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Joint pain is a common complaint that I hear from clients, but one that often isn’t associated with hypothyroidism.
It’s surprising because we don’t think about our joints in connection with our hormones. But really, everything in the body works together, and the thyroid is a master gland that impacts a lot of different things.
So yes, having joint pain can be a sign of a slow thyroid!
Let’s talk about how and why this happens.
There are a lot of common causes of hypothyroidism in women. It can of course be genetic, but more and more I’m seeing women with hypothyroidism caused by lifestyle and environmental factors.
Some of these factors can include stress, poor diets, other organs and systems like the gut or liver not functioning properly, and more.
These lifestyle and environmental factors then build up and cause the thyroid to slow down. This is when we start seeing a lot of the
common symptoms of hypothyroidism, such as weight gain, anxiety, and hair loss.
And it can also manifest as joint pain.
Let’s look at three of the main reasons why you might have achy joints along with a slow thyroid.
Calcium in particular is one to watch out for. Of course, calcium is needed for healthy bones and teeth. But if there’s an excess of caclium after it has finished it’s main job, then it tends to float around and impact other systems.
First, it heads to the thyroid and slows down the thyroid. But then it also can hang out in our joints and muscles and start to calcify, causing some major aches and pains.
This is why I always test for calcium through a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis. Seeing elevated calcium levels will give me a hint as to what’s slowing your thyroid down, and it can also tell us how we can alleviate your body aches.
Fun fact: A simple way to regulate the calcium in your body is by taking a magnesium supplement!
Regular hypothyroidism can be caused by any of the factors I mentioned before. But if you’ve been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, this is completely different.
Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune disease. Your thyroid will be slow when you have Hashimoto’s because your body is leterally attacking the thyroid, thinking it doesn’t belong there.
These types of conditions lead to a lot of inflammation throughout the body, which can migrate into the joints and muscles, causing pain.
Inflammation can also be caused by eating the wrong kinds of foods, stress, environmental toxins, and more. We often see and feel physical symptoms of inflammation, as it manifests in swelling, heat, and pain.
If you’re feeling pain in your joints, this could be coming from inflammation. And if there’s inflammation in the body, that can mean the thyroid is slow, because inflammation can stop the thyroid from functioning properly.
This is a perfect example of why it’s so important to listen to your body and investigate the root cause of your health issues. It’s not enough to just treat the joint pain, or treat the slow thyroid systems.
You have to look at the body
holistically.
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