Selenium

[Spotydave]

Hi all. Whats your views on selenium? Ive been looking into it with all the good evidence being positive for reducing antibodies ...but ive also now read if a person isnt low in selenium to much can cause aggressive prostate cancer... is it worth being tested for low selenium 1st. Cheers

[greygoose]

It helps with conversion of T4 to T3, apparently. But, where antibodies are concerned, even if you got rid of them completely, you'd still have Hashi's. Personally, I couldn't take selenium. It made me feel bad. But, I didn't get it tested first, so maybe I just didn't need it - you certainly don't want too much! Can't hurt to get it tested, though, just so that you know.

[Spotydave in reply to greygoose]

Cheers greygoose 😀

[MaisieGray]

As a 'general' rule, you should supplement anything, only once tested and found lacking. Re. selenium, the thyroid gland itself, is characterized by a high concentration of selenium, partly to have an important antioxidant effect, removing oxygen-free radicals generated during the production of thyroid hormones; and importantly because it plays an essential role in the metabolism of thyroid hormones. A meta analysis in 2017 was able to reiterate the value and necessity of optimal selenium levels, but also gave a warning that "Selenium has a U-shaped relationship with disease, and either the deficiency or the excess of this micronutrient may be associated with adverse outcomes"; which I guess is true of most things, and underpins my first sentence. However, regarding increased risk of prostate cancer, my reading of it is that it is not proven and that some studies contradict that; but also that there are co-factors such as smoking/not smoking, and other different populations which impact on study results. Another meta analysis in 2017 looking at serum selenium levels and cancer risk, showed that there was an inverse relationship between serum selenium levels and prostate cancer risk, in other words, the population with higher serum selenium levels may have a lower subsequent prostate cancer risk. So as with all things, you have to be mindful of what you are reading, and act accordingly.

[Spotydave in reply to MaisieGray]

Great reply maisie...yes sometimes i think there is to muxh information available to people like me who are not experienced in the field...im ready the thyroid pharmacist book and as you know she does favour it.. but as greygoose and your self said.. guess its always best to test 1st.. i think i may be trying to run before i can walk...

[MaisieGray in reply to Spotydave]

I was diagnosed so far back, that we didn't have access to anything that wasn't on a library shelf, plus I had the mindset, when being diagnosed, of "oh okay then", and so didn't really give it another thought for 30 yrs, until the menopause and a collection of other conditions started changing things. Yes knowledge is power, but only if we are its master, and can comprehend it, otherwise it can send us into a tail spin.

[Spotydave in reply to MaisieGray]

Very good words spoken by a wise person.... I think its true to much information can definitely confuse the hell out of anyone. And yr right if we didnt have the net we would just have to take whwt the doc says.. but my god if it wasn't for thyroid uk and you guys in here i would be a dribbling wreck .

[MaisieGray in reply to Spotydave]

The human brain has a wonderful capacity to take in information or data of whatever sort, and convert it to utter drivel, or misunderstand it so absolutely that people's lives can be changed dramatically as a result; and that's true of all of us to varying degrees. So we should perhaps source widely, and check and double check what we believe to be so, before reaching conclusions or making decisions of any great import to us. Glad to hear you aren't a dribbling wreck.

[Spotydave in reply to MaisieGray]

Not yet... But working on it lol