID AFFECTS When your thyroid is not working properly, a number of things can go wrong with you. One of the biggest complaints is fatigue. Added weight gain, even when on a low calorie diet, is another symptom. I have patients who eat 1,200 calories a day doing a 6-month boot camp and they haven’t lost a single pound. In such cases, there’s obviously something wrong and it is not your genetics. Some other symptoms of thyroid problems are: morning headaches which wear off as the day progresses, depression, constipation and sensitivity to cold. If your hands are freezing and you’re cold during mid-summer, you have poor blood circulation, numbness in your hands and feet, muscle cramps, you have colds and are sickly all the time, wounds which heal slowly, you require excessive amounts of sleep to function properly, you suffer digestive problems, have itchy skin, dry brittle hair, hair loss and a loss of a portion of your eyebrows, leg swelling and edema, there is high probability that you have some thyroid dysfunction. Every cell in your body has thyroid receptors. So, if your thyroid is not functioning, there are many, many different parts of your body that are going to be affected. One of them is bone metabolism. The thyroid secretes something called calcitonin which is responsible for laying down bone. Many patients who have had thyroid problems for a long time end up on osteoporosis medication. Anemia is another red flag. Your thyroid is responsible for producing stomach acid. When you have a thyroid problem, stomach acid production goes down. Consequently, B12 and iron absorption becomes difficult. That can lead to anemia. Unfortunately, many patients end up taking antacids to correct this - which only makes the problem worse. Body heat and night sweats: The thyroid is the thermostat of your body. It controls your body temperature. Indeed, your body temperature has a lot to do with your thyroid, estrogen imbalance and adrenal glands. If you’re sweating a lot, that’s an adrenal problem. Supporting the adrenal glands will get things in balance, including menopausal symptoms. In some cases, we use a temperature graph to differentiate what the problem is to monitor progress (See Chapter 6). Another problem is estrogen metabolism. When you have hypothyroidism, the liver detox pathways will slow down, especially detox pathway number two (which is responsible for getting estrogen out of your body). In turn, estrogen will build up in your bloodstream and 4 gets stored in fat tissue. I’m sure you are aware that high levels of estrogen are very bad. It can cause cancer, ovarian cysts and a number of other complications. This book will tell you exactly how to detoxify the liver which is only done after first addressing the thyroid. Gastrointestinal dysfunction: Slow intestinal tract motility can cause constipation. More importantly, the waste and toxic material that sits in your gut for many days can cause an overgrowth of bad bacteria. This is called dysbiosis and will begin to negatively impact your health and lead to numerous problems. You should be having bowel movement on a daily basis. Gallbladder: One of the biggest issues I see with thyroid patients is that many have already had their gallbladder removed. Your liver and gallbladder become congested because you have low thyroid symptoms (slow function) and cannot