For years, I have battled a number of health issues that can be directly linked to really poor nutritional choices which I firmly believe are the root cause for my present issues. Adenal fatigue/failure was never, EVER even mentioned by any conventional physician, at any time.

I consulted a natural physician who practices iridology and he "saw" an undetectable thyroid condition. Unfortunately, I did not choose to make lifelong changes - I altered my intake for about 6 months. During the time that I was virtually vegan and organic whole foods, I noticed a remarkable improvement in my overall health. Now, because of more poor choices, I seem to be in complete adrenal failure.

The point is this: some conditions can easily be misdiagnosed or overlooked, entirely, with conventional medical testing and practices. I would strongly suggest consulting a well-recommended natural practicioner before agreeing with any thyroid diagnosis.

Best wishes to you!

First off, adrenal fatigue can cause hypothyroidism and hypothyroidism can cause adrenal fatigue. The two are linked together via the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid-adrenal axis.

If the adrenals are stressed enough, long enough, it can cause secondary hypothyroidism. Heal the adrenals (stress; chronic illness like autoimmune disorders, EBS, mycoplasmic infection,lyme to name a few; chemical exposure; etc..) and the thyroid can recover. Depending on the severity of the adrenal fatigue and the cause, it may take many, many years to heal or require life time treatment of physiological doses of cortisol.

If the body is starved of thyroid building blocks: iodine, selenium, tyrosine then hypothyroidism results. If these nutrients are supplied, the Iodine receptors repaired and saturated then the thyroid gland can become fully functional again. However, more than likely is the case that one has been hypothyroid for many years (more than 10 in my case) and untreated then in addition to the iodine, selenium and tyrosine, desiccated thyroid may be required (either otc glandulars or rx like armour -- but I would recommend.
ordering from a Canadian Pharmacy Erfa thyroid which is far superior than the reformulated Armour).

Finally autoimmune disorders can cause hypothyroidism. Folks with hasimotos can have an intolerance to gluten without any of the obvious symptoms. After years of consuming gluten, the thyroid develops antibodies that begin attacking itself. A lot of folks with hasimotos have found that with sufficient thyroid meds, iodine, companion supplements and going gluten free that they feel much, much better. Some even heal to the point that the thyroid antibody level is undetected and they can go off thyroid meds. They still continue the iodine, selenium and companion supplements.

Janie's site: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
is a good place to start. Pay special attention to the recommended labwork and get your doc to run all that she recommends. If you have adrenal fatigue, a 24hr cortisol saliva test is really important to pin point what stage you are at as treatment will vary if you have high, low or high and low cortisol.

Stephanie Busite's site: http://www.naturalthyroidchoices.org
is a good site for info on hashimotos and iodine.

The following site is a really good resource on Iodine supplementation and companion supplements, please disregard that it is a site for breast cancer. The Iodine information is pertinent regardless. Please read all the links on iodine.

http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iodineindex.html


Finally, the iodine supplementation here on curezone is stellar, read ALL the posts.

Janie and Stephanie run a thyroid and iodine group on yahoo. An adrenal group is run by the very knowledgeable Valerie. Join all three, you will be glad you did. The links are:

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormones/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/iodine/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/


Finally, Janie has a book out "Stop The Thyroid Madness" on Amazon. I highly recommend it. It covers everything that it is in the website -- except for blog and new info that was added recently. It is really helpful to have it in print, so you can highlight and tab sections to refer back to or show your doctor.

iolite