Beware of taking an Iodine supplement if you have Hashimoto's (a common form of hypothyroidism)
I have gone back and forth on the iodine supplements. I called Dr. Duguay who initially ran
blood-work on my thyroid 5 years ago and she confirmed I tested positive for a common
form of hypothyroidism called Hashimoto's Disease. I read online that taking an iodine supplement could just further disrupt my thyroid, like adding fuel to a fire.
Luckily I was only taking 1 mcg of nascent iodine for one week when I finally got the call back from my doctor about the question I'd called to ask a week earlier.
Iodine can make Hashimoto's worse. 9 out of 10 people diagnosed with Hypothyroid have Hashimoto's. Although iodine deficiency may have contributed to the
disease, supplementing with iodine doesn't help once the disease
gets going.
With Hashimoto's, the thyroid is under constant attack by
the body. It's classified as an "autoimmune disease." There's not
much hope of curing this from what I've read. Websites claiming to have cures are really charging money for one-on-one internet consultations with "experts" who have advice on alleviating symptoms but offer no guarantee. Several of these websites just recommend tests to do, such as sending in a hair sample to get tested for copper toxicity. They also refer you to a holistic doctor or nutritionist in your area. But I was able to scrap up enough information without spending a dime. In the future, I'd love to afford a holistic doctor who could test my urine and hair and blood for every possible heavy metal or general imbalance or nutrient deficiency every few months. That would be awesome. Just not practical now.
How Did I Get This Disease!?
GLUTEN has the same molecular make-up as THYROID TISSUE. Not cool.
My body is likely using gluten to build my thyroid
tissue. There's a backlash when antibodies detect the imposter/invader.
A vicious cycle ensues.
Hashimoto's Thyroiditis can be caused by
just an overall bad diet, too. I grew up eating microwaved vegetables and ramen
noodles and macaroni and cheese and hot dogs and cereal and bread. Not good. Nutritionists tend to blame parents when young children get
diagnosed with a thyroid disease. If you are curious yourself about how well your thyroid is working, get your T4, T3,
and TSH levels checked. Holistic doctors will also recommend testing estrogen to progesterone ratio, insulin levels, antibodies, and stress hormones. I personally think it's also important to get a heavy metals test done. I haven't done this yet, but I found a website (a few of them) where you can mail your urine to a place and they mail you back the results! I also recommend a Vitamin D test (most people are severely deficient). I've gone on and off my vitamin D a few times, and it's always an amazing difference in how happy I feel when I'm taking the vitamin D pills.
Yoga and Meditation
Although it's becoming more common, having thyroid problems, especially in children, has never been a natural thing. In Ayurvedic medicine, one of the body's 7
chakras sits on the throat, directly between the head and heart
chakras, exactly where the thyroid is. The 7 chakras, according to this
ancient wisdom, can only be brought into balance with yoga/meditation
practices. Maybe we need to meditate and fast and pray more. Maybe our health is connected to deep breathing and positive thought. Who knows? But I am going to incorporate it to be safe.
I will set time aside each week for yoga classes, independent deep breathing/stretching, walks, and prayer. I will get
blood-work drawn every few months to see where I'm at. As of today, March 1, 2014, I have been off my Synthroid medication for 2 weeks. I feel fine.
My Revised Diet
I must give
up gluten, and strictly limit all forms of sugar including
honey and bananas... I'm sad. Goodbye organic dark chocolate bars. Since
the thyroid controls hormone levels in the body, and insulin is a
hormone, I have to be careful not to spike it. I have to let my thyroid
rest and rebuild itself. If gluten is the culprit, it will take 1 year
of strict nutrition and exercise to get my thyroid to work again.
Good-Bye Synthroid
There are some very credible nutritionists out there who are against quitting Synthroid. So I don't advise others to do this. I've stopped taking the pill before and nothing bad happened to me. But my levels were checked 2 months later and were so frighteningly off, that I started taking it again. Now that I know Synthroid encourages my thyroid to stop working completely, I'm willing to wage a year-long battle.
In some hospitals, patients have their thyroids removed when doctors see a problem they can't fix. That is sad. Doctors should be trained more in nutrition, and less in hospital administration and prescription drug information.
Hospitals are businesses. My friend Fred had a life-threatening surgery he almost did not recover from. In fact, he flat-lined several times during a follow-up surgery after suffering complications from the first. The doctor knew Fred would die, and he took a chance and ordered injections of vitamin C, which he had heard was a natural healer for anything involving immunity. (Fred had an internal infection that would not heal). Fred's greying body regained color and his organs began to function again like normal. Within days, he was in recovery! It had worked! I learned later that the doctor is trying to publish Fred's case in a medical journal.
I Felt Emotionally Disconnected
I
think I have always felt a disconnect between my body and my mind, and
the thyroid basically communicates the messages of one to the other. Unless someone dies or I hear a story about animal abuse, I don't cry. I think of my dog that died last summer and cry sometimes about that, not often, and just a few tears, when I remember her face. I am a human being. I have feelings. But I've realized there is more to experience of the emotional spectrum than what I've known. I had a few glimpses recently after upping my vitamin-intake consciousness. I'm putting fuel into my body now, not crap and poison.
An Ongoing Process
I have a lot of work ahead. I have lots of problems and issues like anybody else. I've actually recently considered therapy.
I don't need to go along with the collective mindset of a society who ignores people when they don't offer themselves up as corporate slaves. There are starving artists in the world who could inspire change much better than a modern day politician can.
I've learned that there are moments worth noticing along the way, even on boring days. I may as well look forward to these moments and keep fighting the fight. I put a lot of horrible crap in my body over the years. I'm not thrilled when I look at myself naked in the mirror yet. Pleased, but not thrilled. I don't
know why I even thought a year-and-a-half-ago that a 30 day juice
fast would undo all the horrible damage I'd done. This will take time.
Chemicals Will Kill Us In The End
Processed food is laden with chemicals. I've eaten lots of chemicals in my life. My mother sprayed Pledge and Windex in the house when I was a kid. She used strong smelling laundry detergents. I remember the smells of yankee candles and incense sticks and microwaved popcorn and comet floor cleaner (mmmm!) and bleach and soap bubbles and hairspray and glade plug-ins and perfume. Oh god. The perfume.
In the end, climate control efforts will likely do us all in. It's the chemicals. I may not always make it to the poll to vote for a politician, but I do vote with my dollars. I will spend $20 on a natural laundry detergent, or use Dr. Brommer's peppermint soap ($10 and will give you over 100 loads). I'll spend extra dollars on organic food because I know the food industry pays attention to that. We can be activists for big global issues by investing in a personal healthy kitchen. It takes time. It takes dollars. But in the end, when we are eating less and feeling fuller, and perhaps living longer too, it will all have been worth it. And hopefully the journey is a little brighter, too.
Transitioning Into Clean Eating
It took me a while to transition out of my bad eating habits, an issue I really began to wrestle with 18 months ago after reading the book Skinny Bitch. I panicked. What CAN I eat? I eased myself into this new diet with lots of coconut milk ice cream, organic cookies, honey-sweetened tea, raisins, fruit, organic granola bars, organic popcorn, organic chips and dark chocolate and oh, the organic snack possibilities go on and on.
I was easily spending an extra $25=$50/week to have a few healthy snack options around the house at all times. Eventually I had to cut back. I just have organic snacks once in a while now.
Working towards healing my thyroid and treating my entire body with care keeps me engaged in my own life, day by day. For about a year now, I haven't had the dreaded, "I need to lose 5-10 lbs" conversation with myself. With that negative body image self-talk almost all gone, I'm free to shine from the inside a little more.
