Thyroid-Related Fatigue or Just Feeling Tired.
Many people suffer from chronic fatigue, even after they feel that they had a
good night's sleep. Learn how to tell if this is what is making you so exhausted and how to cure it naturally.
What is Extreme Tiredness from Thyroid and Natural Ways to Cure It
Not all chronic fatigue can be attributed to your thyroid malfunctioning. Read on to find out how to tell if it is thyroid related and find some natural cures for it.
What is Thyroid Fatigue?
If you have some specific symptoms, you may have thyroid-related fatigue. If you feel like you don't have any energy to get any exercise at all and would like to just be a couch potato, it may be thyroid related fatigue. When you feel like your head is just tired or heavy, especially in the afte
oons, it can be a sensitive indicator of your thyroid hormone status in your body. If you tend to fall asleep as soon as you sit down and are inactive, it could be thyroid-related tiredness.
What is Your Thyroid and What does it do?
Your thyroid is a small gland that is shaped like a butterfly. It produces hormones that influence every tissue, organ and cell in your entire body. This tiny gland controls your metabolism, governs how your body turns food into energy and in the process also affects your muscles, bones, cholesterol and heart. Two of the key hormones your thyroid produces are triiodothyroniine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). Both get into all of the cells in your body and control your metabolism. Some people can't effectively convert the T3 into the synthetic form of T4 and will have hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism is an under active thyroid and this condition effects about 80 percent of all people with thyroid disease. The symptoms of this disease are fatigue, depression, forgetfulness, constipation and changes in your weight and appetite.
What are the Symptoms of Hypothyroidism?
Your body is a great indicator if your thyroid isn't functioning properly. Fatigue is by far the most common sign, followed closely by depression and muscle weakness. You may also experience any of the following:
1. Sensitivity to cold2. Dry, rough and scaly skin with dry and tangled hair3. Hair loss on the outer area of your eyebrows4. Very brittle finge
ails and toenails5. Difficulty losing weight even with proper diet and exercise
In women, many times the symptoms mimic the signs of menopause and can be mistaken for it. Even if a woman in menopause is taking estrogen, she may have undiagnosed thyroid disease and exhibit signs of fatigue, mood swings, sleep disturbances and depression.
Since thyroid disease progresses slowly over time, many people will simply mistake the signs and symptoms as those of aging. Physicians will diagnose hypothyroidism with a thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) test to check and see if you are above the normal range for thyroid function. This is done through a simple blood test that is examined in a laboratory.
Natural Ways to Core Thyroid Disease
You can re-charge and re-boot your system in several ways to
combat thyroid disease naturally. The most important aspect is to clean up your diet to reduce your intake of processed foods and meats, as these are not all-natural and have many preservatives that your body doesn't need.
1. Avoid Highly-Processed Foods
Highly processed foods will last longer because of the preservatives, but they also have smaller amounts of the vitamins and minerals that you need on a daily basis. Avoid items such as refined foods, white flour products of any kind, sugars and saturated fats. Shoot for a diet that contains at least 50 percent of fresh foods so that the enzymes can help your body to maintain your metabolism. Any types of spouts, salads, raw vegetables and fruits can help you to boost your thyroid into the correct levels for the optimum health.
2. Increase Your Selenium Intake
Selenium in a mineral that occurs naturally in soil, water and some foods. Your body only needs a small amount of it, but it gives you a big bang as an antioxidant to protect your cells from damage and help controls your metabolism. Several foods are very rich in selenium and should be added to your diet daily for helping your thyroid work better.
Include sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts, and fish including tuna, sardines, flounder, halibut and salmon in your diet. Other great foods to increase your selenium intake include shellfish, such as mussels, shrimp, clams, scallops and oysters. Any non-processed meats such as beef, liver, lamb and pork as well as chicken and turkey have high amounts of this beneficial mineral. Other great items to eat with selenium include eggs and mushrooms of the button, shitake and crimini varieties.
3. Increase Your Iodine Intake
Iodine is a trace element that helps you convert T3 to T4. You can find several foods that are rich in iodine and they are also foods included in a healthy diet. Seaweed, kombu kelp, wakame (brown seaweed) and Nori (red seaweed). If you don't really care for seaweed, you can add other items to your diet, such as cod, milk, yogurt and cottage cheese. Choose your table salt as the iodized type, to include trace amounts of iodine. Shrimp and tuna are good sources of iodine, as well as eggs, lima beans and prunes.
4. Increase Your Omega-3 Fatty Acids
You can add high quality sources of omega-3 fatty acids to kick start your thyroid gland in the right direction. Krill oil is a favorite among thyroid patients, as it doesn't have a fishy taste like some other omega-3 fatty acid supplements.
5. Get a Good Night's Rest
Get a good night's rest every night in a comfortable setting. Make sure your bedroom is completely dark and a comfortable temperature that isn't too warm or too cool.
6. Address any Emotional Stress
If you have any emotional stress, it can negatively affect your thyroid gland and in the process, it can affect your adrenal gland to make your thyroid gland stop working completely. It's best to try to address any issues you have that stress you out and don't take them to bed with you or your sleep will suffer.
If you suspect that you may have a thyroid gland that is not right, you can try the natural ways to help it to re-boot itself first before seeking a physician's help. In many cases, you can correct it yourself without the need for medications. However, if you find that the natural cures are not working to relieve your symptoms, you should visit your doctor.