What can I take for low thyroid? Food,Vitamins,... - Thyroid UK
What can I take for low thyroid? Food,Vitamins,Supplements,Home Remedies????
Thyroxine
Hi ,You do need drug treatment.,it is vital. However it is also important to have a Vit d test, it is a hormone and effects the thyroid greatly. If low, be sure to have a calcium test before any treatment. Treatment for D should be from an endo or if no endo GP. it is normal to gradually increase it according to blood results, especially the calcium. Calcium is a small range and an electrolyte so must always be in range,D effects it greatly.. Co- Enzyme Q10 is good for a lot of things including thyroid. If not possible to have Ferritin tests (2), it is safe to take some iron, Holland and Barrat sachets, my endo says are best.If low it can be on a script, pills. When I first saw my endo she said that it was important to have the best vit and mineral pill, once a day You need to compare them as a vast difference between them. t will take a long time to improve on treatment with frequent blood tests and rises in drugs until optimum. Make sure you have TSH T4 and Free T3 tested. Ask for a print out with your ranges. You may need T3 on a script as well, depends on bloods.
Jackie
No, you do not need 'drug' treatment. Thyroxine is NOT a drug, and calling it so makes lots of people uncomfortable about taking it. Please STOP calling it a drug.
It is replacment thyroid hormone, giving you in pill form what your body can no-longer make for itself, and what your body needs to live. There is no substitution for it, no vitamin or mineral or food you can take instead. Certainly not a home remedy, which could do more harm than good.
To my mind it's a drug/medicine/hormone replacement whatever, but remember Thyroxine in the form of Levothyroxine/Sinthroid etc are synthetic, made by the Big Pharma and do not contain everything our thyroid makes/bodies need.
There are other forms of treatment and many say it's better such as NDT which is natural thyroid hormone and also T3.
For any hormone replacement to work sufficiently you do need to be optimal with your Iron, D3, B12 and your adrenal function.
Totally agree that a home remedy is not likely to be a good option for something as important to your well being as your Thyroid and is not worth taking the chance on.
Can't help wondering who makes prescription desiccated thyroid products? And T3. And B12...
Forrest, who make Armour, also make Levothroid (a levothyroxine brand). And, theoretically, Thyrolar - a T4/T3 combo (has not actually been available for several years).
Pfizer make Cytomel and Levoxyl (a levothyroxine brand).
And Sanofi-Aventis make large quantities of B12 using genetically engineered bacteria.
An awful lot seems to hang on the word "natural" - and following the process of making desiccated thyroid from pig to pill involves a lot of processes - many being standard industrial pharmaceutical processes - and ingredients - many being standard industrial pharmaceutical ingredients.
That is why I refuse to call prescription desiccated thyroid products "natural" or "NDT". Doing so pulls a veil over the true nature (ha!) of the products. (Except when quoting.) "Big pharma" is delighted that you so readily accept their Natural Desiccated Thyroid products - and are really happy for us to keep on saying how wonderful they are.
And porcine calcitonin is NOT the same as human calcitonin.
and lots of processes are involved just the same as the vitamins and minerals lots of us take. greygoose,
Thank you for politely correcting me. It is actually a replacement drug,as with all replacement drugs they are normally in medical circles called drugs. However, I see your point and if it makes people feel better, it can be called a replacement treatment or what ever else.
best wishes,
Jackie
I'm sorry if you think I was rude, it wasn't my intention, I was just saying what I think. I don't tend to wrap things up in ribbons and bows. But I consider this to be a very important point. It is not a replacement 'drug'. How can you have a replacement 'drug'? The body doesn't make drugs, so how can you replace them?
I'm afraid I don't mix in medical circles so I have no idea what they call them but I think that if they think hormones are drugs, they ought to check it in the dictionary.
Please excuse my bluntness. I shall go back to saying nothing again as my comments are unwelcome here.
Merry Christmas to you. Grey
When I first saw Dr P he recommended the following supplements, 1,000mg vit C at breakfast and at 4pm, co-enzyme Q10 100mcg, and other stuff that I was already taking which was a multi and fish oil. I had to do a candida cleanse. I had a test for adrenal fatigue and it was found to be very low and I went on to NAX, but you need a test or diagnosis for this don't just take it without being sure.
Since then I have also gone onto vit D3, magnesium, and B complex and extra B12, my blood test for B12 was low normal but I have supplemented and think it is better higher in the range.
I have found that a diet is very good for me, and I try to go grain and sugar free as much as possible. If you can manage it I believe a paleo diet is even better for you and helps with the hypo symptoms.
My sense is that it's hard to be specific as a lot depends on what's going on Sylvia. If it's early stage primary stuff (as in hormone production and use are impaired due to issues that are readily resolvable) then starting hormone may not be advisable in that it seems it risks creating a lifetime dependency. Due to the thyroid shrinking/reducing output accordingly.
If on the other hand it's long established and secondary stuff like thyroid autoimmune disease and other consequent conditions have kicked in and are well established then it can be hard to get back from those without the help of hormone.
Impossible if system and organ damage is such that we can't pull off a healing. e.g. a cancer develops, and we're not ready to risk unconventional modes of healing. There's even the possibility that we don't want to resolve the illness, that it's playing it's part in creating needed life experience.
Classic causes of primary hypothyroidism (the thyroid stops producing enough hormone) include stuff like mineral deficiencies (iodine, copper, selenium etc) - for dietary reasons, or because of deficient foodstuffs, or because gut troubles and often related allergy issues are messing with absorption.
Secondary issues kick in when the low thyroid and other factors conspire to cause other issues - like the above gut trouble, poorly functioning enzyme reactions, inability to produce key compounds needed by various processes and the like.
It's important to if possible nip primary hypothyroidism in the bud - before it gets the chance to progress to these harder to resolve and often highly complex secondary issues.
Conventional medicine is not well equipped to do this - but if you're consistently fatigued then it's necessary to go after the cause.
Holistic medicine can help to varying degrees, but equally ranges from quackery to highly effective - provided that is we're prepared to engage.
Metabolic issues are generally not resolved by just popping a pill - it's probably often the case that they are symptomatic of broader issues in our lives that won't be resolved unless we take owner ship of the situation and start to see it as a wake up call.
It was in my case the start of a long journey of learning about myself , my body, my life situation and lots of other things - and i didn't get to the bottom of anything much in time for it to resolve secondary consequences.. (still working on some of those:))
It could be that some simple dietary and lifestyle changes will sort you out, or it could be the start of a very long road which may entail a diagnosis of hypothyroidism and the need to take hormone.
It may be worth searching out and having a look at some alternative practitioners - 4Rs treatment led by allergy testing is often a good place to start - but homework and a high degree of discretion are advised before engaging too heavily with any.
Conventional medicine (while it often fails to even diagnose never mind cure hypothyroidism - 'no, your bloods are normal, probably just a bit of depression'. NOT!!!!!) can help in getting a fix on the situation, but is short of treatment options and will often refuse even what it has available.
The important issue is to get stuck in, take ownership of your own life - start reading on the topic, and use what you pick up/are lead to to try various approaches. It's often unless we get very lucky a journey of discovery. Thyroid help forums (Mary Shomon's About Thyroid, Thyroid UK and the information sections put up on their own websites by 'thyroid friendly' doctors (the previous two sites tend to list many of these) are a good place to start - also the books put out by them. Drs. Lowe and Blanchard from the US come to mind, as do Mary Shomon's books. Dr. Broda Barnes book (he was a pioneer in the field) remains one of the clearest descriptions of hypothyroidism and its symptoms and implications.
Start to dig with commitment, and (a) sources lead to other sources, and (b) questions forming tends to be followed by the answers popping up.
Factors that seem to play a part include:
Diet - sugar,wheat flour, milk, additives, processed foods, nutritionally deficient foods.
Lifestyle - no exercise, high intensity, chronic stress, lack of 'space' for self.
Mental/spiritual state - high intensity, fearful/negative orientation, bad mental habits - grasping after/always wanting stuff, little knowledge of how to live, inability to just be.
Medicine - stuff like dental mercury, fluoride in water and toothpaste, many pharmaceuticals.
Environmental exposures - who knows, but plastics etc tend to contain unhealthy additives, while pesticides and chemicals cause problems for many. Then there's mobile phones, electrical emissions and so on.
Other disease processes.
Etc
Pardon the length.
ian
All I can say at the moment is thank you for your lengthy reply there Ian (vajra), sounds to me like you have been on one hell of a personal journey! 
Love the take ownership of your life - yes we need to do this, stop handing over all the responsibility and power to those we see as being in authority (a learning process and easier said than done sometimes).
Shame that we treat symptoms rather than approach health from the preventative point of view, treat the body as a whole instead of having it in lots of different sections, wouldn't it be lovely if we had a lead professional who co-ordinated all our health problems....organising which specialists to send us to and which tests to have, all the different specialists report all findings to the lead who then can look at our health as a whole system, and of course incorporate the complementary health practices.....
Hmm think I just slipped into my own little utopian world again there, sorry! 
Good luck with your health journey sylviabrandt, plenty of support here, try not to panic x
But that is exactly the way it is supposed to be! The GP is supposed to be the 'lead professional', sending us to the right specialists, who should report back to him/her so that they can then look at our health etc... Only it doesn't work like that in practice because all the specialists have their heads up their own backsides thinking they really are 'special' and the the patient is of no importance, and the GP colludes in that idea and sucks up to the specialist and neglects the patient and... the whole system goes bottom up. Nice try but they just couldn't make it work!
So yes, we have to take ownership of our own lives, because nobody else will do it!
Best of everything to everyone, Grey
Spot on Grey
My mum is hypo, I only have to look at her to know this, her symptoms scream hypo. But will they do more than just the TSH test? Not while it comes back within range they won't!
Obviously med school didn't teach any of them that the TSH test doesn't test what your thyroid is actually doing, or not doing as the case may be and usually is! If only they'd google it they'd find it!
It's no wonder we take our lives into our hands.
That is because they are not trained to recognise symptoms anymore, just prescribe pills: a pill to lose weight, a pill to reduce cholesterol, a pill for depression, a pill this and a pill for that. That's how Big Pharma makes it's money. It referes to us hypos as 'cash cows' because we are prescribed so many pills. That's why it invented the famous TSH test, so that we will never be really well, but the figures will say we should be, and all the rest just needs a pill! Or two.
Doctors, I've heard, just spent an afternoon on the thyroid out of all the years they train. Just a few hours on the most important gland in the body. And they learn that you diagnose by the TSH and you treat with levo. And all the rest is a mystery to them. And what's more, they don't seem to care. I think I would be ashamed if I knew as little about my job as they do about theirs.
Grey
I said that to my mum yesterday about her Dr's explanation for why the lab only do the TSH test...because if your TSH levels are right in your pituitary gland then your TSH levels should be ok in your thyroid gland!!!
She should not only be ashamed, she should be embarrassed with an explanation like that.
Kelp, this is rich in iodine and minerals
Hi
Kelp and iodine is a very controversial subject: thyroiduk.healthunlocked.co...
Also, Sylvia is indicating below that she may possibly have thyroid antibodies (if she is swinging from hypo to hyper) in this case, for some people, iodine can be a bad idea and actually make their symptoms worse.
Louise
x
I moved geographically and since then my new Dr. has tested me saying that I am now hyper instead of hypo (naturally)? I dont understand the fluctuation? Maybe I should see a specialist?
As Heather has said, get checked for antibodies if you haven't. Tpo and TgAb tests for Hashi's. ANY antibodies could mean you have it even if below the range.
Hi Sylvia
Could you have thyroid antibodies? Has this ever been tested?
Louise
x
No I never heard of this?
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