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Hypothyroidism...help!

Hello, I know we’ve had another thread about hypothyroidism somewhere, but I can’t find it. I had a sneaking suspicion that I had hypothyroidism and just recently got diagnosed that I do. If anyone else has hypothyroidism and is managing it without taking pills containing animal thyroid please let me know, so I can let my care provider know and we can work together to create a care plan that is best for me!

Comments

  • spiritedmamaspiritedmama Raw Newbie

    Hi Om, I remember that we talked about this on the other thread too. I have hypothyroid and have moved from managing it with meds (natural and artificial) to now just managing it with diet. So, if you would like to talk on or off board, just let me know.

  • Thanks, will do!

  • stylistchickstylistchick Raw Newbie

    i think it depends how bad a case of hypothyroidism you have. i think your best option is acupuncture and chinese herbs. i have this disease as well as a few others. i haven’t yet tried accupunture, but that is my next step. i have had it for 18 years, and the pills don’t work anyway, at least not the ones the doctors are pushing. i’ve gone on and off meds for many years and don’t notice any difference in how i feel and symptoms.

  • spiritedmama – I would also like to know how you are managing your hypothyroid without pills. I have looked everywhere and have not found a natural way to control it.

    I have not been diagnosed with hypothyroid just yet, but my blood results will be back tomorrow. I show many of the symptoms of hypothyroidism and it runs in my family (mother and grandmother).

    Does a raw vegan diet suffice?? Or are there certain foods we should make sure we get in our diet?? Stylistchick – can you explain how the chinese herbs work, specifically? and the accupuncture for that matter. I believe they have therapeutic benefits, but I’m doubtful that they can regulate the thyroid.

  • Stylistchick, The website you suggested was a really good resource. I live in Dallas metroplex, I’ll have to see if I can find an accupuncturist and see if its appropriate for me.

    Odalys, I felt the weight of the world come off my shoulders after I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. All this funkiness (not 70’s fab funk either) I was feeling suddenly made sense. You asked about foods, I do know that iodine, potassium iodide and selenium are important additions. Stay away from soy, something about the estrogen in them. This bit about the soy actually helped in my raw transition. No soy milk, yogurt, ice cream, cream cheese, sour cream, cheese, “fake meats.” Good health to you!

  • Stylistchick – The reason why doctors overlook t3 is because the body makes it from the t4 horomone. (whether or not that is accurate, I don’t know, I’m not a doctor!) I also agree that taking desicated pig horomone is, well, unethical. I will be looking into ayurveda, it is something that seems to come up alot and I honestly don’t know much about it.

    Om – What foods are iodine present in? I’ve read this before somewhere. I am aware table salt is fortified with iodine, but EW, who’d eat table salt? Not me! I did not know about the potassium iodide or the selenium, I will be looking into those nutrients and increase them in my diet. I actually new about soy and its effects on the thyroid. I used to be a big soymilk drinker and I saw no difference between that and cow milk (in other words, I still felt like crap)

    When I find a list of foods rich in iodine and selenium I will be posting here in case anyone else is interested.

  • Iodine – sea vegetables, strawberries. Selenium – crimini mushrooms, oats, barley, rye, sunflower seeds, garlic, asparagus, spinach.

    Note: I just named some very good vegan sources of these nutrients. Eggs, mozarella cheese, chicken breast, and tuna are some other good sources too.

    Ok – I just felt my neck…. and I have a lump on one side of my throat, and I’m FREAKING out. Is it normal to have a swollen thyroid.. on ONE side??? I must now excuse myself and make me some sunflower pate with spinach :D

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    Hi odalys. I eat brown seaweed (kombu, wakame) for the iodine. I started taking a raw seaweed supplement (Modifilan) for the detox properties and the iodine in the seaweed helped me with thyroid. Brazil nuts have the highest source of selenium than any other food, that I have found. I think I had a mild case of hypothyroidism and these foods helped with the symptoms I was having. The biggest one was hair-loss. I never was diagnosed, as I have given up on the allopathic world. Drinking green smoothies might have been a factor in my improvement too. I quit drinking them for awhile and started having symptoms of hypothyroid around the same time. I don’t have any symptoms anymore. I may not have had hypothyroidism, but I had the same symptoms. What’s in a name anyway?

  • Thanks for the tip with the brazil nuts 123. It’s interesting that green smoothies helped with your symptoms, what specific greens/fruits were you using?? I don’t drink smoothies, although I really should, especially if they can help.

  • stylistchickstylistchick Raw Newbie

    odalys,

    don’t panic about the lump. its not normal, but worrying won’t solve anything. i had a lump which is why they removed half of my thyroid at age 18. had i been more educated i might have said no to surgery. whats important is getting the approriate tests. thats why i like the website i suggested, it helps you to have a dialog with your doctor. finding a good endocrinologist is really really hard. over ten years later i developed a lump and swelling on the side of my neck that i still have half a thyroid. i panicked and freaked out, especially when my scar from surgery so long ago began oozing clear liquid. i had an ultrasound done and it turned out to be nothing more than a cyst. i hope you have good insurance.

    about the t3 thing, yes i’m aware of what you are saying, but the T3 meds aren’t working for alot of people, so something ain’t right.

    i’m getting test results in the next day or two and i’m trying thyrolar, which is a synthetic that has a balanced ratio of t4 and t3. i can’t stomach the pig thyroid. the raw diet has helped me tremendously with the symptoms, i have to say! so who knows, maybe my labs will come back “normal”

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    odalys. I think that I wasn’t eating enough greens. I’m only speculating, but once I added green smoothies back into my diet on a regular basis, things started getting better. I use a variety of greens, one type each day. Sometimes I use spinach, other days I use kale or romaine lettuce, etc. I also use a variety of fruits. I often put green Superfood into the mix. It could be the spirulina in the Superfood that helps as spirulina contains lots of minerals and vitamins. I’m still working on the optimal diet for me. Victoria Boutenko recently said she stayed on a plateau of health for awhile and then started regressing. That’s when she came up with green smoothies and regained great health. Not very long ago, I didn’t make the smoothies. I didn’t do as well during that time. I’ve been making them again for the last few weeks.

  • spiritedmamaspiritedmama Raw Newbie

    Sorry, I just picked up this thread again….Here is a short synopsis of my story: I found out I had it a while before I became pregnant with my daughter. I originally saw a number of mainstream MDs who told me I had no problem, and then one “humored” me and prescribed me synthetic thyroid. It did absolutely nothing. I went to a naturopath who finally diagnosed me with hoshimoto’s hypothyroidism. He prescibed me first thyroid armoir, which did not work at all, and then thyrolar, which worked very well, and I was able to get pregnant with my daughter. I do not know if either of those natural meds are animal derived or not…I was not very concerned about that at the time in my life, as my main concern was conceiving. Like I said, the thyrolar worked very well, I was able to conceive, my energy came back, I didn’t have any more depression, my goiter went away, and I lost some weight as well. I took it through my pregnancy, and for the first year of my daughter’s life as she was breastfeeding. After that, we moved and did not have health insurance, so I stopped taking it. Then I did some research and found that kelp works as a natural treatment for hypothyroid, and I started taking 1000 units of kelp (2 capsules) every day for about 6-9 months. I then dropped it to 500 units, and “supplemented” with spirulina in my smoothies for the next year or so. Now, after being raw, I just put spirulina in my smoothie and things have been going very well.

  • stylistchickstylistchick Raw Newbie

    that is SO awesome to hear spiritedmama! it gives me hope! if i need it i’m going on thyrolar, so its great to hear a first hand experience. if my tests come back normal, i’m going to do the kelp supplement, or maybe just try that first and get labs done in 6 months.

  • I too have a hypo-thyroid. After going raw (100% for 2 months now!) I started seeing an acupunturist and an herbologist. They have been helping me with my levels, and it has been awesome. Spirulina and kelp, like Spiritedmama said, is great. :)

  • Wow, thanks for the advice spiritedmama!! I have a question.. did the hypothyroid made it difficult to conceive?? I wasn’t aware of that. I believe armoir is from an animal source, but thyrolar seems to be a synthetic that includes t3 AND t4, so that may be why it worked so well.

    Well it looks like the solution to keeping the hypothyroid under control seems to be green smoothies with kelp! :D I will definitely be supplementing with some spirulina and too.

    My results come back today, its good to know that I have a natural solution to hypothyroid and I’m not at the mercy of western medicine.

  • spiritedmamaspiritedmama Raw Newbie

    Odalys, That is a good question about conceiving. I didn’t think that HYPO would cause conception problems (you usually hear about HYPER doing that), but according to my naturopath, I had been hypo my whole life, and my thyroid was SO low, that systemically my body was not managing itself well. So, it was logical to say that that was the cause of the conception problems. He seemed to be right because as soon as my thyroid was addressed we easily got pregnant!

  • spiritedmama – my mother passed on some books about hypothyroid to me last night. Amazingly enough, one talked about the links between fertility and being hypo. Very interesting that it would affect you to such an extent. I’m glad you were able to beat it with natural means ANd be able to have a baby :D

  • FreesiaFreesia Raw Newbie

    I have had personal experience with hypothyroidism. 3 years ago I was eating a 70% raw diet, but I did’nt always make optimum food choices( Coffee, cakes, etc). I was also working as an interventional radiology nurse which meant long periods (up to 7 hours daily) of exposure to radiation. I soon began to feel lethargic, fuzzy and forgetful. and could not even take the dog for a short walk in the end. I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism and given sub lingual troches of pregnenelone, DHEA, progesterone and animal derived thyroid capsules. There was a slow but definite improvement, but I still didn’t feel my usual bright and energetic self. After about a year I gave up on these meds and went cold turkey on to mega herb and vitamin supplements supplied by a naturopath with a specialty in hypothyroidism. I improved slightly again. I also quit my job as a radiology nurse.

    The supplements were proving to be very expensive, so I ditched them and went on 100% raw food.At last I felt my old self returning! After about 6 weeks I could walk with ease, not get tired out…and I had a much better job to go to each day…which may have been part of the equation. For me, I believe the green smoothies have helped the most. I have these religiously and always strive to have as much greens as I can. Now I run around like a teenager, and run rings around my fellow 50 year olds. I wish i would have taken to raw foods immediately on finding out about the hypothyroidism and not wasted all that time and money feeling half of my normal self.. I recently had my “50 year” check at the doctor, just for my own inquisitiveness….thyroid levels are normal!!!

    Freesia :D

  • spirited mama – I was just recently diagnosed with hashimoto’s as well. I was on the armor thyroid a few years ago for regular hypo and all it did was make lots of my hair fall out! :/

    how long were you on the thyrolar before you started seeing some good results?

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    I recently read that coconut oil is good for thyroid issues. It’s controversial but worth looking into.

  • spiritedmamaspiritedmama Raw Newbie

    April Nicolee, I was on it for about 3 months before I noticed anything, and then 6 months before I could definetely say that I noticed significant improvement.

    123 I have heard this about coconut oil as well…good thing I have a lot of it in my diet!

  • alpdesignsalpdesigns Raw Newbie

    Maca is also supposed to be good for thyroid hormone imbalance. I use maca in my smoothies and I think it has helped my autoimmune thyroid problems. I also eat EVCO, but I originally ate it for the anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties in treating candida. Coconut oil is a saturated fat, but it’s unique in that it’s a medium chain fatty acid and doesn’t bind with other fats in the body.

  • ahh..okay

    yeah, I eat LOADS of coconut oil, so i’m not sure if my thyroid would be worse then it already is right now if I didn’t eat it so regularly. thanks for the input though. :]

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