Niki Cleuet - Women's Health & Fertility Naturopath

18/04/2026

If you are always tired despite adequate sleep, comprehensive testing can be helpful to get to the root cause

12/08/2024

It’s been a long time between posts but I’m back with a big one - TSH testing. If you have a thyroid condition, TSH testing will be a mainstay of your monitoring (hopefully along with some other important markers!), so make sure you’re testing it right!

28/05/2024

Hello everyone, I have been very absent from social media lately so this is a long overdue 'hello' - just a quick update to say I have added some extra consulting hours in June, so if you have been hoping for an earlier appointment, the additional time slots are now available through the booking feature on my website: www.nikicleuet.com/bookings.

Excitingly, I also have a little something (thyroid-related) on the horizon which I hope to put out in the coming weeks - stay tuned!

If you'd like to book an appointment, please do so by following the prompts below. If you'd like to know more, please get in touch via the Contact page, or call our clinic on (08) 9285 0998. In clinic and online consultations available.

24/11/2023

The phases of a menstrual cycle ❄️🌱🌞🍂

20/11/2023

Every day in clinic, I work with women experiencing menstrual cycle irregularities - irregular periods, painful periods, missing periods, heavy periods and so on. Making sure we are on the same page when it comes to terminology is essential.

It is estimated the average woman will have somewhere between 400-500 periods in her lifetime. PLEASE do not put up with symptoms like pain, heaviness, clots or irregular bleeds. Help is available and taking the pill is not your only option. There is so much we can do to understand, investigate and manage your symptoms holistically. Periods should come and go without major disruption to your daily life, so if your period is causing you distress, please reach out x

18/11/2023

When someone has Hashimoto’s, we typically expect that they will end up with an underactive thyroid. In this case, they are usually prescribed medications like Thyroxine to bring their thyroid results back into range.

Occasionally however, an individual with Hashimoto’s will swing into hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid). There can be a few reasons for this - like postpartum thyroiditis or taking too much thyroid hormone - but one lesser known cause is Hash*toxicosis. Hash*toxicosis is an overactive thyroid that occurs as a result of Hashimoto’s, and not due to external factors like medications or pregnancy.

In Hash*toxicosis, the initial autoimmune attack on the thyroid causes destruction of the thyroid follicles, resulting in a passive letdown of thyroid hormones into the bloodstream. The thyroid isn’t MAKING too much thyroid hormone. It is passively RELEASING thyroid hormone as its cells become damaged and release their contents. As a result, we see an increase in thyroid hormone levels, sometimes to the extent of full blown hyperthyroidism. Although this hyperthyroidism is temporary, it can be severe enough in some cases to warrant treatment.

When I first diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, my thyroid antibodies were in the thousands, and instead of being hypothyroid, my TSH was 0.009. I was subclinical hyperthyroid. One month later, my TSH was 5.96. I had swung into hypothyroidism.

My experience followed the typical trajectory expected of Hash*toxicosis: it is often the first step in the progression into Hashimoto’s hypothyroidism, but unless we do bloods at this point, we don’t always catch it happening. After an initial period of hyperthyroidism, most individuals will become temporarily euthyroid (meaning their thyroid levels appear ‘normal’), before finally progressing into hypothyroidism. At this point, the thyroid is no longer able to sustain normal thyroid hormone production due to the autoimmune process.

Just recently I was going through my old blood tests and thought I might share my journey with Hashimoto’s and Graves’ through my results. Is this something you would be interested in? What has your journey with thyroid issues looked like?

16/11/2023

Iodine. I spend A LOT of time talking about this nutrient in consultations, not only to my thyroid patients but to my patients with fertility issues, menstrual cycle irregularities and women’s health issues as well. Iodine is a nutrient we require in tiny amounts but it is a BIG PLAYER when it comes to many aspects of our health. Still, it is a Goldilocks nutrient, and both too much and too little can be problematic! What’s been your experience with iodine? x

09/11/2023

Hi everyone,
Many of you know I run Hashimoto’s workshops and am about to release my Hashimoto’s ebook.

I am wondering if there is much interest for a Graves’ disease workshop?

My thyroid workshops usually run for 60-90 minutes and my goal is for everyone to walk away feeing much more across their condition - understanding what it is, how it is managed and how they can play a more active role in managing their thyroid health holistically. If you would be interested in a Graves’ workshop, please let me know and I’ll look at putting one together.

Niki

08/11/2023

If you have Graves’ disease, you might have heard of both TRAb and TSI and wondered what the difference is. Hopefully this post will help clarify things for you:

- TRAb or ‘TSH receptor antibodies’ are a type of antibody that bind to the TSH receptors on the thyroid. When they bind to and stimulate this receptor, they trigger the thyroid to make more thyroid hormone, and thus they are typically discussed in the context of Graves’ disease and hyperthyroidism. But did you know, TRAb can also exert a blocking effect on thyroid function, reducing thyroid hormone production and even causing hypothyroidism? For this reason, the term ‘TRAb’ can actually be subcategorised into TSH-receptor STIMULATING antibodies (the type found in Graves’) and TSH receptor BLOCKING antibodies (which can be found in autoimmune HYPOthyroidism). Interestingly, the standard TRAb blood test does not distinguish between whether these antibodies are stimulating or blocking in nature, and the distinction is largely made based on thyroid function (i.e. if the thyroid is overactive, they are presumed to be stimulating and thus characteristic of Graves’).

- In contrast, TSI refers to thyroid stimulating immunoglobulin; a type of antibody that exerts exclusively stimulating effects on the TSH receptor. For this reason, they are specific to Graves’ disease and are known to induce hyperthyroidism.

Please note: As they are assessing different things, TRAb and TSI levels are not interchangeable (even if they use the same units of measurement). Whether your care provider tests TRAb or TSI, it is helpful to to stick to the same test each time, for the purpose of monitoring the trajectory of your condition.

Do you have any other questions about Graves' disease or your lab test results? Let me know below!

01/11/2023

I'm finalising the Frequently Asked Questions section of my thyroid eBook, which is coming out very soon (watch this space!).

If you have a question you'd like the answer to, leave it down below (or DM me) and I'll see if I can include it.

Niki

31/10/2023

The caption was a bit tricky to read on my previous post, so here it is again. Hopefully a bit easier to read here!

When I work with patients with high reverse T3, they often ask me, ‘so if Reverse T3 doesn’t do anything, why do we even make it?’ And it’s a great question. As far as we know, Reverse T3 has no biological activity. It is considered an inactive metabolite (essentially a by-product) of thyroid hormone metabolism. Let me tell you though, Reverse T3 does have a very important role, and I’ll explain it in just a moment.

But first, let’s remember where reverse T3 comes from. When we make T4 in the thyroid or take medications containing T4, we convert some of it to its active form (T3) and another portion becomes Reverse T3. In fact, chemically, the difference between T3 and Reverse T3 is minor:
—> T3 is essentially a T4 molecule that has had an iodine atom removed from its OUTER ring.
—> Meanwhile, Reverse T3 is derived from a T4 molecule that has had an iodine atom removed from its INNER ring.

And therein lies the difference as to whether it will be biologically active (aka, T3) or not (Reverse T3).

But this brings back to our original question of WHY do we make reverse T3 if it has no known biological role? The answer is simple: It gives us an ‘off switch’.

If we think of the thyroid as the motor of the body, setting the pace of all the processes and systems that keep us alive, T3 is like the accelerator, while reverse T3 is the brake. The more T3 we have, the faster the body’s system. The more Reverse T3 we make, the more we’re slowing things down.

We would never design a car without a brake, and similarly, the thyroid has an in-built system to help slow things down when conditions aren’t favourable. That system is the ability to convert our thyroid hormone into Reverse T3. It gives us an ‘out’, if things are getting too fast.
So what do I mean by conditions that aren’t favourable? Well, for example, we know Reverse T3 increases during prolonged fasting, pregnancy, caloric restriction, chronic illness, inflammation and during times of stress. Why? To conserve energy! To slow the body’s motor and take the foot off the peddle, so to speak. T4 always needs to be converted into something, so being able to ‘shunt’ towards reverse T3 (and consequently, away from T3) allows the body to apply the brake and conserve energy and resources during these metabolically stressful times.

So finally, this brings us to the question of what to do if your Reverse T3 is high? Well, you need to understand that your body is trying to put the brakes on and you need to ask why. Is it chronic stress or persistent, low grade inflammation? Could it be dietary factors, such as nutritional deficiencies, very low carbohydrate diets, prolonged fasting or caloric restriction? Is it related to impaired liver function or perhaps a combination of factors? Whenever we are shunting to Reverse T3, we have to ask WHY? That is the key to addressing the root cause of the issue and rectifying your reverse T3 issues for good. And this is why I spend so much of my time working with my patients to understand the root cause of their thyroid issues - because we have to work from the ground up to build the right foundation for thyroid health and wellbeing longterm!

Niki x