🌿 A Herbalist’s View of Thyroid Disorders (Part 1)

What Is the Thyroid and Why Should We Care?

If you're a woman who's ever felt exhausted for no good reason, struggled with mood swings that seem to come out of nowhere, or found yourself googling “why is my metabolism broken?”—you’ve probably crossed paths (at least digitally) with the thyroid.

As a herbalist, I often see thyroid disorders show up in the background of all sorts of imbalances. Fatigue. Anxiety. Hormonal chaos. And while modern medicine tends to view the thyroid as a sort of hormonal thermostat, herbalism takes a wider-angle lens—one that includes the body, yes, but also the emotional and even energetic landscape.

But first things first…

So What Is the Thyroid?

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland that lives in your neck, just below your Adam’s apple (or where it would be). It produces hormones—mainly T3 and T4—that help regulate your metabolism, energy levels, heart rate, temperature, and even mood.

When the thyroid slows down (called hypothyroidism), everything feels sluggish: your energy, your digestion, your brain. When it speeds up (hyperthyroidism), it can feel like you’ve had way too much coffee: jittery, anxious, wired, and tired all at once.

Why Does It Seem Like Only Women Have Thyroid Issues?

It’s not only women, but it sure feels that way sometimes. In fact, women are up to eight times more likely to develop a thyroid disorder than men. And while science points to things like autoimmune conditions and hormones, a herbalist might ask:

What’s happening in the whole system—not just in the gland?

Are we over-stressed, under-supported, or living lives that constantly demand us to override our instincts? Are we speaking our truth—or swallowing it down?

The Bigger Picture

From a holistic perspective, the thyroid isn’t just a gland. It sits at the gateway between the head and the heart. In energetic medicine (like chakra theory), it’s part of the Throat Chakra—the seat of voice, expression, and truth.

And when that space is imbalanced, the body sometimes speaks up in the only language it knows: symptoms.

A Herbalist’s Approach

Rather than "fixing" the thyroid, we ask:

• What's out of balance in the person’s life or body?

• What herbs can nourish, soothe, or reawaken vitality?

• And what emotional truths might be waiting to be voiced?

In the next part of this series, we’ll dive into why women, in particular, tend to carry thyroid issues—and how that connects to the deep, often-unspoken power of the voice.

Until then, here’s your herbal thought of the day:

🌿 What part of me wants to speak that I’ve been keeping quiet?