Podcast episode (Ask the Health Expert) hosted by JJ Virgin featuring Dr. Alan Christensen answering a listener (Irma Blanco) with an underactive thyroid who is taking 90 mg Armour and experiencing fatigue and brain fog. Dr. Christensen recommends optimizing thyroid function while avoiding excess iodine (he cites an iodine intake window of roughly 30–100 micrograms for best odds of reversal). He notes 90 mg Armour already supplies about 190 micrograms of iodine, so additional iodine sources should be limited (iodized salt, dairy, egg yolks, certain vegetables, processed grains, some cosmetics). He advises ensuring medication dose is appropriate and screening for common comorbid contributors such as iron deficiency (stating ~80–92% of people with thyroid disease have suboptimal iron), autoimmune gastritis, parathyroid disease, and sleep apnea. Episode also contains multiple sponsor ad reads and a closing subscribe prompt.
Questions this episode answers
About 30–100 micrograms (µg) of iodine intake.
About 190 micrograms (µg) of iodine.
Approximately 80% to 92%.
December 3, 2020.
Chapters
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I have an Underactive Thyroid what is the best thing to help with fatigue and brain fog? This is JJ Virgin, four time New York Times best selling author, celebrity nutrition expert and fitness hall of Famer. I've been on a lifelong quest for answers to the toughest health questions and now I'm sharing what I found with you. Welcome to Ask Ask the Health Expert. Irma Blanco from Facebook asks, I have an underactive thyroid. I'm currently taking 90 milligrams of armour. What's the best thing to help with fatigue and brain fog? Hey, it's JJ and today I've got my longtime friend Dr. Alan Christensen, also known as Dr. C, with me to answer this question. By the way, he's my thumb thyroid doc too. He's a board certified naturopathic endocrinologist and New York Times best selling author from Minnesota currently in Scottsdale who fell in love with his awesome wife Kieran at first sight and they literally decided to get married on their first date. And that, by the way, was over 24 years ago. In his spare time, he's a huge athlete.
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So if you've got an underactive thyroid and you're already on medication, the best thing to help with fatigue and brain fog. So there's a couple steps to that. The first one is thinking about improving your own thyroid function as much as possible. And that'll come about by your thyroid making more hormone. And the best opportunity that helps, that is getting right. In terms of iodine, what we learned now is that thyroid disease becomes active and the thyroid slows down from a variety of factors. But a lot of the factors that we thought were common, we now know are not that common. And of the ones that are the most common, there's some that we can't do much with, and that would include how old we are and the fact of our genders. But the variable which is the most common driver that is controllable is going to be our iodine status. We've learned that there's a window that if you're outside this particular window, you're much more apt to develop thyroid disease. And the exciting part is there's another window that if you're inside of it, you've got the best odds of reversing thyroid disease. And that's somewhere between about 30 and 100 micrograms. Now, that's how much iodine you ingest. And when you're taking 90 milligrams of armour, you're already getting. Do some quick math. You're already getting about 190 micrograms of iodine right there. So you wouldn't want any extra. So the more that you can avoid extra iodine, the more your gland has a chance to heal itself. The biggest sources to think about would be iodized salt, dairy foods, egg yolks, c vegetables and then processed and baked grain products, and then finally some cosmetics. There are topical compounds that are quite dense in iodine. The next steps to think about with the brain and the brain fog and fatigue are making sure your thyroid levels are appropriate. So if your medication is too high or too low, either one can make you not feel well. It's not always a matter of the more the merrier. And then another big thing to think about is whether there are other factors. So there's many conditions that are common in the same people that get thyroid disease, and there's some conditions that thyroid disease can cause, but one of the most common ones with those symptoms would be anemias. Somewhere between about 80 to 92% of people with thyroid disease do not have the best levels of iron, and a common way that can affect them is just generalized fatigue and brain fog. But there are some other conditions too that can be present, things like autoimmune gastritis, parathyroid disease, sleep apnea. So the trick is to dial in your thyroid, help it and as much as possible, and then work with a good doctor to make sure there aren't any other hidden factors making you not feel well. But those are the steps. But please know that those are not symptoms you've got to live with. Those are things that can be understood and can be improved upon.
This is JJ with Ask the Health Expert. I do this five times a week, so make sure you never miss a show by going to subscribe to join JJ.com.
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