The Dr. Westin Childs Podcast

I ranked every thyroid medication from best to worst so you can stop guessing and start feeling better. Most patients have no idea that the most commonly prescribed thyroid pill is actually the weakest option on the market. In this video, we break down the ultimate thyroid medication tier list, covering everything from Levothyroxine and Armour Thyroid to the raw power of Liothyronine (T3).Check ou...

Are you part of the 30% of people with thyroid problems who may be able to stop taking thyroid medication? Certain natural supplements can support thyroid function, enhance hormone balance, and may help reduce your dependence on medications like Levothyroxine. Whether you’re dealing with hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, or simply looking for natural thyroid support, these supplements can h...

You can do a lot of good for your thyroid by simply changing your diet. And this is true of all thyroid conditions but especially if you have Hashimoto’s. Eating the right foods can reduce inflammation and protect your thyroid gland. Or, it could do the exact opposite. It’s for this reason that you need to understand which foods you should be eating and which you should be avoiding. When it comes...

Statistically speaking, thyroid patients are more likely to be taking prescription medications for other problems like: - Depression - Anxiety - High blood pressure - High blood sugar - Weight gain - And more This is a problem by itself, but there’s an even bigger one: The prescription medications used to treat these very conditions can actually make your thyroid even worse. So in a real sense, yo...

Tired of feeling tired? Think that an endocrinologist is a solution to your problem? Think again. While it may seem intuitive that an endocrinologist, someone who has spent extra time studying about the endocrine system, has more specialized knowledge compared to a primary care provider, you’d be wrong. Endocrinologists do not have the specialized knowledge you think they do and tend to treat ever...

If levothyroxine contains thyroid hormones and thyroid hormones control metabolism, shouldn’t taking levothyroxine help with weight loss? You would think so, but that’s not what happens in the real world. Instead, we have studies and anecdotal experience that show that patients taking levothyroxine experience no positive benefits to their weight. And worse than this, some actually experience weigh...

BMI Calculator: https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm Does your weight tell you anything about your thyroid? Absolutely. In fact, because your thyroid regulates metabolism, being overweight is a flashing red light that indicates you may have a thyroid problem. This is even more true for people with existing issues like hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s. If that’s the ca...

Cytomel is a T3 only thyroid medication (the brand version of liothyronine) that is far more active than levothyroxine. Because it’s so much more active, it also happens to be much better at helping thyroid patients with Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism lose weight. Before you run out and grab it, though, or try to switch medications, there are a few things you need to know. When using it you will w...

It’s well known that your thyroid controls and regulates your weight through its impact on your metabolism. As a result, it’s actually very common that patients with hypothyroidism end up gaining weight. But what patients usually don’t understand is that if you gain weight from hypothyroidism, only about 10-15 pounds of that weight is directly from your thyroid. So why is it that some thyroid pati...

There’s no question that changing the food that you eat every day can have a huge impact on your thyroid. For this reason, thyroid patients are always looking for the best diet. This search for the best diet leads a lot of them to the carnivore diet which promotes itself as one of the best diets available. But is it true and should you try it if you have thyroid problems? I’m going to argue no, fo...

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t HAVE to take your thyroid medication first thing in the morning. In this video, I discuss some newer studies which show that taking thyroid medication in the evening can be just as effective (if not more effective) than taking in the morning. The takeaway here is that it doesn’t really matter when you take your thyroid medication so long as you are taking it o...

Tired of not having good treatment options available for Hashimoto’s? If so, I have some good news for you. Outside of traditional treatments like thyroid medication, there are some incredibly powerful natural options that have been shown in some research studies to help. One of the most potent is known as nigella sativa. I’m going to use nigella sativa and black seed oil almost interchangeably in...

Will consuming iodized salt help or hurt your thyroid? It depends on who you ask, but if you’re asking me (and I’ll assume that you are since you’re watching this), my answer is that there are much better sourced of iodine and using iodized salt may cause more harm than good for most people. There are several reasons for this, but some of the main ones include: 1. The fact that iodine deficiency i...

Vitamin B12 is incredibly important and many people simply don’t get enough. And if you don’t get enough then you’ll end up with symptoms like fatigue, hair loss, weight gain, brain fog, depression, nerve problems, heart palpitations, and anemia. That’s one problem. The other is that the form of B12 that most people use is the wrong one. Let’s talk about the 4 most common forms of vitamin B12, whi...

T2 thyroid hormone, also known as 3,5 diiodo-l-thyronine, is gaining a lot of attention among thyroid patients, and for good reason. As far as thyroid hormones are concerned, T2 plays a major role in regulating metabolism, cholesterol metabolism, and heat production, making it the ideal treatment if you are suffering from hypothyroid-related weight gain as well as high cholesterol. For this reason...

My wife was able to use a combination of diet and lifestyle changes to get off of her T3 thyroid medication. She suffered from an unusual form of thyroid resistance due to an eating disorder in her teenage years which left her with metabolic damage, treatment-resistant depression, thyroid resistance, and the inability to lose weight. She had a complete resolution in her symptoms with the use of T3...

Have you ever wondered why you don’t hear much about thyroid hormone cream? Why is it that all other hormones exist in cream form including progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen? There really isn’t a good reason because the truth is, thyroid hormone cream is probably the single best way to take thyroid medication. It just so happens that not all thyroid hormones are available in cream form... a...

Using a scale is one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a thyroid patient trying to lose weight. Why? Because it doesn’t accurately tell you how much fat you are losing or how much muscle you are gaining. And, for thyroid patients, this is a big problem because you should be trying to preserve muscle mass when you lose weight. How can you accurately measure fat loss? By using these metrics: 1...

Sugar alternatives are supposed to be safe and healthy low-calorie options that can be used in place of refined and processed sugar. Their great appeal is that they allow you to eat sweet things without gaining weight. But they don’t actually work as well as you might think. Before we get into that, though, here are the best natural sugar alternatives for patients with Hashimoto’s: 1. Monk fruit 2...

Magnesium is incredibly important for thyroid function and, unfortunately, most thyroid patients aren’t getting enough. This is for 3 main reasons: 1. Thyroid dysfunction increases magnesium breakdown and excretion. In other words, thyroid problems promote the elimination of magnesium from your body. 2. Stress increases magnesium usage. Because thyroid dysfunction makes you more susceptible to str...

Many patients with hypothyroidism struggle with high cholesterol due to how thyroid hormone regulates cholesterol metabolism. When thyroid hormone is low, cholesterol levels will increase. For this reason, many thyroid patients are placed on a statin to combat this high cholesterol. But is this necessary? Maybe in some situations, but definitely not all. Before you take a statin or another cholest...

Over 100 million people will fill a prescription for levothyroxine this year and most of them have no idea how many different things interfere with its function. This includes food, medications, and, yes, even supplements. Which is why I put together a list of supplements that can cause problems with thyroid medication. Are you taking any? 1. Biotin - Biotin interferes with the ACCURACY of thyroid...

Why is it that some thyroid patients experience almost too good-to-be-true side effects when they STOP taking thyroid medication? And why does taking thyroid medication seem to make some people feel WORSE? Should thyroid medication make thyroid patients feel better? You would think so, but life isn’t always that simple. There are some people who lose weight when they stop taking thyroid medication...

Everyone knows eating too much sugar can be damaging to your body, but did you know it can also be damaging to your thyroid? If weight loss and better overall health weren’t enough to convince you to give up sugar then maybe these 5 thyroid-related benefits will be. Here’s what happens to your thyroid when you give up sugar: 1. Your thyroid hormones will be more balanced. Reducing inflammation can...

Many patients with Hashimoto’s feel frustrated. They don’t like the idea of taking thyroid medication for life and they don’t like the idea of feeling like there’s nothing they can do to help themselves feel better. The good news is they can do something: take supplements. The right supplements are not only safe, they can also be effective at improving thyroid and immune function in people with au...