Treatments for thyroid problems are all about achieving balance; hyperthyroidism (over-active) and hypothyroidism (under-active) each have their own challenges. A crucial part of any home treatment is proper diet. The thyroid cannot do its job without getting the right fuel. Exercise is also essential for achieving and maintaining proper thyroid function. In addition, certain supplements like Guggulsterone can be used as natural thyroid aid.
What Does the Thyroid Gland Do?
The thyroid gland, located in the front of the neck, has an influence on almost every metabolic process. Hyperthyroidism refers to too much thyroid hormone being produced. Hypothyroidism means not enough thyroid hormone is secreted. The thyroid cannot make necessary hormones without iodine. Iodine is also needed to process medications. Thyroid problems range from a harmless goiter (an enlarged gland) to thyroid cancer. Regulating a malfunctioning thyroid can be incredibly frustrating; there are numerous and varying side effects.
The thyroid helps regulate the metabolism: all of the chemical reactions needed to maintain the living state of cells. There are two types of metabolism. Catabolism is molecules breaking down to get energy. Anabolism means building all the compounds that cells need. Proper nutrition ensures that the necessary nutrients are available for use by the cells.
The thyroid also helps to regulate calcium. Calcium is needed by almost every cell, particularly in the nervous system, heart, muscles and bones. The hormone calcitonin and the parathyroid manage calcium levels. Other hormones secreted by the thyroid produce proteins and increase oxygen in cells, which makes organs work harder.
To summarize, the thyroid is the “Master Hormone” that helps our cells get energy and receive the ‘food’ the cells need, including calcium. The thyroid gland can be thought of as the conductor of an orchestra; when it isn’t working as it should, the ‘music’ is an off-key and off-pitch jangle of noise instead of a symphony.
Natural Remedies for the Thyroid
The thyroid performs a multitude of sophisticated tasks to keep our bodies working, but needs the right fuel. The best home cure for the thyroid is good nutrition. Some foods that supply iodine and some that block iodine from the thyroid are listed below. Exercise and a natural thyroid booster are suggested as part of a treatment regimen.
Foods That Help the Thyroid Function Better
Seaweed (kelp, dulce and nori), shellfish and ocean fish are excellent sources of iodine.
Low fat cheese, yogurt and ice cream, eggs and cow’s milk are also good sources.
Many people do not receive enough iodine from their diet. We used to get 25% of our iodine from wheat, but a change in how the flour is produced has removed that iodine source from our diet. Iodine was added to salt in 1924 to help prevent so many people from developing goiters and was generally successful. We need at least 150 mcg daily. The average iodine intake per person in the U.S. used to be 250 mcg; it is now 157 mcg. While sea salt has traces of many minerals, it does not have as much iodine as iodized table salt. If you suspect you need more iodine, iodized sea salt is a good option.
Foods That Slow Your Thyroid
These foods are called ‘goitrogens’ and lower thyroid function, preventing the thyroid from producing thyroid hormone properly. The anti-thyroid properties are strongest when eaten raw. It is believed that this anti-thyroid property is inactivated by cooking, but anyone with hypothyroidism should eat these foods sparingly, if at all.
- Nuts: almonds, pine nuts, peanuts
- Any vegetable in the broccoli family: broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, cabbage
- Green leafy vegetables: kale, mustard and spinach
- Fruit: pears and peaches
- Misc.: Turnips, corn, millet, soy (isoflavones block iodine) and canola oil
Exercise and Supplements
Walking or working out for 40 minutes at least 3 times a week is highly recommended to keep the thyroid functioning well. Exercising every day is good for an under-active thyroid.
Guggulsterone or guggulipid is used in Ayurvedic medicine as a natural remedy to regulate the thyroid. This is particularly useful for hypothyroidism. A high quality multivitamin with high levels of vitamins B, D, E and C, iodine, selenium and zinc is also helpful.
Thyroid problems require really learning about your body. While treatments differ for different thyroid ailments, the overall requirement of a malfunctioning thyroid is receiving the nutrients it needs. While good nutrition is always important, a thyroid cannot be regulated if it is receiving the wrong foods. Exercise and a natural thyroid supplement comprise the rest of the treatment regimen.
I had the same problem. My hairdresser recommended Nioxin Shampoo, conditioner and Nioxin Bodifying form. Its been three years, my hair is thicker, grows quickly and it's beautiful. I am back coloring my hair. For me, it is the best product that I ever tried.
I am so excited this a.m. I was diagnosed with hypothyroid on Sept. 5,2018. I was prescribed synthroid, and took it for 2 weeks, then stopped as I was feeling awful, worse than when I was diagnosed. I found Earthclinic and read about natural ways to try to even out my numbers. I got onto Coconut Oil for it's iodine, and also started using salt again, but SeaSalt only, and just about one 8th of tsp a day.
I know many of my foods Id added to my diet had iodine as well, so I didnt want to get too much. Easy does it I kept remembering. I got my new, thyroid bloodwork back this a.m. and I'd like to share the pics so I'll try to do that. The first is the before numbers, and the second is the "after". I'm so thrilled and I hope others will try this.
Ok, there was a problem with the pics of my bloodwork so I'll just enter the numbers for before the coconut oil and seasalt, and the numbers after. Before, I had a 6.0 which the normal range is 0.450 – 4.500 uIU/mL. The after numbers are now 2.040 uIU/mL.
To Dardenel (US)
It appears coconut oil help your Thyroid:-) How much were you taking, for how long? Do you know if you had high Thyroid antibodies as well?
Becky
Hi Becky, I am not sure what high thyroid antibodies are, but I had hypothyroid/low thyroid. I believe I fluctuate between low and high at times, but no bloodwork to show a high count. I use most days, 1 tbsp of coconut oil, and maybe a total of 1/4 maybe a bit more, of Sea salt. Some days I may overdue the sea salt, but not often. The coconut oil I will also use to spread on sandwich if I have one, or english muffin. But as I said, most days I just do a tbsp in the a.m. I hope this doesn't gross you out, but I just warm mine in a glass dish with cover, and put it in hot water til it melts, then I just drink it down. It does not taste awful imo. You can use it as you wish, but I feel just using it in things takes away the potency, just my opinion on that. Let me know how you do. Also remember, it was about a month to two months before I got my second bloodwork-up. I had stopped the synthroid the doc recommended after 2 weeks, and started the coconut oil. I do use other supplements, and nutrition things so I will give you the list if you like. Let me know if you need further info. Glad to help if I can.
ACV did absolutely nothing for the Graves Disease/Hyperthyroidism I was suffering. Only 15ml of Borax solution in a glass of water, 4 times time a day (minimum) settled it right down, reduced my once perpetually swollen thyroid back down to normal size and allows me to sleep at least once every 24 hours (instead of going up to 4 straight days without sleep).
My daughter has been in treatment for thyroid issues. She started Lugol's protocol. Now she tells me the treatment caused her thyroid to noticeably enlarge. I'm very skeptical of this. Any input would be greatly appreciated.
When taking iodine, such as Lugols make sure enough selenium is taken with it. Too much iodine can cause nodules.
Was just wondering if anyone has tried leech therapy for the swelling and inflammation during active thyroid eye disease. Would be interested in hearing about the experience and pros or cons to it's use.
Thanks
Hi all,
I would like to know if there are any known issues with the following remedies. More specifically, if they would interact/hinder each other.
Borax, sodium thiosulfate, turpentine, methylene blue, lugol's iodine, trisodium phosphate. I guess I should add in my thyroid medication Armor.
My current regiment is to take Borax M-Th as told by Ted 1/8 tsp. First thing in the morning I'll take 1 drop of 2.3% MB – that gets put into a cup and mixed with 1000mg of ascorbic acid. Fr-Sun I'll take 12-30mg of Lugol's. No MB on those days, or if I do, I put 12 hours between them.
TSP I'll take after work, 1 oz of a solution (1/2 tsp in liter water).
I plan on taking STS and turpentine on different days since they are so powerful. Perhaps Saturday and Wednesday nights before bed.
Anyone see any issues with this? I also take sodium bicarb after lunch and dinner.
What is MB and STS?
It appears they have changed the formula of this natural dessicated thyroid med. that everyone has been seeing good results with please see link: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2014/05/08/dear-erfa-canada-stop-nonsense-change-desiccated-thyroid-back/
Please, tell me the process for using coconut oil for thyroid and weight loss.
This is my first time on this website. I am reading a lot about coconut oil which I have heard about for a very long time because in my country (the islands) the older people used coconut oil on their skin, hair and to cook. My question is I have a nodule (lump) in my thyroid I am on medication for many years now , do you think by taking the coconut oil it will shrink the lump? I have been seeing an ENT Dr.for many years.
@Jennifer: The standard nutritional support protocol for Thyroid disorder is Coconut Oil, Lugols Iodine, and L-Tyrosine. It is important to start w/ low doses of these and slowly increase as your need for medication will probably need reducing.
If these nutrients don’t bring about a healing you may need to try Magnet therapy and maybe also zapping to reduce inflammation and kill pathogens.
Side effect reported
I began taking kelp as a source of iodine, I noticed an immediate improvement in my weight loss but I began to suffer with sinus issues and had very low energy. After a few days a thick white coating with an odd taste appeared on my tongue. I think it might have been a case of mercury contamination in kelp "feeding" yeast overgrowth. I've not suffered with any type of yeast overgrowth before and having gone off the kelp, my symptoms have alleviated.
I have a tendency towards hyperthyroid (I'm not on any meds) but EVCO made my heart race and my hyperthyroid and insomnia symptoms a million times worse. I took tons of Magnesuim chloride and glycinate and exercised and my symptoms went away. The only other supplement that made me suddenly go into a hyperthyroid state like that was Iodine.
I took too much iodine and I believe it made me hyperthyroid as well. I stopped taking it over 2 weeks ago. Symptoms have improved, but are still there. So, exercise, magnesium chloride and magnesium glycinate helped remedy your hyperthyroid symptoms? Is there anything else that you've tried too? Thanks!
Hi Danny…There may be completely different reasons for your hyperthyroid problems while supplementing lugols iodine. The old belief was that it was the excess iodine in the blood that caused hyperthyroid symptoms.
But current independent research seems to now think that it is not the iodine but is the excess bromine that is detoxed by the iodine which goes into the blood in large amounts that causes all these hyper symptoms. See the research here.
The solution is to take the full Iodine protocol with all companion nutrients and take sea salt with water once or twice a day. The liver has great difficulty getting rid of bromine from the blood, but if you take sea salt(NaCl) then the chloride binds to the bromine in the blood to be easily and quickly excreted via the urinary pathway. Hence, this gets rid of all the excess bromine symptoms when you supplement the iodine. Here is the sea salt protocol that you should also try using together with the iodine protocol.
Just to also mention that I take 50 mgs lugols iodine per day(8 drops of 5% LI per day) and I have never had any problem with this daily dose. I also still take the full iodine protocol with all the advised companion nutrients. Been doing this without any problems for about 9 years, ever since I cured my own systemic candida issues.
Hi! I'm hoping you can help me. I am a woman in my mid-50's. I have autoimmune thyroid disease. I am also in menopause. I have lost almost all of the outer half of my eyebrows. I have an area about 2 inches by 2 inches on the front top of my hairline where my scalp meets my forehead that is almost bald. It's so embarrassing to me. The hair on the sides of my head is thinning considerably and you can see my scalp. The thinning of hair is getting worse, the older I get. In the past when I get my thyroid medication regulated, it still does not effect my hair growth at all. I use to have beautiful hair when I was younger. Can you recommend some sort of herbal remedy that is not full of heavy metals that could help me? My sister says that taking about 5,000 mcg of biotin daily could help me. Someone told me possibly the herbs nettle or saw palmetto and horsetail could help me. For a while I took an over the counter remedy for hairloss with fo-ti in it that I got from a pharmacy, but I worried about taking something with fo-ti in it long term. Could you please help me by suggesting some herbs that are safe that I could take to help me grow my hair back? Any help you can give me is so greatly appreciated. Thank you.
I know that biotin is one of the B vitamins and it has been emphasized in a nutrition almanac that you should take all of the B vitamins together because if you take one you can cause a deficiency in the others. For starters, you could try a TBSP of Blackstrap Molasses in a cup (8oz. ) of warm water or milk.
Dear Laura, So sorry about the hair loss. That is really distressing. Nettles is extremely safe. I would highly recommend it. My son used it for his asthma and not only did it help, it healed him over time. Fresh nettles were used by people at one time as a "spring tonic. " I have also read about Biotin helping. You could safely drink a quart of nettle tea a day. I would get good quality loose nettle leaf and steep 1/4 cup in 1 quart of boiling water (but don't boil it, just pour the boiling water over the leaves and let them simmer for 20 minutes. ) Then strain and sweeten with honey and drink this daily. Or you could take a lot of nettle capsules, but I think the tea would be better.
I also have hypothyroid. When I was first diagnosed, I went on Synthroid, a very low dose. It made my hair fall out like I have never seen. I went off it and have been doing natural things and took Iodoral. My hair did grow back, though it isn't as thick as it used to be when I was younger. (I am 46. ) It took a while but I did get it to the point that my bloodwork said I was no longer hypothyroid. Some say that Iodoral isn't appropriate for those whose hypo. Is autoimmune. (However, I do think mine is as I have other autoimmune issues, like ITP.)
Rosemary is also good for hair growth. You could put the essential oil into your conditioner if you use it. Also, find a shampoo that doesn't have SLS in it as SLS causes hair loss among other things.
I once read some testimonies about juicing fresh cucumber to make hair grow better, but never had enough extra in my garden to try it. 🙂
Hope you find some good solutions! Let us know what helps you!
~Mama to Many~
@Mama to Many — the nettle tea sounds like a great idea! The nettle from the tea would probably get into my system better than a capsule. Thank you so much for the idea. I'm also going to give the rosemary and cucumber a try also. Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my request for help.
To Kt, thank you for your advice. I will try the molasses and milk. I've often heard it's better to get the vitamens you need from food sources, rather than pills, if you can. So, this sounds like a great idea. Thanks for your suggestion. I'll definitely give it a try.
Hi, You can try MSM, Iodine or Kelp. I had hair loss also and it returned with these products. My hair loss was stress-related check that out also… There are a lot of things you can do about it, expensive and inexpensive if you search. I found a website of Dr. Berg you can see little video's about different types of people, and the things they should do to loose weight. I am an Adrenal type, he also refers to 'Thyroid type', 'Liver Type' and 'Ovary type'. I ordered his book and his description was very accurate! He recommends different diets and products to address all sorts of hormonal imbalances… Success!
I have been reading up on Hair Loss, there is a relationship between Hair Loss and Low Iron. Ask for your Ferritin levels to be checked and maintain a level around 100 to get hair back. Hypothyroids has been found to be low In Vit D, B12 and Iron so include those in your lab check…
Diatomaceous Earth came up on one of my searches, its powdered shells from the bottom of the ocean. Pls google.. But testimonials of people taking it includes growing their hair back.. It sounds safe enough to take, but do your homework first.
Please make sure you get "Blackstrap" molasses.
I am 40 yr old female. I had my thyroid removed about 5 yr ago. It was by far the biggest mistake I have ever made. But relying on my Dr. recommendations I had it removed as it was getting larger. I have felt like a completely different person since then. I forget, can’t focus, stay cold, headaches, very tired all of the time, can’t sleep, leg cramps, serious hair loss, just don’t care really. I feel as though I am becoming dumb over time. I take 175 mg of synthroid, weight 135lb, Dr. exclaimed that was high for someone my size? weigh is not and has never been an issue for me. I believe Synthrroid is causing some of these problems. I want to stop taking it, however I can’t find a Dr. That seems to know what is going on. They just keep upping the synthroid??? Looking for a natural substitute to help me get back to the old me. I dont even take cild medicine. I don’t know what my levels are anymore just got tired if going to the Dr and nothing being done.
Kelli, there is a natural thyroid medicine, I forget the name now, but read up on it, it seems to work much better than Synthroid. Also read up on Iodine.
As I understand it, Synthroid depletes iodine. Also, bromine, flouride, and chlorine deplete iodine. Iodine helps with cognitive functioning, energy, breast health, etc. You can read all about it in Lynne Farrow’s new book: The Iodine Crisis: What You Don’t Know About Iodine Can Wreck Your Life.
Kelli, Synthroid only contains T4 and your body must convert some of it to T3. Sometimes the body can’t do this effectively. The natural thyroid hormones, like Armour, contain both T4 and T3, and are much better for the body. Your body does not have to convert anything, either. Read “Stop the Thyroid Madness” to learn how thyroid problems can be best diagnosed and managed, and join this well versed group to ask any questions,
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormones/
You can feel a lot better. Best wishes!
Ask your doctor to try Thyrolar or Armour thyroid. Good luck.
I suggest seeing a naturalopothist in your area. They can get you on a diet & supplement routine that will help. Good luck… Jill in Fl
Kelli, my daughter lives in NC & she had her thyroid removed and was taking synthroid for three nightmarish years. It made her life absolutely miserable. But her doc paid her symptoms no mind when she complained about how she felt. So finally she found a more suitable natural med that she orders from Canada & life is good again. Thank GOD for alternative meds! So don't give up seeking for better help through safer meds.
Hey Ec… Happy Memorial day to everyone…. Quick question guys… Anyone heard of these products for hypothyroid? T-100, GTA Forte, Spectra 303T and Thyrostim. I was reading a book recently that listed these supplements and since I am trying without success to get off meds, I was thrilled to find something that I have never tried or even heard of. Please anyone who has tried these, I would love to hear your comments. Thanks guys…
You might want to read: The Iodine Crises: What You Don’t Know About Iodine Can Wreck Your Life by Lynne Farrow. You can read parts of the book at Amazon.com