Wellness Center in Fort Mill takes holistic approach to thyroid illness

Those suffering from thyroid problems may have an underlying issue conventional medicine isn’t catching.

At the Holistic Wellness Center of the Carolinas in Fort Mill, practitioners Dr. Jeff Matz, D.C., a board-certified chiropractic physician, and Dr. Kristien Boyle, D.O.M., a board-certified herbalist and acupuncturist, take a different approach.

The Center practices functional medicine, with works to address the underlying causes of diseases and disorders by looking at a person’s genetics and lifestyle and environmental influences.

“If we have no idea how you got the condition, how can we address the underlying issues?” Boyle said.

As part of an ongoing lecture series, Matz and Boyle addressed the role functional medicine can play in finding and treating issues behind thyroid conditions.

“We’re educating you on a system that may be failing a lot of you,” Matz told the attendees.

Typical symptoms of thyroid conditions include fatigue, trouble concentrating, weight gain, thinning hair, cold hands and feet, chronic pain, depression and insomnia, Boyle said.

Matz and Boyle are not conventional doctors and do not prescribe medication, but rather focus on treating root causes.

While pharmaceuticals do have a place in treatment practices, they do not always provide the best solution for chronic conditions, Boyle said.

“In our opinion, (prescribing drugs) is not addressing the underlying cause,” he said.

Boyle said Americans spend an average $2.7 trillion on healthcare, 75 percent of which is on treating diseases that are largely preventable.

“We are wasting money trying to treat stuff and we aren’t getting anything in return,” he said.

Not all people with symptoms of a thyroid disorder receive the help they need due to how labs are created and used, Boyle said.

Thyroid function tests measure the production of the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone by the pituitary gland, Matz said. In the thyroid, TSH stimulates Thyroid peroxidase to produce the thyroid hormones T4 and T3, which are released from the thyroid and converted in the rest of the body to control metabolism.

Since the thyroid itself produces just seven percent of the hormones the body needs, the rest is produced through a conversion from T4 hormone to T3, Boyle said. When a person has an underlying condition, it may cause an under-conversion of the hormones, triggering thyroid disorders that tests do not pick up.

Lab ranges measuring TSH production are also based on an average of results from those that have taken the tests, but since those that take tests are often unhealthy, the ranges are too wide to capture everyone with thyroid conditions and symptoms, Boyle said.

“So many people are told they are normal, but they aren’t feeling normal,” he said.

Many times, Matz said, patients with a thyroid problem also have an underlying autoimmune disorder such as Hashimoto’s, a condition in which the immune system attacks the thyroid.

This is due to an imbalance of the Th1 and Th2 cells of the immune system often related to genetics, infections, chemicals and food allergies and sensitivities, Boyle said.

Adrenals, which produce Cortisol, can also lower TSH under emotional and physical stress, decreasing thyroid hormone production, Boyle said. This can also block thyroid hormones at receptor sites, lowering the conversion of T4 to T3, an issue that typical lab work doesn’t test for.

Since doctors cannot perform tests that are deemed unnecessary, other factors affecting T3 production may also be missed, Boyle said.

“It’s unfortunate because it’s the patients who are missing out and not getting properly diagnosed,” he said.

Functional Medicine, instead, focuses on the root causes contributing to thyroid problems, Boyle said.

The Holistic Center uses a six-step approach focused on the whole person, Matz said.

“We have to be two steps ahead of the game,” he said.

Boyle, who has Crohn’s disease, said he has been symptom-free for five years following the Center’s plan.

“I know if I don’t manage my health, I can’t be the best father or practitioner for my patients,” he said.

Fort Mill resident Minerva Caceres, who has a thyroid issue, said Matz and Boyle explained the problem in a different way.

“It was very interesting,” she said.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 6:24 PM with the headline "Wellness Center in Fort Mill takes holistic approach to thyroid illness."