Recover From Hypothyroidism’s Symptoms by Reversing Hashimoto’s, Dr. Anshul Gupta @AnshulGuptaMD

Welcome to another episode of five Journeys podcast live. Like you matter.

We're privileged to be joined by Dr. Anshul Gupta. He's a best selling author, speaker, researcher and world expert on Hashimoto's disease. He's board certified in family medicine with advanced certification in functional medicine, Peptide therapy, and also fellowship trained in integrative medicine. Through his innovative approach towards Hashimoto's disease, he has helped thousands of patients to reverse their unresolved symptoms and live their life to the fullest. Dr. Gupta, welcome.

Thank you so much for having me on the show. It's a privilege to be here.

We're delighted. So I think we have to start at the beginning, right? What is Hashimoto's?

Yeah, wonderful. That's a good question, I think, because a lot of people kind of, you know, think Hashimoto's and hypothyroidism or low thyroid issues are exactly the same issues, but I want to let the audience know that they are not. So Hashimoto's is an autoimmune condition where your body is actually producing antibodies which is destroying the thyroid gland and that actually ultimately leads to hypothyroidism. So Hashimoto's is the one reason that people get hypothyroid, but they're not exactly the same. Now in the current scenario, actually, Hashimoto's is the number one reason of hypothyroidism. Initially, when actually people got diagnosed with hypothyroidism, the number one reason a decade ago was iodine deficiency. But in the current scenario, because we have iodine kind of fortification in our salt and everything else, that reason is almost obsolete. We don't see iodine deficiency anymore. So the number one reason is actually Hashimoto's now these days.

So can we go back to that? Because I know that sea salt is all the rage and there's no iodine in sea salt. So is there, did it, did it start low, wait, start high, go down when people started using salt and then spike again when everyone started using sea salt, did that alter the incidence of.

Hypothesis of Himalayan salt iodine in them? All the other fun stuff.

Has that made a meaningful difference in the incidence of just straight up hypothyroidism that's due to iodine deficiency.

So actually, you know, like, because of there is so much media coverage about iodine and everything, salt is definitely one of the main sources, but we have other sources now. Other fortification happens, you know, like in our foods, which does have iodine in it. So what I would Say is that definitely when initially we were diagnosed with thyroid diseases, it was iodine deficiency which was causing it. And then we improved it significantly. Now we are actually seeing the opposite, that maybe sometimes people are actually overburdening their system with iodine. And we see over like toxication of iodine also leads to Hashimoto's. So we have research studies which proves low iodine causes Hashimoto's as well as high amount of iodine also causes Hashimoto's. This is kind of the middle way we have to go through.

All right, so we were just talking about iodine, but I really before I want to back up and go to the basics of what is some of the symptoms of Hashimoto's and how do people know that they might have Hashimoto's and what is hypothyroidism? Let's get first to the basics and then we can talk about how to help it.

Salt.

Salt.

Right, Absolutely, yes. So the most common symptoms of people that present with Hashimoto's is that they have issues with weight gain or inability to lose weight. Then they feel tired or fatigued, then they have gut related problems like constipation or ibs. Then they have mood changes like feeling depressed or anxious. Then infertility actually is a big issue that a lot of females are seeing because of Hashimoto's. Then we have other issues, you know, like skin problems or hair problems with hair falling or hair thinning. Again, a major complaint that a lot of females have with Hashimoto's also. And then brain fog, that is another symptom that, you know, I see a lot of females coming to me that they're presenting with brain fog or ADHD like symptoms. So I think those are all like, you know, a list of symptoms that happen with Hashimoto's. Now these are very, very common or like, you know, symptoms with hypothyroidism also. So in hypothyroidism, basically what happens is that your thyroid gland is supposed to produce this thyroid hormone. And in hypothyroidism your thyroid gland cannot keep up with the demand of the body of thyroid hormone. So the low thyroid hormone is responsible for giving us all these symptoms.

Let's just pause for a second. Your description of hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's kind of like every human walking or every female I see with weight gain, brain fog, fatigue issues, getting pregnant, hair loss. I mean it's kind of like everyone.

Yeah, well, that's where I was going to Go everywhere. How do we distinguish that versus herbal bowel that has a gluten sensitivity? What are the testings? Or how do we distinguish Hashimoto's from all the other things we do in functional medicine?

Exactly. Again, a very good question. The question is really good because we do not do appropriate testing for THYIT in general conventional medicine. You know, we are all taught up just to check one lab, which is the tsh, which only text, you know, like, tells us whether, you know, like our body is not able to keep up with the thyroid hormone production or not. But, you know, if you actually look for Hashimoto's, then we have to do much more detailed thyroid testing which includes a T3 hormone, the T4 hormone, and along with that, antibody levels. So there are two antibody levels, you know, which are the thyroid peroxidase and as well as the thyroglobulin antibodies that needs to be checked. So these are the basic tests, you know, whoever has any of these symptoms that we mentioned, which you literally said almost every second person or every second female that you see has these symptoms. But these tests, the good part is that are available in all the labs and they're covered by majority of their insurance. So everybody should get these testing done so that they can know they have Hashimoto's or not. If these tests are negative, then this is. Then obviously they have to look for other reasons.

Back it up because I know what you're saying, but I want to make sure we really talk about what's happening. How does the thyroid function? So TSH is thyroid stimulating hormone. Right. So it comes from the brain, hits your thyroid and then you get T4 being produced, majority of T4 and a little bit of T3 and T4 circulates around your body and gets into the cells and then that gets converted into T3 into the cells. A lot of the cells. Right. And the T3 is the actual active hormone that's very small and much more volatile in the T4. A lot more. But sometimes part of the problem is people we can't convert T4 to T3. And that also is a major issue which we're not going to get into here. But I just want to kind of frame the conversation.

I want to touch on it because it's a problem. Well, excuse me, I think I'm inhaling all the pollens from the flowers.

Apparently.

It's that time of the year, you know, like everybody, you know, goes crazy with these allergies, you know.

All right, so anything else that we missed in terms of just basic biology, just so that we're all on the same page and making sure that. And then, and then what you were talking about, the two antibodies, those are antibodies to the thyroid that, as you were saying, come around, the body attacks itself, I. E. Autoimmune disease. Okay, I just want to.

Yeah, absolutely. So one thing, you know, like a lot of people have this question and maybe a lot of people do not understand is they ask me this question, well, what does actually thyroid do? You know, like, I understand that, you know, have a thyroid that produces thyroid hormone, but what does actually do? So for those, like, you know, for just people have to understand is that. So thyroid I call, is a metabolic hormone. Basically, this is responsible for taking care of the metabolic needs of the body, which means basically energy production. You know, like our body is responsible for energy production. If there is no energy, we will not be able to function. So thyroid plays a key role in actually helping the mitochondria and other body to function in the appropriate manner, especially like, you know, taking care of the metabolic needs and the energy needs. So that's the main function of the thyroid. But the thyroid receptors are present all over our body. Each and every organs of our body has thyroid hormone receptors. So that means thyroid hormone binds to that receptors and is responsible for optimal function of that organ system. So basically, if you do not have thyroid hormone, literally we will not be able to live. So that's the key and that's the importance of thyroid hormone.

I completely. I blanked on. I was going to go somewhere.

I'll ask a question. So obviously Hashimoto's is going to be treated differently than hypothyroidism, which does not have an autoimmune component. So first off, it sounds like you're testing on everyone. So you're going to know up front whether it's straight up hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's or something else. So how are you treating them? And is there a difference?

There is a big difference. You know, and that's where again, the conventional medicine, you know, kind of, you know, is not very helpful for, you know, like regular folks. Because in conventional medicine there is no differentiating factor between hypothyroidism and Hashimoto's. The treatment is the same, just giving everybody levothyroxine. That's the only treatment they have. But in functional medicine, you know, like we have actually differentiating factors. Hypothyroidism. The main problem is low thyroid hormone and they need need thyroid hormone supplementation. But in Hashimoto's. The underlying problem is actually totally different. It is this autoimmune component, these antibodies which are destroying the thyroid gland. So in functional medicine, we actually make protocols to help lower these antibody levels so that the destruction of the thyroid is, you know, like stopped. And we can sometimes actually able to recover the thyroid so that the body starts functioning. The thyroid hormone is needed by.

You're basically saying you have found a way to tell the body to be kind to itself and stop destroying itself.

Right. How do you do that?

No, wait, wait, no, I have another question. Well, maybe it's the same question. So when you're talking about hypothyroidism, obviously you give them treatment, but can you have normal thyroid function then, but still have an autoimmune disease? And how do you approach those people?

Very important question, you know, and that's the reason the complete testing is very important. Because again, if you only check the tsh, then you only are checking for that amount of destruction that the thyroid needs to stop producing the thyroid hormone. But I see so many folks that the thyroid hormone levels are normal, but the antibody levels have always been high and nobody has done anything about it. So if we actually, you know, like work on these folks, you know, like on a timely fashion, we can stop the destruction of the thyroid gland and these people actually can be safeguarded from going to the hypothyroid site. Good. So that's where my three step process comes.

You make it sound so easy.

So I have developed this three step process.

It's only three steps, five minutes, right?

Three major steps. Right?

I know, right? Yeah, just three steps and you'll be all good, I promise. Now these. So try to make it easy for the folks to understand it so that, you know, they have an idea of, you know, like, what they're dealing with. So basically these three steps, you know, like first we are actually looking at what is causing the trigger or what is causing the destruction of the thyroid gland. Because most people think, well, one day I just got autoimmune disease. Well, not really, you know, like your body doesn't think one day that okay, well, I'm just going to start destroying myself. That never happens. There has to be a reason. And that's where, you know, we functional medicine doctors are trained to kind of find the reason why, you know, why the body destroying. So that's the very first step of finding the right triggers of those folks, you know. So I've divided these triggers into the five different categories. So these, you know, triggers are first Category is food sensitivities. You know, food is medicine. But food can also harm your thyroid or can lead to destruction of the thyroid gland. You know, so food sensitivity is number one. The second is nutritional deficiencies. Our body needs certain vitamins and minerals to function properly. Lot of times because of a poor lifestyle or even the environment we are living in, our body gets low on certain vitamins and minerals, which triggers Hashimoto's. The third, you know, like the underlying problem is toxins. You know, our body, time and again, you know, in our environment, you know, is being pounded with more and more new toxins every day. More chemicals in our environment. So that again leads to the trigger of Hashimoto's. The fourth is stress or trauma. You know, we are living in a stressful world. You know, sometimes work is stressful. You know, sometimes it can be relationships or divorce.

That never happens.

Relationships are never stressful.

I know, right? So even pregnancy, you know, like can be so stressful for like, you know, for female bodies. And we see that trigger of Hashimoto's that happens after the delivery because that's a big change in the.

People think of it like, well, it was a joyful event. And my response is, but it's still a stressor. Even if it's not stressful, it was a stressor. And people forget that those major life changes, even when joyful, can be extremely. They can tax the body.

That's all. Exactly. And you know, like that's what I always like whenever I'm working with a client with Hashimoto's, I say, well, why don't you go back to the time where actually you were diagnosed with Hashimoto's and look like a year before that, you know, you know, what kind of was happening in your life. And almost like 70 to 80% of people will go back and they will say, oh yeah, this happened or that happened or that was a stressful moment in my life. So the stress and trauma is such a big trigger that most of us basically ignore it. But that's a very, very important reason that people do get Kashimoto's. So that's my fourth category.

So four categories. And then what's the three step process.

And then the, and the fifth. Well, the fifth, there is one more fifth category which is the infections. Okay, so you know, like we deal with a lot of infections like viruses, Epstein Barr virus infection or like, you know, infectious mononucleosis. Then there are a lot of parasites can trigger Hashimoto's. Then obviously like Lyme disease. And other things can also do that. So these are the big five categories, you know, which are responsible for triggering the Hashimoto's. That's the very first step of identifying what all triggers are present, what all the root causes of the patient is there. And then actually the second step is start fixing the problem.

Let me pause you for a second.

Start fixing the mitochondrial thing.

Pause though, because I want to make sure, I want to see if we can. The easiest thing for people in terms of the most comprehensive is to find a functional doctor to really look through this. What if you don't have access to a functional doctor? What can you do to look at those triggers? Obviously the stressors we can go through, but like food, let's talk about maybe people can do an elimination diet or something of that nature instead of necessarily doing a test.

Well, it also sounds like what can you do on yourself before you spend money? If people are thinking about, okay, I might not be able to have access to it, but what can you do on your own? And then what do you need to do with it? Professional like Dr. Gupta.

Absolutely. So that's where actually the second step comes into place. The second step is, you know, we have developed this mitothyroid diet. So this mitothyroid diet. So interestingly, like, you know, as you guys might know, like, you know, there are so many different diets in the market, like AIP diet, paleo diet, you know, sibo diet and all those things. But interestingly, nobody has made a very, very specific diet for the thyroid gland. Right. You know, we can use an AIP diet for thyroid patients. Yes. You know, we can use a paleo diet, but the thyroid gland has specific requirements. Right. As we already know about it. So this, in this mitothyroid diet, the very first step that we do is what we call as elimination of things which we kind of consider like, you know, are the triggers for majority of the folks. This is similar to the elimination process where we are removing foods. So that's the very first step. So certain foods which I feel are triggered for majority of the Hashimoto's patients, you know, are the gluten, dairy, soy, corn, sugar, processed food, processed meats. So all of those foods that we know are triggers or majority of the autoimmune diseases are also triggers for Hashimoto's. So that's the very first step that you do that can easily be done by anybody who Hashimoto's.

How does that differ from the AIP protocol? Because it's not as restrictive like you didn't mention legumes. So I don't know if that's. Or nuts and nuts and seeds. So is it those are okay and not forbidden on the, the mitothroid?

That is correct, yes. So actually I went on a research spree of looking at what research do we have on legumes or lentils or even nightshades and stuff in respect to Hashimoto's and there is actually none. So there was no research done which actually says that these have a detrimental effect or a negative effect. Actually there was a research study done which actually put these Hashimoto's patients into two different categories. One like having regular food and the other one actually having food which was like high in plant based diets which include lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes and lentils. And after following this diet for six weeks, they actually checked their antibodies and the antibody levels in the second group which was consuming this like a healthier version of the diet was significantly lower. So that's where you know, like, you know, in, in the mitothyroid diet, you know, like we do not remove. It's not as restrictive with AIP that, you know, nuts and seeds are fine, the nightshades are fine. The only other foods you know which actually, you know, like, which we found have research behind it were the other foods like gluten, dairy, you know, like.

Soy, corn, processed stuff that's not so good for you.

All the good stuff.

All the not so good good stuff. I know I would beg to differ on that one.

We all take people off. All right, so that, so that's really good use. And you can find that diet is there on your website. Where can you find that diet that people can go through?

Right? So definitely, you know, like I have blogs on my website that people can go through. In my new book, you know, Refreshing Hashimoto's, obviously we talk in detail about the diet, you know, like so they can also know a much more detailed version of it. But my website also has information. I have a YouTube video, actually a couple of YouTube videos about that.

But really they should buy the book, right?

Buy the book, get the information. I like it.

Okay.

All right. So that's the weight loss or that's the weight of food.

But I think we need to drill into that because food's a huge trigger for people. And so you're gonna get people from all walks of life. They're gonna either be the people who already said to you, yeah, I've been doing AIP for years. And then you say oh, well, you can eat more than you're eating, or you have the people who are like, what's gluten free? So what are you recommending to people who have not done any elimination of foods? Is there a system that you say, start with this move, or do you just wipe the slate clean? How do you recommend they approach that?

So, yeah, so I get people from all different walks of the diet basis. So if the people are totally naive to what the healthy diet is, then I generally start them first with introducing the concept of, like, you know, what is the quality of food? Because a lot of people come to see me and they feel that they have been doing a healthier version of the diet, which is basically, they said, well, you know, I'm following a diet which is a thousand calories or less, but I'm still not able to lose weight. But on those diet, whether they're eating an ice cream or whether they are eating blueberries is exactly the same. It's just the calories that matters. So I help them understand it's not about the calories, it's about the quality of the food. Ice cream and blueberries are not the same.

They go all the time.

If you have a choice, you know, you have to pick. Exactly. But frozen, they don't.

Heck, collect the cats.

Thinking out loud.

Yes.

So you're talking about nutrient density.

So we need to have.

And the quality. And phytonutrients, not just calories.

Exactly. So that's the first thing I introduced to them, you know, like, okay, well, help them understand that, make better choices once they're ready for it. Then I actually introduce a concept of actually removing foods which are totally unhealthy or a trigger. So that's where I introduce a concept of gluten, like, why gluten is bad and how they can be gluten free and then the dairy free. So those are the things that, you know, definitely I start eliminating first before I go into the other, like, detailed things.

Are you doing this yourself or are you using a nutritionist or some kind of coach?

Actually, I do it on my own. For some reason, I do it on my own. Yeah, because when I was working the Cleveland Clinic, we have wonderful nutritionists and health coaches and things, but patients somehow, like, end up, you know, kept on asking me all these nutrition questions, and I try to dodge them as a nutritionist, but they will come back. Well, yeah, but, you know, can you just go through with me, like, you know, with this for five minutes, I was like, okay. And I love nutrition you know, I love, you know, like, the nutrition piece, the diet piece of it. So that's the passion of mine. So that's the reason in my practice, I decided I will just do it on my own. So I. I kind of, you know, like, help to. I like to educate my kind of clients about nutrition and the food.

Got it. So you start with the food and then what happens?

So food, then definitely. We work actually on some supplements. So, you know, like, there are certain supplements which could be helpful to supporting both thyroid as well as the mitochondria. So that's what we start off with. So some of the supplements in that situations will be. Zinc is a very important supplement for thyroid. Selenium is an important supplement for thyroid. Magnesium is good for both thyroid as well as mitochondria. Then vitamin D. You know, like a lot of people, most of the folks are low in vitamin D. So that's another supplement that we introduce.

And then David or B, like buzzing bee. I just.

So both, but definitely D D for David, the first go, and then B for like, a boy in the second step. Okay. Because the problem is that how many supplements can you introduce into a person? I'm not a fan of introducing 30 supplements to my clients in one go. Generally, you start with a few supplements and then add a few more as we go along, depending on the needs. So that is what you do.

You use things that are blended. Or are you doing one zinc and one B12 and one vitamin D3. How are you approaching that?

Yeah, no, no, no. I definitely use a blends. You know, I like the blend so much, you know, because these all work synergistically, you know, like, these are not standalone vitamins. What I call is that, you know, our body is a symphony. It is made with so many instruments which are kind of, you know, going on together. So we cannot kind of differentiate, you know, like one or the other. So we have to use these blends in of all these supplements together so that the whole system starts working again. So definitely. I'm a big fan of blends. That's what I use.

Are you doing the toxins eval at the outset for people? Because it seems like there's sort of levels and categories, Right. So a portion of people are going to respond to just diet. A portion of people need diet and nutrient deficiency treated, and then you're left with the toxic group. Right. So do you start your toxins evaluation at the beginning, or do you wait to see who's not a responder and then make them do the Testing. Where do you put that?

Right? So actually I do that again in a two step fashion. So everybody who have Hashimoto's will have some level of toxins. So what I feel is that, you know, those, everybody with Hashimoto's should start optimizing their natural detox channels in their body. So what I feel is that there are five detox channels, you know, in our body which are naturally present. One is, you know, our sweat glands, you know, like through sweating, you know, like we eliminate the toxins which go out of the body. So that's where the saunas get, you know, they're like in the properties. The second way is, you know, through kidneys. So again, most of the people do not drink enough water. So again I tell them, push them to drink enough water. Good quality water. There we go. Yes. So that's the easy way to doing it. Right. And then the third is through your gut. Right? So having regular bowel movements, you know, everybody, you know, like must have at least one, you know, if they can have more, that is great. So then the fourth channel that the detoxifies, you know, is through your liver. So again, you know, like, you know, helping them to pick better food choices which can support their liver. So that's another thing that, you know, definitely we work with. So these are. And then the fifth is the lymphatic channels, you know, like, you know, that's where the dry brushing comes into place, you know, which again people can do easily. So these are free things. You know, people don't have to spend a lot of money, but they can definitely be very, very helpful in optimizing the detox channels. So this again, when people get started with us, I always tell people along with the diet, if you start doing these things, this will be nice. And then after that, even if after doing these things, people are not getting better, that's where we actually go with full evaluation of the detoxification and then kind of figuring out what toxins they have and then making a specific protocol.

You're super nice. So I can't really see you saying this to someone, but I could see saying to someone. So we've done all the basic stuff. You're still a mess. Guess what? You've got toxins.

Well, I'm a little bit more gentle with my friends. I can see that.

I think I'm worse. Yeah, I'm always straightforward.

We're on the spectrum here.

But I want to know.

So.

I think we're going to come back. But I have the pressing question of how long does it take to actually recover? Let's say you all do all this stuff and you get back on track. You take your supplements, you do your saunas, you eat the foods, you eat a good diet that's right for you.

Or body, you're perfect, right? You're always perfect.

It has to be perfect.

You're always perfect.

You can't deviate one bit.

But that is another question we should ask him.

We should. But let's start with.

Finish your question.

How long does it take? What's the range? Obviously, everybody's different. What's the range? And of 100 people that you see, how many actually people do you see recover? It's never 100%.

Well, what do you mean by recover? Do you mean get rid of their antibodies completely? What do you mean?

Well, it's. I think that's.

What do you call recovery? But go to his question first. I don't want to recommend.

Right. That's again, that's right. That's an important question. And that's what, you know, like I asked a lot of my clients, okay, what does that mean by recovery or by reversing? Right. So for me, the recovery process starts with when people start feeling better. Right. Because the quality of life is the most important thing with thyroid patients. Right. So that's what I say that, you know, a lot of times, you know, if you, your quality of life is back, you know, you're feeling good, that's one aspect of recovery. The second aspect of recovery is obviously looking at the antibody levels. So improvement in the antibody levels is the second aspect that we work with our clients, you know, and getting them better. Now again, you like, getting the antibody levels back to normal or back to zero is never the, like the goal. Because once people have Hashimoto's, there will be certain levels of antibodies which will be present. But if we can get them, because people that come to see me, you know, like their antibody levels are like 2,000 or 3,000 range. Well, they should be like less than 30. Right. You know, so like, if we can bring them in a sustainable range of, let's say, 100 or like, you know, 50 or something, that's a win win for me. From 2000 to like you know, 100. That's great. Right? So that's the second thing. Definitely improvement in antibodies.

We're looking at how long does that take?

And the third thing is that, how long? Between four to six months.

What's that?

Four to. Between four to six months.

Pretty good.

You know, when we repeat the between when we repeat the like the levels, obviously within like, you know, a couple of months, their symptoms start improving. That's the first thing. Within four to six months, you know, the antibody level starts getting better. And then within like six to six months to one year. Is that the maximum benefit people will see that their antibody levels will reach a trough level, like whether they're back to normal or whether they are actually in the range which is acceptable. And the third thing we actually see is that, you know, sometimes reduction of the medication dosage or actually even people are able to get off the medicine doses. That again takes between six months to one year. Because I'm a little bit more gentle with my clients getting off the medicine. I'm not the one that. Okay, well, day one, okay, you stop all medicines. I generally don't do that.

What kind of compliance do you have with. Because food is such a trigger for people? So what are you considering compliant? And what's the excursion rate at which people can still expect to see improvement but not be perfect?

Because humanity isn't perfect and that's what we believe in. You know, like whenever clients come to see me, they want to do everything in a perfect sense. I always tell them it is nothing like perfection. This is life. You know, life is going to throw things at you. You will not be able to do things perfectly. Nonsense. If you try to be perfect, then actually you're creating the problem of stress and stress will actually make things worse. So don't do that. So I'll just say, like, try to do your level best. If you are 70 to 80% compliant with the diet, that's awesome. That is more than, you know, like, you know, that will give you the benefit. But you know, like what I tell also my clients is that just listen to your body. There will be specific food, you know, which as soon as you eat, your body will tell you that the worst food, you know, like that you can consume. So if that is the signal that you're getting from the body, then try to be staying away from it for like as much as you can. Which happens mostly with like gluten or dairy. People will say, okay, well I gave gluten for four weeks, but you know, like I had like a pizza or something, you know, like when I was like on a birthday party or somewhere else and the very next day, you know, like I actually paid for it. So I said, well, so see, like you listen to your body and if body's telling you gluten is not for you, then maybe it's not for you, but some people, some people come to see me. Well, you know, I accidentally consumed some sugar. Okay. Well, I did not feel the worst thing. I said, that's okay. Maybe you don't have to use a processed sugar. Maybe you need to have a healthier version of the sugar. That is the situation. So that is why I say 70 to 80% the diet should be followed and then listen to your body and then the food which doesn't agree with you, definitely try to stay away from it as much as you can.

Got it.

That makes sense.

What are the most common reasons people will relapse? We might have just kind of covered that. But are there other things that throw people off and have them get a setback around their Hashimoto's.

Stress? You know, like whenever a client starts with me, I said, one free advice that you are going to get from me is that, you know, like start doing some stress reduction exercise daily basis, either meditation or deep breathing or whatever you like, start doing it right now. And everybody, you know, like not everybody I will say, but a lot of people actually do not listen to that advice and always know that they don't value it.

Yes, you start charging for that advice.

Exactly right.

Do you have a favorite meditation app or website or anything else that you refer, commonly refer people to?

There are actually a couple of them. So, you know, I actually follow a meditation practice of my own. It's called Heartfulness. So like how we have mindfulness, it's called Heartfulness. So they have an app, you know, like they have several YouTube videos. Very easy to do, you know, like just focus on your heart and then kind of just be in the relaxed phase. So that's one of the very easy, like, you know, things that people can do. So that's one of those things. Then, then their Insight Timer is another one, you know, which is a great app that a lot of my folks like it, very interactive and a lot of things that they can play around with doing it. So I think those are the good ones that, you know, I like and recommend all of my clients to using it.

That's great. That's great.

What would you say to someone, what are some of the resources you send people to if they think they might, aside from your book and your website, which we're going to tell people, what are some of the other resources you recommend people look into to figure out where they lie and what might be wrong with them?

Right. So actually, interestingly again on my website I had made this quiz, like a thyroid quiz, which again Hits on all these five root causes that we spoke about. Through a series of questions, people can actually get a good sense of which, like, you know, trigger might be their issue. So that's one thing that, you know, a lot of people. I say that again, it's free, doesn't cost any money will give you, like, all these different categories where it will give you an idea where you're lying. But other good resources, even for toxins, you know, like, you know, there is EWG.org we love that too. Wonderful research. Yeah. So, you know, they have an app. You know, that site is wonderful. Like, you know, if you want to live toxin free, that's like, you know, the website that should be like, on your bookmark, like, or like every laptop or every computer. Because, you know, you can look up your products, you know, you can choose better products, you know, you can scan things. It'll tell you, like, what is good, what is not. If you're on a budget, you know, you don't want to kind of eat like, you know, you cannot buy all organic. It'll give you the dirty dozen and everything. So that's a one, like, you know, basically, like, website. All of my clients, like, I refer out to and kind of help them look out to. And that gives good resources.

Got it.

One thing before we wrap up, I want to kind of make sure, because I just want to do justice because I think some people may not have access to functional medicine, and I want to really give them what is the actual testing. So we said TSH and you said T3 and T4. Now, is that total T3, T4? Are you using free T3, T4? Because there's multiple ways of testing. So what are you using for testing?

Right. So if I have an option, I go with both. But most of the people, you know, if I don't have an option, then I go with free T3 and free T4, because that definitely is going to give us active hormones, which your body needs.

And then what are the two antibodies that you're testing? Just so that I just want to be clear so that everybody, if you're worried and don't have access or have a hard time getting access, at least let's find out if you have Hashimoto's before. And that's a good way to do it.

Right. So the two antibody levels, one is called tpo, called thyroid peroxidase antibodies, and the second one is the thyroglobulin antibody.

Awesome.

So those antibodies are really very sensitive. Easily, like, all the labs can do it. And like, you know, regular doctors can order it. So definitely like everybody, you know who have any reason of feeling that they have Ashimoto should get them done.

Perfect. So where can people find you and your book? Where can they find you?

Right. So I'm all over the place, right?

I mean you got to us like we think you're great.

I know, right? So I'm on social media. People can buy find me on Instagram. I have a YouTube channel that they can find into. So my. So my website is anshulguptamd.com which has tons of information. I have an active blog. You know, I write like I write to write. So I have a lot of blog post written which is research based. And then you know, like I have a YouTube channel again with the name of Anshul Gupta MD. So they can find me over there. And website is a good resource. You know. Like the book is called Reversing Hashimoto's which is available on Amazon. They can order it from there too.

Beautiful.

Is there anything else we missed or that you want to say? Any last things in terms of last word, Last words? Any last words until you're done?

Yes, even like, I definitely want to say some last words. Is that for the people with Hashimoto's, I want to get this message across to them that there is hope for them to get better. Don't let anybody tell you that you have to suffer and you have to live this life which is limited by Hashimoto's. You can do much better. Your life and quality of life can be much more better. So look for answers and you will get it. Do not settle for a life that you do not enjoy.

That's an amazing message.

Very powerful. Thank you, Dr. Gupta. You are listening to Dr. Anshul Gupta. We're talking about reversing Hashimoto's disease. And this is another episode of Live like youe Matter.

Thank you so much.

Thank you so much.