Q: have any thyroid sufferers tried any holistic treatments such as fasting detox, cleansing (enema etc) or ayurverdic Panchakarma? Any pros and cons to doing this as I’m on the verge of trying this by heading to Koh Samui, Thailand or Kerala, India out not getting anywhere with medical solutions.
Be great to hear from anyone who’s tried these alternatives.
All the best to all
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BSGTraveller
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Have you corrected vitamin D insufficiency now? Make sure you eat enough calcium. Increase calcium containing foods such as sardines, hard cheese and green leafy vegetables. This will help to protect your bones if you are on higher doses of levothyroxine. Keep a check on bone density too. Going gluten free and low carb with high (good) fats and oils may help you as your diet will be more nutrient dense which I think we need after thyroidectomy. If you fly off to Thailand like you suggest, you'll get plenty of vitamin D from the sun and probably lots of fresh fish too!!
Levothyroxine or thyroid meds are necessary if you lack thyroid hormone. You need to make sure you are on the right amount through blood tests. People's treatment needs differ according to their thyroid condition and whether they've had a thyroidectomy and so on. It will only do you good to eat healthily and make sure you get enough nutrients in your diet.
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.
All thyroid tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting and don't take Levo in the 24 hours prior to test, delay and take straight after. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, GP will be unaware)
Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, states in Pulse Magazine,
"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l.
Most patients will feel well in that circumstance. But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
You can obtain a copy of the articles from Thyroid UK email print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor please email Dionne at
tukadmin@thyroiduk.org
Professor Toft recent article saying, T3 may be necessary for many. Note especially his comments on current inadequate treatment following RAI or thyroidectomy.
I would advise as a first step making sure your hormone replacement is optimal. Unfortunately doctors are usually not very good at providing the 'medical solution', and we need to research and do it properly for ourselves.
Although it sounds like you are doing an awful lot of activity, and possibly not eating enough if you're actively dieting.
Something it's hard to find out is how many people return to being 100% on thyroid replacement, and how realistic an expectation it is. It may be that 80%, 70%, or maybe even lower may be the best that you can get to. Which probably means crossing off some or all of the body conditioning activity, and replacing them with naps, or very gentle activity. There is no point in doing exercise if your body isn't able to build new muscle or even maintain what it has, and exercising while your muscles don't have enough hormone in them is probably damaging.
If you cut down the activity your symptoms will probably immediately reduce, as they are caused by a lack of hormone, and exercise uses the hormone up very quickly.
If you post recent blood tests, maybe in a new post so more people will see them, you can get advice on whether your dosage is optimal.
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