Could thyroid disease cause constipation after gastric sleeve & bypass?

Are you wondering why you can’t seem to resolve your constipation problems after gastric sleeve and bypass? Your recovery may be hindered by thyroid disease.

Constipation is the most common health problem in the United States. Each year, Americans visit their doctors for constipation 2.5 million times.  Similarly, gastric sleeve & bypass patients frequently experience constipation for the first time after bariatric surgery.

This blog is about the thyroid gland, its functions, and it’s connection with constipation after gastric sleeve and bypass surgeries. And what you might need to know to get the desired result.

What is the thyroid gland?

It’s an important gland of our endocrine system. It is located around the windpipe (trachea), in the front of the neck. It has a butterfly-like shape, small in the center and wide at the edges going around the side of your throat.

Thyroid gland functions

Your thyroid gland makes hormones that are vital to our health. It’s crucial for our metabolism, normal growth, and development. It keeps you healthy by constantly pumping active hormones into your bloodstream. 

It regulates many functions. Its major functions include:

• Impacts weight & energy level
• Impacts memory & mood
• Involved in controlling cholesterol and female hormones

Impacts weight & energy level

This hormone is essential for weight regulation, particularly concerning energy expenditure. There is significant evidence that thyroid dysfunction leads to significant weight and metabolic changes, including both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism.

Under-active thyroid glands (hypothyroidism) can also cause weight gain, a slower metabolism, and higher body mass indexes (BMI). Since your body’s energy production relies on thyroid hormones, a reduction in hormone production will result in lower energy levels, making you feel weak and tired.

In contrast, excessive thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism) causes weight loss, reduced cholesterol levels, increased lipolysis, and increased gluconeogenesis.

Impacts memory & mood

The thyroid hormone regulates metabolism in every body organ, including the brain. It can affect your memory and concentration when your thyroid hormone is low. For most people, brain fog is temporary.

A hyperthyroid patient may experience hyperreflexia, irritability, and anxiety, among other symptoms. The presence of hyper- or hypothyroidism can cause emotional disturbances, dementia, confusion, and personality changes.

Involved in controlling cholesterol and female hormones

Thyroid hormones help your liver process blood. Low thyroid hormone levels cause your liver to process blood resulting in cholesterol buildup in your arteries.

Moreover, puberty and menstruation can also occur abnormally early or late due to thyroid disorders. A thyroid hormone deficiency can result in very light or heavy menstrual periods, irregular menstrual periods, or even no menstruation (amenorrhea).

Thyroid disease & bowel movements

Despite sleeping 8 hours a night, hyperthyroid patients often complain they are irritable and have frequent bowel movements. Hypothyroidism, however, causes constipation by slowing your bowel movements.

Regulation of thyroid hormone production

Your brain is where your hypothalamus and pituitary gland reside.  They are responsible for triggering appropriate thyroid hormone production.  In fact, your hypothalamus produces thyrotropin releasing hormone(TRH). 

The TRH signals your pituitary gland to release thyroid stimulating hormone(TSH).  The TSH signals your thyroid to release T4(inactive form) and T3(active form) hormones.

Since it’s responsible for your metabolic rate it also influences your intestinal motility.  When it produces “too much” hormone.  This is considered hyperthyroidism.  You will likely experience diarrhea or loose stools.

When it produces “too little” hormone.  This is considered hypothyroidism.  You will likely experience constipation, bloating, gas and abdominal pain.  Both of these conditions are considered thyroid diseases.

Thyroid disease

The term thyroid disease is a condition that prevents your thyroid gland from producing the right hormone levels. It’s all about “how much” hormones your thyroid is producing.

Symptoms of thyroid disease

When your gland is not working properly, you may face: 

• Feel dull & depressed
• Tired
• Constipated
• Unexplained weight gain
• Dry skin
• Dry, thinning hair
• Hair loss
• Achy & tender joints and muscles
• Irregular or heavier periods
• Fertility problems
• Brain fog/impaired memory
• Sugar & carb cravings
• High cholesterol
• Puffy face
• Slowed heart rate
• Muscle weakness
• Cold intolerance

Hormone production & bowel movement

Too much thyroid hormone, ->hyperthyroidism= speeds up bowel activity, causing you to experience diarrhea or loose stools.

When not producing enough thyroid hormones ->hypothyroidism= slows down bowel movements, causing you to experience more constipation, abdominal pain, cramping, and gas because things are not moving.

So, the “hypo” is where the focus is really when it comes to constipation!

If you have high-level stress during times, your pituitary gland will be suppressed, which can lower the release of thyroid hormones. It interferes with your TSH. It may also cause poor conversion of T4 to T3 (active form) even if you have a normal TSH. Consequently, it may impact your hormone levels, and you could still have hypothyroidism.

Diagnosis of constipation linked with thyroid 

Most of the above symptoms have probably been experienced in other things. For instance, you can have cold intolerance, hair loss with an iron deficiency, dry hair due to fat malabsorption, etc. There are so many different causes that have these same symptoms. 

So that’s where you need a good physician who listens to you. They’ll listen to all these symptoms and run the necessary tests to determine what’s wrong.

A functional medicine physician or an endocrinologist might be able to help. They would be my top recommendations. Most family doctors may not test all the appropriate indicators, but few do. 

TSH levels are usually checked during your annual appointments with your family doctor. However, they don’t do anything about it if it does not fall within abnormal reference ranges. Moreover, most doctors would view it as normal, but maybe you’re having several symptoms, and it really isn’t okay. So that’s where you want to work with a good practitioner who will look at the whole picture. 

Who are expert practitioners?

Endocrinologists or functional medicine doctors are the best practitioners to treat constipation related to endocrine disorders. They not only test your TSH, but they also look at a full panel. They do lab tests like your T4, your T3, your free T4 free T3, your reverse, T3, and your antibodies. Those types of indicators give you the full picture. Because it is possible that some of those are not right, even if your TSH is. 

Conclusion

In the event you have constipation, speak to your physician. If he only checks your TSH, find a new physician who will examine your entire panel. An endocrinologist or functional medicine specialist would probably be able to help.

To summarize, if you’re struggling with constipation, check out your thyroid and ensure the right labs are drawn to get the full picture. 

If you are experiencing constipation and need solutions, reach out. Let’s talk. Ask for a free 15-minute consultation so we can talk about your symptoms to help you in the right direction. I hope this information has been helpful to you.

If you prefer video, check out our YouTube channel, where I discuss this topic in detail!