Thyroid supplement

[Roy Collins]

Good thinking, Mara. If you think the tea is making sleep
problems better not to use it after 6pm but try instead to
take it in the early am and early pm (before 6 pm).

In peace, Roy

[MJS]

Roy,
I took the tea for about a week, and then chickened out when I started feeling like I was losing ground (having less energy), so for the past week I've been on 50 mcg. But I would like to get off it, when I feel secure with my health and ready. Maybe soon. Lately I think even this low dose, which I started on, really speeds me up, in a bad way, so it is hard to rest during the day. I wake up at dawn and am unable to go back to sleep. Feeling slightly elevated, buzzed (but still tired). Sometimes, I think I feel more like a zombie because of this. There's a lot more excitement in the world all of a sudden, too, with spring and this war, and it all is part of what makes me feel this way. I don't really trust my naturopath. She seems superficial and makes me mad when she dismisses macrobiotics straightaway. Very conventional attitude towards health -- high protein, plenty of fresh fruit and water! With the amount of fish and thyroid hormone she'd like to see me taking I'd be bouncing off the walls. I need a sympathetic ear! This week I had my final visit with her, thankfully. Have you ever heard of Thyodine, a natural thyroid support that contains bladderwrack and dulse? Also wondering what you think of bladderwrack capsules vs. tea. Have their been any studies on people curing hypothyroid with diet, macro or otherwise? I don't know how much of my progress to attribute to my diet, and how much to the Levoxyl. And I am sure the weird things now are from the drug ( although according to the Doc that is just about impossible on such a low dose. ) What I think, is that I am getting healthier from macro and the drug is just excessive, not needed so much as when I started taking it (I had been eating poorly --very yin-for some time). Can you back me up?

What an earful. Maybe gives you a clue to my mental state. Thanks Again. Mara

[MJS]

OK, I've quit the med again, and if any one knows, I was wondering
what the difference is between taking bladderwrack capsules and tea, because I would rather take capsules than tea. Thank you.

[Roy Collins]

Mari. Most capsules are difficult to break down in the digestive tract and therefore are less assimable than teas and tinctures.

I would not not stop the meds altogether but stick to your original plan to take 1/2 the dosage while eating macro and taking the bladderwrack.

In general macrobiotics works to balance the over-all body/mind relationship but certain foods, herbs, etc. are more specific for certain areas. Over time you are going to try to stop the meds and the bladderwrack but you should have more patience.

I hope this helps.

In peace, Roy

[MJS]

Originally posted by Roy Collins
you should have more patience.

Now THAT is something I could stand to be reminded of, a few times a day at least...

I stopped the meds totally for a few days because I was feeling like I had way too much of what I was getting from them. Also am continuing to take micronized DHEA and Pregnenalone for adrenal support, which should be stimulating my thyroid to produce more hormone by itself. It's felt really good to be off the thyroid meds for a while although I could go back on at half dose like you said -- it just depends on how buzzed I continue to feel when I wake up in the morning.

I'll come around again in a while and let you know how it goes.
Mara Jean

[jennifer_t]

Hello everybody,

I thought I'd chime in here. I hope you don't mind!

Last May I went off Levoxyl, by my own choice. I had been taking .1 mg per day for over ten years. I don't think that is a lot, but I needed it. Shortly after going macrobiotic I ran out of my prescription and did not refill it. I didn't tell my Dr.

Last week I went to the Dr. and he did some blood work. It came back ok--thyroid levels normal, no need for the Levoxyl. This was no surprise to me since I am feeling fine, not tired at all like I was before going on it over ten years ago.

Sometime during the summer I learned that it's not a good idea to go off it all at once, but that was about two months after I had already been off it. I had no ill effects from going off it so suddenly.

I'm not into the herbs and things like that. I am wondering if those things are throwing you out of balance? I don't know; it's just a thought. Aren't they very yin?

If I'm not mistaken, Ohsawa-style macrobiotics doesn't advocate herbs and other remedies, just diet. Again, just something to consider. Last May I was very strict with the diet; I have relaxed a lot since the fall but still eat much better than I did before last May.

Of course you must find your own way, but I hope this has helped some.

[MJS]

Hi Jennifer, thanks for the input. It's good to hear from another person with other experience.

[hahnscott]

I was diagnosed as hypothyroid a couple years ago and went onto Synthroid. Soon after, I made the switch to Armour Thyroid because I saw it as more natural. Ideally, I would like to be supplementing my deficiency with herbs and diet exclusively. I recently attended a seminar put on by Nature's Sunshine, the herbal company. They offer a very effective (at least they say so) herbal program to stimulate and support the underactive thyroid, but I was told that you must have a pH balance that is almost perfectly neutral (i.e. ~7.) If you are too acidic or too alkaline your body cannot absorb iodine from the bloodstream; without iodine your thyroid stands a snowballs chance.
I was also told (from several sources) that soy is antibeneficial to the thyroid. I know that soy is very acidic, but it is possible that soy is harmful is some other, more acute way.
I continue to struggle with my T3 and T4 levels, but the new information I have gleaned promises some resolution. With luck I will be able to stop supplementing myself with any sort of pharmecutical and make the transition completely to herbs. If any of you have helpful information for me, or if I can help clarify anything I have said, please contact me through this thread or by email.

Thank you,

Scott

[Roy Collins]

I agree that plain soy milk tends more to the acid-forming side but soy miso soup with seaweed tends to be alkaline-forming.
Each of these products have their respective place in macrobiotic cuisine and healing, and age, as well as condition are two primary fctors that need to be undertood when using them. Yang soy miso is more beneficial to younger people but for menopausal
and post menopausal women (and some elderly men) fermented soy may be a life-saver as it aids in the uptake of calcium (alkaline-forming) and softens tissue because of plant estrogens.

There is also anti-angionetic compunds in soy milk that preven tumors from vesseling within the body. No other plant form can do this.

Nearly every average adult has a blood ph that is between 7 and 7.4. Very rare to have below this. Acid and alkaline CANNOT be equated with yin and yang because these two components react differently in the body when they are consumed. Most yin vegetable foods are alkaline-forming in the body. Try to satay away from this kind of thinking.

Ginger compresses to the thyroid area can help secrection of natural thyroxin. So can the use of standard macrobiotic diet with bladderwrack supplementation. There are other posts here on this topic. Please read them through.

In peace, Roy