Practical Steps: When Are
hypothyroid diets, Cytomel or Armour Thyroid Alternative Thyroid Treatments
Indicated? Most advocates of
thryoid treatment suggest that the following factors should make you think
about alternative thyroid treatments such as hypothyroid diets, Cytomel or
Armour Thyroid:
- If your symptoms “sound like” typical low
thyroid symptoms e.g. feeling cold, constipation, gaining weight, feeling
tired, sluggish or depressed
- If before you get out of bed, you take your
under-arm (axillary) temperature for five minutes and your temperature is
usually below 97.6 degrees
- If when your doctor uses a reflex hammer to
measure your ankle reflex, it takes a long time for your ankle to return to
its normal position
- If your standard thyroid blood tests show
that your pituitary gland is having to work extra hard to push your thyroid
to make thyroid hormone, for example, if the TSH blood test is higher than
3.0
- If sophisticated thyroid tests shows low
levels of free T3 or free T4 thyroid hormone. Or if there is a high level of
a thyroid blocking hormone known as reverse T3
Contraindications for Alternative Thyroid
Treatments including Cytomel and Armour Thyroid
There’s rarely a “free lunch”. A low dose of thyroid hormone supplement is
very unlikely to cause harm, but exceptions can and do occur. More important
as thyroid treatment doses increase, so too does the risk of side-effects.
These risks apply both to the standard T4 containing thyroid treatments (Synthroid
and Levoxyl) as well as to the T3 containing alternative thyroid treatments (Cytomel
and Armour Thyroid).
The most important potential risk is among people with heart disease,
especially those who are prone to irregular or rapid heart beat patterns
(arrhythmia) or who are at high risk for heart attacks. High doses of thyroid
tend to increase risk for abnormal heart rhythmis, for angina and also for
heart attacks.
Be more cautious about using mid and high level alternative thyroid treatments
if you have:
- known heart disease or a high cardiac risk
profile (over 50 years of age, high cholesterol, high blood pressure,
cigarettes, diabetes)
- vulnerability to rapid, irregular or extra
heart beats including ventricular premature beats and atrial fibrillation.
o medication that tends to promote heart arrhythmia, for example, tricyclic
anti-depressants such as Elavil/amitryptiline, Digoxin
Hypothyroid Diets and Alternative Thyroid
TreatmentsHypothyroid diets are too
often overlooked in both mainstream and alternative thyroid treatments. Poor
diet can harm the thyroid’s ability to make T4 thyroid hormone, as well as the
cell’s ability to convert T4 (Synthroid) into the active thyroid hormone, T3 (Cytomel
and Armour Thyroid).
Dietary deficiency of iodine was once a very common cause of both hypothyroid
as well as thyroid enlargement (goiter). However, since iodine began being
added to most brands of table salt, a hypothyroid diet due to iodine
deficiency is now relatively rare. People who eat little seafood and who take
very little salt might want to check their multivitamin to be sure that it
contains iodine.
However, too much iodine is also not good on a hypothyroid diet. Too much
iodine can actually block the thyroid’s ability to make hormone, so high dose
iodine supplements are not recommended.
Hypothyroid diets due to thyroid-blocking actions from cabbage, brussels
sprouts, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower can block thyroid if these
otherwise highly nutritious foods are eaten in very high doses. Certain
medicines can also block thyroid hormone such as Lithium. L-Carnitine, a
powerful and potentially useful energy promoting nutritional product can also
block the thyroid if taken in high doses.
Selenium and Hypothyroid diets. Selenium may be the “sleeping giant” of
natural thyroid therapies. Selenium is essential for converting T4 thyroid
hormone into it’s active form, T3. Selenium may also have the ability to
suppress anti-thyroid antibodies for persons who suffer from thyroid
inflammation or thyroiditis. Repairing a selenium deficit, could in some
people, actually repair thyroid metabolism by increasing the intracellular
conversion of T4 to T3.
Effective hypothyroid diets should seek a broad range of natural foods
including whole grains, seafoods, nuts, and seeds. Include a broad based
multi-vitamin. Vitamin D and Zinc may be important.
Recent Research On hypothyroid diets and
Alternative Thyroid Treatments including Cytomel and Armour Thyroid
Mary Shomon is one of the leading
advocates of natural thyroid therapies and alternative thyroid treatments.
Thyroid.about.com, has an immense amount of information and links to resources
on Cytomel
and Armour Thyroid,
hypothyroid
diets, and
alternative thyroid treatments.
Thyroid-Info.com,
has additional information, including material on alternative thyroid
treatments.
Dr. John Lowe’s website is
an excellent source of information about health and alternative thyroid
treatments,Cytomel and Armour Thyroid, especially as they relate to
fibromyalgia.
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