Thyroid - How Does It Work?

[EndAllDisease]

I just finished reading Broda Barnes' book Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspecting Illness, and now I'm reading Solved: The Riddle of Illness, another book on Thyroid, and have a question about thyroid.

Does Thyroid hormone have some specific action in the body, or is it just another anti-estrogenic substance like Vitamin E, Carrots, Aspirin, etc. that will shift the overall balance of the body away from an estrogen-dominant state, thus allowing it to efficiently produce energy?

Additionally, if a person had super high levels of CO2 in the body, could they produce energy sufficiently without thyroid hormone, or would it still be necessary?

I look forward to your thoughts and ideas.

 

[tara]

My understanding is that T3 is directly necessary in a cell for it to produce energy (ATP) from sugar to fuel our metabolism. It is needed all the time. The thyroid produces T4 and some (less) T3. Then the T4 is gradually converted to T3, mostly by the liver. So if the liver is overloaded (eg too much estrogen, endotoxin, PUFAs) or undernourished (eg too little protein or sugar), it doesn't convert as much of the T4 into T3.

Under some kinds of stress conditions (I'm not sure which ones, but I wonder if low sugar availability is one of them), the liver converts some of the T4 into reverse T3 instead. I think rT3 has the opposite effect of T3 in the cells, slowing metabolism.

The T3 tends to get used up over a few hours; the T4 can hang around much longer.
Having higher levels of CO2 in the body improves the supply of oxygen to cells. Oxygen is also necessary for efficient production of energy (ATP) from sugar, so it can support improved metabolism. But you still need the thyroid homone.

I don't know if improved CO2 dirrectly contributes to making more T4 and T3, but it wouldn't surprise me. As long as all the other nutrient requirements for good thyroid function were also being met, I wonder if the increased CO2 could make the difference for some people between needing supplemental thyroid hormones and being able to produce enough themselves.

Buteyko seems to have been able to help a lot of people improve their metabolism and resolve or improve some pretty serious disease by a programme based on reduced breathing/improved CO2 retention, along with some other dietary and lifestyle factors.

Hopefully others will correct me if I'm wrong on any of this.