Thyroid Health and the Adrenal Glands

Dr. Claire Arcidiacono, ND

When it comes to holistic health care 2 of the most common things to talk about are thyroid health and adrenal health. What is interesting about these 2 topics is that they are more closely related than you may expect! But just how do these 2 organs that aren’t close to each other in the body affect each other? Let us get into it, shall we?

Let us start at the very beginning. What are the adrenal glands? Well in a nutshell they are small glands on the top of the kidneys that produce hormones. They look like little hats that live on top of the kidneys. They produce mineralocorticoids for example aldosterone which can control blood pressure, glucocorticoids predominately cortisol which is the hormone in charge of our flight or fight response, and adrenal androgen such as DHEA and testosterone and estrogen. What does all this mean? Well to sum it up the adrenal glands are in charge of our blood pressure, sodium balance in the body, water balance in the body as well as the body’s response to stress or illness. If any of your body’s systems are not working up to par the body sees that as stress and the adrenals will react by making cortisol. The adrenals are also in charge of regulating metabolism for example weight as well as fat metabolism and glucose regulation and even sleep regulation. In fact, when the adrenals are signaled to produce more cortisol (which given it is the main hormone associated with stress it is the main hormone I will talk about) the symptoms include fatigue with a difficulty staying asleep. This can lead to feelings of anxiety as well as weight gain and higher than normal blood pressure. (1)

How does this relate to thyroid? One of the problems with having too much cortisol produced by the adrenals is that they affect the thyroid itself. Cortisol can cause the conversion of T3 from T4 to be reduced hence increasing the likelihood of hypothyroid symptoms! (2) This may be one reason when we see clients with what is called adrenal fatigue, we often are also working with them to address hypothyroid symptoms. Interestingly, in cases of long-term thyroid dysfunction there is also adrenal dysfunction. Now you might say “I know I just read that” but what I mean is that the adrenals can affect the thyroid, but the thyroid can affect the adrenals long term. How is that possible? Because the adrenals will often try and compensate for the reduced thyroid hormones. To produce energy, they will produce cortisol. However, eventually this can cause adrenal fatigue. What exactly is adrenal fatigue? In the normal process your body will produce cortisol in the morning to wake you up, a small amount in the afternoon to keep you going and none at night so you can sleep. When you are under stress the adrenals are constantly forced to produce cortisol. This leads to the adrenals becoming unregulated or fatigued. One such issue is that they produce cortisol at night rather than in the morning. They also tend to produce either too much cortisol or not enough. Symptoms of adrenal fatigue can include trouble with brain fog,  sleeping/fatigue, headaches, and digestive issues, changes in weight, and anxiety, brain fog, depression and even joint pain, PMS, Low/High blood pressure, salt cravings, blood sugar fluctuations, sensitivity to cold, infertility and reduced immunity. (3, 4)

What can you do?

• Ashwagandha root has been found in studies to not only regulate the thyroid, but it also helps to function as an adaptogen to regulate cortisol. In fact, studies show lower cortisol levels using this herb. (5) Please see Invite’s Thyroid Hx.
• Rhodiola has been found to help moderate the cortisol levels when they are high due to stress. This can help with the stress response. (6) Please see Invite’s Rhodiola and our Performance multivitamin.
• Licorice root helps to maintain cortisol in the morning so that energy is available when needed. One of the things that often happens with adrenal fatigue is that while there is too much cortisol at night there is too little in the morning. Licorice helps to normalize this. (7) Please see Invite’s GI Maintain and MinAcid Hx!
• B vitamins are important for energy and are usually depleted by stress which is associated with adrenal fatigue. (8) See Invite’s Methyl-B for an activated complex of B vitamins that go straight to work! All of Invite health’s multivitamins contain a full B complex! If you prefer a powder, check out Invite’s Multi Energy powder.
• Phosphatidylserine is one of the best things to help with cortisol that is waking you up in the middle of the night. After a few weeks most people say their sleep starts to improve. Studies show Phosphatidylserine normalizes cortisol especially when taken at night. (9) See Invite’s Phosphatidylserine and SuperFocus IQ.
• Vitamin D is critical for thyroid function. In fact, studies have found that having vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for developing thyroid disorders. (10) Studies have also found that vitamin D is important for our adrenal health as well. (11) Please see Invite’s D3 1000 and 3000 IU formulas as well as our Immunity Hx and Probiotic Immune formulas!
• Zinc has been found to be extremely helpful for improving thyroid function in studies. (12) Please see Invite’s Zinc Picolinate, Macula advanced, Probiotic Immune and Immunity Hx.
• Please speak to an Invite nutritionist to determine if Glandular supplements are a good addition to your protocol!

SOURCES

1. https://www.yourhormones.info/glands/adrenal-glands/
2. https://www.amymyersmd.com/article/adrenal-thyroid-connection/
3. https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-cortisol
4. https://drmteitelbaum.com/signs-of-adrenal-fatigue/
5. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23439798/
6. https://www.herbalgram.org/resources/herbalgram/issues/82/table-of-contents/article3409/
7. Al-Dujaili EA, Kenyon CJ, Nicol MR, Mason JI. Licorice and glycyrrhetinic acid increase DHEA and deoxycorticosterone levels in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting adrenal SULT2A1 activity. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2010 Dec 22.
8. “https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6770181/”
9. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4942871/
10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9964959/#sec6-ijms-24-03586
11. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9606701/#s7
12. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17541266/#:~:text=Zinc%20supplementation%20appeared%20to%20have,(3)%2C%20and%20RMR.

th