hyperthyroid

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone - I've treated quite a few people with underactive thyroids in the

last few years, but yesterday I saw my first patient with an overactive thyroid.

She was treated with carbimazole for 18 months and came off it in August this

year. Her TSH was recently tested and is 0.4, T4 within normal range (she didn't

know the level) - her consultant has decided that although she is completely

asymptomatic at the present time, she may be becoming hyperthyroid again and is

going to do regular tests to monitor her. He has suggested radioactive Iodine tx

if she does become hyperthyroid, which she really doesn't want to have.

At the moment, I would really consider her not to be hyperthyroid, her pulse was

62 and regular, BP 120/80, no weight loss, no anxiety, no palpitations, no urge

to overeat, no tiredness, no sweating, no diarrhoea. She has had surgery, chemo

and radiotherapy 6 years ago for breast cancer and finished a course of Arimidex

in June this year. This is the major stressor in her history. She is very happy

and positive. She is quite a driven person, I would say and I'm quite sure that

this is important too. I'm going to advise that she starts a regular practise of

yoga, meditation, Tai chi - whatever she feels drawn to, to bring balance to her

very physically active life.

Before coming to see me she had done a lot of reading and had already started

eating regular raw brassicas and avoiding all stimulants in her diet. I think

that avoiding the stimulants (and using fluoride-free toothpast and avoiding

tea) is important. But I feel very unsure about the brassicas and would

appreciate advice here - I do advise people with underactive thyroids to avoid

raw brassicas and to always lightly steam these veggies. My understanding is

that they interfere with the thyroid gland uptaking iodine - the thyroid gland

needs iodine, so I feel instinctively that this isn't the way to reduce an

overactive thyroid or to achieve balanced thryoid function. My feeling is that

eating loads of these foods will just lead to other problems. So at this stage

I've emphasised healthy eating - with a maximum of two or three small portions

of raw brassicas (because she was so keen on doing this and I didn't feel that I

had the necessary information to advise differently at the time).

Any advice or thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Best wishes

Sue Salmon, Huddersfield

[Guest guest]

J Fidler, MCPP, (RH) AHG

Herbalist

________________________________

To: ukherbalist <ukherbal-list >

Sent: Fri, September 24, 2010 5:53:44 AM

Subject: hyperthyroid

Hi everyone - I've treated quite a few people with underactive thyroids in the

last few years, but yesterday I saw my first patient with an overactive thyroid.

She was treated with carbimazole for 18 months and came off it in August this

year. Her TSH was recently tested and is 0.4, T4 within normal range (she didn't

know the level) - her consultant has decided that although she is completely

asymptomatic at the present time, she may be becoming hyperthyroid again and is

going to do regular tests to monitor her. He has suggested radioactive Iodine tx

if she does become hyperthyroid, which she really doesn't want to have.

At the moment, I would really consider her not to be hyperthyroid, her pulse was

62 and regular, BP 120/80, no weight loss, no anxiety, no palpitations, no urge

to overeat, no tiredness, no sweating, no diarrhoea. She has had surgery, chemo

and radiotherapy 6 years ago for breast cancer and finished a course of Arimidex

in June this year. This is the major stressor in her history. She is very happy

and positive. She is quite a driven person, I would say and I'm quite sure that

this is important too. I'm going to advise that she starts a regular practise of

yoga, meditation, Tai chi - whatever she feels drawn to, to bring balance to her

very physically active life.

Before coming to see me she had done a lot of reading and had already started

eating regular raw brassicas and avoiding all stimulants in her diet. I think

that avoiding the stimulants (and using fluoride-free toothpast and avoiding

tea) is important. But I feel very unsure about the brassicas and would

appreciate advice here - I do advise people with underactive thyroids to avoid

raw brassicas and to always lightly steam these veggies. My understanding is

that they interfere with the thyroid gland uptaking iodine - the thyroid gland

needs iodine, so I feel instinctively that this isn't the way to reduce an

overactive thyroid or to achieve balanced thryoid function. My feeling is that

eating loads of these foods will just lead to other problems. So at this stage

I've emphasised healthy eating - with a maximum of two or three small portions

of raw brassicas (because she was so keen on doing this and I didn't feel that I

had the necessary information to advise differently at the time).

Any advice or thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Best wishes

Sue Salmon, Huddersfield