Natural Apologetics: Why I Take Natural Supplements for My Thyroid Instead of Synthroid

You are responsible for consulting your health care professionals, and responsible for your own health. This is meant for educational information only. Don’t jump off of any drug all of a sudden — especially thyroid drugs — because this can be dangerous. Consult your medical professionals for any changes to make in your health practices. Try to find a good alternative doctor who understands this information if you would like to follow up on it.

7 REASONS I GO FOR NATURAL TREATMENT OF MY THYROID

1. The quick answer to why I don’t want to take a drug for my thyroid is that I would become a walking pharmacy if I took a drug for every little problem my body ever had (100-200 symptoms from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome during one stretch of a few years). Instead, I reach for the knowledge to find root causes.

2. Secondly, I understand that everything I put into or onto my body causes effects other than the original intended effects (”side effects”). In the long run this digging for the root causes is more effective because I understand that the cause of one problem is related to another problem…is related to another problem….is related to another problem…..and in the same way….something I do for health is related to making another part of my body healthier….. everything we do causes “side effects.” I choose my side effects to be good ones through use of natural products, so that I don’t need to cover them up with another drug. The side effect of my body temperature going back up to normal is a sex drive, sleeping well, and good moods (three things I don’t have to medicate with another pharmaceutical product).

3. Third, everything in the body is interrelated, and prescription drugs burden the liver, which has a job of removing toxins from the body. Because of everything being interrelated, just because you shut off one problem with a drug, does not mean that the cause (a deficiency in a vitamin or mineral) is not causing problems in other parts of the body. Having the liver burdened can cause its own problems in time.

4. The fourth reason why I resist traditional medication for thyroid is that I understand why my thyroid gets low and can return it to normal function at will within one to three weeks with natural products that are not dangerous (to me) in the least and can be stopped and started without problem. If I stayed on the products most of the time that would be optimal, but sometimes I run out or just want to take a break to keep it working effectively.

5. The fifth reason is that, like Dr. Richard Schulze, who is in the natural medicine field, I do not believe in incurable diseases, only that there are incurable people.

6. The sixth reason is that I would like to be in control of my own body chemistry and when it can be avoided, not put anything artificial into my body. This, in the long run, could make problems easier to solve, rather than constantly juggling drugs and foods that could interfere with each other.

7. The seventh reason is that when it comes to my health and who controls it, I DO.

KNOW YOUR BODY, KNOW YOURSELF, READ YOUR BODY SIGNALS

I have had my body for longer than the doctors have been to school. If I understand my body and garner knowledge through reading, I have an edge over them. Although I consult my doctors when appropriate because I don’t know everything, I do not view them as gods (they don’t know everything either), but as resources along with my own resource of being driven to read and to know, and my drive to experiment and find out what works for me. I tell them what I am doing, but if something is working and they don’t agree, I also stand my ground. I have several times been given advice that was not true and would not have led to solving my health problems, and I only knew to do something different because of evolving a feedback system with my body.

SYMPTOMS

This is what happens when my thyroid is low (may or may not be the same for you):

• feeling off balance physically and emotionally,
• being klutzy and uncoordinated,
• sleeping a lot longer than usual every night,
• being tired when I am awake,
• being cold all the time and chilled easily,
• at times being extremely cold and not able to be warmed,
• it negatively affects my adrenal gland function
• cold hands (right hand colder than left), cold feet, cold nose,
• morning waking temperature below 97.8 degrees,
• absentmindedness
• irrational behavior
• doing things and completely not remembering it
• speeding thoughts
• feelings of not being in my body
• sleep problems,
• lower mood, more crying, and higher irritability,
• my hair falls out by the handfuls and splits a lot,
• spaciness and forgetfulness,
• a certain fogginess sets in,
• no more dreaming,
• no sex drive,
• high cholesterol on regular medical tests
• anemic blood on blood cell analysis tests
• poor or no reflexes
• rapid tooth decay
• higher tendency to get chronic systemic candidiasis infections
• crippled immune system that may take 2 weeks or more to kick the flu
• unable to run a good fever
• voice deepens and I trip over my words a lot when speaking

Now, just imagine taking a drug for each of these symptoms! This is where I have to draw the line!!

SUBCLINICAL HYPOTHYROIDISM

Now, the regular medical profession would tell you that if indeed your thyroid comes up low in their tests (and it may not because the tests are based on actual population and only the people in the bell curve with the WORST thyroid function appear as abnormal and in need of help), then you will need to take a drug for the rest of your life. I have a resistance to putting out money for the rest of my life for something I now know is easily fixable. There are more people with low thyroids than come through on the tests. Subclinical hypothyroidism is the term for it when exists but the regular medical tests do not identify it as being an issue. My temperature dropped to the 96’s, and then finally to 94.8, and it still was not detectable on their test. The only indicators that I could see was that my cholesterol was sky high, which is a side effect of low thyroid function.

INTERRELATED

I question using drugs for thyroid because everything in the body is so interrelated that being deficient in one thing can upset other things. Putting a chemical — a drug — into my body, to solve the symptoms of a mineral deficiency DOES NOT solve the mineral deficiency. Even if it appears to boost the thyroid function, I am still deficient in those same minerals that caused the problem. The same minerals that iodine needs for absorption are also needed for other bodily functions, and the drug may suppress certain symptoms and enhance thyroid function, but it will do little to take care of the other effects of being low on those same minerals….. which will lead to more health problems down the road, and which will lead to more recommendations to take drugs. I have a resistance to becoming a walking pharmacy! The understanding of my body has done more for my health than any pill or potion.

ATOMIC WEIGHT OF IODINE AND ITS ABILITY TO ABSORB

According to an excerpt I read in “The pH Equation and Health,” iodine absorption, along with absorption of some other very crucial minerals, is highly dependent on the acid/alkaline reserve. The acid/alkaline reserve, also known as the pH balance, is the reserve of the minerals we must have to maintain a slightly alkaline environment where health is prevalent. Disease and negative emotions will reign in an acidic body. Therefore, resolving this issue is critical not just to thyroid function but to your whole life and health.

EXPLANATION OF PH/ACID-ALKALINE BALANCE

The five alkaline minerals counted in this pH balance are: calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, and iron. While different websites vary on what they think is an ideal pH balance, many go with 7.4 as the measure of perfect saliva pH (this is measuring the amount of those five minerals in the body). I have found that to be accurate for my body and have found that iodine stops absorbing for me at about 7.0.

HOW TO MEASURE PH BALANCE

The pH can be measured with litmus paper especially for this purpose but I hardly do so any more because I know what my body is doing without needing that. The litmus paper tends to confuse some people because it doesn’t always read correctly the first thing in the morning, and when you are building up your pH balance it fluctuates frequently throughout the day. If you do look for pH litmus paper on the web, look for one with a range that goes from 5.5 to 8.0 and in small increments. Also, websites have varying deals, so be patient and you can find a good deal. If you have chronic illness and negative emotions, you have a low alkaline reserve. Children most usually have a good pH balance, but as life goes on, the minerals erode through poor diet, lack of sleep, and stress, and even a child who is warm all the time, can become a “cold-blooded” adult. The same happened with me.

HOW TO BUILD PH BALANCE UP

When I build my pH balance through the consumption of lots of raw vegetables and/or raw vegetable juices (higher in pH balance than cooked and processed), or through Barleylife (the one that has kelp in it), then when iodine comes in, in my diet, it goes right to work. Otherwise, the iodine passes by the thyroid and cannot absorb properly. According to the article “The pH Equation and Health,” this is because the atomic weight of iodine is so high that the other minerals with lower atomic weights have to have been absorbed first before it can be absorbed. I have tested this out numerous times and know this to work, and it works for my mom too, who has been cold all the time all my life till I shared this breakthrough… then she started throwing open the windows in the middle of winter claiming she was hot!

THYROID AND IMMUNITY

Now, about immune function, the immune system depends on being able to raise the body temperature to create a fever to burn off viruses and infectious material. When a person has a low thyroid, when they have a fever, they may actually reach 98.6 or so. The impact on the body is that it has to fight harder to create a fever, and the fever that it does create is not as effective for returning the body back to health. I have been both low temperature and normal temperature right before the flu and can testify to how important the thyroid is to the immune system. What my most recent bout with the flu points out to me is how much longer it takes to get well when you let your body temperature slide while you think, so I am a little cold, so what? In this, a flu shot may temporarily rectify this bad effect of lower immunity, but has not dealt with the underlying cause…. a cause that if it is not dealt with, will cause multiple other health problems (which people will also recommend that you take drug for).

THYROID AND FIBROMYALGIA/CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

A low thyroid is one of the underlying causes behind a substantial number of cases of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia and if you understand that, and what is behind it, you are ahead of the game.

WHY BARLEYLIFE WITH KELP WORKS FOR MY SLOW THYROID

The reason why BarleyLife has worked so effectively for my thyroid is because the dried juices from barleygrass raise the alkaline level and the iodine from the kelp begins absorbing as soon as it is able. I think that probably if I had enough fresh vegetables and also had seaweed as a regular part of my diet (I do have powdered kelp on hand), that I could do the same, but I have not yet pursued that because seaweed is prohibitively expensive. For now, I am taking supplements that I find to work (the two from my natural doctor did not work), and for now, that is Powerhouse: the original 32 most of the time, and BarleyLife now only occasionally because it costs more for less of it.

CONCLUSION

There is not time to go into everything that the thyroid affects, but this should give you a starting point. Everything in the body is interrelated, and by understanding your thyroid, you can also begin understanding other aspects of your health and wellbeing. The solution could be simpler than everyone makes it out to be! And had I known how important this was, I would not have said to myself, “So I’m cold all the time, so what? I don’t have money to go to the doctor and it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal.” If I had understood these things, I could have prevented many years of poor health. I am writing these things to help others to understand.

And again, if you are on a prescription drug for your thyroid, seek out professional advice and help from your doctor and have an alternative practitioner that you can show this article to, who will understand the information in it. Don’t stop prescriptions without medical support, and remember– this is just information to get you thinking, not advice about your particular situation.

FURTHER RESOURCES AND REFERENCE INFORMATION

The pH Equation and Health. Start with paragraph that starts with “MINERAL ASSIMILATION is affected by pH.” This is an explanation of why much of the general population has low thyroids and really simple it would be to rectify that when you understand why it happens. I had a low thyroid for 10 years before I read this article, and then everything clicked! I put it into practice and raised my body temperature.