How to naturally address issues with shallow breathing or “air hunger”, a common but overlooked problem in those suffering from thyroid problems or adrenal dysfunction.
Every single tissue in the entire body has thyroid receptors. This means that the thyroid, if not functioning properly, can cause a wide variety of symptoms beyond what we would normally consider.
It is most common to question the health of the thyroid in cases of fatigue, constipation, weight gain, chilliness, and dryness.
However, it is also very common in cases of depression, fibromyalgia-like muscle aches, gastrointestinal dysfunction, and even foggy brain.
The thyroid is one endocrine organ in a delicately and intricately related chain of hormone-producing glands.
Although it may be one of the easier glands to measure, others in the chain, i.e. the hypothalamus, the adrenal glands, and the gastrointestinal system have a major effect on the thyroid’s function.
In one two-week period alone, I treated three unusual cases of thyroid dysfunction.
- One was an 8-year-old girl with Hashimoto’s auto-immune disease.
- Another is a 22-year-old male who looks like a bodybuilder.
- The third was a 14-year-old very slender female.
None of them fit the picture of a typical thyroid patient…but if you don’t test you never know!
Common Misdiagnosis in Conventional Tests
When testing the thyroid you must test several markers to understand if the thyroid is working properly:
- TSH
- T4 total
- Free T3
- Free T4
- T3 uptake
- Free thyroxine index
- Thyroid antibodies
Laboratory ranges are very wide on the thyroid and, sadly, do not reflect optimal functioning in the real world.
It is very common for conventional doctors to just order a TSH and say your thyroid is fine when it really isn’t.
The reason is most doctors treat all thyroid conditions the same – give enough Levo-thyroxin until the TSH blood level is within normal limits.
This conventional approach only works for one kind of thyroid dysfunction!
There are six different types of low thyroid function with at least 22 other bodily dysfunctions resulting in a suboptimal thyroid.
How Other Organs Affect the Thyroid
I will give you a few examples of how other organ systems affect the thyroid.
If you have positive antibodies TPO or TGB, you really have an auto-immune disease where your own immune system is destroying thyroid tissue.
Shockingly, it is estimated that at least 75% of hypothyroid cases are auto-immune in nature.
This problem can really be helped by clinicians who understand the relationship between thyroid, gut, immune system and brain.
Attention should be directed to these areas:
- Resolve food allergies
- Measure and optimize Vitamin D levels.
- Heal leaky gut
- Balance the two arms of the immune system Th1 and Th2 is very important.
Pitfalls with “Immune Tonics”
Common health food store “immune tonics” such as echinacea and maitake are Th1 stimulators while caffeine is a TH2 stimulator.
If one is Th1 dominant they will frequently complain that echinacea or other Th1 stimulants make them feel bad.
It is important to realize that your individual body may not fit the common marketing scheme currently advocated in medicine or natural health care.
Buyer beware!
Iodine Can Sometimes Make Things Worse
There are other tests such as cytokine testing or TH1 and 2 challenges to get this system balanced.
It is paramount to understand that those diagnosed with Hashimoto’s or showing positive antibodies will be made WORSE with iodine supplementation.
Free T3 is the real workhorse of thyroid hormones. It is what your cells use, yet only 6% of T3 is made in the thyroid.
The vast majority is converted from T4 in the liver and from the bacteria in the GI tract. Can you start to see how important the GI tract is and the importance of fermented foods, prebiotics, and probiotics?
Thyroid and Adrenal Dysfunction Usually Go Hand in Hand
It is rare to see thyroid dysfunction without seeing adrenal dysfunction. The adrenals are the glands that deal with stress.
In our culture, most people are just worn out…usually all the time!
This leads to the under-conversion of T4 to T3.
It frequently leads to blood sugar issues which dampen communication between the hypothalamus, pituitary, and thyroid glands.
Shallow Breathing aka “Air Hunger”
Again, these problems are made worse by people skipping meals, eating low-protein or vegetarian diets, and using stimulants such as caffeine to increase the adrenal output of hormones.
I always use nutrients and whole food diets emphasizing higher protein and healthy fats for this condition.
One of the most important treatments is breathing exercises to remedy air hunger.
It is common to find people that suffer from shallow breathing when endocrine conditions present.
Shallow breathing is characterized by breathing from the chest up without using the diaphragm.
Put another way, shallow breathing involves breathing without expanding out to allow the diaphragm to create a vacuum in the lungs.
It is impossible in a short article to completely explain the thyroid gland. My goal is rather to show you the many facets of thyroid dysfunction and testing.
As in all my writings, my goal is to help you connect the dots between one particular system and its relationship to the whole body.
I hope to convey the message that if you are chronically ill and your doctor has only tested your TSH please ask for more.
Do not take over-the-counter formulas for your thyroid unless someone is specifically monitoring your case as what makes one type of thyroid condition better can aggravate another type.
Again Iodine is a very individual nutrient for certain thyroid types and not for others!
More Information
Thyroid Disease as a Psychiatric Pretender
6 Little Known Signs of Adrenal Fatigue
This is Your Body (and Brain) on Gluten
I have shallow breathing, iodine seems to help a little with fatigue so probably not autoimmune, stimulants barely help and resistance builds quickly so I quit trying them, trial of 1 grain Armour had no effect, basal temp on waking is low (I forget what), adrenals were “adapted to stress” on my last saliva adrenal test (running high, not burned out yet), I think that ammonia was/is stimulating my adrenals. Ammonia had tested high, years ago, didn’t know the significance at the time. Treating now with AKG, Betaine HCL with pepsin (poorly digested protein feeds gut pathogens that make ammonia). When I’m sick I really fall apart, which I assume is adrenal related. I suspect that underpowered adrenals run in my family (1 out of 60-ish people?) and that combined with ammonia is the problem. I had high-functioning Asperger’s, I’ve mostly healed my gut and chelated mercury and arsenic using Andrew Cutler’s protocol to the point that I don’t think I qualify as an Aspie anymore. I’m in decent shape, mostly Paleo plus some fermented dairy diet. Any suggestions?
Brian, have you had a full thyroid panel run? I would start with that if you haven’t done it. Many people need more than one grain of natural thyroid, so I don’t think a trial of just one would clarify that issue.
If you have been hypothyroid for a while, your adrenals have probably been trying to compensate, producing excess cortisol. That apparently happened to me for years, and now my adrenals are exhausted. Trying to build them up as well as supplementing with Naturthroid. It is a slow process for me because I didn’t discover the situation till very late.
I like this site: stopthethyroidmadness.com. It will probably answer your questions. I have no affiliation with them, except that I have learned everything I know about this issue from them.
shallow breathing can be caused because of poor posture, sleeping positions, and vertebral misalignments. Chiropractors help with all of this! I love my chiropractor!
Wonderful and timely article. What a special doctor to even understand
the complexities of thyroid dysfunction.
Bravo !
Thank you for this article. I am hypothyroid and my doctor refuses any testing beyond the TSH. I am looking for a new doctor…
Ooh!
If I didn’t take my thyroid issue into my own hands by taking over-the-counter natural supplements for thyroid and eating thyroid-stimulating foods in my regular diet, my only other option would be something that requires a prescription….and that is NOT an option.
I think thyroid-supportive whole foods are an excellent idea and can nourish anyone, such as fish stock using whole fish heads that include the thyroid gland, dried whole fish like you see in Asian stores, and Red Boat fish sauce which is traditionally fermented using the whole fish. Plus other foods like eggs, fish eggs, seaweed, etc.
There are many factors the contribute to thyroid dysfunction, but it does make one think that the absence of these types of foods in our standard diet may have a large impact.
Anna-
Maybe you can ask your doctor to prescribe a T3 only medication until you get your iron issue worked out.
I am just starting on Armour this week. It has been 25 years in trying to get a doctor to agree that there are issues with my thyroid. My temp on rising in the am is around 96.4 and then it increases to about 97.2 during the day. Clearly this is a problem. But most doctors are so tied to the blood tests that they may refuse to treat thyroid if you are in the ‘normal’ range.
The title of this article was what caught my attention. I most definitely am a shallow breather.
Yes, I am taking T3 only right now. However, if you have extremely low iron like me or adrenal problems another cause of high RT3, you can’t tolerate the amount of T3 dose that you actually need and the T3 mostly just pools in your blood. I wish I could figure out why i have a problem absorbing iron and why my iron is so low so that I could fix the root cause.
This really caught my eye. I am a shallow breather. My husband is always commenting about it. And I also have had adrenal fatigue and continue to work on minimizing stress. Of course, my ‘TSH is normal’ according to my doctor. I would like to have those other things checked but I am afraid he will be annoyed with me. When I asked to have my Vit D checked he said it really wasn’t necessary. Of course I didn’t agree. Now I have been back to see him again because I am having blood sugar issues, so it feels like. Also I have always had gut issues. I have started adding in fermented foods. They are very easy to prepare.
Could I just send or give him a copy of this article? Because I am not sure if I could explain it well enough to make him understand what I want.
It is very hard to switch doctors up here.
Thank you for this article. It makes me feel like there are answers.
Laurie, go to stopthethyroidmadness.com. You will find answers to your questions there, and much more. There is a page that lists good labs for blood tests and adrenal tests. You may be able to have blood drawn and send the sample out to the lab yourself, if need be. And you can order the 24 hour adrenal test and do it yourself at home (it uses saliva, not blood). There are discounts listed there and the labs are rated. It’s a good site for info on thyroid health and everything else involved–nutrition, other endocrine issues, etc. It is written by patients and for patients, but advised by expert doctors.
If my doctor was not willing to run the tests I feel I need, I’d find another doctor. I had to try several doctors before I found one who would run a full thyroid panel and give me an accurate diagnosis. Too bad that it’s hard for you to do this, but there are Yahoo groups associated with the stopthethyroidmadness site, and you may be able to ask there if anyone has a good doctor in your area. But if you give your doctor this article, it may help.
Thank you Judith! Goin’ there right now.
If you haven’t cut out dairy/gluten and any other food allergens, now would be ideal. Dairy caused my shallow breathing.
I have thyroid issues and knew that I had several symptoms that fit the profile. My regular doctor was monitoring my levels, she left the practice I was visiting to open her own practice. While I was waiting I had to get my thyroid checked again, by a different doctor from the same practice. I explained to him that something wasn’t right and why I needed the test (based on why my doctor had seen a trend of). He tested my thyroid but only tested one marker and told me that everything was okay. Of course I knew that something was wrong. As soon as my regular doctor got her practice open I took her those results and she looked at the test and his comments, said you are not fine and immediately started me on a natural thyroid pill. We are getting it under control and where it needs to be. As soon as I got on the meds I noticed a difference in several areas right away. The doctor I see practices in Integrative/Regenerative Medicine.
One thing I learned from this was that if something is wrong don’t always take your doctors word for it, keep pushing for answers and ASK questions.
What about testing for Reverse T3 (RT3)? I have a a RT3 problem and for me this is most likely do to my iron levels being extremely low. Armour made me verse because instead of converting T4 to T3 my body was converting it to RT3 instead. I would love for an article about how to correct iron deficiency so that I can correct my RT3 issue. I’ve been working on my iron levels for about 6 months now but nothing is happening despite eating raw liver every day and other iron rich food, taking 200mg of iron along with Amla-C plus and Betaine HCL with pepsin. I am not absorbing any iron, my labs have not improved at all. I am considering getting IRON IV.
Anemia is red flag for Celiac. Have you been tested?
I am testing today for celiac! thanks!