Note: The text below is a transcription from the video above. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
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Hashimoto’s and memory problems. It is a rare Hashimoto’s patient that comes in here that doesn’t write down memory as part of their clinical picture, and Hashimoto’s can play a huge part in memory problems. The part of your brain that controls memory is called your hippocampus. This hippocampus controls memory, and it controls sleep. It controls your short-term memory and long-term memory. Short-term memory turns into long-term memory when you sleep. Just the context, the background, there. Hashimoto’s hits memory in a lot of different ways. Alzheimer’s is the result of the beginning of your hippocampus being destroyed, short-term memory, then not being turned into long-term memory. We do know what it is. We do know there are many, many things that contribute to that.
They’re calling Alzheimer’s diabetes type-3, because somebody finally figured out that diabetes annihilates the hippocampus, and that starts off the whole chain of events, but it’s one of many, many things. Many, many of those things are directly or indirectly related to autoimmune thyroid disease. Let’s go directly. When you have autoimmune thyroid disease, and your thyroid gets triggered, for many, but not all of you, a triggered Hashimoto’s is going to cause intermittent heart palpitations for no reason at all, inner trembling, maybe anxiety, or panic attacks. It’s going to cause insomnia, night sweats.
Those are the signs that your thyroid are getting attacked, and not all of you have that, but most of you have that. When you’re getting that, just know that when that’s happening, your thyroid is doing a lot of bad things in your body. Two of the bad things they’re doing is it’s flooding your brain with inflammatory… They’re called cytokines. The Hashimoto’s inflammatory molecules have a specific affinity for your hippocampus. They go to your frontal lobe, but they have a specific affinity for your hippocampus, your short-term, long-term memory area of the brain.
The second thing that they do is… All neurons in the brain need a lack of inflammation. So, it does three things. It’s a lack of inflammation that creates healthy brain function, and Hashimoto’s creates inflammation in your brain. Then, it also decreases oxygen to your brain, so all the neurons in your brain, no matter where they are, whether in a hippocampus, or whether in amygdala, or the frontal lobe, or whether in the cerebellum, or wherever they are, they all need oxygen. Hashimoto’s decreases oxygen to the brain.
One of the top five symptoms that I get in my office, from Hashimoto’s patients, is a brain fog. This is why. This is a big part of why. Then, there’s a cascade of indirect things that cause the hippocampus to be attacked. Stress is one of them, where you might say, well, you said we’re talking about Hashimoto’s, but when you have autoimmune thyroid disease, that puts a tremendous strain on your adrenal glands. Your adrenal glands can start putting out stress hormones. Stress hormones have a specific affinity to your hippocampus. Okay?
Autoimmune thyroid disease is the number two cause of gut breakdown, so digestive system breakdown, hypo-stomach function, gallbladders slowing down, pancreas is slowing down, all of that, creating leaky guts, all of that, ultimately, creating small intestinal bacteria overload. All of these things can get out of your gut. They can go up to the brain, and there can be toxins in your guts that’s being broken down, because the thyroid is slowing the entire digestive tract down, causing all of those things to happen, contributing to causing the leaky gut. Now, all of this stuff finds its way back to your brain. Now, you have inflammatory components. You have components coming from food sensitivities. You have components coming from broken down bacteria in your intestines.
You just have toxins that are in your intestines that are normal, but they should be going in the toilet. Now, they’re not going in the toilet. They’re going through your leaky gut, and they’re going into your bloodstream. All these find their way to your brain. In general, they’ll create inflammation, and some of them actually have specific affinity for that hippocampus. This is why you’re seeing Alzheimer’s coming. Okay? We’re stressed out of our minds these days. We’re on too tight of schedules. We got too many deadlines. We got too many things to do, where we have to keep ourselves going. Then, you throw all that together with the toxins, and you throw all that stuff together, and all that stuff comes together, and it ends up annihilating brain function.
Then, so much of that attacks your hippocampus. Hashimoto’s, it sets off so many vicious cycles in so many areas, but it is a huge, huge factor in a lot of these, in depression, and anxiety, and panic attacks, and memory loss. It’s a huge player in memory loss. There’s more, there’s more, but I think you get the idea that Hashimoto’s is a… What you need to know is, if you’re wondering if autoimmune thyroid disease has something to do with your memory loss, the answer is yes. The question’s how much, based on you and your history, and how many of these things are going on, but without a doubt, you have Hashimoto’s, that’s contributing to your memory loss. So, Hashimoto’s… Memory loss.