The Dr. Westin Childs Podcast

Are dietary goitrogens dangerous? Learn how to protect your thyroid gland from chemicals, foods and other compounds that can interfere with thyroid function in this post.

Having a low TSH is felt to put patients at a higher risk of developing bone loss and cardiac problems (heart problems), but is this true? This video will walk you through the various studies available on the topic and teach you how to think about having a suppressed TSH and how to determine if it is dangerous for your body. There may be instances in which having a suppressed TSH will not cause lo...

Your thyroid gland is highly regulated at multiple steps in the body. In order for the thyroid gland to function optimally there are no less than 6 important steps that must work correctly. These steps include: 1. TRH secretion 2. TSH secretion 3. Thyroid gland secretion of thyroid hormones 4. Thyroid hormone conversion 5. Thyroid hormone cellular activation 6. Feedback loop Problems can occur at...

Liothyronine is a T3 only thyroid medication that is used to treat hypothyroidism. Liothyronine can help hypothyroid patients lose weight by increasing thermogenesis and increasing basal metabolic rate. In order to use liothyronine correctly you need to optimize the dose to the individual. Learn how to dose liothyronine and other T3 medications correctly in this guide. More information in the vide...

Are you experiencing the symptoms of hypothyroidism even though you are currently being treated? If so, your symptoms may have something to do with the way that your current Doctor is treating you. In this guide I will walk you through 5 key areas that you will want your thyroid Doctor to understand. If they fit into these categories then you are much more likely to be able to improve your symptom...

Contrave is a newer weight loss medication that can be used to help certain people lose weight. Should you use it? Not necessarily, contrave is an "okay" weight loss medication but there are definitely better ones out there. I use Contrave in my weight loss practice to help patients with the following conditions: - Those with body set point malfunction. - Those with insulin resistance. - Those wit...

Iodine is required for optimal thyroid function there is no question about it, but should you add additional iodine to your regimen? There are a number of factors at play when determining if you are consuming enough iodine and if you are utilizing it after absorption. Use this video guide to help determine if you are getting enough and to help determine if you should supplement with iodine if you...

Fish oil helps with weight loss through the following mechanisms: 1. By increasing lean muscle mass. 2. By reducing visceral fat. 3. By improving thyroid function in the liver to increase basal metabolic rate. 4. By reducing insulin resistance. 5. By treating leptin resistance. 6. By reducing inflammation in the body. Learn more about how to dose fish oil correctly to get these benefits in this vi...

The top 10 most common low thyroid symptoms include: 1. Unexplained weight gain 2. Inability to lose weight despite changing your diet and exercising more 3. Fatigue 4. Unexpected hair loss 5. Menstrual irregularities 6. Changes in mood including depression or anxiety 7. Changes to other hormone systems in the body 8. Chronic pain or muscle tenderness 9. Cold hands/feet 10. Constipation If you hav...

TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone and gives you an idea of what is happening in your pituitary but not other tissues in your body. Other thyroid lab tests should be used in addition to TSH to shed light on what is happening in the body. Other thyroid tests include: - Free T3 - Free t4 - Reverse T3 - Sex hormone binding globulin You can read more on my website here: https://www.restartmed....

Low ferritin (and thus low iron) is extremely common in hypothyroidism. Low thyroid states causes an increased risk for developing iron deficiency due to the fact that iron is required for iron absorption. In addition low ferritin causes symptoms that mimic hypothyroidism such as: - Fatigue or low energy - Hair loss - Inability to exercise - GI related issues - Immune related issues There is a dif...

Hypothyroidism causes fatigue through a variety of reasons. In order to treat your low energy you must identify what is contributing to your fatigue and fix that problem. Common causes of fatigue in thyroid patients include: - Low mitochondrial energy productsion - Inflammation - Hormone imbalances - Vitamin deficiencies like vitamin B12 To treat energy levels in thyroid patients you must address...

When referring to T3 thyroid medication I mean medications like Cytomel and Liothyronine. In this video I walk you through the primary benefits of using T3 thyroid hormone medication. Benefits include: - More weight loss - Increased basal metabolic rate - Reduction in hypothyroid like symptoms - Increase in body temperature - Improvement in other hormone imbalances in the body You can read more on...

This video will walk you through Hashimoto's symptoms and how they progress over time. First hashimoto's symptoms start with generalized and non specific symptoms that can then progress to hyperthyroid like symptoms or hypothyroid like symptoms. Most of the time the progression goes from generalized symptoms to overt hypothyroidism over time. However, some patients do experience episodes of hyeprt...

Hashimoto's Flare Up Symptoms by Dr. Westin Childs

High reverse T3 levels result in a slow metabolism, weight gain, low body temperature and symptoms of hypothyroidism. Reverse T3 is created from T4 in your body in the presence of inflammation, leptin resistance, insulin resistance and a history of chronic yo-yo dieting. Taking T4 only medication can actually make high levels of reverse T3 even worse. This guide discusses how patients get high lev...

Naturethroid is a form of natural desiccated thyroid which means it contains both T4 + T3 thyroid hormones. Many patients report a reduction in hypothyroid symptoms plus weight loss when switching from T4 only medications like levothyroxine and synthroid over to NDT like naturethroid. In this video I am going to go over the complete guide to using naturethroid including: + Why naturethroid is bett...

Tirosint is a T4 only thyroid medication but with some twists. Many patients report significant improvement in hypothyroid symptoms when switching from T4 only medications like Levothyroxine and Synthroid over to Tirosint. But how can that be? Especially when Tirosint is a T4 only medication? This occurs for several reasons: 1) Inactive ingredients - + Levothyroxine and Synthroid contain MANY inac...

Low sex drive in women is a serious problem and should be evaluated as soon as possible. In this video I go over the most common causes of low sex drive and decreased libido in women including how to correctly diagnose and treat the problem. One of the main causes of low sex drive is low testosterone. Low testosterone is an important factor in women as it relates to libido, muscle mass (and weight...

This video includes the best and strongest supplements for treating Hashimoto's thyroiditis in 2017. This is the updated and revised 2016 version. This list represents changes based on new patient outcomes and studies. As time changes so too do my recommendations. Hashimoto's thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease that includes not only hypothyroidism but a component of autoimmunity. Treatment must...

Are you having difficulty losing weight? This case study walk through shows you an example of a hypothyroid patient who was found to have multiple hormone imbalances that were leading to weight loss resistance. After treating her multiple hormone imbalances like thyroid resistance, insulin resistance and low testosterone she was finally able to lose almost 40 pounds over 3 months. This is her stor...

This video will walk you through a thyroid case study in which I show you how WP thyroid lead to weight loss in a patient of mine with before and after pictures. The combination of the right type of thyroid medication, plus managing hormones leads to significant weight loss in hypothyroid patients. Many patients wrongly believe that adding in thyroid medication will lead to significant weight loss...

Weight loss after thyroidectomy can be almost impossible unless you know exactly what to look for and how to treat it. It's considered "normal" to gain 20 pounds after thyroidectomy and Doctors tell patients that this is normal and in the same breath then say that the thyroid isn't causing the weight gain. How can this be? It is possible to lose weight after thyroidectomy but it takes a very diffe...

Do you have hypothyroidism and insulin resistance? This case study is from my practice and in this video I walk you through a patient who was able to lose 42 pounds over three months using Byetta, Natural desiccated thyroid and T3 containing medication. The problem with weight loss is that most patients approach it all wrong. They believe that eating less and exercising more will lead to long last...

Are you struggling to lose weight with Hashimoto's? In this post I outline the 9 steps that I use to help Hashimoto's patients lose weight in my practice. Hashimoto's patients need to be differentiated from other thyroid patients when it comes to treatment, but also when it comes to weight loss. If you didn't already know exercising more and eating less will NOT lead to lasting weight loss in Hash...