Can Childhood Trauma Affect Thyroid Health

Can childhood trauma affect thyroid health? Research says there is a link. It does not say your childhood caused your thyroid condition, and I won't say that either.

Here is what we have. In a Canadian survey of about 13,000 adults, women who had been physically abused before 18 had 40% higher odds of a thyroid disorder, even after the researchers allowed for smoking, drinking and daily stress (report). A study of 15,357 adults in the US found that the more adverse childhood experiences a person reported, the more likely they were to be hospitalised for an autoimmune disease as an adult (summary). And a 2016 review of 14 studies on stress and autoimmune thyroid disease found most of them pointing to a connection, while concluding that nothing definitive could be said (review).

All of these look backward, so they show a pattern and not a cause. The door is open, and nobody has walked all the way through it. What I can add is what I hear in sessions, and it is not the same for every thyroid condition.

Trauma is not always the big event

When people hear 'childhood trauma', they think of the terrible things. Those count. But a lot of what shapes a child is smaller and said in a normal voice.

“Don't ask for so much.”

“First finish, then rest.”

“Why only 92 marks? Where did the other 8 go?”

“Don't trouble Papa, he already has enough tension.”

Nobody saying these meant harm. Most were tired, or short of money, or repeating what was said to them. But a child takes a lesson from each, about wanting, about worth, about whether it is safe to stop. And different lessons seem to settle in different thyroid patterns.

Hypothyroid: when wanting went unanswered

Here I usually find a child whose wants were not so much refused as not heard. They came last, or were postponed until they stopped mattering. So the child learnt to stop asking, and later to stop wanting.

The adult says, 

“I don't want anything for myself. What would be the point?” 

She can plan everyone's future and goes blank about her own.

Hyperthyroid: When Worth Had To Be Earned

Here the lesson was often that being loved depended on doing well. Marks, rank, progress, always a little more. Not being far enough along felt dangerous.

The adult can see the future very clearly and cannot bear the distance to it.

“Every time I arrive, it turns out not to be the place.”

 Because the arrival was supposed to settle a question from long ago, and it never does.

Hashimoto's: When Wanting Was Called Selfish

Here the wanting is still alive. The child learnt that it had a cost, and that the safest thing was to want less and look after others more.

So in the adult, the want arrives and a voice follows close behind. 

“Who am I to want that?”
“Now is not the right time.”
“Someone else needs it more.”

 It sounds sensible. It doesn't say you are incapable. It questions whether you are allowed.

Graves': When Stopping Was Not Safe

Here I often find a home where things were unpredictable, and the child's alertness kept them stable. Reading the mood, managing it, staying useful. Rest looked like exposure.

The adult is tired and knows it. 

“I want to stop, but something inside won't let me.”

 The body is still running a program from a house where stopping had a price.

It protected you once

In each of these, the lesson was not foolish. It was the right lesson for that house. A child who stopped wanting, or achieved more, or asked less, or stayed alert, was safer there.

The trouble is that it never got the news that the house has changed. The work is to update it, slowly, and I have not seen it respond to argument. It responds to small repeated experiences of finding that nothing terrible follows.

One thing to try this week

Think of something small you want for yourself. Then watch what arrives just after the wanting.

Does it go quiet, as if it wasn't worth it? Does it hurry, as if it should have happened already? Does a voice question whether you are allowed? Or does the body refuse to rest until it is handled?

You don't have to answer it. Only catch it in the act, and ask whose voice it sounds like.

All of this sits alongside your medication and your doctor.

What did your childhood teach you about wanting?