Adrenal dysfunction or Low Thyroid?
Is It Hypothyroidism or Adrenal Dysfunction?
Both low thyroid and adrenal dysfunction can produce similar symptoms, most notably feeling tired and experiencing unwanted changes in body composition. It’s not always easy figuring out the source of your symptoms. Unless you test (and do the right testing).
A brief overview: your thyroid is a butterfly shaped gland in your neck, it releases thyroid hormone (primarily t4) in response to TSH released from the pituitary gland in your brain. T4 is (ideally) converted into t3, the more biologically active hormone.
There are many potential causes of hypothyroidism, a few of them are:
Your thyroid gland may not release enough t4 despite adequate TSH levels.
There can be conversion issues, meaning t4 may not adequately convert into t3 leaving you deficient in the most biologically active thyroid hormones.
Thyroid antibodies can disrupt TSH signaling, t4 release and t3 production
The feedback loop (communication) between the brain and body may be disrupted leaving your brain thinking there’s enough thyroid hormone when there’s actually a shortage. Your brain then stops telling your thyroid to make more hormone.
Thyroid hormones are very metabolically active, meaning when they’re low, your metabolism and energy drop. Essentially, everything slows down. A classic thyroid fatigue presentation is being able to sleep a solid 10+ hours a night and still feel completely sleep deprived. Nothing perks you up.
Depression and sadness often accommodate the fatigue, and weight gain can happen despite no changes in lifestyle or diet.
Your adrenals are small glands that sit on top of your kidneys. They produce many hormones, for this conversion we’re going to focus on cortisol and adrenaline. When you experience or even anticipate a stressful event, your brain sends signals to your adrenals to release cortisol and adrenaline. This is appropriate in many cases; you want to be in a more alert and action-oriented state to focus and respond.
The problem is when you stay in this stimulated ‘flight or fight’ state for too long. Ideally the sympathetic (flight or fight) nervous system state is balanced with the parasympathetic (rest & digest) state. Protracted periods of sympathetic stimulation lead to glucose dysregulation, disrupted sleep, hormone imbalances, digestive issues, and even thyroid problems.
The typical presentation of fatigue when it’s adrenally sourced is more of a “wired and tired” picture. You’re tired but can’t sleep or you feel exhausted AND jittery and frazzled. You can feel great while working out, then crash hard and take a long time to recover. Gaining weight around the abdomen is classic adrenal dysfunction symptom.
Despite the “typical” thyroid or adrenal presentations, symptoms can overlap and intermingle. There are many hormones, cofactors and enzymes involved in proper thyroid and adrenal function. They also heavily interact with each other. Your thyroid, adrenals, and ovaries (or testis) are like BFF’s; if one’s out of sync, the others try to compensate.
Stress is a big disruptor to all systems in your body. The big, short-lived stressors and those slow burning, never ending smaller (yet notable) stressors both tax your adrenals. You might compensate well enough at first, as we’re built to withstand stressful moments, but overtime it can push your body over the edge. You’re quite resilient if you support your body and mind well. But if you’re not addressing the stress, managing sleep, and optimizing recovery, you can end up with significant adrenal dysfunction. There’s only so much your body can handle.
Stress, chronically high cortisol, or prolonged imbalances in your nervous system negatively impact your thyroid and sex hormones. This is important to remember when you’re trying to find the root of your symptoms.
There are other significant forms of stress and situations that can impede thyroid and adrenal function, one worth mentioning is under eating. If you regularly under eat, or simply not eat enough for what you’re asking of your body, your thyroid activity will be turned down to compensate for the calorie deficit. Your body goes into conservation mode, your metabolism slows down, your body favors fat storage, energy drops and brain fog sets in.
Fatigue isn’t always from adrenal dysfunction. Body changes or lack thereof are not always from low thyroid function. You need to get to the source of the imbalance. You need to test, and test thoroughly.
Testing removes the guessing.
Find out what’s really happening in your body - how it’s responding to your stress, nutrition, training, and lifestyle. When you understand your body’s needs you can be incredibly efficient and effective in supporting it.
Dig in, get specific with what your body truly needs to thrive and live your best life. You’re worth it!
Stay in pursuit,
Dr. Marsha✨