Millions of people with Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis can benefit from a natural treatment protocol.  For many of these people, complete restoration of their health is a possibility.  Some people with an autoimmune thyroid disorder who follow a natural treatment protocol can’t completely recover, but will still receive some great benefits.

Unfortunately, most people with an autoimmune thyroid disorder will never even try natural treatment methods.  And of the small percentage that actually will attempt to use natural treatment methods to restore their health, many of these people won’t receive optimal results.  And in just about all of these cases, the primary reason why they won’t receive great results is due to a lack of compliance. In other words, most people don’t follow the recommendations of the natural doctor they consult with.

One reason for this is because many people who make the decision to begin a natural treatment protocol think that it just involves taking nutritional supplements and/or herbal remedies.  And while taking supplements and herbs can be an important part of the recovery process, it takes more than this to receive optimal benefits.  Believe me when I tell you that I wish restoring one’s health did involve just taking a few supplements, as it would make it much easier for people to comply.

If you’ve been reading some of the posts on this blog, then you probably realize that there are many different factors with regards to both restoring, and then maintaining one’s health.  Now to be honest, you don’t need to do everything 100% perfectly to receive good results.  On the other hand, those people that choose natural treatment methods thinking they only need to take supplements and can eat whatever they want, as well as neglect the other factors of health, are just wasting their time and money.

I know it’s not easy to be compliant, and I know because I personally was on such a protocol.  Some people think it’s easier for me because I’m a natural doctor, and perhaps to some extent this is true.  But you need to realize that like many people, I grew up eating junk food, and it was difficult to make these changes.  And it still can sometimes be a challenge to resist the temptations of certain foods, to sacrifice quality sleep and instead stay up late watch television (or in my case read), etc. So it can be a challenge to make such lifestyle changes.

The day I realized I had the “willpower” to make these changes came when I first consulted with a natural doctor while I was attending chiropractic school.  He put me on a natural protocol, which at the time included a purification program where I had to avoid all gluten foods.  During this time there was a seminar that a friend and I wanted to attend, which took place in Orlando.

My friend’s parents lived in Daytona, which is only about one hour from Orlando.  So we stayed there the night before the seminar, and my friend and his family decided to go out for pizza.  Being a  pizzaholic, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to resist eating a salad while everyone else ate one of my favorite foods.  It was without question extremely difficult for me, but I resisted the temptation.

The point I want to make is this: if you never tried to make these types of changes in your life, then the most difficult part is getting started.  And by the way, I don’t suggest that everyone who is on a natural treatment protocol immediately begin an extreme organic diet and stop eating everything you enjoy.  If you can eat really healthy right from the start of a natural treatment protocol then that’s great, but some people need to take “baby steps”.

But many people aren’t even willing to make small changes in their lifestyle.  Some will continue to eat junk food all of the time, will sacrifice quality sleep, won’t exercise, etc. For these people, there is just about no chance to restore their health to normal.  Just remember that this is not something we do to you.  You need to be proactive and take responsibility for your own health.  The bad news is that this can difficult to do, and does involve some discipline.  But the good news is that once you get started it becomes easier, and when you begin seeing the results you’ll wish you made these choices much sooner.

When using natural treatment methods for Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, you may wonder if such a treatment protocol can actually cure your condition, or will it just put it into a state of remission.  Some people  think of natural treatment methods as a “natural way” of managing the symptoms, and not actually doing anything for the disorder itself.  I can tell you from experience that a genuine natural treatment protocol should do more than cover up the symptoms.

But as for whether natural treatment methods can actually cure an autoimmune thyroid condition, you first must understand what the difference is between a cure and a state of remission.  Most of us are familiar with cancer being in remission, and we understand cancer in remission as not actually being cured, but is under control and in a “hidden” state.  In other words, someone who is in remission from a certain type of cancer still supposedly has the cancer, but the disease is not in its active form.

This situation actually applies to a friend of mine, who was diagnosed with a form of leukemia a number of years ago.  He took a new type of medication, and it not only controlled his symptoms, but over the last few years his leukemia has no longer been detectable on the blood tests.  Although the doctors won’t label him as being cured, he has been told that he is in a state of remission.  To put it another way, if he were to walk into another doctor’s office who didn’t know he was diagnosed with leukemia, they most likely wouldn’t be able to tell he had such a condition, as all of the tests would come out negative.

Let’s look at another example.  When someone has low back pain due to a pinched nerve and gets the problem resolved by a chiropractor, is that person cured?  Obviously this depends upon a number of different factors.  But even if they are in fact “cured”, one can’t argue that this person can have a “relapse” if they do the same things which originally caused the pinched nerve in the first place. So if the pinched nerve was caused by lifting something heavy combined with poor lifting techniques, there is a good chance the low back condition will “flare up” again if the person were to go back to this way of lifting.

When you think about it then, a cure really isn’t too much different from a state of remission.  I’m not suggesting that there aren’t conditions that can’t be completely cured.  But the fact is that most conditions have a cause, and this includes cancer, diabetes, neck and back pain, digestive problems, migraines, autoimmune thyroid disorders, etc.

How about genetics?  Genetics no doubt is a factor, but many times these conditions are caused by external factors. While genetics may make someone more susceptible to getting these conditions, often times these conditions can be prevented.  After all, twin studies show that if one identical twin has an autoimmune condition such as Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, the other twin only has a 30% chance of developing the same condition, even though they both have the same genetic markers for the condition.  However, when someone with one of these conditions is “cured” or goes into a state of remission, if they continue to live the same lifestyle they did before the condition originally developed, then there is an excellent chance that a relapse will occur.

I personally believe that if I lived the lifestyle that I do now I could have prevented Graves’ Disease from developing.  And while I would like to think that my condition is permanently cured, I believe if I went back to my previous lifestyle that there is a decent chance it would return.  So when someone asks me if natural treatment methods can permanently cure Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, the answer is not so simple.

Assuming the person with an autoimmune thyroid disorder is a candidate for natural treatment methods and it helps restore their health back to normal, if they go back to their previous lifestyle then there is a chance it will return.  This isn’t a guarantee, but I’d hate to deceive anybody and tell them that natural treatment methods will permanently cure their condition, because if you don’t maintain your health, then over time there is a good chance that the same factor, or perhaps a different factor will trigger the autoimmune response and cause a relapse to occur.  Or sometimes the same disorder won’t return, but the person will develop another chronic health condition.

I’m starting to sound like a broken record, and so I’ll wrap this up by saying that for many people, natural treatment methods can completely restore their health back to normal, and these people can MAINTAIN their state of health thereafter if they are willing to change their lifestyle while on the protocol, as well as after the protocol is completed.  This doesn’t mean you will need to live a perfect lifestyle, but you will need to continue to take responsibility for your health.  If you’re willing to do this then there is an excellent chance that you can restore your health back to normal and put your condition into a permanent state of remission.

In the last post I gave you the link to an article I wrote that discussed twelve tips to help you better manage the stress in your life. As I mentioned, if you have Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and are considering receiving natural treatment methods to help restore your health, then it is important that you effectively manage the stress in your life. If you can’t manage the stress then it will be difficult, if not impossible to restore your health back to normal.

While the tips I gave should help you better manage the stress in your life, I realize I only covered each one briefly, and that you might have some questions about some of the tips. As a result, what I’d like to do here is expand a little bit on the content to make sure I address some of the questions you might have and give you a better chance of effectively managing your stress. Of course if you have any questions that I don’t address here please feel free to ask me. You can either post your question on this blog (the preferred way so that others can benefit), or if you’d prefer, you can send me an email.

Question: With regards to drinking purified water, do you recommend distilled water, spring water, or water that has gone through reverse osmosis?

I think it’s fair to say that either of these choices is better than drinking tap water on a regular basis, assuming you’re getting it from a quality source. Although I used to have my own water distiller that I used for years, these days I almost always drink water that has been purified through reverse osmosis. Some say that distilled water is better because it removes all of the minerals, while some will argue that retaining some of the minerals is what makes reverse osmosis better. I personally think that either one is fine and is without question healthier than drinking tap water, which contains chlorine, fluoride, sometimes lead, and can potentially include other chemicals and contaminants that are usually filtered out with purified water.

Question: What types of natural household products would you recommend purchasing?

Obviously it can be expensive buying natural household products, although unlike buying organic food, keep in mind that you won’t be using up these products as quickly as one consumes food. In other words, buying natural laundry detergent to clean your clothes will cost you a few dollars more each month than purchasing a “regular” detergent, but it’s not as if you should need to buy this product a few times each week, or even a few times each month. Of course if you list all of the household and personal care products you use, this could add anywhere from $20 to $50 to your monthly bill, and sometimes more.

But what you need to realize is that many of these chemicals can create health problems down the road if you use them on a consistent basis. And while you can get most of these natural products at a health food store, I personally buy a lot of these products at Trader Joe’s, which has a lot of natural products at a reasonable price. So if you have one of these stores near you, I recommend checking them out.

Anyway, here is an incomplete list of household and personal care products that you might want to consider switching out:

• Any household cleaners (furniture, toilet, oven, etc.)
• Laundry detergent
• Shampoo and soap
• Moisturizers
• Toothpaste

Question: I’d like to begin eating healthier, but don’t know where to begin.  What advice can you give?

It’s definitely not easy to begin eating healthy if you’re used to eating junk food all of the time. I personally grew up eating regularly at fast food restaurants, drinking punch and soda all of the time, etc. And while I still don’t eat a perfect diet 100% of the time, overall I eat healthy. But this wasn’t something that I accomplished overnight, as while one can definitely go “cold turkey” and cut out all of the junk food and soft drinks, for some people it’s better to slowly incorporate healthy eating habits. For example, if you don’t eat any vegetables, rather than trying to force yourself to eat 3 to 5 servings each day, begin with one serving each day. And rather than switching to a 100% organic diet, perhaps you can begin by just eating organic chicken, and then over time add some other natural and organic foods into your diet.

Question: How can just having a positive attitude alone help manage my stress?

As I said previously, having a positive attitude alone probably won’t manage your stress. But we tend to underestimate the importance of keeping a good attitude. So I think it is one of the components of effectively managing stress, but you of course need to do some of the other things I recommended as well.

Question: I’d love to exercise on a regular basis, but even walking is a challenge. What should I do?

If this is due to lack of stamina, then you can obviously begin slowly, walking 5 to 10 minutes each day and then slowly increase your time (i.e. walk for one extra minute each day). If walking just for a few minutes is difficult due to extreme fatigue and/or pain, then I recommend you consult with a natural doctor, as it’s obvious that a conventional medical protocol isn’t working for you. I’m not suggesting that you stop following the advice of you medical doctor, but many simply don’t know how to effectively treat cases of chronic fatigue. Many will simply prescribe a different drug for each symptom you have, until you reach the point where you’re taking 10 to 15 different medications (or more).

Question: There is no way I can get 8 hours of sleep each night. And even on the rare instances where I do, I still feel tired.  What do you recommend?

Once again, I’m going to be biased here and recommend that if you have sleeping difficulties that have not been resolved by your medical doctor, that you consult with a natural doctor. As I mentioned before, most doctors will try to fix each symptom with a different prescription drug. So for someone who has difficulty sleeping, they’ll recommend medication, rather than try to get to the cause of the problem. Many people who have sleeping difficulties have adrenal issues that are affecting their blood sugar levels, which in turn affects their cortisol levels. Until these issues are addressed you most likely won’t be able to get quality sleep each night.

Question: How can massage therapy or chiropractic help manage my stress? And how about acupuncture?

Being a chiropractor and someone who also believes in massage therapy, I can easily dedicate an entire post to this question alone. I can’t possibly talk about all of the benefits of chiropractic and massage therapy, but both have been proven to help relieve stress. Of course part of this depends on the doctor you choose, as not all chiropractors practice alike, and the same holds true with massage therapists. For example, if you go to a massage therapist that specializes in deep tissue work, and you receive a deep tissue massage, then you very well might not find this to be relaxing. This doesn’t mean you won’t benefit from it, but the actual session itself might not be relaxing., and might even be uncomfortable On the other hand, you can also choose to schedule a massage therapy session where you receive a “relaxation” massage, and no deep tissue work. Similarly, different chiropractors have different techniques as well, which is why it’s important to do a little bit of research before choosing any type of healthcare professional.

As for acupuncture, I definitely think that it can also help you manage stress. And like chiropractic and massage therapy, there are many other benefits of acupuncture as well in addition to stress management. I’m sure that while some people reading this information have had good experiences with some of these alternative healthcare professionals, some might have not had a positive experience. All I can say is that don’t give up on chiropractic, massage therapy, acupuncture, or anything other alternative treatment just because of a single bad experience. After all, if you went to a dentist you didn’t like you probably wouldn’t stop going to one altogether, but if you’re like most people would just choose a different dentist.

Once again, I realize that there might be other questions you might have. If so, please don’t hesitate to ask them. Anyway, I hope you found the information I have given on stress management to be valuable. I originally was planning to only write a single post about it, but there is so much to write about that I ended up writing three separate posts and writing an article on the topic. I promise that next week I’ll move onto a completely different topic!

I just created an article that gives 12 stress management tips that can help restore your health back to normal.  I’ve included the link below, and upon opening this you’ll realize that this article is targeted towards people with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.  However, if you suffer from Graves’ Disease then just about all of these steps will also apply to you to.

So whether you have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis or Graves’ Disease, you should find this information valuable:

Click Here to read about these stress management tips

Many people who become diagnosed with Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis wonder how they developed this condition. I’m a good example, as when I was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, I considered myself to be in good health. It wasn’t until one day when I decided to randomly check my blood pressure and pulse, and discovered that my pulse was at 90 beats per minute that I realized something was wrong (normally it would read in the mid 60s). This is what eventually led to me seeing a general medical practitioner, and eventually an endocrinologist before being diagnosed.

Stress is blamed on a lot of different conditions, so I realize it’s easy to simply tell someone that their autoimmune disorder might have been caused by stress. And while stress isn’t necessarily the culprit in all cases of Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, the fact remains that our bodies were not designed to handle chronic stress. So when I talk about “chronic” stress, I don’t mean dealing with stress for a few days, or even a few weeks, although one can argue that dealing with stress for a few days or weeks can also be considered “chronic”.

The main problem is that there are millions of people that deal with chronic stress for months, and even years. I’m not suggesting that it’s possible to live a stress-free life, because you and I both know that there is absolutely no chance of that happening. But the fact remains that most of us can do a much better job of managing the stress in our lives. And the truth is that most of us really don’t make a solid effort to manage stress.

I too was guilty of this, as I figured that working out regularly and eating healthy would be enough to “relieve” my stress. In some cases this is true, but before being diagnosed with Graves’ Disease there was a good deal of stress in my life, more so than in the past. So while exercising and eating well did help to some extent in managing my stress, going to the gym 3 or 4 times each week and eating well just wasn’t enough, as I needed to incorporate other stress management factors besides exercising.

In the next post I’m going to talk more about some specific steps you can take to manage stress, but today I just wanted to lay the foundation and make you realize that chronic stress really can have a powerful effect on the body. Over a period of time, chronic stress can compromise the immune system, which obviously will make a person more susceptible to autoimmune conditions such as Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.

Chronic stress can also have a huge effect on the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands secrete cortisol in response to stress. In acute stress situations this is fine, but with chronic stress the cortisol levels can remain elevated, which eventually can lead to adrenal fatigue.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone with chronic stress will develop a chronic fatigue situation, as when I first had my adrenals tested I had low cortisol levels in the morning and early afternoon, but I didn’t have chronic fatigue. Of course over time if my adrenal glands weren’t properly addressed then this could have led to a chronic fatigue situation.

In summary, many people don’t do anything to try to manage stress because they feel that chronic stress is “normal”. And while chronic stress might be the “norm” in today’s society, this doesn’t mean that our bodies have adapted to handle it any better than fifty years ago, when chronic stress wasn’t as prominent as it is now. This is yet another area where you need to be proactive, as if you suffer from chronic stress, but don’t do anything to help manage your stress better and thus modify the effects that it has on your body, then you will never fully recover from your condition.

For those people that have Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, many endocrinologists focus their efforts on treating the thyroid gland.  For Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, which involves an underproduction of thyroid hormone, they will typically recommend synthetic thyroid hormone.  With Graves’ Disease, which involves an overproduction of thyroid hormone, most medical doctors will prescribe a medication such as Methimazole, or sometimes use more extreme treatment measures such as radioactive iodine to slow down or completely stop the thyrodi gland from producing thyroid hormone.

While you don’t want to neglect the thyroid gland, at the same time you don’t want to ignore other areas of the body that might be causing the thyroid gland to malfunction in the first place.  After all, just because the thyroid gland is affected doesn’t necessarily mean that it is the root cause of the problem.

This is why when choosing a natural treatment protocol for your autoimmune thyroid disorder, the following three bodily components will almost always be addressed by a competent natural doctor:

1. The Immune System.  I discussed this in detail in a couple of previous posts, as addressing the immune system often times should be the first line of action when treating an autoimmune thyroid disorder.  The reason for this is because often times the weakened immune system is what actually caused the condition to develop in the first place.  Plus, people with Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis are more likely to develop other autoimmune disorders in the future, and a big reason for this is because most medical doctors don’t do much to help strengthen the patient’s immune system.

2. The Adrenal Glands.  The adrenals are yet another area that are neglected when diagnosing and treating both Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis.  Many times the adrenal glands should be addressed before the immune system or the thyroid gland.  Just like most endocrinologists won’t do much to help strengthen the patient’s immune system, they usually won’t pay any attention to the adrenal glands either.  Doing so is easy and relatively inexpensive, and can provide a lot of valuable information that can do wonders for the patient’s recovery. 

3. The Thyroid Gland.  Of course we can’t forget about treating the thyroid gland itself, can we?  The funny thing is that often times strengthening the immune system and addressing the adrenals will help restore the function of the thyroid gland, without directly addressing the thyroid gland itself.  However, this isn’t always the case, and in many cases nutritional support will need to be aimed directly at the thyroid gland in order to restore health.  Once again, everyone is different, and therefore will need to be on different natural treatment protocols.

Although these are the primary bodily components that will usually be looked at, this doesn’t mean that other areas can’t be contributing to your condition, or even directly causing it.  For example, in some people with Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, the gastrointestinal system can be the root cause of the problem.  So if these three primary areas I mentioned above are addressed and there isn’t much improvement in the patient, then a competent natural doctor will begin to look at other areas in the body. In some cases the GI tract will need to be addressed before these three bodily components.

Fortunately, with most people that have an autoimmune thyroid disorder, addressing these three bodily components is usually enough to help restore the patient’s health to normal, assuming this is possible of course.  In some patients complete recovery just isn’t possible, although many who can’t completely recover will still benefit greatly from receiving natural treatment methods.

So if you decide to consult with a natural endocrine doctor in the future, you’ll want to make sure they evaluate all three of these bodily components.  If all they do is address the thyroid gland itself, which is what most endocrine doctors do (even many of the holistic doctors), you might want to consider switching doctors, or at least get a second opinion before you begin treatment.

Last week I spoke about how most medical doctors neglect the immune system with patients who have Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and Graves’ Disease.  Considering that these are both autoimmune thyroid disorders, I find this to be mind blowing.  And since a weakened immune system can actually cause a condition such as Hashimoto’s or Graves’, if you want any chance of restoring your health back to normal then it is essential to strengthen the immune system component before you can directly address the thyroid gland.

I concluded last week’s post by discussing that in order to strengthen your immune system, it is important to be aware of some of the common factors that can cause it to become weakened, thus leading to your autoimmune thyroid disorder.  You’ll notice that these tie in with the five factors of health I spoke about in a previous post, and so by now you should begin understanding why your condition might have developed, and what you can do restore your health back to normal.

So here are the three primary factors that can lead to a weakened immune system:

1.    Chronic stress. Many people are in a state of chronic stress, which our bodies were not designed to handle.  This chronic stress can and usually will weaken the immune system and adrenals.  And while a competent natural doctor will usually address these areas before focusing on the thyroid gland itself, it is just as important to help the person manage their stress in order to aid in their recovery.  While there is no way you will ever completely eliminate stress from your life, chances are you can do a much better job of coping with it, which will do wonders when trying to strengthen your immune system.

There are complete books written on stress management, and it would obviously be difficult to discuss this in detail in a single post.  However, I will be expanding upon this topic in future posts, and will also give you some resources you can check out to help you better manage the stress in your life.  While I don’t consider myself an expert on stress management by any means, managing my stress was a big factor in restoring my health after being diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, and I will share with you some of the things I personally did to help cope with stress.

2.    Poor nutrition. Just as is the case with stress management, I can easily dedicate a few separate posts just talking about proper nutrition, so I’ll make it brief here.  I do go into more detail about this subject in my free guide that I offer on this website, so if you haven’t received your free copy then I highly recommend you get it, as it consists of more than 40 pages of valuable content.

In any case, poor nutrition without question can weaken your immune system.  And while taking quality nutritional supplements and/or herbal remedies can definitely help strengthen your immune system, supplements are no substitute for eating well.  Just about everyone needs to eat better, but in addition to eating well, most will need to take some quality supplements so they can get the nutrients they aren’t getting from their food.  Because as you probably know, most people can’t get all of the nutrients from the foods they eat, which is why everyone should at least take quality multi-mineral vitamin and fatty acid supplements each day.

3.    Sleep deprivation. This of course can go either way, as sometimes a person has no problems getting quality sleep until they acquire an autoimmune thyroid disorder.  Then once they have the autoimmune disorder they begin having sleeping difficulties.  On the other hand, some people who are healthy will neglect sleep for a period of months, or even years, which can eventually lead to health problems.

For example, some people who work a typical 8 to 5 shift will stay up late each night, and will end up averaging only 5 or 6 hours sleep on a nightly basis.  Over time, this can definitely have a negative impact on their immune system.  On the other hand, people that work odd shifts that affect their sleep patterns can also be affected.  Then there are people with an entrepreneurial background who spend countless hours on their business, getting up early in the morning and going to sleep late.  This routine, combined with the stress of owning one’s business, will almost definitely have a profound impact on their immune system.

Once again these aren’t the only factors that can lead to a weakened immune system, as for examples, frequent exposure to certain environmental toxins can compromise your immune system.  So for example, someone can eat well, get ample sleep, and do a great job of managing stress, yet can still acquire a weakened immune system if they use household cleaners and other products that emit dangerous chemicals.  There are other types of environmental toxins as well, and while it is just about impossible to avoid them completely, most people can do a better job of reducing their exposure to such toxins.

In summary, if you have been diagnosed with an autoimmune thyroid condition, make sure you do what is necessary to strengthen your immune system.  You can of course try speaking with your endocrinologist or general practitioner about how to go about doing this, but as you know, most medical doctors don’t receive adequate training in preventative care, which is why you’ll see me constantly recommend that people with these conditions speak with a competent natural doctor.

In the next post I plan on talking about the 3 main bodily components anyone with an autoimmune disorder will want to address.

I wasn’t planning on posting today, as my next post was going to be this Monday and discussing the three primary factors that can lead to a weakened immune system.  But while checking out the sports news online the other day, I saw that a major league baseball player (Jose Reyes of the New York Mets) was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid.  What surprised me while reading this was that his medical doctor recommended conservative treatment, as he just recommended that he not exert himself and change his diet, and didn’t recommend any medications or treatment with radioactive iodine.

Click Here to read this article

While he wasn’t diagnosed with a serious condition such as Graves’ Disease, keep in mind that there have been many people who have been diagnosed with a mild case of hyperthyroidism and still were prescribed a drug like Methimazole, or even radioactive iodine.  In fact, recently I was consulting with someone who a number of years back was diagnosed with a mild case of hyperthyroidism, as her levels weren’t too off and she didn’t have any symptoms whatsoever.  But rather than just recommend rest and a change in diet like Jose Reyes’ doctor, her medical doctor gave her three different options:

1)    Treatment with prescription drugs
2)    Treatment with radioactive iodine
3)    Surgery to remove the thyroid gland

Once again, she was not experiencing any symptoms, and yet in addition to the prescription drugs option (which I could understand him recommending) he gave her some harsh treatment options that would either damage or completely remove her thyroid gland.   Not knowing anything about hyperthyroidism, she asked the doctor which option he would choose in her situation, and he told her he would choose treatment with radioactive iodine.  While it’s better than the third option, it’s still an extreme form of treatment for someone who had a mild case of hyperthyroidism with no symptoms.

So she received the radioactive iodine treatment, and to no surprise, became hypothyroid and took synthetic thyroid hormone daily, which she has been on for eight years so far.  So it made me happy to see that this baseball player had a doctor who was somewhat conservative…at least for the time being.  This doesn’t mean that I fully agree with the recommendations of his medical doctor, as it was recommended that this person avoid iodine (no seafood), as many doctors mistakenly think that every single person who has a thyroid gland disorder should avoid iodine, without even testing the patient to see whether or not they are iodine deficient, which many people with thyroid disorders are.

Of course Graves’ Disease is more serious than just a mild case of hyperthyroidism, and as a result it takes more than just resting and changing your diet to restore the health of the person with this autoimmune thyroid disorder.  I’m curious as to how Jose Reyes’ overactive thyroid condition responds, and hope he has a quick recovery.  While the article discusses how no drugs can help with his current condition, if he still has positive blood tests and is symptomatic in a couple of months I can’t imagine them continuing to take a “wait and see” approach.  But for the time being I must give some credit to his doctor for taking the conservative approach.  I wish more medical doctors were just as conservative with similar cases.

For those with an autoimmune disorder such as Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, it is essential to address the immune system component before addressing the thyroid gland itself.  While many people think of Graves’ and Hashimoto’s as being thyroid disorders, the truth is that they are both serious autoimmune conditions.  It puzzles me why most medical doctors neglect the immune system component, and focus primarily on the thyroid gland.

After all, research has shown that people who have autoimmune disorders such as Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis are more likely to acquire additional autoimmune conditions in the future, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus.  And when you think about it, this shouldn’t be a surprise, as if most endocrinologists don’t do anything to help strengthen the immune system of their patients, then their immune systems will of course remain in a weakened state, and they will therefore be susceptible to other autoimmune conditions.

For example, when I was initially diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, the endocrinologist I consulted with recommended that I take Methimazole, along with a beta blocker.  And even though I didn’t take the medication, I respected the fact that she didn’t recommend that I treat my condition with radioactive iodine (which I of course would have rejected as well).  But besides recommending the prescription drugs, she didn’t recommend anything else that could help strengthen my immune system and thus prevent future conditions from developing.

In fact, she didn’t talk about any of the five factors I addressed in the previous post.  On the case history forms of most endocrinologists, they will ask if you have problems sleeping, and ample sleep is one of the factors I discussed that is necessary to restore your health.  For those who are having sleeping difficulties, in most cases they will simply prescribe another type of drug, which would be fine if that was the only solution to help someone get quality sleep each night.

In summary, the goal of most medical doctors is to control your symptoms, and not necessarily address the cause of your condition.  And don’t get me wrong, as symptomatic relief is important, and sometimes taking prescription drugs is necessary.  This is especially true in many cases of Graves’ Disease, as if a person has a very high pulse rate, then they might need to take a beta blocker for awhile to help control the symptoms, or else the condition can become life threatening.

Another thing to consider is that a weakened immune system can sometimes cause your condition to develop in the first place.  So for a person who has a compromised immune system and over time develops Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, giving them synthetic or natural thyroid hormone without addressing the immune system component is ludicrous.  The adrenals are another area that usually should be addressed before the thyroid gland, yet they are also commonly neglected by most endocrinologists.  I’ll talk more about the adrenal glands in future blog posts.

In order to strengthen your immune system, you should be aware of some of the factors that can lead to it becoming weakened in the first place.  And while there are a number of different factors that can lead to a weakened immune system, there are three primary ones that I will be discussing in the next post.

Many people with Graves’ Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis don’t really have a good understanding as to what health really is.  For example, some people with autoimmune thyroid disorders think that in order to restore their health back to normal, all they need to do is visit their local health food store and take some nutritional supplements.  This of course isn’t specific to people with Graves’ and Hashimoto’s, as many others with different conditions think that taking one or more types of nutritional supplements and/or herbal remedies can “cure” their condition.

The truth is, when it comes to restoring the health of someone with Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, there are five primary factors that are essential to their recovery:

Factor # 1: The Right Attitude. While having a positive attitude by itself won’t restore your health back to normal, a good attitude is an important component of the recovery process.  While it is normal to be skeptical when you have dealt with your condition for many months or years, the odds of restoring the natural function of your thyroid gland will be much greater if you have a positive attitude.

Factor # 2: Proper Nutrition. Once again, proper nutrition isn’t just about consuming supplements and herbal remedies.  Ideally we should obtain all of the necessary nutrients from what we eat, but since most people don’t eat well on a consistent basis, it is usually necessary for people with autoimmune thyroid disorders to incorporate nutritional supplements into a natural program.  Any competent natural doctor will also do their best to encourage a person with Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis to eat healthier.

Factor # 3: Getting Ample Sleep. Out of the millions of people who suffer with autoimmune thyroid disorders, many don’t get enough sleep.  Sometimes this isn’t completely under their control, as they might try to get at least eight hours sleep per night, but might have difficulty falling to sleep and/or wake up during the night without being able to fall back to sleep.  Others have no problem falling asleep and can sleep through the night, but still don’t get what’s considered “quality” sleep each night.  Often times the adrenals will play a huge role in causing sleeping difficulties, which is why a competent natural doctor will evaluate the adrenal glands before they administer any treatment.

Factor # 4: Regular Exercise. While exercise is another important factor when it comes to one’s health, one problem is that some people don’t have the energy to exercise.  This is especially true for many people with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, although it holds true for some people with Graves’ Disease as well.  If you have the energy to walk for at least 20 minutes each day while in the beginning phases of your natural treatment program, then that’s great.  If not, then you might need to wait until the treatment methods begin to take effect before you can begin exercising.

Factor # 5: Managing Stress. Stress is a huge factor in people with autoimmune thyroid disorders.  In fact, stress can be a contributing factor, or in some cases can even cause these conditions.  I personally believe that stress was a big factor with regards to my condition, as I considered myself to be in good health, and was shocked when I was diagnosed with Graves’ Disease.  But at the time I was diagnosed I did have a good amount of stress, and had been dealing with a lot of stress for awhile before becoming symptomatic.  And while I exercised regularly, slept well, tried to keep a positive attitude, and ate a somewhat healthy diet, I must admit that I didn’t do a great job when it came to managing stress.

So these are some of the main factors when it comes to restoring one’s health.  I expand upon these factors in my free guide, and will also discuss them more in future blog posts, as well as provide other valuable information about natural endocrine health.