Selenium, etc.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I'm a little confused about selenium. When you first started the group, your

initial mailing listed selenium as a mineral to avoid. I could be wrong, but

what amount do you recommend? I currently take 100 mg. Was taking 200 mg

before starting your recommended supplements and cut back on the selenium. Also

what does chromium picolinate do? I thot that made the thyroid more active.

Just to update you, I have been continuing with my supplements as listed a few

weeks ago. I did forget to take them in LA last weekend tho. (That was the

weekend LA had hot weather. It was great. I know it was hot just for me!

Anyways I had a blast visiting with my sister for the weekend! And it was a

great break to totally forget about hyperT for awhile!)

I can't really say that I've noticed any reactions to foods, but maybe I need to

be paying closer attention. I seem to get palpations " out of the blue " and

probably need to be more aware of what I've eaten that day. I've been on my PTU

for 3 weeks now and so far so good - no rash.

When I was visiting my sister, I noticed that she had a bit of a goiter so she

mentionned this to her dr. who did a TSH test (I assume) and is now sending her

for a scan (she doesn't ask much questions). She most probably has hypoT.

Thinking back, my mother always had a large neck which I now realize is a

goiter. She was never diagnosed tho. I wonder how much control we have over

the hereditary aspect of hyper- and hypo-T!

Gayle in Alberta

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[Guest guest]

Hi Gayle and Everyone,

I looked back in my records to confirm and I can't find a place where I

thought selenium should be avoided. It's something I took throughout my

recovery and I think it's important. I recommend 200 mcg (not 200 mg!) a day.

Don't take any more than that. And the same amount of 200 mcg for chromium

picolinate.

I think these are both necessary for thyroid hormone production as are iodine

and manganese, but there involvement may be different. When we have

hyperthyroidism, one way we all think of to stop the thyroid production is to

eliminate iodine from our diets. I did it and many people do it out of

necessity. It works (sort of) but isn't the real solution. I liken this

strategy to putting your finger in the dike--the problem is controlled, but

you're stuck with your finger in the dike! What we want to do is to restore

the normal operation of the thyroid and iodine restriction is not the way to

do this.

Also, we could restrict chromium or selenium or manganese to try to

accomplish the same thing. However, all these minerals perform many functions

and the restriction of any of them can and probably will have serious

repercussions to the health of the rest of the body.

It seems that hormones control the thyroid and we need to restore the normal

hormonal control that regulates the thyroid. There are thousands of hormones

which the body creates starting with cholesterol. With an adequate supply of

cholesterol and all the essential minerals and vitamins, we should expect the

body to get itself balanced and producing all of the hormones in the right

amounts, and finally getting the thyroid balanced as well.

Restricting any mineral or nutrient may prevent the proper hormones from

being produced in the correct amounts and disrupt the whole chain.

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