If you feel tired, cold, and have brain fog, most likely you have heard the advice to check your thyroid function.
The thyroid is a gland in your neck which regulates the function of every cell in your body, so you see how important it is.
Low Thyroid
If your test reveals low thyroid function, what’s next?
I maintain that there is more than one way to treat. Also, not all ways work for any particular individual.
Old Advice
One idea is that if you supplement with the building blocks of thyroid hormone, iodine and tyrosine, you will make more of it and feel perkier.
This has not been proven to work unless you had a frank deficiency of either. Having more building blocks will not force the thyroid to make more hormone. That’s not how Nature works.
It is hard to get too little tyrosine with an adequate protein diet, because protein gets broken down into amino acids like tyrosine. The omnipresence of iodine in today’s world makes it hard to get too little of that as well. You can find it in iodized salt, sea salt, multivitamins, seafood, dairy, baked goods, and even medications and cosmetics.
In fact, studies have uncovered the surprising trend that too much – not too little – iodine has been a major physical driver of current thyroid problems.
Medication?
Once your thyroid test results come back out of range, the prevailing wisdom is that you need to take thyroid hormone for the rest of your life.
This is where an individualized assessment can lead to different treatments, not necessarily Synthroid. One size does not fit all. When we dig deeper than TSH values, we can discover how to successfully treat.
The leading cause of thyroid problems in this country is due to the presence of high amounts of thyroid antibodies. This can be driven by toxins such as excess iodine or other toxins, as well as hormonal shifts and a myriad of other factors.
Therefore, simply taking a replacement hormone does nothing to address the cause. Some patients even report that they don’t feel any better taking the medication.
Most patients DO need some medication to feel better. However, if the antibodies stay high, they may need more and more medication over time.
Treating the cause
The key is the level of thyroid antibodies.
Studies have shown that herbal and homeopathic treatments have normalized thyroid blood tests as well as restored patients to more energy and mental clarity.
Some patients have gotten off prescribed thyroid hormone under certain conditions. The conclusion of a 2020 study states, “Shorter duration of L-T4 therapy and the lower L–T4 dose at the time of tapering is the predictable factors for successful L–T4 tapering in stably maintained primary hypothyroidism patients.”
Others are able to get off prescribed medications when their thyroid antibodies are down in the normal range.
And some who received herbal treatment of antibodies without prescribed thyroid hormone have done well, restoring their energy and testing in normal thyroid ranges.
May I help you?
It is my goal to present you with evidence-based information with attention to how Nature works. In my Naturopathic practice, I individualize treatments according to this.
Call me at 928-649-9234 for a complimentary 15-minute chat to see how I can help you get back your get-up-and-go, naturally.
