Last week I conducted a free 5-Day Accelerated Thyroid Healing Challenge.  It was very successful, as over 1,400 people registered, and over 1,200 people joined my new Facebook group.  Each day I released a new lesson, and probably the most popular lesson was where I discussed some of the “thyroid healing roadblocks” that prevent people from restoring their health.  I figured I’d turn this into a blog post for those who didn’t attend the free challenge, or even for those who attended but might need some reinforcement.

So here are 7 “Thyroid Healing Roadblocks” that you’ll want to be aware of:

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #1: Not being strict enough with the diet.  Although eating well alone many times isn’t sufficient to restore one’s health, certain food allergens can trigger Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s.  Some of the common culprits include gluten, dairy, and corn. And even when gluten isn’t a trigger it’s important to eat an anti-inflammatory diet. As a result, you want to focus on eating whole, healthy foods.  I commonly recommend an autoimmune Paleo (AIP) diet for my patients with Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s, but keep in mind that this is just a starting point, and that there is no perfect diet that fits everyone perfectly.

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #2: Not Doing a Good Job of Managing Stress.  Even before 2020 chronic stress was a big factor with many people, but of course this year has been very stressful for just about everyone.  While our body was designed to handle acute stress situations, chronic stress causes dysregulation of the immune system and the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis, and it leads to an increase in proinflammatory cytokines.  In other words, chronic stress is inflammatory to the body, and while many people aren’t able to reduce stress levels, most people can do things to improve their stress handling skills.

I’ve written numerous articles and blog posts on stress management, and while most people should consider incorporating yoga, meditation, or a different type of mind body medicine, you might want to check out my recent blog post that focuses on the vagus nerve.  A healthy vagus nerve is important for a healthy parasympathetic nervous system, which is known as our “rest and digest” system.  And in the blog post I discuss a few vagus nerve exercises you can do on your own.

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #3: Not Getting Enough Sleep.  Getting sufficient sleep on a regular basis is essential to achieve a state of optimal health.  As for how much sleep you should get, I would aim for at least seven hours per night, and eight would be even better. And this doesn’t mean 7-8 hours in bed, as if it normally takes you 30 minutes to fall asleep and you’re in bed from 11pm to 6am then you’re only getting 6 1/2 hours of sleep. Of course some people struggle to get 7-8 hours of quality sleep, not because they are intentionally staying up late, but because they have difficulties falling and/or staying asleep.

Two common causes of sleep issues include adrenal imbalances (especially high cortisol) and blood sugar issues, although there can be numerous other causes as well.  And while taking nutritional supplements and herbs on a temporary basis is okay, ideally you want to address the cause of the sleep issue.  Sometimes this can be easier said than done, but for anyone with a thyroid or autoimmune thyroid condition who is looking to restore their health, getting good quality sleep on a regular basis is essential.

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #4: Haven’t FOUND All Of Your Triggers.  What testing have you done to find your triggers?  If you haven’t done anything other than blood testing then you might need to do more detective work.  And if you have done testing and it did help you find a potential trigger or two, since multiple triggers are common you might need additional testing.  Some examples of different tests you can do (other than blood tests) include an adrenal saliva test, dried urine testing, hair mineral analysis, comprehensive stool panel, and organic acids testing, just to name a few.  Check out my website www.UnderstandYourTests.com, as I have put together video tutorials to help people better understand their test results, and it might also help you to decide what testing you should do.

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #5: Haven’t REMOVED All Of Your Triggers.  You might think that you have removed all detected triggers because you followed a certain protocol, but sometimes it can be challenging to remove certain triggers.  For example, you might have tested positive for a gut infection (i.e. a parasite) and follow an antimicrobial protocol for a couple of months.  Perhaps the symptoms have greatly improved, and so you assume the parasite has been eradicated, but this might not be the case.  Retesting is of course yet another expense, but sometimes it is necessary to confirm that your triggers have been removed.

Other times you just need to be more strict with your diet and lifestyle.  For example, you might be attempting to go gluten free, but there is cross contamination at times.  For some people this might not be too big of a deal, but for others it can be a huge factor that prevents them from restoring their health.

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #6: Gut Hasn’t Been Healed.  According to Hippocrates, “All disease begins in the gut”. Without question having a healthy gut is important for optimal health, and for those with Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s, a leaky gut is a component of the triad of autoimmunity.  Since most of the immune cells are located in the gastrointestinal tract it makes sense that you need a healthy gut to have a healthy immune system.  While many people focus on doing things to support gut healing (i.e. taking probiotics, drinking bone broth, taking L-glutamine, etc.), just remember that you need to remove the factor that caused the leaky gut.  It’s also important to understand that the lack of symptoms doesn’t rule out gut problems.

Thyroid Healing Roadblock #7: Overlooked Roadblocks.  Some of the commonly overlooked roadblocks include electronic pollution, stealth infections, and toxic mold. These can be very difficult to detect, and many of you know about my experience with chronic Lyme disease in 2018.  While this occurred 9 years after getting into remission from my Graves’ disease condition, many people who currently have a thyroid or autoimmune thyroid condition have a stealth infection, and they don’t always cause obvious symptoms.

What Thyroid Healing Roadblocks Do YOU Need To Overcome?

I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and I’d love for you to share any thyroid healing roadblocks that you feel might be preventing you from restoring your thyroid/immune health.  Please feel free to share this in the comments below!  If you have actually overcome one or more of these roadblocks I’d also like to know!

If you’re feeling stuck with your thyroid or autoimmune thyroid condition, then you might be interested in joining our Free 5-Day Accelerated Thyroid Healing Challenge!

During this 5-day challenge you will…

• Learn how to overcome both common and overlooked “roadblocks” that are preventing your thyroid/immune system from healing
• ​Discover how to reduce your “toxic thyroid”
• ​Find out why removing the trigger doesn’t always break the chronic inflammatory cycle associated with Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s, and what you can do to stop this cycle
• ​Create your thyroid/immune healing action plan

The Free 5-day challenge will include the following…

Component #1: Daily Accelerated Thyroid Healing Video Lesson

During this daily 10-20 minute recorded lesson I will focus on a different topic that is essential to speed up the healing of your thyroid gland/immune system. There will be one pre-recorded lesson every day for 5 consecutive days, which means that you can access it at your convenience.

Component #2: Daily Accelerated Thyroid Healing Assignment

I want people to take action, which is the whole point of any challenge.  And so each day there will be a daily assignment designed to help speed up your thyroid/immune system healing.

Component #3: Access to a private members-only group

We want you to build relationships with one another and enjoy this challenge together. Although you can still watch the daily video lessons and attend the two Q & A sessions without joining the Facebook group, if you want to connect with others and be eligible for the prizes (discussed below) then you’ll want to join the Facebook group. I plan on having my nutritional health coaches moderate the groups, although I’ll also pop in every now and then.

Component #4: Two 90 minute live Q & A sessions

There will be two separate live Q & A sessions.  These will be 90 minutes each, and I’m having two in order to accommodate those in different time zones.

Component #5: Prizes for Participation!!!

For my April thyroid/immune challenge I didn’t offer any prizes, but then I noticed that other people who hosted challenges were giving away prizes, and so I decided to test it out for my June challenge…and it was a big hit!  There will be a daily prize for those who answer the daily question, and then at the end of the 5 days there will be a grand prize!!!

You Get All of This For FREE!!!

For more information on the Free 5-day Accelerated Thyroid Healing challenge check out the link below:

www.RapidThyroidHealing.com

Before I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, and eventually Graves’ disease, I realized something was wrong one day when I measured my blood pressure and discovered that I had an elevated resting heart rate (my blood pressure was fine).  An elevation in the resting heart rate is known as tachycardia, and this is one of the classic symptoms of hyperthyroidism.  However, there can be other reasons why people can have an elevated heart rate, and so I decided to put together a blog post where I will discuss some of the common causes of tachycardia, as well as some of the different treatment options available.

You might wonder how high the resting heart rate needs to be before it’s labeled as tachycardia.  Most sources consider a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute (BPM) as being tachycardia.  While this may be true, I definitely prefer to see the resting heart rate less than 80 BPM, and I would be concerned with a resting heart rate of 90 BPM or greater, and ideally you want a resting heart rate in the 50s or 60s, although the low 70s is still acceptable.

So while the literature considers a “normal” resting heart rate anywhere between 60-100 BPM, I consider a consistent resting heart rate of over 80 BPM to be elevated.  And by “consistent” I mean that when you measure your heart rate multiple times across a period of days or weeks it is over 80 BPM the majority of the time.  This doesn’t mean that everyone who has a consistent resting heart rate over 80 BPM has one of the conditions I’ll be mentioning in this post, as they might simply by physically unfit.  The reason for this is because a lower resting heart rate usually indicates a higher level of cardiovascular fitness.

How Do You Measure Your Resting Heart Rate?

When I had hyperthyroidism I took the herbs bugleweed and motherwort, and the way I knew these herbs were working was by monitoring my resting pulse rate (and of course eventually I did follow-up blood tests).  While I’m sure many people reading this know how to do this, others don’t, and so I figured I’d include a few videos demonstrating how to measure your resting pulse rate.  Of course you can also invest in an automated device that measures your resting heart rate.  There are some phone apps that do this too, although I don’t trust the accuracy of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAjnlDZH9H8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHHr8qNU9QY

Different Types of Tachycardia

I’d like to briefly mention three different types of tachycardia:

1. Atrial or Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT).  This involves an irregular heart rhythm (arrhythmia) that starts in the upper chambers of the heart.

2. Sinus Tachycardia.  Sinus tachycardia is a regular cardiac rhythm in which the heart beats faster than normal and results in an increase in cardiac output (1).  This is the type of tachycardia most commonly associated with hyperthyroidism.

3. Ventricular Tachycardia.  This involves an arrhythmia that starts in the lower chambers of the heart.

Causes of Tachycardia

Let’s go ahead and discuss some of the different causes of tachycardia:

Hyperthyroidism.  Although this isn’t the most common cause of tachycardia, I’m listing it first simply because this website focuses on helping people with thyroid and autoimmune thyroid conditions.  And most of my patients with hyperthyroidism have an elevated resting heart rate, although not everyone experiences a heart rate greater than 100 BPM.

Elevated cortisol levels.  This is another potential cause of an elevated resting heart rate, although once again, it’s uncommon for this to cause a heart rate greater than 100 BPM.  As a result, in the literature it’s not considered to be a common cause of tachycardia, but I put this towards the top because it’s another common reason why someone might have a resting heart rate between 80 to 100 BPM, although sometimes it can cause the resting heart rate to exceed 100 BPM.

Hypoglycemia.  I’ve written articles on hypoglycemia and thyroid health, and this can be a cause of tachycardia.

Dehydration.  I’m not sure if mild dehydration will result in tachycardia, but if someone has moderate to severe dehydration then in order to maintain cardiac output in the setting of intravascular depletion, heart rate will increase (2).

Hyperkalemia.  This is elevated potassium levels, and can be caused by renal failure, excessive exercise, metabolic acidosis, insulin deficiency, medication-induced, and increased intake of potassium (3).

Hypomagnesemia.  Low magnesium levels can also cause tachycardia in some cases.  And many people are deficient in magnesium.

Hypocalcemia.  Low calcium levels are another potential cause of tachycardia.

Infections.  This is another common cause of an elevated heart rate.  In the literature, sepsis is listed as a potential cause of tachycardia, but the infection doesn’t need to be life-threatening to cause an elevated resting heart rate.  In fact, if your heart rate seems to be normal during the day but becomes elevated at night while you’re sleeping, it very well might be caused by a chronic infection (although there can be other causes).

Anemia.  There are different types of anemia, including microcytic, normocytic, and macrocytic.  I’m not going to get into detail about the different types here, but just keep in mind that this condition can be easily diagnosed through a complete blood count, as a low hemoglobin or hematocrit is a sign of anemia.

Caffeine.  Of course many people drink coffee, but there are other sources of caffeine (i.e. green tea, chocolate), and it’s important to keep in mind that some people are slow metabolizers of caffeine, and this might make someone more likely to have an elevated resting heart rate.

Certain medications.  Some of the medications that can potentially cause tachycardia include Albuterol, amphetamines, antihistamines, Clozapine, Dobutamine, Ephedrine, levothyroxine, Theophylline, and tricyclic antidepressants.  Since my focus is on thyroid health I should highlight levothyroxine, which is synthetic thyroid hormone taken by people with hypothyroidism.  Any type of thyroid hormone replacement can result in tachycardia if the dosage is too high.

Pregnancy.  Being pregnant will result in many physiologic changes, including an increased resting heart rate, cardiac output, and vascular volume (4).

Hypoxia.  This occurs when the tissues do not receive the necessary amount of oxygen to support their metabolic demand.

Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS).  This is a potentially chronic debilitating condition involving the autonomic nervous system, and it is characterized by symptoms of lightheadedness, fatigue, palpitations, pre-syncope, sleep disturbances, cognitive impairment and brain fog in conjunction with an exaggerated increase in heart rate when upright, despite maintenance of a normal blood pressure (5).

Potential Consequences of Unmanaged Tachycardia

Unmanaged tachycardia can have numerous health consequences.  In some cases it can lead to myocardial ischemia, low blood pressure, low cardiac output, peripheral hypoperfusion (reduced amount of blood flow), tachycardia-mediated cardiomyopathy (TMC), cardiac arrest and even death (6).  The good news is that most of these conditions are partially or completely reversible, including TMC (6), although the goal should be to prevent these conditions from developing in the first place.

Management of Tachycardia:

Obviously the goal should be to address the underlying cause of the tachycardia.  But while doing this it can be important to take medication or herbs to manage the symptoms.  So for example, if someone has tachycardia caused by hyperthyroidism it’s important to do things to lower the resting heart rate while addressing the cause of the problem.  That being said, let’s look at some of the things that can be done to manage the tachycardia while the underlying cause is being addressed

1. Beta blockers.  Beta blockers work by binding to beta-adrenergic receptors, and this is how they get the name “beta” blockers.  These receptors play an important role in the regulation of heart function.  I’ve written a separate article on beta blockers that discusses how they work, the different types, and some common side effects.

2. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.  Although some of the research I did on the management of tachycardia mentioned ACE inhibitors, these are mainly used to help with high blood pressure.  Angiotensin II is a substance that causes the blood vessels to narrow and constrict, which can lead to high blood pressure.  ACE inhibitors work by preventing antiotensin I from converting into angiotensin II.

3. Antithyroid medication.  This of course is specific for those with hyperthyroidism, as it lowers the thyroid hormone levels, which in turn can result in a decrease in the resting heart rate.

4. Motherwort.  This herb is commonly used to decrease the cardiac symptoms associated with hyperthyroidism, although it can be used when someone has tachycardia due to other causes.  Although motherwort isn’t as potent as a prescription beta blocker, some sources show that this herb has a blocking effect on beta adrenergic receptors.

5. Hawthorn.  Like motherwort, this is another herb that can help to decrease the cardiac symptoms associated with hyperthyroidism.  According to the research, hawthorn doesn’t block the beta-adrenergic receptors (7) (8).

6. Bugleweed.  Just as is the case with antithyroid medication, bugleweed can lower the resting heart rate by lowering thyroid hormone levels.

Have You Experienced Tachycardia?

If you currently have tachycardia, or had it in the past due to hyperthyroidism or another health condition, please feel free to share your experience in the comments section below.  I’ll be happy to start, as when I was dealing with hyperthyroidism I had a resting heart rate that ranged between 90 and 110 BPM, and I used both bugleweed and motherwort to manage my symptoms while addressing the cause of my condition.

There is no shortage of books related to Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  In fact, if you visit Amazon and do a search for “Hashimoto’s, you’ll see that there are dozens of books related to this topic.  I’ve decided to create a post listing my top 4 book recommendations for those with Hashimoto’s, and I welcome you to share your top book recommendations in the comments below.

1. All books from Dr. Izabella Wentz.  Since Dr. Wentz has written three books related to Hashimoto’s it might have made more sense to title this blog post “6 Must Read Books for Those with Hashimoto’s” and to list them individually.  But I decided to group all three together, although if I was only able to recommend one of her books it would be her first one (Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Lifestyle Interventions for Finding and Treating the Root Cause), followed by her “Hashimoto’s Protocol” book.  Both of these are packed with valuable information, and everyone with Hashimoto’s should read these books (and based on the number of reviews she has received, it seems that most people with Hashimoto’s have read both of these books!).

2. Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms?  When My Lab Tests Are Normal by Dr. Datis Kharrazian.  This book was released in 2010, but most of the information is still relevant.  I’m sure some reading this are familiar with the relationship between Th1 and Th2-dominance and autoimmunity, and Dr. Kharrazian was the one who first taught me this.  I can’t say enough about Dr. Kharrazian’s brilliance.  I’m pretty sure he was one of the first practitioners who discussed the relationship between the brain and thyroid health, and if you want to learn even more about the brain you’ll definitely want to check out his book “Why Isn’t My Brain Working?: A Revolutionary Understanding of Brain Decline and Effective Strategies to Recover Your Brain’s Health”.   I have learned so much from Dr. Kharrazian over the last decade, and I would love to see an updated version of his thyroid-related book!

3. Hashimoto’s Triggers (by yours truly).  Obviously I’m going to be biased about my book, which I released in February of 2018.  But I want everyone to know that I didn’t want to release a book on Hashimoto’s just so I can say I had a book on the topic.  In fact, whereas in 2011 I felt like I rushed the release of the first edition of my book “Natural Treatment Solutions for Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease” (I spent more time on the 2^nd edition, which was released in 2013), with my Hashimoto’s Triggers book I probably took too much time to put it together, as initially the plan was to release it in 2015, but I just kept adding to it and finally released this massive 600+ page book in 2018.  So my goal wasn’t just to release another book on Hashimoto’s, as I wanted to put together the most comprehensive book on finding and removing the triggers associated with this condition.

4. The Paleo Approach by Sarah Ballantyne.  This book doesn’t focus on Hashimoto’s, but instead discusses the science behind the autoimmune Paleo (AIP) diet.  It’s an excellent book, and since AIP is a common diet people with Hashimoto’s follow I figure I’d include it in the list.  It’s worth mentioning that Sarah Ballantyne was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, although I’m pretty sure her diagnosis came after “The Paleo Approach” was released.  If you’re not interested in learning about the science behind the autoimmune Paleo diet, but are interested in autoimmune Paleo recipes, then I would check out Sarah Ballantyne’s “The Paleo Approach Cookbook”, and another great resource is “The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook: An Allergen-Free Approach to Managing Chronic Illness” by Mickey Trescott.

What Book Would You Recommend?

I’d love to hear what book you would recommend to those with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis?  Perhaps you agree with some of my choices in this blog post, but I’m sure there will be some people who have their own favorites.  Either way please post your recommendations in the comments below, and feel free to come up with your own top 4 or 5 list.  And for anyone who has read my book (Hashimoto’s Triggers) I’d love to hear what you thought of it.

I get a lot of questions about low dose naltrexone (LDN), and while I’ve written about this in the past, I figured I’d put together a quick “5 things to know” post, which includes a few resources for those who are interested in taking LDN.  LDN of course isn’t specific for those with thyroid autoimmunity, as it has been shown to help with other autoimmune conditions (i.e. multiple sclerosis), as well as fibromyalgia, complex-regional pain syndrome, and cancer.  The good news is that it’s readily available and relatively inexpensive, but as you’ll read, there are some potential downsides as well.

So let’s take a look at the five things people with Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s should know about LDN:

1. Low dose naltrexone acts on the immune system.  LDN, when taken in a daily dose of 0.5 to 4.5 mg, has the ability to modulate the immune system.  This could be of benefit to people with different types of autoimmune conditions, including Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis.  Most people with Graves’ disease are told to take antithyroid medication (or receive radioactive iodine), and many people with Hashimoto’s are told to take thyroid hormone replacement.  This doesn’t mean that these aren’t necessary, as the reason why antithyroid medication is commonly prescribed is because it is very effective in lowering thyroid hormone levels.  And of course many people with Hashimoto’s do need to take thyroid hormone replacement.

When LDN works well it can do wonders, as for those with Hashimoto’s it might allow them to stay off of thyroid hormone replacement (or to take a lower dosage), and for those with Graves’ disease it might allow them to avoid antithyroid medication (or to take a lower dosage).  The problem is that LDN isn’t effective in everyone who takes it, which is one reason why it’s not recommended initially.  This is especially true with Graves’ disease, as if someone has overt hyperthyroidism most endocrinologists would prefer for their patients to take a medication that has a greater likelihood of lowering thyroid hormone levels, even though antithyroid medication is much more likely to cause side effects than LDN.

2. LDN doesn’t address the cause of Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s.  Most people reading this probably know that LDN doesn’t address the underlying cause of the condition.  According to the triad of autoimmunity, in order for an autoimmune condition to develop you need the following three factors 1) a genetic predisposition, 2) an environmental trigger, and 3) a leaky gut.  Obviously there is nothing you can do to eliminate the genetic predisposition, but you can remove the trigger and heal the gut.  When someone takes LDN and it works well it might feel like the person is in remission, and the thyroid panel and thyroid antibodies might even normalize.  But in this situation, if someone were to stop taking the LDN then over time their lab markers would probably get out of range again.

Of course this doesn’t mean that you can’t take LDN while at the same time trying to address the cause of the problem.  Some wonder how they would be able to tell if the cause has been addressed if they’re taking LDN.  For example, if someone with Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s took LDN and their thyroid antibodies normalized due to the medication, and at the same time they took action to find and remove their triggers, how would they know if the underlying cause was addressed, or if the antibodies were normal solely due to taking LDN?  This admittedly could be tricky, and the only real way of knowing is for the person to eventually wean off of the LDN and see if the thyroid antibodies remain normal over time.

3. LDN can negatively affect sleep.  Sleep disturbances are one of the more common side effects of LDN.  Some people will also experience nightmares.  This can be a big problem, as a lot of people already have difficulty falling and/or staying asleep even without taking LDN.  Many times this will be resolved by taking LDN during the day (it’s commonly given at night), although this isn’t always the case.

4. Getting a prescription for LDN in the United States isn’t too difficult.  For those who choose to take LDN, while it would be great if you have a medical doctor who is willing to prescribe LDN, if not there are other cost-effective options.  One option is to visit the website www.ldnscience.org/ and search for a doctor in your area that prescribes LDN.  If you live in a different country you might also be able to find a local practitioner who is willing to prescribe LDN.  For those who live in the United States who can’t find a local practitioner who will prescribe LDN, you might want to check out the websites ldndirect.com and ldndoctor.com, as you can schedule a one-time phone consultation to speak with a practitioner who will prescribe LDN.

5. LDN probably isn’t a good first option for those with Graves’ disease.  Since some people don’t do well with antithyroid medication, you might wonder why those people with Graves’ disease shouldn’t consider taking LDN initially.  Although this is an option, the problem is that LDN doesn’t work on everyone, and if someone has elevated thyroid hormone levels and cardiac symptoms it is important to get the levels under control as soon as possible.  If LDN worked as well as antithyroid medication, or even antithyroid herbs such as bugleweed, then without question it would be a good first option to consider.

How about if someone absolutely doesn’t want to be on antithyroid medication, or if they took antithyroid medication and experienced negative side effects?  I usually recommend bugleweed for those who can’t or won’t take antithyroid medication, and this is the approach I took when I dealt with Graves’ disease.  This is just my approach, and the reason is because I find bugleweed to be more effective in managing the symptoms of hyperthyroidism when compared to LDN.  However, if someone is unable to tolerate antithyroid medication and if the bugleweed isn’t effective in managing their symptoms, then LDN should be considered, although there is also cholestyramine, which I discussed in a separate article.

Should You Take LDN?

Most of my patients with Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s don’t take LDN.  I can’t say that it’s something I commonly recommend, as many of my Graves’ disease patients take antithyroid agents (i.e. methimazole, bugleweed) while many of my patients with Hashimoto’s take thyroid hormone replacement.  But even if they’re not taking anything to manage their symptoms I can’t say that I usually advise my patients to take LDN, and the reason for this is because it’s not addressing the underlying cause, and at times it can make it challenging to know if someone is responding to the natural treatment protocol.

That being said, there are times when I’ll recommend LDN, and if someone is already taking LDN when they begin working with me I won’t tell them to stop taking it.  I should also add that I don’t only recommend LDN for the purpose of modulating the immune system in my Graves’ and Hashimoto’s patients, as LDN has other functions as well.  For example, sometimes I’ll recommend LDN to those who have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).  The reason for this is because LDN can act as a prokinetic, which can be important if someone has SIBO due to damage to the migrating motor complex of the small intestine.

But getting back to thyroid autoimmunity, and whether you should specifically take LDN, this of course is ultimately your decision.  If you have Graves’ disease and experience side effects when taking antithyroid medication, and if bugleweed isn’t effective in managing your symptoms, then perhaps you should consider taking LDN.  It might make more sense for those with Hashimoto’s to take LDN since it can prevent further damage to the thyroid gland from occurring while taking a natural treatment approach.  Then again, many people have the antibodies for both Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s, and so an argument can be made that anyone with elevated thyroid peroxidase (TPO) and/or anti-thyroglobulin antibodies should consider taking LDN.  But as I have already mentioned, besides LDN not addressing the cause of the problem, it also isn’t always effective in “calming down” the autoimmune response.

What’s Your Experience With Low Dose Naltrexone?

If you have Graves’ disease or Hashimoto’s and have taken LDN, please feel free to share your experience in the comments section below.  If you took LDN and it helped please let me know!  If you took it and didn’t notice any difference please let me know!  If you haven’t yet taken LDN but are thinking about doing so so please let me know!