Why do we Lyme disease sufferers pay so much attention to the thyroid? I mean, it doesn’t really deserve all that much attention, does it?
Okay, okay, so I know it plays a vital role in metabolism, but did you know that it’s considered a minor hormone?
Minor, meaning, its function is regulated by a major hormone. This is purely speculative on my part, but perhaps we ought to be paying more attention to the major hormones as part of our treatment protocol? (Sorry, thyroid, but you shouldn’t get all of the attention).
Balancing the hormones is a vital component of any Lyme treatment plan. Most LLMD’s want to make sure the thyroid is functioning properly, but did you know that cortisol, adrenaline and insulin are really the major hormonal players of the body, and that by balancing these, you can get a better grip on the minors, such as DHEA, thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, etc?
In a big, fat nutshell (because a complete explanation would require this to become an article instead of a blog post), cortisol and adrenaline sustain life by regulating blood pressure, blood sugar, mobilizing energy, and by allowing you to “use up” biochemicals and food so that you can put them to use for all of your body’s functions.
Insulin kinda sorta does the opposite, (in a broad sense) by helping the body to rebuild biochemicals from food. It also prevents you from using up your biochemicals too much if you don’t intake enough food.
Nutrition is probably the most important part of balancing these three big cheese hormones, as are vitamin, herbal and glandular supplements which help food to be uptaken into the body and which support the adrenals, brain, liver and other organs. Managing stress is likewise important, especially when it comes to balancing adrenaline and cortisol, as these biochemicals get quickly “used up” under stress, whether it be physiological, chemical, nutritional, or hormonal.
Finally, there is hormone replacement therapy, such as natural cortisol, when nutrition and other supplements aren’t enough.