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If you’re going through menopause and having a hard time of it, you might have more going on. Research shows that about one in 12 women age 50 or older have inadequate thyroid function. That combination–low estrogen and low thyroid hormones–can make symptoms like hot flashes, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, mood swings, dry skin and thinning hair–all worse. It can turn what might otherwise be a tolerable time of life into menopause-from-hell.

Getting a blood test to see if your Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is high is important. It

Recent research from the National Institutes of Health has shown that even modest calorie-cutting to lose weight affects thyroid hormone activity.  It leads to a drop in T3, the active form of thyroid hormone. While this drop is slight, researchers speculate that, over time, it could reduce your metabolism and encourage your weight to creep back up.

Other research, though, shows that exercising to lose weight has no negative impact on T3 or metabolism.  Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, studied a group of 50-to-60 year old

Iodine is a nutrient your thyroid gland just can’t function without. Iodine is actively concentrated in your thyroid gland and is used to make thyroid hormones. When iodine is in short supply, so are thyroid hormones.

That’s why it is so alarming to find out that, despite the widespread availability of iodized salt, iodine deficiency has re-emerged as a public health concern in the U.S. Population studies show that more than 11 % of all Americans, and more than 15 % of American women of child-bearing age, presently have urine

Are you becoming more anxious, shaky, or confused when faced with stress–or even for no apparent reason at all? If so, check your body temperature. It’s possible your metabolism has slowed down, making you more vulnerable to surges of adrenaline that come with even slight amounts of stress. Anxiety has a very real physical component that can explain why you might be having a hard time maintaining balance with life’s ups and downs.

Research shows that anxiety is more common in people with thyroid problems, both hyper- and hypothyroidism.

Are you having a hard time with blood sugar control?  Check your body temperature.

Research shows that people with type 2 diabetes are more likely than normal to also have thyroid problems. People with low temperatures have a harder time controlling their blood sugar level, and are more likely to sustain collateral organ damage such as kidney failure. In fact, “Failure to recognize the presence of abnormal thyroid hormone levels may be a primary cause of poor management of diabetes mellitus type 2,” state one group of researchers.

Even if your

Selenium is an essential trace mineral, which means that we need to get some of it through our diets in order to live and also to thrive.  We need only a tiny amount–measured in micrograms (one millionth of a gram)–but clearly some people do not get even that small amount.

Selenium is highly concentrated in the thyroid gland, and plays a crucial role in proper thyroid function. It is an essential part of the enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of T4, the inactive form of thyroid hormone, to T3, the

If you have PMS that isn’t responding well to lifestyle changes, you may want to check your body temperature. Check it three times a day, starting three hours after you wake up, for a full menstrual cycle or two. If it is consistently low, typically below 97.8 F, chances are good you have slow metabolism. Slow metabolism makes many premenstrual symptoms worse. That includes fatigue, fluid retention, muscle aches, headaches, depression, trouble sleeping, and irritability.

Ob/gyn practice guidelines recommend ruling out hypothyroidism before making a diagnosis of PMS. That’s

It’s well known that drastic weight loss slows your metabolism and has an adverse impact on your thyroid gland. But a new study shows that even modest weight loss affects thyroid hormone activity in your body–which could make it harder to continue to lose weight or even set you up for regaining and then some.

The study, by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, found that overweight people who lost 5 – 10  %  of their body weight over the course of a year had a corresponding decrease in serum T3

Fluid retention is usually thought of as one of those harmless but annoying physical conditions that we just have to put up with.  But fluid retention isn’t normal. It means that your body’s delicate fluid balance is under strain. Fluid is being driven in between your cells, into what’s called interstitial spaces, instead of being removed by the kidneys. Your tissues become water-logged. You get swollen feet and hands and headaches. You may even have swelling that makes your eyes bulge.

Fluid retention can be caused by many things–heart

Most of us know at least a few things about vitamin D, called “the sunshine vitamin” because we can make it in our own bodies when our skin is exposed to sunlight. We might know, for instance, that vitamin D is important for healthy bones.  It helps our intestines absorb calcium, the main mineral in bones.

But did you know that vitamin D also plays an important role in cell differentiation and proliferation, and something called apoptosis?  That means it helps cells to behave properly and mature into their final