Addressing the Connection between Addiction and Hypothyroidism
What is hypothyroidism?
Hypo is a word used to mean below or low in level. When used together with thyroid, it means that your thyroids are not making enough thyroids hormones. The opposite of this would be hyperthyroidism, to imply that your thyroids are making too much thyroid hormone than required under normal circumstances. What are these thyroids? Thyroid is a gland, which is butterfly like in shape, and it is found in front of your neck. This gland is responsible for making hormones, which are used to regulate the way your body uses energy. This hormone is known as thyroxin. It is normally carried around the body in the blood streams. Many of the cells and our body tissues need this hormone to keep them going correctly. Sometimes a scenario may arise due to some factors when the gland produces little of these hormones than required. This is the scenario known as hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism is a disease which h has been known to be triggered by some condition. The whole idea behind the disease cause is the deficiency in thyroxin. When the thyroid glands are in a condition in which they are producing low level of thyroxin than required, it is very likely that the hypothyroidism arises.
The main cause of hypothyroidism is as a result of history or occurrence of autoimmune disease. This auto immune disease is known as autoimmune thyroiditis, a disease which leads to a “civil war” between your immune system and some body tissues. This disease makes your immune system to manufacture antibodies against the thyroids. This leads to the decline in the thyroid hormone and consequently leading to hypothyroidism.
Another possible cause of hypothyroidism which has been pointed at is stress. Researches have indicated that continued or chronic stress can lead to development of hypothyroidism.
What is the connection between hypothyroidism and addiction?
These two conditions share many things in common, particularly by sharing causers, triggers and even some of their symptoms. Here we will be looking some of the things which are similar between the two.
- Stress – stress is a known common symptom in almost all addicts. People who are addicted, regardless of what substance has caused the addiction. At low levels, symptoms of stress may be un-noticeable and even the stressed person may not be able to notice that he/she is stressed. It is different when a person has chronic stress, and its symptoms can directly be observed through physical behaviors.
Researches have shown that stress can lead to hypothyroidism in a number of ways. This creates a link or connection between addiction and hypothyroidism, since addiction leads to stress which in turn triggers hypothyroidism. Therefore before any successful addiction recovery program is started, the hypothyroidism control measures must be embraced. The understanding of how stress can cause hypothyroidism is therefore paramount in this case. Let’s look at the ways through which stress can cause hypothyroidism;
- Disruption of the HPA axis by adrenal stress – HPA which is also known as hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, it a very complex network of interactions between three components; the hypothalamus, pituitary and the adrenal glands which work to regulate body’s metabolism.
Researches that have been done to ascertain whether adrenal stress can lead to hypothyroidism have shown that the adrenal stress depresses the hypothalamic and pituitary function. As a result, since these two organs direct production of thyroid hormones, anything that is capable of disrupting the HPA axis, can also suppress the functioning of thyroid. This decrease in thyroid hormones causes hypothyroidism.
- Through researches also, it has been found that adrenal stress reduces the conversion of T4 to T3- As we may know, about 93% of the hormones which are produced by the thyroid gland are T4. These hormones are inactive in this form, and they must therefore be converted to T3, before they become useful to the cells. This means for the hormones to be sufficiently available for use by cells in the correct form, the conversion rate of T4 to T3 must remain optimum. When adrenal stress reduces the conversion rates of these T4 to T3, then it means that there will be insufficient supply of thyroxin and thus resulting to hypothyroidism.
- Adrenal stress is known to promote autoimmunity through weakening of immune barriers. As we earlier discussed, the leading cause of adrenal stress is the autoimmunity disease. When adrenal stress weakens the immune system, it leaves the body unable to effectively fight autoimmunity diseases and thus increasing chances of a person being a victim of hypothyroidism.
- The adrenal stress causes imbalance in hormones – when a person is stressed hormones are sent in response. Among the hormones which are sent, is cortisol. When the stress is persistent, it leads to prolonged cortisol elevation. This causes decline in the liver’s ability to clear estrogens from the blood. When this estrogen is i8n excess in the blood, it increases the levels of thyroid binding globulin (TBG). This TBG is the protein that thyroid hormone is attached as it is transported around the body. This makes the bound thyroids inactive and they cannot activate cellular receptors.
How can excessive dopamine help in control of hypothyroidism?
What is dopamine?
This is a neurotransmitter which is attributed with helping in controlling the brain’s reward system. This is a chemical which helps our minds in controlling emotional responses as well as giving us a feel of need to move towards rewards. Researches have shown that, people who have deficiency in dopamine, are prone to becoming addicts. Dopamine is helpful in the following ways:-
- When the levels of dopamine are kept high in the brain, especially the prefrontal cortex helps in improving the working of the brain.
- Dopamine has been proven to improve someone’s focus and attention when maintained at high level in the brain. This raises the person’s attention levels.
- Since many addictive drugs seem to affect the brain, dopamine has been useful in helping repair the brain and enable a person regain memory. This is why is very advisable for an addiction recovering person to be given high dopamine injections.
Are you a victim of hypothyroidism? Or are you an addiction of anything and you want to get help on how you can recover? Your solution is here today. Call Awaremed Resource And Wellness Center today or visit us at www.awaremednetwork.com
Addressing the Connection between Addiction and Hypothyroidism
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