The Period Problem series: low thyroid function

๐ƒ๐ข๐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ๐ซ๐จ๐ข๐ ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ง๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง, ๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฉ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ๐ซ๐จ๐ข๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ, ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฌ? โฃ

Hypothyroidism is the most common thyroid disorder in Australia, affecting around 1 in 33 Australians, predominantly women. โฃ
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Signs of hypothyroidism include weight gain, constipation, dry hair and skin, hair loss, fatigue, joint pain, depression, low mood, sleep difficulties, low  libido, fertility issues and heavy periods, among other symptoms.  โฃ
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So how does hypothyroidism affect periods? ๐Ž๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ๐ซ๐จ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐œ๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐œ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ž๐ฌ. โฃ
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Low thyroid hormones and function can cause period problems in a number of ways: โฃ
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- Low thyroid function stimulates prolactin production, which is a hormone that ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง. โฃ
- Everything slows down in hypothyroidism, and ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ซ๐จ๐›๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐จ๐ฏ๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ž๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐œ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ซ๐ ๐ฒ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฏ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ž, leading to anovulation and low to no progesterone โฃ
- This can lead to ๐ฎ๐ง๐จ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ง/๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ง ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐๐ฌ. โฃ
- Low thyroid function also ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐š๐›๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ง, ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ž ๐š ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ž โฃ
- Low thyroid function worsens insulin resistance and increases risk of PCOSโฃ
- Low thyroid function also ๐š๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ฅ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐œ๐จ๐š๐ ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ซ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐ž๐š๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐›๐ฅ๐ž๐ž๐๐ข๐ง๐  โฃ
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If you are experiencing period problems, I strongly encourage you to have your thyroid properly assessed. And please donโ€™t accept that โ€œyour results are normalโ€ - we donโ€™t want to wait until your thyroid function has completely fallen through the fall before we act. ๐๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ก๐ž๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ฒ๐ซ๐จ๐ข๐! โฃ
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Hayley Brass