Functional Support for Thyroid Concerns
Experiencing fatigue, unexplained weight changes, brain fog or ongoing thyroid symptoms?
Discuss your thyroid concerns and find out whether our approach is right for you.
Your thyroid helps regulate metabolism throughout the body, which means changes in thyroid function can present in very different ways.
For some people, this looks like fatigue, feeling cold, constipation, weight gain and brain fog. For others, it may present as feeling hot, restless or anxious, experiencing heart palpitations, difficulty sleeping, frequent bowel movements or unexplained weight loss.
Sometimes blood tests identify a clear thyroid disorder. Other times, symptoms persist despite thyroid results falling within standard reference ranges.
At Resolve Health Naturopathy, we look beyond the thyroid itself to understand the bigger picture. This can include nutrition, digestion, metabolic health, stress, sleep, inflammation and immune function alongside your thyroid results.
Thyroid Conditions & Concerns We Support
We provide naturopathic support alongside appropriate medical care for hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, non-thyroidal illness syndrome, sub-clinical hypothyroidism and sub-clinical hyperthyroidism.
Thyroid symptoms overlap with many other health concerns. This is why we don’t assume that every symptom is being caused directly by the thyroid, or that every thyroid condition should be approached in the same way.
How We Differ
A thyroid diagnosis tells us what is happening to your thyroid, but it doesn’t tell us how it is influencing the rest of the body. It doesn’t tell us WHY and it doesn’t always explain all your symptoms.
Two people can have the same diagnosis and experience completely different health concerns.
One person with hypothyroidism may also be experiencing iron deficiency, constipation and insulin resistance, while another may have gastrointestinal dysfunction, nutrient malabsorption and chronic inflammation.
Someone with hyperthyroidism may be experiencing weight loss, poor sleep and increased nutritional requirements, while another may have immune, inflammatory or digestive concerns.
These conditions can cause disturbances in other physiological systems that can then worsen the thyroid disease presentation itself, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. This isn’t the same in each person, and must be evaluated. But these self-perpetuating disturbances provides additional targets for treatment beyond the thyroid itself.
This is why we don’t use a single “thyroid protocol”.
Instead, we work through the different factors that may be influencing your health. We identify potential blockers, nourish what is missing, restore normal physiological processes, defend where necessary and regulate systems that may need continual adaptation. Importantly, the phases I discuss below aren’t necessarily things that we focus on one at a time. Optimal thyroid health often requires looking at all angles altogether.
BLOCKERS – Identify What May Be Interfering with Thyroid Health
We investigate factors that may be interfering with normal thyroid physiology or contributing to ongoing symptoms.
Thyroid hormone production is only part of the picture. Their conversion, transport and activity depends on other physiological systems. These could represent as thyroid health “blockers” making the thyroid work harder or less. This can result in a myriad of different symptoms that can’t all be explained by thyroid activity.
NOURISH – Establishing the Foundations for Healthy Thyroid Function
Producing, metabolizing and responding to thyroid hormones requires adequate nutrition, sleep, gut function and stress regulation.
Thyroid dysfunction itself can also disrupt these foundations creating a bidirectional relationship making these symptoms worse. Addressing the thyroid alone may only solve part of the picture.
Nutrient deficiencies can develop as a consequence of thyroid dysfunction, while certain deficiencies can further compromise thyroid function itself. This in itself is a chicken-or-the-egg situation where it can become difficult to determine which problem developed first. Regardless of which came first, deficiencies should always be addressed to nourish the environment of the thyroid and produce a state where the thyroid has everything it requires to adapt appropriately.
RESTORE – Supporting the Systems Around the Thyroid
Our Restore phase focuses on supporting healthy liver and kidney function, gastrointestinal barrier integrity, bowel regularity and normal metabolic and excretory processes. improving all of these systems may alter how thyroid hormones function while also reducing systemic burden on the rest of the body
DEFEND – Investigating Infectious and Immune Challenges
Infections, microbiome disturbances and immune challenges are frequently associated in thyroid conditions. These states can further influence the thyroid, in particular autoimmune thyroid conditions.
Our Defend phase focuses on identifying and addressing clinically relevant infections and microbial disturbances, including those affecting the gastrointestinal tract, oral cavity, sinuses, respiratory system and urogenital tract.
REGULATE – Targeting Thyroid Function and Hormonal Regulation
Once all of the contributing factors that relate to the thyroid are sufficiently managed, we shift towards improving the body’s ability to adapt, regulate and maintain healthy physiological function.
Thyroid health can alter the rest of the body, and the rest of the body can change thyroid function.
Rather than simply maintaining previous interventions, we continually reassess your progress and adapt treatment to your changing physiological needs, supporting long-term metabolic health and resilience.
Ready to Look Deeper Into Your Thyroid Health?
Whether you’re experiencing unexplained thyroid-related symptoms, have an existing thyroid diagnosis, or continue to experience symptoms despite treatment, there may be other contributing factors worth investigating.
At Resolve Health Naturopathy, we take an individualised approach to understanding your thyroid health and the physiological systems that influence it.
Available at our Seaford, Victoria clinic, or via telehealth.