Jen Palmer – Page 7 – Wilson's Syndrome

Could Holiday Stress Impact Your Health?

Tags: holiday stress, Low body temperature, low thyroid, stress, T3, thyroid hormone receptor, trauma, TSH, wilson's syndrome|

Life gets complicated around the holidays; we tend to overbook our social schedules to squeeze in as many events as possible. Although it is intended to be fun, sometimes there is an underlying pressure to create the perfect holiday ambiance, which can cause more stress than enjoyment.

Stress can upset your thyroid gland in complicated and profound ways. New research shows that the effects of stress on your thyroid can be long-lasting and hinder your resilience (your ability to recover from trauma).

One study found that women who had experienced

Stress: A one-two punch to the thyroid

Tags: adaptogen herbs, cortisol, endocrine, hypothyroid, iodine, selenium, stress, T3, thyroid|

Last month I wrote about the endocrine system and how adrenal overload can cause fatigue, weight gain, and eventually affect the thyroid. This month, I’d like to focus on how life’s stresses impede the production and utilization of thyroid hormone and what you can do about it.

You already know that long term, chronic stress is one of the most common factors for adrenal dysfunction. When adrenals suffer, it influences other related endocrine organs, such as pituitary and hypothalamus. Collectively, this is called the “HPA” axis, or the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, which works on a feedback system. The

NPY: The Zen Chemical

Have you ever gone through a long period of extreme stress, such as a divorce, losing a loved one, or a period of financial struggle? Did you notice how your body reacted to it? You may have found yourself eating more than usual, maybe you felt really exhausted, or maybe you felt “totally stressed out” and more anxious than usual. Any and all of those reactions are perfectly normal, because for most of us, stress causes a biochemical reaction in our endocrine and nervous system, leading to a disruption in the normal patterns of chemicals that our body relies

Optimize Thyroid – Adrenal Cross-talk

Tags: adrenals, cortisol, fatigue, hypothyroid, stress, thyroid, TSH|

Last week we talked about how chronic stress and cortisol wears out the adrenals, and how tired adrenals affect thyroid function. But there’s actually more to the story. Did you know that not only is thyroid hormone activity regulated in part by stress hormone activity, but the reverse is also true. The two hormonal systems interact throughout your body, in different tissues. Thyroid hormone sets a kind of “baseline” activity level and stress hormones, secreted from your adrenal glands, speed it up or slow it down.

The interaction is complicated and affects body heat, blood flow, heart rate, blood

Is your body a symphony?

Tags: adaptogens, adrenal fatigue, Ashwagandha, eleuthero, hypothyroid, stress, T3, thyroid|

I am often asked if the adrenals are important in relation to the thyroid. My answer is YES- very important! For such a small pair of organs, the adrenal glands have a lot of influence over our entire wellbeing. They are part of the endocrine system, a collection of tiny organs that work in concert to control the production and secretion of the chemical messengers produced in our body. Some of these include hormones and neurotransmitters, which send signals and instructions to different parts of our body. Similar to the conductor of an orchestra, who signals certain players on

Is cholesterol really related to the thyroid?

Do you struggle with elevated cholesterol levels, even though your diet is good and you exercise? If you still mysteriously have high cholesterol, believe it or not, you may want to check your body temperature! Is it below 98? It’s possible you may have low thyroid hormone function that is contributing to your high cholesterol. Sometimes correcting temperature and thyroid function can help normalize cholesterol levels.

Here’s how it works. Low thyroid function is associated with a reduction in the number and activity of LDL (“bad” cholesterol) receptor sites on liver cells. Receptor sites are “docking stations” that allow

How to overcome leptin resistance and lose weight

You’ve probably heard of the so-called “fat” hormone, leptin. Leptin is produced in fat cells. It sends a signal to the brain’s control center, the hypothalamus, about our nutritional status. High levels mean we have enough fat stores. All is well. No need to eat. Falling leptin levels, on the other hand, send the opposite message: Uh oh. Fat stores are depleted. Time to eat. At least, that is the way it is supposed to work.

Here is the catch. Most overweight people have higher blood leptin levels than normal weight people. And they have a condition called leptin resistance.

Finding a doctor you can work with

When looking for a doctor to help with Low Temperature symptoms, sometimes you can find one by interviewing and sorting through various doctors. Since you are the “customer” and paying the doctor to provide a service, if you aren’t getting what you’re looking for, then you should find someone who does.

Many doctors feel that the information on wilsonssyndrome.com makes common sense and the symptoms are consistent with what they see in practice. But how do you find those doctors that would be willing to work with you to normalize your temperature? Believe it or not, you can put

Is it a mental health problem? Or just your thyroid…

It seems unfair, but women are more likely than men to be given a psychosomatic (psychiatric) diagnosis for a physical ailment. They’re especially likely to be diagnosed with depression and anxiety, even when they have similar symptoms as men. Right or wrong, there is an assumption among health care professionals that women are indeed more likely to have these mental health problems than men. Certainly plenty of women walk away from their doctor’s office with prescriptions for antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs.

These drugs may help in the short-term, but may not get to the root cause of the problem. That’s because

Where does belly fat come from?

Tags: abdominal fat, adrenal fatigue, cortisol, low temperature, metabolism, overweight, thyroid f|

Call it a spare tire, a pooch, or even a beer belly; despite the cute names, it’s still frustrating. Abdominal fat is associated with aging-related shifts in fat deposition, drops in sex hormone levels, and especially with chronic stress.

Here’s how it works: high blood levels of the main stress hormone, cortisol, change the way your body handles fat. Belly fat cells have more cortisol receptors on their surface than fat cells in other places in the body. They are primed to take in fat when cortisol levels are elevated. If you combine that with high insulin levels from too much

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