Why it’s a big issue for women and the hormone connection: Part I 

We have the pleasure of interviewing our good friend and colleague, Alison McAllister, N.D., a highly respected naturopath in Portland Oregon. Among other things, Alison specializes in thyroid diseases. Thyroid diseases affect women 5 to 20 times higher than in men. And because the prevalence of most thyroid diseases increases with age, we see hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, thyroid autoimmunity disease, and thyroid cancers occurring most often in menopausal women. We delve into this subject at great length…so much so that we’ve had to split our conversation with Alison into two parts. We trust you will enjoy and learn much from our discussion, starting with this first episode where we ask Alison a million questions. She gives us great answers and explanations that make it easier to picture complicated concepts in your mind.

You’ll learn:

• A basic understanding of how the thyroid gland works and how this small organ’s functions impact overall physiology. 
• Some of the tools used to measure the health of the thyroid gland starting with the main symptoms, physical findings, appropriate tests.
• We sort through the most common thyroid conditions from Hypothyroidism to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis to Graves’ disease.
• Why thyroid issues are more prevalent in women then in men and how thyroid problems and perimenopause go hand in hand.
• The connection between underlying hormone imbalances like estrogen dominance, adrenal fatigue and low thyroid symptoms.  
• Why so many women struggling to lose weight are shocked when a thyroid test comes back normal (and what the term “functional hypothyroidism” really means)
• What other systems we’re looking at when treating thyroid conditions: for example, adrenal health/reproductive hormones.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where we discuss how to address and prevent thyroid problems with diet and lifestyle adjustments, hormone rebalancing and appropriate medications. 

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