Thyroid Deficiency Natural Cures And Remidies

Thyroid Deficiency Safety Caveats
An aggressive program of dietary supplementation should not be launched without the supervision of a qualified physician. Several of the nutrients suggested in this protocol may have adverse effects. These include:

Copper

Do not take copper supplements if you have Wilson's disease.
Consult your doctor if you take copper supplements and have chronic liver failure and/or chronic kidney failure.
Do not take high doses of copper. High doses of copper are extremely toxic.
Copper can cause gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea.
Potassium iodide

Potassium iodide can cause hyperthyroidism in older people with nodular goiters.
Potassium iodide may exacerbate symptoms of autoimmune thyroiditis.
Potassium iodide may cause rashes, arrhythmias, central nervous system effects (confusion, numbness, tingling, weakness in the hands or feet), hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism (Jod-Basedow phenomenon), parotitis (iodide mumps), thyroid adenoma and small bowel lesions.
Potassium iodide may cause hypersensitivity reactions including angioedema, symptoms resembling serum sickness (fever, arthralgia, eosinophilia, lymphadenopathy), cutaneous and mucosal hemorrhages, urticaria, thrombotic thrombocytopenia purpura (TTP), and fatal periarteritis.
Enteric-coated potassium iodide may cause nonspecific small bowel lesions manifested by stenosis with or without ulcerations. These lesions may cause hemorrhage, obstruction, perforation and death.
Chronic intake of pharmacological doses of iodides (>2 mg) can lead to iodism characterized by frontal headache, pulmonary edema, coryza (head cold), eye irritation, skin eruptions, gastric disturbances, as well as inflammation of the tonsils, larynx, pharynx, and submaxillary and parotid glands.
Selenium

High doses of selenium (1000 micrograms or more daily) for prolonged periods may cause adverse reactions.
High doses of selenium taken for prolonged periods may cause chronic selenium poisoning. Symptoms include loss of hair and nails or brittle hair and nails.
Selenium can cause rash, breath that smells like garlic, fatigue, irritability, and nausea and vomiting.
Vitamin C

Do not take vitamin C if you have a history of kidney stones or of kidney insufficiency (defined as having a serum creatine level greater than 2 milligrams per deciliter and/or a creatinine clearance less than 30 milliliters per minute.
Consult your doctor before taking large amounts of vitamin C if you have hemochromatosis, thalassemia, sideroblastic anemia, sickle cell anemia, or erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency. You can experience iron overload if you have one of these conditions and use large amounts of vitamin C.
Vitamin E

Consult your doctor before taking vitamin E if you take warfarin (Coumadin).
Consult your doctor before taking high doses of vitamin E if you have a vitamin K deficiency or a history of liver failure.
Consult your doctor before taking vitamin E if you have a history of any bleeding disorder such as peptic ulcers, hemorrhagic stroke, or hemophilia.
Discontinue using vitamin E 1 month before any surgical procedure.
Zinc

High doses of zinc (above 30 milligrams daily) can cause adverse reactions.
Zinc can cause a metallic taste, headache, drowsiness, and gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and diarrhea.
High doses of zinc can lead to copper deficiency and hypochromic microcytic anemia secondary to zinc-induced copper deficiency.
High doses of zinc may suppress the immune system.
Thyroid Regulation
Updated: 04/20/2006
The thyroid gland is a butterfly-shaped organ located in the neck. Its main function is to produce thyroid hormones, which control the body’s metabolic rate.

The thyroid gland uses iodine (mostly available from the diet in foods such as seafood, bread, and salt) to produce thyroid hormones. The two most important thyroid hormones are thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). While a small amount of T3 is actually made in the thyroid gland, most of it is converted in the tissues from the T4 released from the thyroid gland into the blood. T3 is the active hormone that affects the metabolism of cells.

An excess of thyroid hormones (hyperthyroidism) overstimulates the body, resulting in increased heart rate, anxiety, and weight loss, while a lack of thyroid hormones (hypothryoidism) can cause depression, sluggishness, weight gain, and heart failure. Hyperthyroidism is rare (affecting about 1 percent of the population), while mild, subclinical hypothyroidism may be much more common than most people think.

Subclinical hypothyroidism is estimated to occur in a significant percentage of the adult American population (Hollowell JG et al 2002). One side effect of thyroid deficiency is high cholesterol. It is very possible that many people are being prescribed cholesterol-lowering statin drugs while their underlying problem—low thyroid function—goes unaddressed.

The most common cause of overt hypothyroidism in the United States is an autoimmune disorder known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (Lorini R et al 2003). This condition is characterized by an overactive immune system response that floods the thyroid gland with white blood cells that attack the gland. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is more common in women than in men, and there is a genetic component to the disease.

Worldwide, a lack of dietary iodine is the leading cause of hypothyroidism (Delange F 1998). Iodine is necessary for the synthesis of thyroid hormones. Since table salt was iodized in the United States, lack of dietary iodine has not been a major problem, though cases of iodine deficiency are still reported. Besides iodine, thyroid function can be affected by a number of nutrients, including zinc and selenium. Deficiencies in either of these have been shown to increase the risk of hypothyroidism.

There is evidence that the standard blood test reference ranges may cause many cases of hypothyroidism to be missed. Based on published clinical data, Life Extension advocates a more complete thyroid evaluation to rule out thyroid deficiency as a cause of common age-associated maladies such as depression, fatigue, and unwanted weight gain.

Hypothyroidism is typically treated with supplemental thyroid hormones. There are a number of approaches to increasing thyroid hormone, including use of synthetic hormones (both T3 and T4) and natural desiccated thyroid hormone from animals. New combination drugs provide fixed ratios of T3 and T4. The choice of which form of thyroid hormone to use is an individual decision, to be made on the basis of blood tests and effectiveness of therapy.