What does your immune system and your thyroid gland have to do with health issues involving your eyes and vision? Plenty. In fact, there are a number of symptoms that point to thyroid eye disease, as the culprit. Commonly known as TED, thyroid eye disease is a medical condition featuring symptoms that can include irritated, red, teary, or bulging eyes; eye pain or pressure; sensitivity to light; blurry or double vision; impaired vision or loss of color in your vision; puffy or retracted eyelids; or eyes that point in different directions. TED is related to another, better-known medical condition called Graves’ disease, in which the body’s immune system attacks the thyroid gland. The thyroid gland is part of the endocrine system, which includes the adrenal glands, hypothalamus, pituitary gland, ovaries, and testes. It releases hormones into the bloodstream that help to regulate metabolism, bone growth, brain development, heart rate, digestion, […]
Thyroid Health
If you have thyroid gland issues and your legs are swollen, you may be searching online for answers to some or all of the following questions: Why do my legs feel heavy? Why are my legs restless at night? Why do I have leg cramps all the time? Why do my legs feel weak when I walk? Why are my legs always swollen at the end of the day? Why, when I wake up in the morning, do my legs take time to get moving, hurt, and feel tingly? If these questions are familiar to you, you may be relieved to know that they sound familiar to us, too, because we hear them all the time from patients struggling with hypothyroidism — a disorder of the endocrine system in which the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough thyroid hormone. Unfortunately, doctors who practice conventional medicine often miss the connection between swollen,
Health experts often turn to Japan for secrets to a long and healthy life. After all, the Japanese have one of the longest life expectancies on earth, as well as the greatest percentage of people who live past the age of 100. Conventional wisdom often attributes this longevity to the diet of the Japanese people. To many observers, the fact that the Japanese eat lots of fish and seaweed is why they are so healthy and live so long. And it may be true that the Japanese diet is at least partially responsible for their health and longevity, but such reasoning can be dangerous, especially when it is based on false and misleading data. One example of false data is the claim that the Japanese consume more than 13 milligrams of iodine daily in seaweed consumption alone. Some well-known health experts and supplement manufacturers, and retailers have been using this
Editor’s Note: Below is Part 2 in our two-part series on restoring thyroid health. As we learned in Part I of the series (which we encourage you to read before moving on to the post below) — Restoring Thyroid Health: Part 1: Hypothyroid — Just shy of 15 percent of the U.S. population is expected to develop a thyroid condition at some point, while roughly 20 million people in the U.S. have a form of thyroid disease, and 60 percent of those people with thyroid disease are actually unaware of their condition. In this part, the focus shifts to diagnosing and treating hyperthyroid (overactive thyroid). Symptoms of hyperthyroid include: Appetite change (decrease or increase) Difficulty sleeping (insomnia) Fatigue Frequent bowel movements or diarrhea Heart palpitations Heat intolerance Increased sweating Irritability Light menstrual or missed menstrual periods Mental disturbances Muscle weakness Nervousness Fertility issues Shortness of breath Tremor/shakiness Vision changes Weight loss or
According to the American Thyroid Association (ATA), more than 12 percent of the U.S. population will develop a thyroid condition during their lifetime, an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease, and 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition. The ATA also points out that “undiagnosed thyroid disease may put patients at risk for certain serious conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, osteoporosis, and infertility.” The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped organ located just below the larynx (voice box). It is part of the endocrine system — the body’s chemical (hormone) messaging system. Although it is relatively small, weighing only about 25 grams, its performance impacts every cell, tissue, and organ in the human body by regulating the body’s metabolism — the process by which the body extracts and uses energy from food. In the endocrine system, the hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland