Dealing with Hypothyroid
Posted by monkey7 on Nov 21, 2010 · Member since Sep 2009 · 324 posts
I'm not sure if this was brought up here or not. I have and under active thyroid and was prescribe medication. How does everyone deal with managing thyroid levels without taking medication? It is a low dose but I still do not want to have to take it.
I'm hypo, but I'm so hypo it's not an option to not take thyroid replacement. A college friend was only a little hypo and he ran for an hour a day instead of taking pills, so maybe try lots of exercise. I think he swam a lot, too. Whatever you try, give it a shot for at least six weeks and then get another blood test.
I'm hypo, but I'm so hypo it's not an option to not take thyroid replacement. A college friend was only a little hypo and he ran for an hour a day instead of taking pills, so maybe try lots of exercise. I think he swam a lot, too. Whatever you try, give it a shot for at least six weeks and then get another blood test.
Thank you for the suggestion. :)
I'm just wondering do you avoid salt in your foods? I don't even know if it has anything to do with that so please don't quote anything from me :>
Just out of curiosity I'm wondering that.
I'm just wondering do you avoid salt in your foods? I don't even know if it has anything to do with that so please don't quote anything from me :>
Just out of curiosity I'm wondering that.
I use non-iodized salt because it tastes better to me. I have always liked salt so it is hard for me to limit it.
Thyroids need iodine to work. Try using iodized sea salt, or sprinkling kelp granules on your food, snacking on seaweed or veg. sushi, eating other sea vegetables =-)
that's interesting about the exercise thing...
i was just diagnosed w/ hypothyroid a few weeks ago and have been on medication for a week. i can already notice a difference in the way i feel. apparently, it's usually a genetic condition (found out it's from my dad's genes), so i figured there was nothing i could do to change it, besides managing it with medication. if you increase your exercise routine and notice a good change in you TSH levels, let me know! it'd be awesome to not have to take a pill every day for the rest of my long life.
Another low thyroid person here! I keep asking people, and no one seems to know, and doctors here don't explain worth crap. I have noticed that eating wheat bread seems to make me retain water like mad, and the nutritionist I went to told me "no wheat, no corn, no soy" but didn't explain when I asked him why. Is it the gluten, I wonder, or something else? He just mumbled about wheat, corn and soy being "easily accessible calories that the body stores." Which didn't seem like much of an explanation to me.
Another low thyroid person here! I keep asking people, and no one seems to know, and doctors here don't explain worth crap. I have noticed that eating wheat bread seems to make me retain water like mad, and the nutritionist I went to told me "no wheat, no corn, no soy" but didn't explain when I asked him why. Is it the gluten, I wonder, or something else? He just mumbled about wheat, corn and soy being "easily accessible calories that the body stores." Which didn't seem like much of an explanation to me.
I know that soy slows down the absorption of the medication but have not heard about the effects of corn or wheat. My mom has hypothyroidism and she eats bread everyday without it causing a problem.
I'll have to remember to try the sea vegetables. Thank you.
Hi! I had to answer this...
I had low thyroid once. And when I the doctor told me, I got to work.
I looked up thyroid enhancing herbs (there are formulas or you can take things like kelp and other seaweeds) and I investigated exercises to help.
So...I got to work! I took the herbs and did the Kundalini exercises for the thyroid. They are not hard, do not take long and actually make you feel very very good.
I just kept out and didn't get a test until I went in to the doctor's for something else.
Looking at my blood test she noticed the thyroid was "normal". She asked what I had done knowing I wasn't proscribed meds. I told her and she refused to believe me. She said "that is not possible, the thyroid does not get better"! Well, what can you do? It CAN get better thru diet and exercise...but sadly too many doctor's refuse to see.
Linda Rector-Pages book offers a lot of suggestions.
Looking at this from another angle...
I live in the Great Lakes region in the U.S. and have heard about wildlife such as fish and seagulls in this area being found to have thyroid disorders. It is not limited to humans. Dogs and cats can have it too. Here is just one of numerous studies discussing chemical toxins and thyroid disease found in wildlife:
http://tih.sagepub.com/content/14/1-2/41.abstract
Here is another study that talks about environmental toxins and the incidence of thyroid disease in residents of of an area of New York.
http://www.eighteenmilerap.com/EHP109s6p845PDF.pdf
I believe thyroid disease can be genetic, or a result of dietary deficiencies (used to be prevelantly caused by lack of iodine in diet but since iodine was added to salt in the western diet this has decreased dramatically), but it can also be a result of toxins in our environment. There are many toxic endocrine disruptors and some natural ones too. Anyway, just thought I would mention this. I am a lifelong sufferer of hypothyroidism and have also had severe endometriosis (also a disease linked to toxic endocrine disruptors). I eat very very healthy and exercise daily (cardio, free weights, bike, hike, dance, yoga, etc.) but it has not made a huge difference in my thyroid levels. I still have to take medication. The few times I went off for an extended period of time I became acutely ill.
I'm not sure if this was brought up here or not. I have and under active thyroid and was prescribe medication. How does everyone deal with managing thyroid levels without taking medication? It is a low dose but I still do not want to have to take it.
The main cause of thryroid problems is not being asleep the 2 hours before 12am (10pm, 11pm), this weakens the adrenal glands and other endocrine glands as well. All mucus forming foods have a negaitve affect on thyroid function. I would say buy a good liver cleanse tea and drink it every day for 30 days(increase water in takefor that month as well) and get a series of colonics, once a week if you can. Congested liver and intestines are the next biggest cause of this problem. I must say that if you are not going to change your lifestyle ( eating proper meals portions, getting to bed on time, and eating the proper foods during the proper times of day) then the benefits will be short lived. Ayurveda medicine is a great place to start with understanding the motivation behind the body's reactions and symptoms to diet and life style.
Good luck.
The main cause of thryroid problems is not being asleep the 2 hours before 12am (10pm, 11pm), this weakens the adrenal glands and other endocrine glands as well. All mucus forming foods have a negaitve affect on thyroid function.
Can you please source this for me? The more I read about the body's circadian rhythms, the more I scratch my head at these arbitrary measurements.... your body's midnight is different than mine.
Circadian rhythms of physiological functions in men and women as related to shift work
Why Mom Wakes Before Dad
The main cause of thryroid problems is not being asleep the 2 hours before 12am (10pm, 11pm), this weakens the adrenal glands and other endocrine glands as well. All mucus forming foods have a negaitve affect on thyroid function.
Can you please source this for me? The more I read about the body's circadian rhythms, the more I scratch my head at these arbitrary measurements.... your body's midnight is different than mine.
Circadian rhythms of physiological functions in men and women as related to shift work
Why Mom Wakes Before Dad
Ayurveda is the source, there are plenty of good books around. If you feel like it's an arbitrary measurements then you can ignore them and continues to assume it's all a bunch of crap(or whatever you may be thinking about it), or you can give it a try for a month. Everyone can't see the symbiotic relationship between man and nature. As a result things like this sound like fairy tales to most people. We are here to learn by experience and no amount of studies or sources can ever replace that. Everyone is different and our mental attitude toward something plays the most important role in how our body responds to a particular treatment/lifestyle change. The placebo effect has proven this time and time again. Read up on it and if you feel inclined, give it a try, if not I wouldn't pay too much attention to it.
There are varying degrees of, and reasons for, people taking thyroid replacement. If someone is mildly hypothyroid, I'd imagine steps such as increased exercise and timely sleep would help. I wouldn't go so far as to say sleep is the "main cause" for most people. It's just too varied.
There are varying degrees of, and reasons for, people taking thyroid replacement. If someone is mildly hypothyroid, I'd imagine steps such as increased exercise and timely sleep would help. I wouldn't go so far as to say sleep is the "main cause" for most people. It's just too varied.
You are right that there are other causes beyond not getting proper sleep, such as diet and lifestyle. Though, it is almost impossible to properly handle the other causitive factors if you lack proper sleep. For example, if you are going through, a divorce or custody battle or anything you view as a threat to your life/happiness. You will begin creating stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline, those that are used when you are in "fight or flight" mode (and are needed during running or fighting fo your life). These hormones are fine in moderation, however, if you are always in this stressed mode of thinking you will be constantly damaging your immune system(cortisol) including your thyroid/adrenal system.This causes your body to keep you up all night as you are constantly thinking of a solution to your problems(Now pay attention to all the things lack of sleep affects). The more you lose sleep the less likely you will be able to deal with a stressful situation(stress affects thyroid) and you begin to be set off by the smallest of things(this alone becomes a snow ball affect). Keep in mind that while producing these hormones blood vessels leading the stomach are contracted(in protection mode) and digestive juices can't get to the stomach in proper amounts for digestion. Not to mention that chewing releases feel good chemicals in the body that counter act the stressed feelings your mind is creating( this is where comfort food comes in). So you may feel compelled to eat and eat and eat, all of this is causing more and more congestion in the body leading to lymphatic congestion which is affecting the thyroid function(thoratic duct drains thyroid) causing thyroid to swell (suffocating in its own waste). You can't digest your meal cause your body is in fight or flight mode. It's all down hill from there, it will nearly be impossible not to keep over eating and eating at improper time until you begin to get to bed on time (when the body takes most of its corrective measures) Lack of sleep alone is for sure a major factor, the only thing that makes one more able to live on less sleep without noticeabe thyroid function is immune strength. It catches up eventually. The mind/body connection doesn't recieve enough attention, not getting enough sleep throws everything out of balance. I think we forget that the body is one organism with many different parts that are all connected. Once there is a congestion or problem in one area it is bound to affect all the others, as there is a sybiotic relationship within the body and all its different parts. In truth all illness has but one cause, the mind, although, I doubt there are many here who are ready for that revelation.
One last thing.
The thyroid is controlled by melatonin, and this brain hormone is secreted at about 9:30 pm provided your eyes are shut and it's dark in the room(You can't have light on your skin or going through your eyes, while trying to sleep, yes no tv). When you make melatonin this controls and regulates the thyroid (keeps it healthy) and the thyroid controls all the other endrocrine systems in the body. So you have to get proper sleep, if not, over time the thyroid will become an issue, no matter how the other causes are handled. Not to mention, lack of proper sleep affects the ability to digest food the following day as well(as the body makes bile for the next day while you sleep). Sleep is important for just about every operation in the body.