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Recover From Hypothyroidism’s Symptoms by Reversing Hashimoto’s

With: Dr. Anshul Gupta

About the Episode

Identify and reverse the health effects of Hashimoto’s and achieve a better quality of life!

Join Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician Dr. Anshul Gupta as he discusses Hashimoto’s Disease’s signs, symptoms, and how it impacts your health. He also dives deep into how to distinguish Hashimoto’s from hypothyroidism or other possible causes of the same symptoms.

You don’t have to settle for a life that you don’t enjoy, so listen until the end for his three steps to recovery!

What We Discuss

Hashimoto’s Disease vs. Hypothyroid

Hashimoto’s Disease is an autoimmune disease that causes the body to produce antibodies that destroy the thyroid gland, leading to hypothyroidism.

The thyroid produces a hormone that takes care of the body’s metabolic needs, which are related to energy production. Every organ throughout the body has thyroid receptors that bind with the hormones produced by the thyroid and are responsible for optimal organ function. That means, if your thyroid isn’t producing the hormone those receptors are looking for, your organs can’t function correctly.

The most common symptoms experienced by people with early-onset Hashimoto’s are weight gain, inability to lose weight, fatigue, digestive issues like constipation or IBS, and mood changes like depression and anxiety. In addition, many women who struggle with Hashimoto’s experience fertility issues, hair thinning or falling out, and brain fog or ADHD-like symptoms. In hypothyroidism, the hormone production capacity of the thyroid gland can’t keep up with the demands of the body, so we see the same signs as in Hashimoto’s Disease.

Distinguishing Hashimoto’s Disease

In conventional medicine, the lack of extensive testing for thyroid issues can make distinguishing Hashimoto’s Disease from other diseases with similar symptoms difficult, especially considering how common these symptoms are. To properly diagnose, doctors should run multiple lab tests for anyone experiencing more than one symptom to check the patient’s T levels, which most insurances cover under preventive care.

Even then, there is no distinguishing factor between hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s Disease in conventional medicine because the treatment is the same – Levothyroxine. But due to the underlying autoimmune component of Hashimoto’s, functional medicine focuses more on protocols that lower the number of antibodies attacking the thyroid gland. Reducing antibodies reduces the destruction of the thyroid and improves hormone production.

Three Steps to Recover the Thyroid

First, Dr. Gupta looks for the trigger that caused the body to attack the thyroid. Food sensitivities, nutritional deficiencies, toxins, stress or trauma, pregnancy, and illness are all common triggers of Hashimoto’s. The second step is fixing the problem by avoiding the trigger. The third step is helping patients make better choices that support their body throughout the healing process and form habits that reduce the odds of relapse.

Quality of life is the most critical thing with thyroid patients, so feeling good and back to your “normal” self is one aspect of recovery. Another is improving the antibody levels, but it’s important to note that the antibody levels will never go back to zero in Hashimoto’s patients. Getting the levels down to appropriate levels (below 30) can take anywhere between 4-6 months, but keeping them down there is a lifelong process.

There’s no such thing as perfection, and life will throw things at you that you’re not expecting. If you focus too much on achieving perfection, all you’ll end up doing is causing yourself more stress, which is the most common cause for hypothyroidism relapse. So Dr. Gupta recommends practicing stress-release exercises from the beginning of your treatment.

There is hope to get better. Start increasing your quality of life!

Guest Bio

Dr. Anshul Gupta is a best-selling author, speaker, researcher, and world expert in Hashimoto’s Disease. He is a Board-Certified Family Medicine Physician, with advanced certification in Functional Medicine, Peptide therapy, and also Fellowship trained in Integrative Medicine. Through his innovative approach towards Hashimoto’s Disease, he has helped thousands of patients reverse their unresolved symptoms and live their lives to the fullest.