By Dr. Scott Graves
I used to have hypothyroidism. I was told I would have to take a synthetic hormone for the rest of my life. That didn’t sit well with me. It may not sit well with you either.
Are you on Levothyroxine or Synthroid?
Were you diagnosed with hypothyroidism?
Are you always tired, gaining weight, or feeling more anxious than ever before?
It is estimated that over 60 million Americans now have hypothyroidism or an underactive thyroid.
Perhaps the question should be: Who isn’t tired, stressed, anxious and gaining weight these days?!
Widget not in any sidebars
It is critical to have a healthy functioning thyroid (and endocrine system) in order to be healthy.
Below are five things that you may not be hearing in your doctor’s office about thyroid health. Let’s ask some important questions though before we begin.
If your thyroid is underactive, shouldn’t we find out why it is not producing hormones in the first place?
Shouldn’t we dig a little deeper and find a direct cause rather than substitute a synthetic hormone for the real thing?
If we play detective and find the cause and address it directly, maybe there is a chance that the body can begin producing its own hormones again?If you are currently on a synthetic hormone, it is not advisable to stop taking it and in no way would this advice be given to you here. Supporting the thyroid and helping to bring it back to health takes time and coming off of a medication is only between you and your medical doctor.
In practice, one of the most common things that folks test for is endocrine support. Your endocrine system is a series of glands that produce chemicals. Hormones are chemicals that the body produces to do many things. We are seeing so much damage to the endocrine system for very particular reasons these days. Addressing what is causing this damage is key to restoring endocrine function.
5 Factors That May Contribute to Hypothyrodism That You Didn’t Know About1. Not Enough Iodine: The first basic question one should ask is what thyroid hormones are made from, what are the raw materials? The second question is whether you are getting enough of those materials? Your thyroid hormones are made from iodine principally and other co-factors. Many people don’t know that the thyroid needs organic (not inorganic) forms of iodine. Are people getting enough organic iodine in their diet these days? No.
Salt has iodine in it, but this is not the best form for the body. Some foods that naturally have iodine are sea vegetables (Kelp, Arame, Hiziki, Kombu, and Wakame), fresh organic cranberries (not the processed juice), navy beans, organic strawberries, Himalayan sea salt and organic potatoes. If you don’t want to eat it in your diet, Standard Process has many wonderful mineral products such as Prolamine Iodine, Iodemere, Cataplex F Tablets, Mintran, and Organically Bound Minerals. The thyroid doesn’t just need iodine though. Many co factors are needed that are also missing from many people’s diets such as organic food sources of iron, selenium, zinc, and vitamins A, B, C and E, which are all needed to produce thyroid hormones.
Lastly, if you take a 50-year-old horse (on its last leg) and force it to work, it will work, but it will die faster. The thyroid is much the same. If it is tired and “dying” and you force it to work with iodine, it may work, but it may get worn out even quicker. Giving the body organic forms of iodine will not solve the answer in the many cases. We need to look at the other reasons why the thyroid is not working correctly and address those things too.
2. Damage due to chemicals. Our world is full of them. Recently I was made aware that we have over 60,000 chemicals in the world today and the majority of them have not been tested for safety on humans. Man-made chemicals seem to have an affinity for the endocrine system (because they are chemicals too), and do all kinds of damage.
One hundred years ago, we didn’t have all the chemicals we have today. Therefore, the threats to our endocrine system are very different today. Two of the most damaging chemicals that we are bombarded with today are fluoride and chlorine. We do not need fluoride for strong teeth. Dr. Weston Price traveled the world to various tribes in the early part of last century to discover people that had never brushed their teeth before and literally had perfect teeth. After being exposed to the the Western diet, their health and teeth degraded. We also don’t need chlorine either.
These chemicals are in the same family of elements (the halogen family) as iodine and have an affinity for the thyroid gland. Taking a hot ten-minute shower in regular city or municipal water dumps massive amounts of chlorine, fluoride and other chemicals that are in the water onto your body to be absorbed through the skin. Your skin absorbs everything and those chemicals can hit your blood stream very quickly and travel all around.Research that has recently come to light has mentioned that fluoride calcifies the pineal gland. Proper pineal function is critical to getting a good night’s sleep. The fun doesn’t stop there though. If we look at our deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, perfumes, body sprays, toothpaste, shaving cream, laundry soap and many other health products, they are loaded full of toxic chemicals. Mercury from dental fillings is also a leading factor in damage to the thyroid. All of these chemicals destroy health. Drink filtered water at the source (not bottled water, its wasteful and plastic is a chemical) and buy a filter for your shower. Swim in ozonated pools. Buy organic health products.
Lastly, the body needs to be cleansed of all this garbage within.
Parotid PMG and
Cholacol II are great for chelating heavy metals and chemicals from the body and thyroid. Thyro-Chord and Thyropath are great products to clean out the thyroid directly and restore function. If you need a whole endocrine system reboot, consider Symplex M or Symplex F, or Endopath M or Endopath F. It is critical to cleanse the body for the endocrine system to have a fighting chance.
3. Foods, pathogens and physical scars. These things can and do have a direct effect on how well the thyroid is working.
a. Foods: Today people have more allergies to food than ever before. On the physical level of healing in the body, one way to help the body deal with allergies to food is with digestive enzymes. Because people don’t chew enough and the parotid glands of many (necessary to produce digestive enzymes) are damaged from mercury dental fillings. Because of damage to the parotid gland our body is not digesting our food properly. If the protein from our food doesn’t get broken down and makes it into the blood we can have allergic reactions. Enzymes are wonderful for people with allergies of any kind. Not all enzymes products are good though and there are different kinds for different people. Clinically, we use Multizyme, Zypan and Zymex.
b. Pathogens. Viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungus can all affect thyroid function. Many individual products can be used to boost the immune system and fight these pathogens. One of the best products that we use is Immuplex. It is like an organic whole food multivitamin for the immune system. If the immune system is strong, it can defend itself against pathogens. Probiotics are also wonderful such Lactic Acid Yeast and Prosymbiotic.
c. Scars. The Chinese have known for a long time that physical scars can affect the flow of qi (energy) that is needed to make sure the organs and glands are functioning well physically and energetically. A cold laser can be used to heal scars energetically. Wheat Germ Oil applied topically two times per day for 1-2 month on scars also really helps.
4. The body can be sensitive or “allergic” to its own hormones. Just as we can be allergic to food (which is energy the same as hormones), we can be sensitive to our own hormones. The pioneering work of Dr. Devi Nambudripad, M.D., and NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Technique) have brought relief to many people struggling with allergies. What I have found is that NAET has its limitations though. Generally NAET only works into the second level of healing in the body (the energetic level). Some allergies go much deeper into the body. Her techniques have since spread and many have discovered that this can be done without the use of acupuncture needles. If you would like more info on how to desensitize your body to many substances, please contact me for a more information. This leads us to taking about the deepest layers of thyroid health.
5. The mental and emotional component to thyroid health. Allergic reactions actually can go into the 3rd (mental/emotional), 4th level (intuitive/family) and 5th level (spiritual) levels of healing in the body (Dr. Dietrich Klinghart M.D., The Five Levels of Healing). Allergies can most strongly occur due to disturbing emotional events in our past. If you have wheat in your system or are eating while you go through a negatively charged emotional event, the body can actual perceive the food as the threat and form an allergy against it. These negative emotions accumulate and our body holds onto them. If we hold onto this negative energy for a long time like resentment, anger, fears, pride, shame and guilt, etc…it becomes really heavy and eventually can manifest physically through some kind of symptom.
Removing the negative emotions from our subconscious using energetic techniques has a remarkable effect on health. The thyroid, in ancient Ayurvedic medicine, is home of the 5th chakra. Our ability to communicate effectively and our creativity are associated with this chakra. Humiliation, anger, hopelessness, guilt and shame are the emotions that most strongly have an affiliation with the thyroid. Have you had any events in your past where you have felt these emotions? Interestingly, homeopathy (Thyro-Chord, Thyropath, Endopath M and F), since it is an energetic form of healing, reaches deeply into the 3rd level of healing in a way that physical herbs, supplements or food cannot. I would highly encourage you to see a practitioner that does EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques), Faster EFT, Mental Field Therapy or Psychokinesiology to help your body let go of toxic negative emotions that may be damaging your health. I do phone consultations and this energy work can be done over Skype.If you work on the five things above by cleaning up your diet, rebuilding the thyroid, detoxifying, and working on clearing out the accumulation of negative emotions you are holding onto from your past, I believe there is hope in getting your thyroid and endocrine system functioning well again on its own. While these things aren’t a guarantee, they have helped many people restore full function of the thyroid gland naturally. As always, please do not stop taking any medication without the supervision and advice from your medical doctor.
Dr. Scott Graves ND, MA is a Florida-based Naturopath and Intuitive who specializes in Nutrition Response Testing, NAET, EFT, and Psychokinesiology. He offers free 15 minute phone consultations and is available for radio and TV interviews.
