Welcome to Natural MD Radio, your place to hear the whole truth on health and medicine for women and children and get the tools you need to take back your health naturally starting now. I'm Dr. Aviva Ram here and welcome to episode 132 of Natural MD radio.

Today we're going to talk about how your thyroid affects your menstrual cycle. But before I jump into that,

I just want you to know I am recording live in the middle of hurricane or storm

Isaiah. And so if you hear any loud noise in the background it's either intense rain or

thunder and hopefully I will make it through this episode without having to jump off of anything electrical.

And I hope that wherever you are listening, you've come through the storm safe and sound

and you're doing well in this crazy moment of time that we're all in.

So when we think of our periods in menstrual cycles we tend to think of the leading

ladies estrogen and progesterone, but other hormones like

thyroxene and triiotyronine are playing a major role behind the scenes. While these names might not roll off your

tongue as easily as estrogen and progesterone, and I have to work at them a little

bit too, they play a pivotal role in your menstrual cycles,

including whether they're regular,

how long, heavy, whether you skip them,

and whether you're ovulating.

You may have guessed by their aforementioned names, T4, thyroxine, and T3, triiotot thyreneine, are produced

in your thyroid.

Your thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the lower front part of your neck.

In fact, while both of those hormones are produced there,

T4 is produced there more abundantly and then converted to T3, which is actually the more active form of the hormone in your liver.

T3 then travels to your cells throughout your body and does all of the

thyroid's heavy lifting. It acts as your body's thermostat, turning the dial up or

...