Re: Newbie question about herbs

June 12, 2006

Dear Karisha,

Good for you, you did great!

I have heard of the herbs you describe being used by naturopaths. I don't

know anything about tapering off them, but I wonder if you also have tried using

nutrition, which might help balance you in addition to, and eventually maybe

instead of, the herbs. When I had Graves, the Chinese acupuncturist that

treated me told me to eat lots of tofu, broccoli, cabbage, and the like, which

reduce thryoid hormone output. Also, estrogen causes more hypo symptoms, while

progesterone stimulates the thyroid, and can make one hyper.

So, maybe by looking into nutrition and acupuncture, you can help to balance

yourself to achieve remission (I did, about 8 years ago, and I'm fine, and off

all meds).

Please go to our sister site, iThyroid.com, for more info on this.

Best,

AntJoan

June 13, 2006

Hi

I am not sure about how to come off the herbs but would be interested in

trying them myself, can anyone say what is the best form to take them

in, ie tincture or some other form and do you have to be careful of

sources?

Thank you

June 13, 2006

Karisha, Kudos to you for taking charge of your health!

I would stay on the herbs til your levels started to dip (towards hypo). Then

start cutting back to prevent full hypo. To me the fact that your levels have

remained at a level that feels good to you, while taking the herbs, says that

you still need the herbs.

From my understanding, as your system recovers and starts to act normally, you

will need less and less thyroid suppression to maintain healthy thyroid levels.

It sounds like you reached remission once. Its entirely possible to get there

again.

Out of curiosity, what are " your " feel good lab levels? Can you give us what

your ideal levels are for the TSH, T4 and T3? (With lab ranges?) I have yet to

find where I feel good at. But I have been at this less than a year. So

there's time yet.

Kim

Newbie question about herbs

Hi

I have just joined the group. I was first diagnosed as hyper in

late 2001, was put on the double trouble carbimazole and thyroxine,

had 15 months of hell of docs incompetently trying to get me within

the normal range, eventually reaching it, having 3 months

of 'normality' then kicked off it. Stayed normal another 18 months

or something and went hyper again.

Docs then gave me the unenviable choice of having my thyroid cut out

or frazzled or if I was very good they might let me go through

thyroid drug hell again.

Funnily enough I didn't really fancy any of that and I had read

about Bugleweed and Lemon Balm being good alternative options. So I

got some and have been grinding it up and putting it into capsules

for about a couple of years now. It took a couple of months to get

the dosage right, but now when I get my thyroid test results I am

always bang in the middle of the normal range.

So this is all really good. But I am wondering whether I can ever

stop taking them? Can I taper them off, wait a few weeks and have a

test and see if its still normal like what they do when they taper

you off the drug regime? Or should I only stop if my results start

coming back in the hypo range which might indicate that I don't need

it any more?

Any thoughts/experiences/suggestions would be most welcome.

Cheers

Karisha

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June 13, 2006

I am not sure what is the best form to take the herbs. I don't think my

method of using the dried herbs and grinding down and putting into

capsules is probably the best. But for me it was the most practical and

it works. I tried the teas first but there was no way 3 cups of what I

found to be foul tasting bugleweed tea was going to be a long term

solution, the lemon balm I found a little bit better tasting and it

smells nice. You can buy the capsules ready made but I found them too

expensive.

wrote:

I am not sure about how to come off the herbs but would be interested

in

trying them myself, can anyone say what is the best form to take them

in, ie tincture or some other form and do you have to be careful of

sources?

June 13, 2006

Thanks AntJoan. I will have a good read of the website. I started

changing my diet when I was first diagnosed and took some supplements

but my diet deteriorated a bit after my levels became normal, then I

improved it again, and now it's a mix of good and bad, so there is room

for improvement and making it more thyroid friendly.

Do you still follow the diet strictly and do you still receive

acupuncture?

Re: Newbie question about herbs

Dear Karisha,

Good for you, you did great!

I have heard of the herbs you describe being used by naturopaths. I

don't

know anything about tapering off them, but I wonder if you also have

tried using

nutrition, which might help balance you in addition to, and eventually

maybe

instead of, the herbs. When I had Graves, the Chinese acupuncturist that

treated me told me to eat lots of tofu, broccoli, cabbage, and the like,

which

reduce thryoid hormone output. Also, estrogen causes more hypo symptoms,

while

progesterone stimulates the thyroid, and can make one hyper.

So, maybe by looking into nutrition and acupuncture, you can help to

balance

yourself to achieve remission (I did, about 8 years ago, and I'm fine,

and off

all meds).

Please go to our sister site, iThyroid.com, for more info on this.

Best,

AntJoan

June 13, 2006

In a message dated 6/13/2006 1:38:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

karisha_k@... writes:

Do you still follow the diet strictly and do you still receive

acupuncture?

No, I stopped about 8 years ago, when I got better.

AntJoan

June 14, 2006

Thank you - do you know if they help with the swelling of the thyroid?

I am not sure what is the best form to take the herbs. I don't think my

method of using the dried herbs and grinding down and putting into

capsules is probably the best. But for me it was the most practical and

it works. I tried the teas first but there was no way 3 cups of what I

found to be foul tasting bugleweed tea was going to be a long term

solution, the lemon balm I found a little bit better tasting and it

smells nice. You can buy the capsules ready made but I found them too

expensive.

wrote:

I am not sure about how to come off the herbs but would be interested

in trying them myself, can anyone say what is the best form to take them

in, ie tincture or some other form and do you have to be careful of

sources?

[

June 14, 2006

try the super concentrated Herbal tinctures or extracts...they taste really

gross, but you only need like a eyedropper full

Patti

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June 14, 2006

Kim & Others trying herbs:

I'm the mom of the daughter who was diagnosed with hyperthyroid due

to a nodule on her thyroid back in January. I wanted to let you know

that she is now in New Zealand persuing her teaching degree with the

approval of both her surgeon and endocrinologist. We postponed her

surgery and never considered RAI. The only symptom she had was the

nodule and TSH slightly out of range. She has her appointment

scheduled to be rechecked when she gets back in 15 months. In the

meantime before she left, I took her to my naturopathic dr. He said

he's had patients levels go back in range. He told her different

things in her diet she should avoid. He gave her a homeopathic remedy

called Thyroid. Also, something else to support her immune system and

also said to take calcium and magnesium. I'll ask next time I'm

speaking with her what the immune system supporter is

called...something phytols, I think.

She's feeling wonderful and not experiencing any other symptoms at

the moment. I keep in contact with her every couple days and if

anything comes up, she's to get in to see a dr. I felt like we had to

do something in the time she was away instead of just sitting and

waiting. My naturopath is very highly respected and has a two yr

waiting list and I trust him totally as he's helped keep my son who

has many challenges and special needs off any type of medications. We

use diet and supplements with him to avoid any of the medications

that most are on with his syndrome. It's Prader-Willi Syndrome in

case anybody wants to Google it. I like to create awareness or if

someone by chance knows somebody with this they can have them contact

me.

It would be nice if my daughter came back and things checked out

fine. If it doesn't, we may consider surgery to remove 1/2 of it. I

still wonder about the drugs though. They were really against them

and I don't understand why. Does it not work for the nodule type

hypers? So much is talked about Graves, but, not nodules so I get

confused of what treatment to go for. I'd rather do drugs or surgery.

The whole RAI seems ridiculous when they said with surgery taking 1/2

the thyroid out and the other 1/2 may compensate.

I will keep on this list to keep learning while she's away.

>

> Karisha, Kudos to you for taking charge of your health!

>

> I would stay on the herbs til your levels started to dip (towards

hypo). Then start cutting back to prevent full hypo. To me the fact

that your levels have remained at a level that feels good to you,

while taking the herbs, says that you still need the herbs.

>

> From my understanding, as your system recovers and starts to act

normally, you will need less and less thyroid suppression to maintain

healthy thyroid levels.

>

> It sounds like you reached remission once. Its entirely possible

to get there again.

>

> Out of curiosity, what are " your " feel good lab levels? Can you

give us what your ideal levels are for the TSH, T4 and T3? (With lab

ranges?) I have yet to find where I feel good at. But I have been

at this less than a year. So there's time yet.

>

> Kim

>

> Newbie question about herbs

>

> Hi

>

> I have just joined the group. I was first diagnosed as hyper in

> late 2001, was put on the double trouble carbimazole and thyroxine,

> had 15 months of hell of docs incompetently trying to get me within

> the normal range, eventually reaching it, having 3 months

> of 'normality' then kicked off it. Stayed normal another 18 months

> or something and went hyper again.

>

> Docs then gave me the unenviable choice of having my thyroid cut

out

> or frazzled or if I was very good they might let me go through

> thyroid drug hell again.

>

> Funnily enough I didn't really fancy any of that and I had read

> about Bugleweed and Lemon Balm being good alternative options. So I

> got some and have been grinding it up and putting it into capsules

> for about a couple of years now. It took a couple of months to get

> the dosage right, but now when I get my thyroid test results I am

> always bang in the middle of the normal range.

>

> So this is all really good. But I am wondering whether I can ever

> stop taking them? Can I taper them off, wait a few weeks and have a

> test and see if its still normal like what they do when they taper

> you off the drug regime? Or should I only stop if my results start

> coming back in the hypo range which might indicate that I don't

need

> it any more?

>

> Any thoughts/experiences/suggestions would be most welcome.

>

> Cheers

>

> Karisha

>

______________________________________________________________________

__

> Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures,

email and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

>

June 14, 2006

Thanks Kim, I have been taking the maximum dosages of the herbs, however

at times I have gone without them for up to 2 weeks while awaiting my

order from the mail order herb shop and/or getting round to making up

the herb capsules and I don't feel any different during these times

however maybe it takes longer than that to have an adverse effect.

In my last test in April 2006 for T4 I scored 14.5 (normal range

9.8-23.1) and for TSH 3.32 (range 0.35-5.50). A year earlier April 2005

it was T4 = 15.1, TSH 2.8. I don't seem to have any T3 results for a

couple of years, I seem to have lost the results I had from when the

herbs first started working unfortunately, I guess my doc has them if I

needed them.

I don't notice any symptoms very often except some digestive problems I

have had for years that didn't resolve with fixing the thyroid, so I

assume that is down to something else going on, maybe diet or food

intolerance. The only other symptom I get sometimes is a bit of a weird

one that came on around the time I was first diagnosed. This is

itchiness around bedtime and during sleep, I would wake up several times

during the nite scratching and also having restless episodes where I

would feel the need to keep moving around the bed moving limbs and

turning upside down (still lying flat) in the bed and doing all this

half asleep. (Has anyone reading this experienced anything similar?)

This stopped when I sorted my levels out however now and again it comes

back for a few nites but then goes away again, so I'm not sure what all

that is about, maybe some temporary increase in levels due to goodness

knows what. So overall I would say that my feel good lab levels seems

to be where it is supposed to be within the normal range.

Do you think I could need to stay on the herbs until the levels go

actually off the range towards hypo or just on the edge of hypo?

Cheers

Karisha

Newbie question about herbs

Hi

I have just joined the group. I was first diagnosed as hyper in

late 2001, was put on the double trouble carbimazole and thyroxine,

had 15 months of hell of docs incompetently trying to get me within

the normal range, eventually reaching it, having 3 months

of 'normality' then kicked off it. Stayed normal another 18 months

or something and went hyper again.

Docs then gave me the unenviable choice of having my thyroid cut out

or frazzled or if I was very good they might let me go through

thyroid drug hell again.

Funnily enough I didn't really fancy any of that and I had read

about Bugleweed and Lemon Balm being good alternative options. So I

got some and have been grinding it up and putting it into capsules

for about a couple of years now. It took a couple of months to get

the dosage right, but now when I get my thyroid test results I am

always bang in the middle of the normal range.

So this is all really good. But I am wondering whether I can ever

stop taking them? Can I taper them off, wait a few weeks and have a

test and see if its still normal like what they do when they taper

you off the drug regime? Or should I only stop if my results start

coming back in the hypo range which might indicate that I don't need

it any more?

Any thoughts/experiences/suggestions would be most welcome.

Cheers

Karisha

__________________________________________________________

Check out AOL.com today. Breaking news, video search, pictures, email

and IM. All on demand. Always Free.

June 14, 2006

Good idea if I can source some in the UK. It would save messing about

putting herbs into capsules at least.

RE: Newbie question about herbs

try the super concentrated Herbal tinctures or extracts...they taste

really

gross, but you only need like a eyedropper full

Patti

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June 14, 2006

I am not sure, I will have a look at the info I have and post some links

if I find something.