How to Control Thyroid?

Since the body absorbs the organic form of selenium called selenomethionine better than the inorganic form known as sodium selenite, it's better to use selenomethionine as a supplement because it's more effective.

The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that lives just below your larynx. Its two halves, or lobes, which rest against the trachea, weigh less than an ounce.

Of course, be sure to speak with your doctor first about taking selenium. Its role in thyroid health has still not been fully teased out. In fact, studies suggest that high selenium levels in the body may be a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes.

You may want to buy some potassium iodide (KI) to keep in your family emergency kit. KI is an over-the-counter supplement that, when taken within the first few hours after a nuclear accident or an attack on nuclear facilities, can help protect your thyroid from the risk of thyroid cancer.

The thyroid is under the control a peanut-shaped gland in the brain called the pituitary gland, which in turn takes its commands from the hypothalamus, a region of the brain that works as the communications center for the pituitary—sending messages in the form of hormones to control the release of thyroid hormones from the pituitary.

Once stimulated, the thyroid gland takes up iodide from the foods we eat and converts it into iodine to make the thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3).

The reason for this is that your thyroid needs iodine to function, which it normally gets from your bloodstream.

These hormones are then released into the bloodstream, where they help your body regulate so many processes it would take several pages to describe them all. Generally, these hormones dictate your metabolism, digestion, fertility, weight loss, aging, and more.

However, it can't tell the difference between regular iodine and radioactive iodine, the type that's released from nuclear plants or from radioactive material during nuclear explosions.

Thyroid hormones regulate the metabolic functions of literally every cell in the body by stimulating nearly all tissues in the body to produce proteins and by increasing oxygen available to cells.

Radioactive iodine can increase your chance of developing thyroid cancer, and it's especially risky for unborn babies, infants, and young children. By taking KI, you're saturating your thyroid with iodine so it won't take in radioactive iodine.

You can think of your thyroid gland as your body’s furnace, and your pituitary gland as its thermostat, says Michelle Corey, a functional medical practitioner and author of The Thyroid Cure: The Functional Mind-Body Approach to Reversing Your Autoimmune Condition and Reclaiming Your Health! When the furnace (thyroid) gets too cold, the thermostat (pituitary) senses it and produces TSH to stimulate thyroid hormone production, which warms you up.

In a radiation emergency, the risk of developing thyroid cancer is thought to justify the risk of taking KI.

But if you're not directly in the path of a radioactive plume, KI won't protect you from anything.

The liver is the major location where T4 is converted into the active T3. If your liver is taxed for any reason, it can’t do the job of converting these hormones, and you won’t have enough of the active thyroid hormone circulating in your body.

It can trigger or worsen hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, exacerbate existing thyroid conditions, and lead to conditions such as the Jod-Basedow phenomena and the Wolff-Chaikoff effect.

Often, symptoms of thyroid disorder may go unnoticed “since they are gradual and non-specific,” says Nilem Patel, an endocrinologist at Los Angeles’s Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital.

It can also cause sialadenitis (an inflammation of the salivary gland), gastrointestinal disturbances, allergic reactions, and rashes.

Your wee hour tossing and turning, as well as a racing heart and anxiety, could actually be symptoms of hyperthyroidism, or the overproduction of thyroid hormone.

Not every radioactive release contains the radioactive iodine that causes thyroid cancer, so only health authorities will know if you need to take KI.

When these symptoms seemingly come out of nowhere, they can be evidence of an underproduction of thyroid hormone. Other common signs of a sluggish thyroid include fatigue, hair loss, constipation, dry skin, irregular menses, cold intolerance, brittle hair, slow heart rate, and general lethargy.

Authorities can tell you who needs to take KI, when to take it, how much to take, and for how long.

“The thyroid is the only gland to take up and trap iodine,” says Alan P. Farwell, section chief of endocrinology, diabetes, and nutrition at Boston Medical Center.

If you're not in an area downwind of a nuclear release or accident, the likelihood that you will need to take KI is very small.

Thyroid hormones are also the only iodine-containing hormones. The thyroid gland not only takes up this element from dietary sources but stores a significant amount of iodinated tyrosines (a kind of amino acid) to maintain thyroid hormones in instances of iodine deficiency.