A couple of weeks ago I did a video about heavy metals and the link with yeast infections. And while the causes of yeast infections can be many, today I wanted to look another sometimes undiagnosed cause of yeast problems and that is hypothyroidism or low thyroid function. Let’s explorer this connection in todays short video to see if this hormone imbalance might be what is making it hard for your dog to recover from yeast and we’ll also look at some ways to combat this naturally so stay tuned to learn more.
So we learnt about the link between heavy metals and yeast infections recently. Heavy metals can often be an undiagnosed cause of recurring or chronic yeast issues. But so can the health of your dogs thyroid. Last week we looked at some foods that can help keep the thyroid gland healthy. But if your dog has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, this can have a negative effect on many other body organs and can make it really difficult for your dog to get on top of recurring yeast problems.
So why does this happen?? Yeasts live normally in the gut, in the ears and on skin and will not cause a problem until something disrupts the immune system. While an overactive thyroid is very uncommon in dogs, an underactive thyroid gland is far more prevalent and hypothyroidism is one of the most common hormone imbalances our dogs face.
Did you know that around 90% of all hypothyroid issues in dogs are caused by autoimmunity?? And while any dog can develop low thyroid function some breeds such as Labradors, Great danes, Cocker spaniels, Boxers and Golden Retrievers seem to be more susceptible. The problem with the thyroid is that changes can be slow and subtle and you may not notice them until there is a bigger problem. Little niggly signs and symptoms can include some weight gain despite no change to the amount or types of food, lethargy and low tolerance to both exercise and the cold, thinning dry coat and skin along with hair not re growing after being shaved, darker skin pigmentation, constipation and also, a tendency to develop both yeast as well as bacterial infections that can be hard to get rid of.
I talk a lot of autoimmune disease on my channel and autoimmune thyroiditis is certainly becoming more common in dogs. So not only is the immune system out of balance, and the thyroid being damaged but in most cases, not only is their an autoimmune disease but because of the effect on the immune system, infections such as yeast can take hold.
Let’s look at it closer at this. So firstly the Thyroid function plays a crucial role in regulating your dog’s immune system. Hypothyroidism, where the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough thyroid hormone, can weaken the immune response, making our pets more susceptible to infections, including yeast infections. In addition, Thyroid hormones can influence the overall hormonal balance in your dogs body. Fluctuations in any hormones, such as estrogen, can predispose your dog to a yeast overgrowth and low thyroid function can disrupt the normal hormonal balance. Even for female dogs that have been desexed, there are small amounts of oestrogen that are still prone to fluctuations from stress, thyroid, and other factors.
We also know that thyroid hormones control the overall metabolism, including how your dogs body processes sugar. If blood sugar levels are not balanced, this can contribute to yeast overgrowth. Thyroid disorders, especially hypothyroidism, can affect how well the blood sugar regulates potentially impacting susceptibility to yeast infections. And this is especially the case in dogs that are fed a processed foods diet or are eating grains and sugary treats. While feeding processed foods is definitely a no go for yeast problems due to their high sugar and starch content, they also impact the blood sugar levels too.
And finally if your dog has been put on medications like steroids for their thyroid condition (as is often the case with autoimmune driven thyroiditis), these meds can make cause a weakening in the immune system which can then lead to the development of any infection but especially yeast problems.
So you an see that the health of the thyroid is really one of the key factors in keeping yeast at bay and has a direct link with your dogs immune system.
So what can we do about this ? Firstly if you dog has been suffering from yeast for some time and you have not been ale to resolve it either naturally or conventionally, having your dogs thyroid tested may be helpful. Getting a definitive diagnosis for thyroid disease can be difficult due to the fluctuating hormone levels on a daily basis but level of T4, T3, freeT4, thyroid stimulating hormone and thyroid antibodies should be considered when testing. Of course always discuss this with your vet . One of the most comprehensive thyroid tests available is the thyroid profile 5, created by holistic vet Jean Dodds. You can learn more about this at her website www.hemopet.org.
If hypothyroidism is diagnosed from testing, your vet may want to put your dog on thyroid hormone. But as the great majority of dogs diagnosed with low thyroid function are dealing with autoimmunity, we need to look at this as an underlying cause. There are 4 main points when it comes to treating and reversing any autoimmune disease and these include healing your dogs gut, reducing inflammation patterns, helping repair the damaged tissue- in this case the thyroid and finally, regulating the immune system. While I am not going to go into these here you can learn more about these in other videos on my channel. Essentially we want to start to help rebalance the immune system which in turn can help reverse the thyroid damage. For some dogs thyroid medication may be necessary so you always need to check this with your vet but unless we treat the underlying autoimmnune pattern it will never continue to cause issues. And remember from last week’s video that the thyroid needs those 4 important nutrients of iodine, selenium, iron and zinc. Please remember too that if your dog is dealing with yeast you must continue to treat this too until the thyroid starts to rebalance.
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