Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Holidays and Immune Health Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND While the holidays are often times of fun, exciting travel and a time to reconnect with family and friends they can also be a time when we are exposed to different pathogens or germs than we are …
Managing Diabetes during the Holidays Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND Managing diabetes during the holiday time may seem to be an insurmountable task. But with a little twist to some classic recipes and a little help from classic invite supplements, eating healthy during the holiday is …
Holidays and Digestive Woes
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
As we approach the holiday season family gatherings become more frequent. These family gatherings often include new or different foods that may affect your digestive health. Family gatherings also frequently include travel and even stress, both of which often trigger digestive concerns. It’s a lot cover so let’s get into it, shall we?
Let’s start with something that in my clinical experience is one of the most common complications after a large meal. That is indigestion or simply put an upset stomach. What are the most common triggers of indigestion? Well as we all know eating new foods or foods that you typically avoid can trigger an upset stomach. Overeating or eating too fast (both common occurrences during any holiday feast) can trigger an upset stomach. Certain foods such as fatty, greasy, spicy, caffeine filled foods/drinks, alcoholic items, carbonated drinks or even acidic foods are all more likely to trigger an upset stomach. Smoking and even certain medications can affect our digestion. Anxiety, stress, depression/ trauma all of which are common at this time of year can lead to ingestion or upset stomach. Chronic GI conditions such as H. pylori or ulcers can also lead to indigestion. What are the most common symptoms of indigestion? I know what you’re thinking, Dr. Claire I know what an upset stomach looks and feels like! Just bear with me. There may be somethings you don’t even realize are signs of indigestion. So to begin with you may feel uncomfortably full or feel full with less food than you may expect to make you feel full. You may feel gassy and bloated and even experience burping. There may be nausea or vomiting. Additionally there may be mild to severe pain in your upper abdomen. Lastly you may notice a burning feeling. (1)
Similarly to the burning feeling of indigestion there is acid reflux. Acid reflux as we all know can be triggered by stress and even certain foods. In my clinical experience both overeating and eating foods you typically avoid can both trigger acid reflux. Family gatherings typically include both of these situations. Other triggers typically include a hernia, pregnancy, obesity, smoking, certain medications and even certain bacteria. Common symptoms of acid reflux include a sour taste of acid, a burning feeling, chest pain, sore throat and even asthma like symptoms. It’s important to realize in some people acid reflux may have no symptoms at all! Acid reflux (as well as indigestion) may lead to nausea and even vomiting. (1, 2)
Nausea and vomiting are very common concerns that pop up during the holidays. That is because stress, anxiety, overeating, eating unusual foods and even travel are all common during the holidays. Nausea and vomiting are very common problems when traveling. Just a fun fact about me, I’ve always had motion sickness. In fact to this day my mom loves to tell family how baby Claire would get sick after just a few minutes in the car (thanks Mom lol). Motion sickness involves much more than just the expected nausea and vomiting. I can attest to the fact that there is a feeling of malaise or in simple terms you just feel “icky”. You may feel irritable, begin to sweet/ and or produced more saliva. You may have rapid breathing. There may be headache, fatigue and even dizziness. (3) From personal experience I can also attest to a lack of appetite!
Other digestive concerns that I find come up during holiday time include both diarrhea and constipation. Between the new foods, overeating and stress diarrhea is not a surprise! With all the travel that occurs during the holiday’s constipation is certainly no surprise either! I won’t delve too heavily into these topics since there’s already so many blogs that deal with these topics on our website. Feel free to check them out!
What can you do to help keep your digestive system working?
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Stress and Holidays Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND Holiday time can be both fun and exciting. However, it is also a time that can induce stress. As a person who has both hosted holiday dinners and attended them, I can confidently say both situations are stressful …
Men’s Health and Thyroid Health Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND Thyroid health can be linked to many distinct aspects of our overall well-being. One of these is women’s health, however it also affects men’s health. Let’s get into it, shall we? One common misconception about thyroid …
UNDERSTANDING HYPERTHYROIDISM
Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND
One topic that I feel does not get enough attention is hyperthyroidism or overactive thyroid. Most people know or have heard of hypothyroidism or underactive thyroid. What they do not know is that the exact opposite can occur and you can end up with too much thyroid hormone in your body. It is an interesting topic so let us get into it, shall we? What even is hyperthyroidism and how does it present itself? Hyperthyroidism is where you produce too much thyroid hormone. Your TSH will be lower than optimum and your T3/T4 will be higher than normal. Hyperthyroidism can sometimes present as something called a thyroid storm. This is dangerous and is beyond the scope of this article. A thyroid storm must be treated conventionally. Once the storm calms and things settle depending on what is going on with the thyroid complementary medicine can be combined with conventional treatments. (1)
The symptoms of hyperthyroidism are sometimes quite similar to those of hypothyroidism. However, in most cases these symptoms are the exact opposite! For example in both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism people experience hair loss, changes in menstrual cycles as well as fatigue. Many with hyperthyroidism will experience a rapid heartbeat as well as a nervous/anxious feeling. Unlike in hypothyroidism where weight gain is common in hyperthyroidism there is an increased appetite but this increase in appetite is accompanied by weight loss. Instead of constipation there is diarrhea. Instead of being cold there is an intolerance to heat, Swelling of the eyes as well as swelling/ enlargement of the neck due to the enlargement of the thyroid is also very common.(2) I will include a picture of all the many symptoms of hyperthyroidism since it affects almost every system! (3)
While we may not know the exact cause of hyperthyroidism we do know certain risk factors. First consuming too much iodine can put you at risk of producing too much thyroid hormone (which is why taking iodine in high doses can be dangerous). Inflammatory and autoimmune problems can affect the thyroid as well. For example, thyroiditis is inflammation of the thyroid. It is interesting because it can initially cause symptoms of hyperthyroidism but overtime the thyroid gets “tired” and this leads to less hormone being produced leading to a switch to hypothyroidism! Interesting stuff! Graves’ disease is an autoimmune that causes 85% of all hyperthyroidism cases!
Thyroid nodules are a growth of extra thyroid cells. These may or may not be able to produce hormones. If they do produce hormones there will be extra hormones leading to hyperthyroidism. If the cells are inactive, they do not lead to hyperthyroidism. (4)
What can you do?
There are herbs and supplements found to be helpful either in studies or in traditional uses passed down through generation to generation. As I mentioned previously in this article a thyroid storm is dangerous and must be treated conventionally until it has passed the dangerous phase. Working with hyperthyroidism is in a way more difficult than hypothyroidism because the increase in hormones can be dangerous. I advise working with a qualified nutritionist from InVite Health.
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