114 How to Support your Thyroid and Immune System Through Authenticity

The Case: 

Lynn has Hashimoto’s and experiences fatigue, brain fog and mood swings. She takes thyroid medication and various supplements but still struggles to feel well. She’s frustrated because she eats well and follows a good thyroid protocol without the results.

 

The Investigation

When I met Lynn, I saw that her TSH was fluctuating so we needed to stabilize her immune system. She was already following much of my advice with her diet and supplements. There were a few minor improvements we could make but my sense was that something else was playing a role in addition to her biochemistry.

 

What is a Psychoimmunologist?

If you’ve never heard the term psychoneuroimmunology (sometimes referred to simply as psychoimmunology) it is the study of how the mind can affect the immune system.  Dr. Mario Martinez, a best-selling author is a thought leader in the field of psychoneuroimmunology with his books, “The Mind-Body Code: How the Mind Wounds and Heals the Body” and “The MindBody Self: How Longevity Is Culturally Learned and the Causes of Health Are Inherited” as well as his online courses, groups, and mentorships. 

He’s been a popular guest on the show before and I knew he was perfect to join us to shed some light on this health mystery. Especially because lately, he’s been working on the role that authenticity plays in our immune health and our thyroid health. 

 

What is Authenticity?

Dr. Martinez says that there is a tremendous misconception around authenticity and inauthenticity. He explains that many of us were raised in a culture where being authentic simply means to be yourself and be honest. But, he says, that’s not enough. In his research, looking at the origin of the word ‘authenticity’ and how philosophers have pondered it in the past, he feels that being your honest self is only a surface version of yourself. This is because we internalize, morph, and sometimes forget who we are and what we want, in order to fit in with our tribe or cultural expectations. And then, we lose or forget our true self. 

 

How Inauthenticity Causes Illness

Behaving outside of our truth creates a stress response that over time, can create a real health issue. Even when we think we are being authentic, we may be fooling ourselves. The more we repeat these false beliefs about ourselves, and the more we speak about them (because language has power), the more concrete these false-perceptions feel. These feelings become our truth, even though they do not represent our true authentic self. And this can subconsciously cause an imbalance in the immune system through the mind-body connection because our language does not match our true authentic self. 

For example, if you say, “I am a good person”. Your psycho terminology may trigger your mind to look for evidence of whether you're a good person or not. And if you begin to look at when you're not being a good person and that you have a history of not being a good person, you create an incoherence which triggers a stress response. If this continues, then you may find yourself with chronically high levels of cortisol. Which, in turn, can release inflammatory molecules, increasing a propensity for particular illnesses. 

Dr. Martinez shared another hypothetical example about a little girl who learned to be submission to survive an abusive father. This submissiveness was necessary at the time. However, she may begin to believe that this is part of who she truly is. But, when she carries it forward into parts of her life where it is not necessary for survival, she may struggle to get the things she wants. Her learned truth and her real truth are out of balance. She is so used to being oppressed that she falls into a perceived helplessness. The moment that you feel helpless, like you don't have resources to deal with something overcoming you, your natural killer cells go down, your ideas go down, your inflammation goes up, and your immune system becomes helpless because you have a helpless consciousness. But, when you are an adult and the context is different (you actually do have resources, you’re not in danger of being hurt) and you have this response, there is a disconnect between your behavior and the reality of the situation. Overtime, this can lead to serious health issues. 

It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean inauthenticity causes illness but it can increase the propensity for it. 

 

How Do You Know If You're Being Inauthentic?

If being authentic isn’t simply being honest and has so much to do with the subconscious mind, or learned false-beliefs, how can you tell if you are being inauthentic? Dr. Martinez says the answer is in your innate response. When you are behaving in a way that is inauthentic, you can feel it. However, many of us have become desensitized to these physical responses. 

Awareness and learning to identify that feeling of being inauthentic (for example, saying yes in an effort to people-please) is the first step in moving out of living an inauthentic life. 

 

How To Stop Being Inauthentic

The first step is that awareness. You must realize when the feeling comes up so you can identify what you are being inauthentic about. The next is to start to honor your authentic self. For example, if you don’t like Italian food and someone asks if you’d like to go to an Italian restaurant. Your instinct may be to acquiesce but this will trigger a physical response because you know you don’t really want to go there. So, you need to speak up and say, no thank you (and then maybe suggest a place you would like to go). 

Acting more in accordance with your authentic self is important but it can be harder than it sounds. Dr. Martinez explains that it can help to remember how it felt the last time you were in alignment with your authentic self. For example, if your belief is that you are a nervous person. You need to remember what it felt like to not be nervous as you are telling yourself that you are not a nervous person. Immersing yourself in the sensation of the memory will help you feel aligned with your authentic self.  

In this episode, Dr. Martinez also shares some great questions you can ask yourself to help you stay in authenticity. 

 

How Quickly Will You See Health Benefits from being Truly Authentic?

Dr. Martinez says that the physical response to stepping out of inauthenticity is very quick. He explains that because you're changing the cycle terminology, the body will no longer be in that state of alarm. This should help your basal cortisol drop and your inflammation should decrease because there is no longer a need for this stress response. 

However, he warns that changing your language and thought patterns (that may be very well ingrained) may take some time. You have to continue to watch your reactions to situations, your natural tendencies that may be to act inauthentically, and the language you use about doing things you may not want to do even if you’re doing them with authenticity. He says that you should approach situations with novelty and curiosity because these two things put your brain into ‘discovery’ which reduces stress.

Mystery Solved

Lynn’s TSH was constantly fluctuating and she was having frequent flare ups (her thyroid type is the one that I call Hashimoto’s with an agitated response - listen to episode 111 for more on thyroid types). To support thi...