How Thyroid Problems Affect Your Health + How to Promote A Healthy Thyroid

The thyroid gland is quite an important part of your body --it plays a role in all its major functioning. When your thyroid isn't performing well, many other areas of your health are negatively affected.

Photo credit: Nikki Kinkaid

Take a look at how thyroid problems affect other areas of your health, then read on to learn how you can improve the health of this important gland.

1. Sex drive
The health of your thyroid gland (or lack thereof) plays a role in your sex drive.

A study in the 2005 Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showed a connection between some thyroid conditions (such as hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism) and sexual problems like low sex drive and erectile dysfunction in men. 

The good news: The sexual issues experienced (by the men in the study) were found to have improved after they received treatment for their thyroid issues.

According to an article on WebMD, a nurse practitioner, Lynn Moyer, has said that female patients often report an improvement in sex drive after being treated for a thyroid issue.

2. Anxiety 
Hyperthyroidism (overactive thyroid) has been linked to anxiety.

3. Depression 
Hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid) has been linked to depression.


4. Weight
Many people report weight problems (both weight gain and excessive weight loss) as a common problem with thyroid disorders.


5. Reproductive health
Menstrual irregularities, hormone imbalances, and fertility problems are some of the most common issues for women with thyroid disorders. 

6. Heart health
A thyroid that doesn't function properly can lead to serious heart problems like cardiovascular disease and heart failure. For example, hyperthyroidism can cause an increased heart rate, increasing the amount of blood pumped to your heart, which can lead to heart failure. Hypothyroidism, on the other hand, can increase cholesterol, which causes heart complications.
 

7.  Alzheimer's
Women whose thyroid hormone levels were either too high or too low were shown to have a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Interestingly enough, the study did not find the same risks for men.





                                      Remedies for A Healthy Thyroid:
You can start boosting the health of your thyroid gland right at home. With the right nutrition, you may even be able to get your thyroid problems under control.

Photo credit: Keith Davenport

(*Disclaimer: Of course you should consult with a trustworthy healthcare professional before you do anything. This is not advice. Do not go and swallow anything and then say Healthy-Happy-Wholesome told you to. This information is simply shared information for you to peruse at your own risk... Blah, blah, blah. Just please use the information responsibly and do not do anything without a trusted health professional's clearance.*)

Now that that's out of the way...

1. Maca Root Powder
A lot of folks attest to maca's powerful health benefits, saying it rejuvenates their energy and vitality, restores sex drive, and even improves mood disorders.

More noteably, maca root has also been said to support a healthy thyroid by balancing hormones. Testimonies from maca users can be found online. Some of them have even had blood tests taken before and after taking maca to note the improvements in their thyroid levels.


2. Essential Fatty Acids
EFA's like omega-3 and omega-6 are needed in order for your thyroid to function and be healthy. Chia seeds and flax seeds (or a teaspoon of flax seed oil daily) are one way to amp up your omega 3-fatty-acid intake. 

3. Amino Acids
Amino acids, like L-tyrosine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, and arginine, have a significant impact on your thyroid health. For example, not getting enough tyrosine can be enough to create hypothyroidism.

Since an overactive or underactive thyroid has been linked to anxiety and depression, it may be of interest to know that "amino acid therapy" has proved useful in some cases.

Common daily dosages for thyroid problems:
L-Tyrosine: 1,000 milligrams

Tryptophan: 500 milligrams

Arginine: 850 - 5,000 milligrams
L-Phenylalanine: 200 milligrams


4. Iodine  
Iodine (not the kind in table salt!) is necessary for thyroid hormone production. An underactive thyroid can often be restored by increasing iodine intake. On the other hand, too much iodine can have the opposite affect and cause thyroid problems, so it's important to monitor your iodine levels and intake carefully.

To increase your iodine intake from food sources, you can incorporate foods like kelp, parsley, and seaweed into your diet.

 
Kelp-T Combination Herbal Powder (Thyroid Formula), 16 oz, Christopher's Original Formulas - $29.41
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100 - 200 micrograms of iodine is the typical daily amount for thyroid disorders.

Note: Magnesium is necessary to balance the body's absorption of iodine.

5. Minerals 
Magnesium, potassium, selenium, and zinc not only reduce inflammation, but they're also important for overall thyroid health.

Zinc: Just 10 milligrams of zinc daily was shown by the University of Massachusetts, to improve thyroid problems in women. 

Interesting note: The high zinc content found in oysters is a reason why they're considered to have aphrodisiac properties!

Selenium: 200 micrograms of selenium is the typical daily dosage for people with thyroid problems. 

Magnesium: Between 600 - 800 milligrams of magnesium daily is common among those dealing with thyroid problems.

Potassium: Around 99 milligrams daily is usually the maximum dosage used to improve thyroid problems.

Potassium may also help alleviate some of the symptoms that come with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, Grave's Disease, and hypothyroidism. The symptom reduction is possibly due to the fact that people with those three diseases are usually deficient in potassium.


6. Vitamin A
Vitamin A is so critical for a healthy thyroid that without enough of it, the gland can actually deteriorate. Vitamin A also regulates hormones and can prevent your thyroid from becoming enlarged. 

25,000 IU of Vitamin A daily is usually the suggested dosage.

7. B Vitamins
Vitamin B5 and B6 help balance your hormones while B12 is necessary for proper thyroid hormone production. Since most people with low thyroid levels are especially deficient in Vitamin B12, incorporating more into your daily diet is a good way to improve your symptoms and boost a sluggish thyroid. A deficiency in Vitamin B-2 can destroy your thyroid's ability to function.

*Read this article to learn about the 12 important B Vitamins and how much to take daily.



Thyroid Support, 120 Liquid Phyto-Caps, Gaia Herbs - $34.99
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*Disclaimer 2: A thyroid evaluation should be done by a trusted healthcare professional in order to know if you have a thyroid problem and what precisely that problem is. There are a range of different types of thyroid "problems" such as underactive thyroid and overactive thyroid, but for the sake of being brief, this article only scratched the surface.



Sources:
Carani, Cesare, et. al. "Multicenter Study on the Prevalence of Sexual Symptoms in Male Hypo- and Hyperthyroid Patients," The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism Vol. 90, No. 12 6472-6479

Boydens, C., Pauwels, B., Decaluwé, K., Brouckaert, P. and Van de Voorde, J. (2015), Relaxant and Antioxidant Capacity of the Red Wine Polyphenols, Resveratrol and Quercetin, on Isolated Mice Corpora Cavernosa. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 12: 303–312. doi: 10.1111/jsm.12786

Tan, Z. S., Beiser, A., Vasan, R. S., Au, R., Auerbach, S., Kiel, D. P., … Seshadri, S. (2008). Thyroid Function and the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease: The Framingham Study. Archives of Internal Medicine, 168(14), 1514–1520. http://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.168.14.1514
 

OxyLife Relaxal Supplement Review

OxyLife supplement: Relaxal

Benefits:
Helps reduce mild anxiety
Improve mood and fight mid-day fatigue
Increase energy
Decrease appetite

My Results (taking one capsule)

In the midst of being down with some kind of awful cold that carried with it the worse-than-normal sinus congestion  -- that made me literally feel like my head was slowly drifting up and off my shoulders while pounding as if someone had taken a jack-hammer to my head. Sniffles and 40 sneezes in one day -- a product like Relaxal couldn't have been here for me at a better time, especially since my sickly weekend was filled with my favorite folks in the whole world (the whole slew of nieces & nephews, and of course my love who damn near kills his own self when he has to see me sick, bless his heart. This is the second time in just this month!)

Before I forget that this post was intended to be a review of this life-saving Relaxal supplement and not a re-cap of my sick, but joy-filled weekend, let me just get right to it...

You get it, right? I was sick, sick. And today, Sunday required a lot of energy to spend time with the kids and family all day. But not enough sleep, plus the lingering sickness like the migraine made it hard to keep up. So, just to give you an idea of the type of results one might get from taking Relaxal -- well, it's 1:16 AM and I'm still going! I got the little boost I needed after taking Relaxal and a BC powder for the killer migraine that was only worsening as the night dragged on.

and here I am writing up a review! Let me tell you, this stuff was perfect for reducing the tension and stress I've felt like crazy today and getting a little boost of mental and physical energy. Oh, I also just finished 200 rounds of abdominal exercises! Didn't think I'd have the energy left to do them tonight.

This is off one single capsule, of Relaxal,folks. So to say I'm happy would be an understatement. I'm feeling real relief after quite some suffering.  I'm also feeling my mood perk up just a hair, which is always something I can use.

The appetite decrease, which has been enough to keep me from even daring to take a bite of the other half of my sub, or even the delicious white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies I've got. After taking Relaxal (around 11 PM, I believe), my appetite has been nil. Hopefully it will come back before this sub gets too old! I'm certainly not complaining though.


What I'm really loving about Relaxal is that it doesn't make me tired or drowsy like many, many supplements and OTC meds do, even some that don't typically have that side effect. 

Most anti-anxiety and anti-stress medications and supplements tend to over-relax you, meaning you can't take them except around bedtime, so therefore your relief has to wait during day-time.

Another thing I love is that the manufacturer of this product (OxyLife) proves they know what they're doing with their supplements. Reading the ingredients list and seeing nice amounts of magnesium and calcium along with Vitamin B6, St. John's Wort extract (hence the mood improvement, probably) & 5-HTP (hence the decrease in appetite), Vitamin B2, Thiamin, and Niacin. These all play a great role in how you feel, energy-wise.

You guys may recall my previous talk about using both a St. John's Wort supplement and a 5-HTP supplement. If not, the St. John's didn't end up benefitting my mood "issue" and depressive symptoms in the long-term, and the 5-HTP supplement made me so nauseous! So, I was almost hesitant about using this Relaxal, but am very glad I did. No negative side effects so far!

Results are impressive enough that I'm quite excited for tomorrow, as I'll be using the second capsule that came in the 2-capsule sample pack sent to me by OxyLife for review (thanks, OxyLife! You guys rock!)

Would I recommend Relaxal?   Excitedly! In fact, I've already been planning to share the word with a family memebr who deals with similar issues (mood, depression, fatigue) except far worse than I do. She has recently expressed a desire to go off anti-depressants at some point and try St. John's Wort, so this could be exactly her remedy, especially since her anxiety is still there while mine is almost non-existent these days (thanks to the herbs I've used.)

I will admit, I didn't expect a single thing when I took Relaxal. If anything, I thought I'd get drowsy or feel that heaviness I get from many anti-anxiety herbs/supplements. I certainly did not expect to feel a boost of energy or in my mood. I'll update with tomorrow's results, letting you guys know how the second dose goes.  This is a 2-capsule sample, so keep in mind this review is not detailing effects of a longer-term use & it's important to remember than most herbs for mood improvement like St. John's Wort typically take weeks to "kick in."


Relaxal's Full Ingredient List:

Thiamin - 15 Milligrams.
Vitamin B2 - 15 Milligrams.
Niacin -- 15 Milligrams.
Vitamin B6 - 30 Milligrams.
Pantothenic Acid - 30 Milligrams.
Calcium - 150 Milligrams.
Magnesium - 100 Milligrams.
Proprietary Relaxal Blend -- 450 Milligrams: PEA, St. John's Wort Extract, 5-HTP from Griffonia Seed Extract.
Other ingredients: Vegetable capsule, Magnesium Stearate, Silicon Dioxide.

Disclaimer: I am not a specialist, expert, professional or doctor of any kind. Content on this blog is not intended to be taken as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or advice of any sort. I'm simply sharing information about my own experiences and results from use of a product or activity in hopes of providing useful information to readers, not to be taken as a patient/medical adviser relationship. I am not responsible for what readers choose to do after viewing the content here. Furthermore, I do not hold an "exceptional" or other special relationship with any company mentioned on this site. I'm simply a consumer who worked with the company on a review that is in compliance with FTC's guidelines. That means, everything you read here is my own words, not anything of the company's. I was not provided with monetary compensation for my review. All information posted has been done so with complete honesty. No action should be taken based solely on the content of this publication ( I'm not responsible.) Readers who rely on the information in this blog to replace the advise of an appropriate health care provider assume all risks of such behavior.