STEVE SISGOLD:
If you are troubled by depression, anxiety, irritability, poor sleep, memory loss, or cravings, your stressful thoughts and emotions may not be the main reason for your condition. In fact, your problems may not be in your head at all but in your neck, according to nurse practitioner and author Karilee Shames.
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In an interview Shames told me that many of the 'brain' problems women are challenged with today actually start with the Thyroid. Shames explains, "When your thyroid is too low or too high, your brain function becomes worse. The brain drives the mind, and the thyroid drives the brain."
So if you are feeling fat, fuzzy or frazzled or having panic attacks, irritability and anxiety you may have what Shames calls thyroid slowdown. Shames says, "More than 40 million Americans (one out of every four menopausal women) have thyroid slowdown."
She advises, "If you have relatives with thyroid disorders, be aware that you are more susceptible to these conditions. If Aunt Rose has taken thyroid medicine, or your sister has been recently diagnosed, women listen up!"
Although thyroid symptoms are diverse and lengthy, Shames suggests you get an accurate diagnosis, followed by treatment. Much of what she teaches is in her new book, co-authored with her husband Dr. Richard Shames and daughter Dr. Georganna Shames, Thyroid Mind Power: The Proven Cure for Hormone-Related Depression, Anxiety, and Memory Loss .
Shames has a message she wants to get out to women. "I want women to know they can take charge of this situation, in a stress free way, by getting diagnosed using an accurate, state-of-the-art home test kit to get a snapshot of what their thyroid is doing, and if it needs help." She says home kits measure several aspects of thyroid function, and also adrenal and sex hormone levels and even measures your level of Vitamin D, crucial to proper metabolism, according to Shames.
She affirms, "Once a woman knows if her thyroid is slowing her down she can reclaim her health often using targeted vitamins and minerals for the thyroid, as well as crucial lifestyle changes including appropriate nutrition, exercise, and stress reduction.
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Biography
