Adrenal & Thyroid Disease

The endocrine system includes the thyroid and adrenal glands, among others. A condition that affects one typically impacts the other, forcing an individual to battle both adrenal and thyroid disease.

Identification

• The two adrenal glands and one thyroid gland are part of the endocrine system. The thyroid is located in the throat, whereas an adrenal gland resides above each kidney.

Function

• The primary responsibility of the thyroid is to regulate metabolism. Meanwhile, the adrenal glands help an individual face stress and danger by releasing adrenaline, a hormone that sharpens the body into "fight or flight" mode.

Significance

• "Let's emphasize two points about this healthy stress response," says Marcy Holmes, a natural health practitioner with the Women to Women Health Clinic in Maine. "First, it takes priority over all other metabolic functions. Second, it wasn't designed to last very long." The regular stress of modern life results in overworked adrenal glands.

Effects

• This adrenal fatigue is a likely factor in thyroid diseases such as hypothyroidism, a condition where the thyroid is releasing an insufficient amount of hormone, resulting in sluggishness, fatigue, and weight gain.

Considerations

• Cancerous tumors on the adrenal glands often develop in conjunction with MEN-associated medullary thyroid cancer. "MEN stands for multiple endocrine neoplasia, which are a group of tumors affecting hormone glands that are passed on from one generation to the next," according to The New York Thyroid Center of Columbia University.