Transcript Of Today's Episode
Announcer: You're listening to The Doctor Is In podcast brought to you by martinclinic.com. During the episode, the doctors share a lot of information. As awesome as the info may be, it is not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any disease. It's strictly for informational purposes.
Dr.Martin: Well, good morning, everyone.
Dr. Martin: Okay, we're going to talk about the thyroid this morning. Ladies, this is for you. Men, a little bit, but not usually men. Thyroid, [00:00:30] so we're going to do some teaching this morning on your thyroid gland. We're going to talk about the thyroid, and why it is hard to diagnose. Blood tests are generally not conclusive. My dad used to say if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it's a duck. We're going to talk about symptoms of thyroid. What causes the thyroid [00:01:00] to become sluggish?
Dr. Martin: Your thyroid is your orchestra leader of your metabolism. It's the orchestra leader. You get everybody in the symphony there, but the one that's the orchestra leader, that's what your thyroid is. The thyroid never works on its own. The thyroid gland is not independent because first of all, [00:01:30] none of the hormones that your thyroid produce are in the thyroid itself. You get a transmission from the brain. It starts in the hypothalamus. Now, you guys should know this, so let me just refresh your brain. Two things you want to remember about your brain, hippocampus, hypothalamus. If you remember those two, you got the brain.
Dr. Martin: [00:02:00] Hippocampus, think of the memory center in your brain. We talk about that, really important to preserve that. One of the ways you do it is keep your sugars down. We're going to talk about insulin, even with the thyroid this morning, because it has an effect on your thyroid. We'll talk about that. So you have the hippocampus, you have the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus sends signals to your pituitary, and your pituitary [00:02:30] sends signals to your thyroid to produce T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, and calcitonin. Now, you don't have to memorize that, T1 to T5 and calcitonin. That's what is produced by your thyroid.
Dr. Martin: Now, lots can go wrong in all that conversion of T1 [00:03:00] from T5 to calcitonin, a lot could go wrong. We'll talk about that. I always tell my patients this, "Listen, it's much more important that you know the symptoms of a sluggish thyroid rather relying on the test for your thyroid." Because most doctors don't do a full panel of thyroid. You need all of the things tested to know specifically [00:03:30] if the thyroid is involved. We're going to go through this this morning, and there's so many things that impact your thyroid. It's really important to understand that. A lot of people don't realize they have a thyroid problem. Their thyroid, "Oh my doctor said my thyroid's within normal limits." I know, but the blood test first of all, came out in the early 1970s. They've never changed it. Unless you're doing a full panel, oftentimes [00:04:00] you'll fall through the cracks.
Dr. Martin: So let me just do some possible symptoms of thyroid. Here's how you pretty well tell if you have a sluggish thyroid. One, fatigue, you're tired. Now, if you're tired because you didn't sleep last night, no, that's not necessarily your thyroid. But if you're constantly tired, I look at the thyroid gland. Two, [00:04:30] weight gain. How many women, they don't even have to eat food. They just have to look at it. Your thyroid, remember, is in charge mainly of your metabolism. Now, insulin has an effect on that, too, because it's a storage hormone. But for the sake of today, we're talking thyroid.
Dr. Martin: Three, hair, you're losing your hair. Ladies, the Bible says your hair is your glory. [00:05:00] It's never normal to lose your hair, ladies. It's not normal. Well, you brushed it out, but it's growing right back. You know what's amazing to me? Hairdressers know more about the thyroid than doctors do. Not that they diagnose thyroid issues, but they often tell their clients, "Hey, your hair's thinning out." Because they know your hair. Ladies, [00:05:30] you know your hair. It's never normal. Look, I'm a man. Men, we lose our hair. I was looking at a picture of myself the other day in 1981. Man, I had lots of hair and not any more, but that's a male. A male it's normal. It has nothing to do with his thyroid. Ladies, you're losing hair, thyroid. It's involved. I'll talk about another reason in a minute. [00:06:00] So you look at your hair.
Dr. Martin: You look at your skin. Ladies, skin starting to dry. You get itchy. It's dry and itchy, thyroid's sluggish, mood swings, depression. You know you're not yourself. That can be your thyroid. Remember, it's the orchestra leader of your hormones, so it's very important. You have trouble concentrating. Focus, you can't focus. [00:06:30] Cold, cold, cold all the time. Cold nose, cold hands, cold feet, often these are symptoms of your thyroid gland and don't rely on your blood test. Guys, I'm telling you. They're not conclusive. Symptoms when it comes to thyroid. You just need to stimulate the thyroid gland.
Dr. Martin: Now, you know when we talked about T1 to [00:07:00] T5? The main hormone is T3. Your thyroid doesn't work properly without T3, so it's always that conversion of T4 to T3 that's the most important when it comes to the thyroid. We'll talk about that in a second, but I just want to show you something because here's what I did. I put a little bit of water, a teaspoon of water. Guys, in one [00:07:30] year, in one year, this is how much T3 you make. Not much and if you don't make enough of it, you're not going to feel good. But it's so complex. It is so unbelievably minute, and you need that T3 in order for your thyroid to work, but you only make a teaspoon in a year out of your T4s. You can see how a lot of things could go wrong [00:08:00] with your thyroid gland.
Dr. Martin: We talked about symptoms. Now let's talk about the causes. Why would your thyroid not work properly? Why is that? One, it's very finicky. The real thing that makes your thyroid work is T3, and you only produce a teaspoon of it in a year. My word, your body is so precise. [00:08:30] Now, what can affect that conversion of T4 to T3? This is what we're going to talk about now. Nutrients, we'll start with nutrients. Your thyroid doesn't work properly without nutrients. Two main ones are iodine and L-tyrosine. You need those two and others, but I'll talk about the [00:09:00] others in a minute.
Dr. Martin: You need iodine for your thyroid to work properly. "Okay, Doc, why don't I have enough iodine?" Well, it goes back. Do you remember the other day I was talking to you about bread? Bread today isn't bread in the 1800s. Something happened around 1890 where we learned manmade bread. What do I mean [00:09:30] by that? We changed the wheat. What happened? It used to be stone ground, and you had a lot of the wheat germ. You had a lot of nutrients in the flour, but today that's been bleached out. It's been stripped away. "Oh, Dr. Martin, I have whole wheat bread." Yeah, but it ain't like it used to be.
Dr. Martin: Part of the process of making stone ground [00:10:00] bread was it was done with iodine. Then in the manufacturing, they found out how to make lots of bread, lots of flour, with bleaching it in that manufacturing process of the bread. Iodine, what? Now, you have bromide that makes the flour. Bromide, not iodine. What that did is it started affecting people's thyroid glands. Then [00:10:30] you have chemicals in the soil. Even when they were fertilizing, they left certain elements out of the soil, and one of them is iodine. It's not really in the soil like it used to be. One of the reasons for that is the herbicides and the pesticides. It's all around us, guys. It's hard to get away from that.
Dr. Martin: [00:11:00] Now, in order to make L-thyroxine, you need to have good levels of B12, very deficient today. Why is it deficient today? You guys know this answer. Why are we deficient in B12? 80% of the population don't get enough B12 in their body. If you don't get enough B12, you're not going to make enough L-thyroxine [00:11:30] for your thyroid gland. How do you get B12 in your food? Steak, liver, red meat, B12's not found... Ladies, I hate to disappoint you, but B12 ain't found in chicken and salad. It's in red meat. I had roast beef last night, lots of B12.
Dr. Martin: Now, B12 is a finicky vitamin. At the best of times, [00:12:00] if you're not absorbing your B12 because you've got any kind of digestive issue... Guys, if you're on almost any medication you can think of, especially Metformin, which is a diabetic drug, you ain't even absorbing your B12, even if you're eating it. This is why we're so deficient in it. Remember what I said. If I could get into every senior home, what would Dr. Martin bring with them? Vitamin D [00:12:30] and B12 for everyone, all seniors. Because as you get older, your gastric juices, you don't make as much acidity in your stomach.
Dr. Martin: Guys, don't try and lose your acidity in your stomach. You want acidity in your stomach because you can't even break down vitamins properly without good acidity in your stomach. A lot of people, "Oh, Doc, I have acid reflux." Well, that's not too much acidity, it's not enough in your stomach, and your body makes more. But this can affect your thyroid [00:13:00] because of B12. The other one is selenium. Selenium, it's in steak. It's in red meat. People who are vegetarians and vegans, God bless you. You're going to die young.
Dr. Martin: I know I'm controversial, but I'm just telling you science. Your thyroid needs these nutrients because you're not going to get iodine. You're not going to get [00:13:30] your selenium. You're not going to get your B12. You're not going to get your zinc. We talked about zinc. I said today I wasn't going to mention COVID-19. I promised myself. I promised Brandy, too, that I wouldn't mention it. Well, I just mentioned it, but I'm not going to...
Dr. Martin: But the results they're getting with patients with this virus, there I didn't say it, is with zinc. Where is zinc found? In [00:14:00] the animal kingdom. It's not in the plants. There's not enough zinc for mice in plants. I'm not saying plants are not good. Don't come after me. I didn't say they were no good. I'm just telling you, you need iron. Ladies, you need iron. You got low ferritin, often it's the thyroid. How do you get iron in food? Heme iron, H-E-M-E, [00:14:30] how do you get that? Steak, vitamin S. You know the Martin Clinic alphabet. Vitamin S is steak. You can have roast beef, too, or hamburger. I don't care. Guys, but I'm just telling you, that's nutrients. That's number one, nutrients.
Dr. Martin: Nutrients affect your thyroid. Remember that little teaspoon of T3. It don't make it without iodine and without [00:15:00] a L-thyroxine. L-thyroxine you can't make without zinc, selenium, B12, iron. You want to know why we got so much trouble today with the thyroid gland? It's like an epidemic today. I mean it. That's why people are so tired today. It's one of the reasons for you ladies, especially ladies, that you don't feel well or you can't... "Dr. Martin, I did the reset, and I didn't [00:15:30] lose that much. My husband, he lost so much stinking weight." Quit comparing yourself to your husband. Men are from another planet. We don't belong. We come from somewhere else.
Dr. Martin: Don't compare yourself to men. Men are big babies. When a man decides to lose weight, all he's got to do is eat eggs, meat, and cheese, and he'll lose two pounds every day guaranteed. [00:16:00] Women, not so much. It depends. It depends mostly on this, the orchestra leader of your hormones, ladies, your thyroid. Don't be too hard on yourself. It ain't you, babe. You remember that song? I think Sonny and Cher, show you how old I am. It ain't you, babe. It's your thyroid. You know, this might be a two part series, and [00:16:30] I'm just getting going.
Dr. Martin: Now, we learned how the thyroid works. We learned symptoms, and we learn nutrients. Now, let's talk about conversion of T4 to T3. You need those nutrients, but you also need other... These things have to be well for this to happen. I got a [00:17:00] one, two, three, or four things I want to talk about. One of them is your liver, your liver, guys. First of all, your liver is where your hormones are mostly made. Your liver is a very important organ. I always tell people fix your liver. Somebody said you should name your book save your pancreas and save your life. That's true. The pancreas has an enormous effect on the liver, and the liver has an enormous effect on [00:17:30] the pancreas. Let me explain.
Dr. Martin: We've been talking a lot, a lot, a lot about fatty liver. Your liver is your suitcase. Your liberals is the Costco parking lot. You go by Costco if you have a Costco. We do. It's always full, the parking lot. That's the world today. You know why? Because the liver is a parking lot for glycogen from sugar. [00:18:00] Sugar turns to fat in your liver. If you have too much fat in your liver, you will not convert T4 to T3 for your thyroid. Remember your liver produces these hormones. Guess what? Okay, I'm just going to say it again. What do you need for your hormones? What makes up your hormones? Cholesterol. "Oh, [00:18:30] my doctor said my cholesterol is too high."
Dr. Martin: You want it to be high. Your thyroid won't work properly without cholesterol. How do you find cholesterol? What foods? The animal kingdom. Cholesterol is not found in the plant kingdom. They made cholesterol a boogeyman, and that affected your thyroid because you're not making enough hormones. 85% of your cholesterol is made in your liver. 15% [00:19:00] comes from your food. You better eat it. Eat cholesterol, eggs, meat, and cheese. You got it? You need it. You need it for your thyroid to work properly. Your liver needs to be cleaned. Empty the suitcase.
Dr. Martin: This is why thousands of people that have done the reset feel better, even their thyroid starts working better. You know why? You emptied the suitcase. You emptied Costco's parking lot, your liver, of [00:19:30] fat. In four weeks, your liver is empty. Well, there's a lot of benefits to that. I'm not going to go into all the other benefits. One of them is your thyroid and your hormones. You're going to start producing more hormones because your liver will function properly.
Dr. Martin: It's not meant to be stuffed with fat, and fat isn't coming from fat. It's not coming from that. It's coming from sugar. It's coming from crappy carbohydrates. That's what fills your liver, guys. It's science. [00:20:00] It's really important. See how important food is? When you change your diet, you have no idea what you're doing. You have no idea how good this is for your body when you cut out those stinking sugars. Sugar is poison. It's poison. Your body treats it like poison. It does. Got it?
Dr. Martin: Here's another thing. We should do this in two parts. Maybe we'll see. The [00:20:30] other thing that really affects your thyroid is your cortisol. Now what is cortisol? That cortisol, there's going to be a lot of problems after... Oh, here I am. I'm going to mention it again, COVID-19. I've been saying this. You guys know me. What's going to happen after is going to be worse than the virus itself in my opinion. It's going to make a huge... You know how many people are going to suffer with depression, [00:21:00] anxiety, big time?
Dr. Martin: But, guys, here's what happens. If your cortisol is high, you don't convert your T4s to T3s. That's stress. Now look, if I come behind you and scare you, that's the fight or flight. That's adrenaline. It's dark. I come behind you. I scare you. Okay, but that doesn't last long. Ladies, you're not sleeping? [00:21:30] Cortisol, I'm big on it. Cortisol, that's why so many women, their hair starts thinning out, or they lose hair. They don't feel good, and they got anxiety. It's not just cortisol comes out of the adrenals, but it's not just there, ladies. It affects your thyroid gland.
Dr. Martin: Now, your metabolism. "Oh, Dr. Martin, I can't [00:22:00] lose weight. I got brain fog. I don't feel good." I got it. I believe you. I always said I was a woman's doctor. Why? Because I do hormones. I'm a hormone guy. You understand hormones, you understand your body. So you've got to look at all of it. The problem with the thyroid is if you just do your thyroid blood tests, it don't tell you much. It's not telling [00:22:30] you all the things I'm talking to you about this morning. You need that conversion to take place between T4 to T3 to make the teaspoon of T3. There's a lot that goes into that, a lot of factors, nutrients, liver, cortisol.
Dr. Martin: Yeah, it's amazing that the thyroid, you need to look at it holistically. You need to look at all the... You need the big picture. [00:23:00] We have a teaching. I think you can still get it, as far as I know, called thyroid distress syndrome. Tony Jr. and I came up with that name, thyroid distress syndrome. We take all of these things that I'm talking to you about this morning into account. It's a wonderful thing to know these things because ladies, you need... Look, I said this to a patient yesterday. I said, "Listen, if you don't get anything else [00:23:30] out of all the crazy world that we live in right now, get this lesson. You're in control."
Dr. Martin: No, I didn't say it to a patient. I said it to Nick yesterday, I think when we were talking. We got to take control of our own health. If you don't do anything else, take control of your own health. I know I'm preaching to the choir this morning, but take control of your own health. You don't need a PhD. You don't. Just understand there's some [00:24:00] basics. Yeah, medicine is complicated. I get that. Everything's in Latin. That was done on purpose by the way, so you wouldn't understand any. "Don't ask questions," the doctor often says. That's the craziest thing in the world. What do you mean I can't ask questions? Of course, you can ask questions, and a good doctor's asking lots of questions. You know how I get to the vast majority of my findings? [00:24:30] I ask questions. I want to know what's happening because that gives me information.
Dr. Martin: Anyway, look, I'm going to end it here. We've got another thing that I wanted to talk about where another conversion of T4 to T3 takes place. It's important, so I'll talk about it tomorrow and maybe something else. Well, we'll finish up the thyroid tomorrow. I've got so many topics that I got a wean them down. Love you guys. [00:25:00] Talk to you soon. Share this with your friends. Remember your thyroid.
Announcer: You've reached the end of another Doctor Is In podcast with your hosts, Dr. Martin, Junior and Senior. Be sure to catch our next episode and thanks for listening.