Thyroid disease affects over 20 million people here in the United States alone. The harsh reality is that it is our female population that is being hit the hardest. Presently, statistics show that females are affected 25 times more than men.
For several years, Dr. Robert Olivieri, DC of Cape May County has been working almost exclusively with women who suffer from thyroid symptoms despite their lab test results being normal.
“My practice now consists mainly of women who have nowhere else to go. They are tired, cranky, overweight and don’t sleep well,” says Dr. Olivieri.
What most sufferers don’t realize is that close to 80 percent of thyroid cases nowadays are autoimmune in nature. It’s called Hashimotos Thyroiditis and is often undiagnosed.
“Only 10-15 percent of the time is the gland itself the problem. If that is the case, all a woman needs is a T4 hormone and they are good to go. But for the vast majority, they will need the medication plus nutritional and diet intervention in order to calm down the fire, so to speak.”
As a chiropractor with an advanced specialty in nutrition and neurology, Dr. Olivieri believes that performing specific metabolic tests to determine what areas of the body are deficient or overreacting is key. Often, many of these tests are not performed routinely.
“The problem is two-fold: one, the insurance companies don’t typically pay for a lot of the tests and two, the standard medical model doesn’t support the answers we get from many of the tests. For example, we look at women’s adrenal glands with a saliva or urine test and are able to supplement with really powerful botanicals in order to stimulate them into working better. There are no drugs out there nowadays to help make the adrenals work better.”
So, why is a chiropractor treating thyroid disease? Dr. Olivieri emphasizes that he is not treating the disease.
“That’s what their MD is for,” he says. “The medications can be life savers and women should not take themselves off of them. It’s my job to help modulate the thyroid gland nutritionally.”
Dr. Olivieri says he found his way into this specialty after many of his patients were suffering from thyroid symptoms and despite taking medication, still didn’t feel well. Functional neurologist and colleague of Dr. Olivieri, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, is the author of the number-one selling book, “Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms When My Lab Tests Are Normal?” This book established the foundation for which many of Dr. Olivieri’s protocols have been developed.
“There is presently a ground swell of all types of health care professionals from medical doctors to chiropractic physicians around the country following Dr. Kharrazian’s thyroid protocols. These protocols can be very effective, but can also be really complex. Over the last few years, I spent many hours of continuing education understanding how to implement this new information.”
So, what is it that Olivieri is doing differently than your local endocrinologist or medical doctor? They prescribe medication to help treat the disease. Working in conjunction with them, Dr. Olivieri uses specific diagnostic testing to help establish proper diet, nutrition and supplementation to help boost the patient’s immune system as part of his Feel Great in Eight Institute Thyroid Support protocol.
He says that food is a big part of it, and finds that gluten and GMO foods can be a bad thing for women with thyroid disease.
“We now know that there are proteins in gluten that cause inflammation in people with thyroid disease. More importantly, there are many other foods that can act like gluten in causing inflammation. We test for inflammatory markers that help establish what you should or should not be eating.”
Dr. Olivieri says it is a very rewarding way of practicing, and he has developed his Feel Great in Eight Institute based on these principles. “I can actually see patient’s lives improving on a weekly basis. It makes me look forward to coming to work each day.”
Dr. Olivieri can be reached at (609) 886-8585.
