Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
Autoimmunity or autoimmune disease can play a role in endometriosis, adenomyosis, and other women’s health conditions. Natural treatment is with a gluten-free diet and selenium.
If you came to me for help with irregular periods, I would think very carefully about your thyroid.
It wouldn’t matter if you already had another diagnosis such as PCOS or hypothalamic amenorrhea. It wouldn’t matter if your doctor had vaguely said at some point that your blood test was normal. I would still think about thyroid. Why? Because underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism) is a common reason for irregular periods.
A change is coming for endometriosis treatment. Until now, the clinical approach has been surgery followed by hormonal suppression with hormonal birth control or other drugs. Going forward, the approach will shift to anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating treatments. That’s because there is growing evidence that endometriosis is not primarily a hormonal condition. It is autoimmune.
Thyroid tissue is strange tissue. It’s delicate and fatty, with a rich blood supply. It’s vulnerable to toxins such as mercury, which accumulate in the thyroid.
Even more strange is the histology or microstructure of the gland. It’s composed of little bubbles or sacs (follicles) that house the oxidative reactions of iodine transfer and hormone production. The surrounding tissue is shielded from these mini-cauldrons by only a single layer of cells. Imagine a pile of water balloons full of hazardous chemicals, and you get a sense of the precariousness of this gland. When tissue damage occurs, the body responds with repair and growth, and unfortunately at times over-growth, resulting in nodules and goitre.
Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) was supposed to be a simple way to detect thyroid disease. Before its invention in the 1970s, doctors diagnosed thyroid disease by symptoms.