The Cause of Your Joint Pain, Thyroid?

Would you ever think that your thyroid could be the cause of your joint pain?

In the US almost 5 out of 100 have hypothyroidism.

Probably you or someone you know was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and currently taking medication or natural remedies. 

According to Mayo Clinic your your thyroid could be the cause of your joint pain. Muscle aches, joint pain & stiffness could be do to hypothyroidism. It can effect your soft tissue,  especially pain in your shoulders and hips, it can even effect your nerves and cause neuropathy.

Your thyroid hormone is involved in:

• Metabolism
• How fast your heart beats
• Controls your body temperature
• Proper functioning of your brain, muscles, and other organs 

This is a great book written by Dr. Datis Kharrazian. 

Hypothyroidism is diagnosed by your doctor, a simple blood test TSH levels will indicate if you have hypothyroidism. Make sure to ask your doctor to run the whole thyroid panel and not just TSH. Sometimes your TSH may be within normal ranges, 0.4-4, but other numbers could indicate secondary hypothyroidism or maybe even autoimmune condition such as Hashimotos.  

If you’ve been living with hypothyroidism then you are probably already doing some of these to help control your symptoms:

• Low impact exercises
• Muscle strengthening exercises using your body weight, so you don’t put extra pressure on your joints
• Yoga to worm up your joints and keep them mobile. What yoga mat best fits your needs?
• Manage your stress, whatever helps you to relax. Would it be a walk in the park, reading a book, hanging out with friends or alone at home.
• Healthy diet

I would like to talk briefly about your diet. Most likely you have been advised by your doctor or other health practitioners not to eat any cruciferous vegetables, like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. after you got diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I believe this hypothesis came about after cows consuming raw cruciferous weeds became ill. 

The human studies have shown that cooked crucifers had no adverse effects. All crucifers contain enzyme when eaten raw may compete with iodine for thyroidal uptake. These enzymes get destroyed by cooking.

Have you been on a kale health wagon?

I have to admit it, I was on that wagon for a while. I would juice raw kale, make salads or get kale smoothies, and then I learned this.

Kale, alongside other cruciferous vegetables contains progoitrins, which can interfere with your thyroid function. Kale and Brussels sprouts contain higher amounts of progoitrins and should NOT be consumed raw.

It’s OK to eat broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage raw because they contain much lower amounts of goitrins. On top of it these cruciferous vegetables may help with Phase 2 detox. 

What’s even better are broccoli sprouts, they have shown to stimulate cellular antioxidant defenses within the body, activate key enzymes in liver detox, and the selenium in broccoli sprouts will support the antioxidant activity in the body.

Here is a delicious Roasted Brussel’s Sprouts recipe, hope you’ll try it