Raw and Thyroid

[AliCat]

I know this issue has been talked about a little before but I wanted your advice on a personal situation....

I see an acupuncturist 2x a week for chronic back issues. He has supported me 100% with my raw journey. Lately though my thyroid is going wacky. I currently take .88mcg of synthyroid. I have tons of symptoms I wont bore you with but when I discussed the issue of raw with my acupuncturist and if it had any effect on my wacky thyroid and he said it was a possibility. He said things about the ynig and yang in chinese medicine and that especially in winter I might want to incorporate some hot foods into my diet...that the "inner fire" will be put out with too much cold. Also that raw is alkaline and maybe my body need just a tad bit less. He suggested slightly d=steaming some veggies of eating a little hot quinoa with each meal.

I was hoping to get your thoughts :)

[Nix]

My experience is that if you bulk up on thyroid supporting foods such as dulse and kelp that you should not have to adjust with warm foods. He (acupuncturist) comes from quite a different school of thought and like others in his profession (I used to date a chiropractor/acupunturist), while they have great ideas, they come from the world of cooked foods. You might use warming herbs and veggies to produce "heat" if truly that is what you really need, depending on your personal philosophy on these things. Hot peppers, onions, garlic, ginger and such are all foods that "heat" the system. Lets stay away from the "excitotoxins" discussion for the moment.
I have a good friend who has advised many people who have had thyroid issues in the past, and I believe, getting some who have retained their thyroid off synthroid altogether. I don't know your personal experience. Her name is Teresa and she works at Campbells Nutrition South in Des Moines, IA (zip 50309 area code 515). I know if you wanted to call there and chat with her she would talk with you about what she recommends, she is a health coach. If you look up the number and do call (she is there most days except Monday from 9-6 or so) tell her Nix and Mary sent you and I know she will want to help. She is a raw foodist too, but I know she has mentioned her own issues with the feeling that eating raw is cooling as well. But her take on the thyroid is totally different than your acupuncturist's so a new viewpoint may be helpful.
Best of luck,
Nix

[littleangelbear]

My acupuncturist has said the same thing to me about eating things to warm up the body.

But...You can increase your body heat via yoga or other movement practices :)

Also, you can have some warmed tea (not over 110F) at mealtimes...I know the tea can be considered cooked, but you can use some warm water, raw honey or sweetener and ginger...that'll get your chi fired up :)

BTW, I also have low thyroid...I take Armour which is derived from pork/pig LOL, so I'm not 100 percent vegan, but I am 95-100 percent raw :)

[honeybee joy]

Ginger, root veggies, and greens are warming foods. Someone on here said it, Funny this came up, because it is still on the post-it note that I wrote it on.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Just my personal experience.

I was freezing all the time when taking Synthroid, along with 20+ other symptoms. I switched to Armour Thyroid, my body warmed up and my other symptoms all went away in 10 days.

Since eating high raw (still trying to get to 100% and stay) my thyroid meds have been cut back 6 times. I find even on those days that I'm 100% raw, I don't get cold, and any "flare ups" of my former symptoms are totally gone when I'm all raw.

<>< Helen of Tennessee
My story: http://www.shazzie.com/raw/transformation/helen.shtml

[tvillemom]

Helen, I just read your story on Shazzie's website....what an inspiration you are! I think it's wonderful that you found raw foods!
Wendi

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Thanks Wendi :)

I'm VERY happy that I found Raw Foods too :D It has totally changed my life!

Since my last update on the website my meds were cut back again and I lost a few more pounds and also earned another degree (3rd). Yep . . . Glad I found RAW FOODS and boards like this one!!!!

[Frecs]

I've been 100% raw vegan for almost 9 months now. My thyroid medicatoin has not changed dosage one bit. :confused: I didn't have problems with excessive coldness before going raw, but man I get cold easy! This was the first summer I actually enjoyed the North Carolina heat! I'm not at home to look but I think I take levothyroid????

I would think that warming the body would be more a matter of what foods one eats rather than the temperature of the food -- to warm the body one would want spicy foods....at least that is what makes sense to me....

[pookafey]

I have hashimoto's disease and I am new to the raw thing and hope to see a change to. I am currently on synthroid and hope to be able to eventually get off of it. I would have to agree with the exercise and teas so far. I find myself getting cold easily and tea seems to help.

[Lay-Lay]

My thyroid diseases seemed to almost immediately transform upon going raw. I am no longer on ANY thyroid medicines. YIPPEEEE!

[AliCat]

Nix - I honestly cant bring myself to eat dulse or kelp. I just cant. I dont like seaweed either. maybe one day soon ;) Thank you for your friends info. Im not sure I'll call...Im a bit phone phobic (I know - its silly - Im trying it fix that). I agree about the warming foods. I just dont know how to incorporate the spices into a salad?

littleangelbear - I have a very bad back ondition and I cannot do yoga. I am sad about that cause I KNOW it would help me. I love the idea of the tea though

I have to find out about this ARMOUR for thyroid. Anyone have a good informational website?

I just had my check with the DR. I will let you all know what the tests says.

What symptoms did you all have from your underactive thyroid.

Also, I have hachimotos/hypothyroid. I was under the impression that hachimotos IS hypothyroid. I guess Im wrong...what is the difference? I thought hachimotos was that the immune system didnt recognize the thyroid as something that that belonged there so it attacks and "kills" it. Then the thyroid starts to stop functioning thus the hypothyroid. Am I wrong?

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi AliCat,

Here are some good articles to start reading to understand the difference between hypothyroidism and hashimotothyroiditis. Also articles on Armour Thyroid. Synthroid only contains T4, where as Armour Thyroid contains T4,T3,T2,T1T0 and something else, which I've forgotten.

Hashimoto vs. Hypothyroidism
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa030802a.htm

How To Know If Your Thyroid Is Working Properly With Blood Tests (FT3 & FT4) - Dr. Joseph Mercola
http://www.mercola.com/article/hypothyroid/diagnosis.htm

An Interview with John Dommisse, MD, FRCP (C) by Mary J. Shomon
http://thyroid.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.thyroid%2Dinfo.com/articles/dommisse.htm

Dr. John Dommisse’s Publication Addresses Optimal Treatment for Hypothyroidism
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa110300a.htm

Gail’s Thyroid Tips – T3 & T4
http://personal.jax.bellsouth.net/w/u/wurmstei/

Hashimoto vs. Hypothyroidism
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa030802a.htm

[Veganforlife]

Not sure if anyone is aware, but:

Armour® Thyroid is made from desiccated (dried) pork thyroid glands. The amount of thyroid hormone present in the thyroid gland may vary from animal to animal.
This came off their web site...

[Nix]

Nix - I honestly cant bring myself to eat dulse or kelp. I just cant. I dont like seaweed either. maybe one day soon ;) Thank you for your friends info. Im not sure I'll call...Im a bit phone phobic (I know - its silly - Im trying it fix that). I agree about the warming foods. I just dont know how to incorporate the spices into a salad?


I understand about not thinking you can eat it (dulse). I have gotten my partner to eat it in the form of Dulse Flakes on salad. I believe you can get veggie capsules as well of different sea veggies to supplement. As for how to put the herbs and spices on a salad, we make homemade salsa with all of them in there and WOW is it awsome...and a great way to get these things into your system. Otherwise veggie pate with it in there would be fab.
I understand if you don't want to call, but if you change your mind you will know someone with some good info to call.
Nix

[Bechtel]

I have been high raw for 3 years and my thyroid did not worked. Last 3 month I have started to take Armour. Still adjusting doses (currently 90 mg). I am not cold anymore. Raw diet - is a great way to improve your health. But sometimes body needs a little help from outside ,-))). I will revise my diet more toward veganism and hopefully I will have Helen's result in few years.
Thanks Helen for your support.
Michael

[AliCat]

OK HELEN!!!!!! I LOVE YOU!!! I love the article from Gail! I was diagnosed 3 years ago with hachimotos but I have a feeling I had it longer. I am only 1/2 way through the article but it ALL makes sense so far... this confuses me though:

So if you are taking 100 mcg of synthroid daily, perhaps you should switch to 2 grains of Armour and 50 mcg Synthroid. Perhaps you’ll need 2.5 grains Armour and 25 mcg synthroid. Or maybe YOUR body will need only 1.5 Armour and 75 mcg synthroid. Mine needs 3 grains of Armour and 25 mcg of synthroid. Everyone will need a different amount depending upon how long she had untreated hypothyroidism and how resistant her cells have become to T3, etc. The dose will vary between individuals, but this is probably the best combination of medications for most of us and is the most likely to make us feel good (and ideally, you won’t be given Synthroid at all; they’ll give you Unithroid instead since synthroid is so unstable. I am using the term "synthroid" to refer to any pure levothyroxine product).

How long did it take to figure your levels out. How receptive was your Doc to adding the Armour to your treatment.

This is exciting to me cause I have lived with back issues for so long and I alwasy felt like I ate so well and coudl never lose weight!

I cant explain how happy I am right now!!!!

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi AliCat,

It may sound confusing, but it really isn't. When you have your bloodwork done, your FREE T3 and FREE T4 levels should be in the upper 1/3 to 1/4 of the normal range. A pig's T4/T3 ratio is different than a human's T/4 and T/3 ratio, so when you take it, your T3 will probably be in the normal range, but your T4 won't. So you'll have to add some T4 to bring it up without your T3 going too high. My doctor tested me every 6 weeks or so and it took about 3 months for my levels to normalized. My meds have been cut back so much that I now only take 3/4 grains of Armour (down from 2 grains) and no more Levoxyl. Won't be long until I'm off of it.

My doctor never prescribed Armour before. But when I was on Synthroid, with "normal" test results, yet suffered about 25 symptoms, so severe I planned my suicide, I had to do some heavy researching. I found a Broda O. Barnes doctor, out of state, went to him and in 10 days I was symptom free!!! I went back to my family doctor and he about fell off his chair and wanted to know what I did. So I shared Dr. Dommissee's protocol (Armour plus Levoxyl) and my doctor changed his protocol in treating all his thyroid patients. He told me that 100% of his thyroid patients had improvement since then.

Armour Thyroid is from a pig. They do make a synthetic T4/T3 med, but I have never tried it. 5 years ago I was eating meat twice a day. I'm down to just a teeny tiny speck of pig thyroid now and haven't eaten "meat" in 4 years now. As soon as I wean off the Armour Thryoid, then I'll be totally meat free. My thyroid pills are very small and most of it is filler. But to go from not being able to walk 200 yards to my mail box, and from running to the E.R. from severe headaches. And from having to sleep with pillows between my legs due to the pain of one leg touching the other (fibromyalgia) to feeling 100% and back into my matial arts, I'll continue to take the Armour until I wean off of it. And I'm almost there!!!!

Armour Thyroid is FDA approved and stable. It was approved long before the synthetic Synthroid was and has had fewer recalls.

I do want to add . . . I was on the thyroid meds before I ever heard of eating raw! Had I known how my body could repair itself with eating raw foods, before I got so sick and on meds, I know I would have never had to resort to the meds . . . EATING RAW is the best way to go!!!!

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Frecs,

I'm so sorry that in 9 months of being vegan raw that you have not seen improvements in your thyroid. I was wondering if you were eating goitrogens types of foods, like cabbage, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, kohlrabi, turnips, radish, mustard, rutabagas, etc. I know this could affect your thyroid.

Also if you have other health issues, your body could be dealing with that and eventually your thyroid will come around. Since going all raw vegan, what improvements have you seen? Maybe you could post what you normally eat during the day.

I found at 50% raw I didn't see any changes in my body or my meds being cut back. But once I reached 75% raw, all kinds of changes started to happen. Now for me to see any changes I have to be 90 to 100% raw. My meds have been cut back from 2 grains Armour Thyroid to 3/4 Armour Thyroid and my Levoxyl from 77.5mcg to off of it totally. So I'm almost there. If I could get to 100% and stay there, I know I can get off of the meds. It has taken me about 4 or 5 years to get to this point due to falling off the wagon so much, but I can see I'm continuely getting better and better . . . it's just taking a while :)

************************************************

Hi Michael,

You're welcome for any support I can give. I look forward to hearing from you as you continue down your path of raw foods and to watch you wean off your meds too :) I know many people who have succeeded in weaning off their meds via the raw diet has inspired me to continue my journey!

[AliCat]

Helen - I cant thank you enough for this info. Im PRAYING my Dr will listen to what I have to say and treat me accordingly. Hes a GREAT doc but something in me thinks that if he knew about ARMOUR he would have used it already. If he knows about it and wont use it then Im gonna have to find me another Dr. :( SO far Ive been through 5 Endochronologists!! Ive already FWD this info to my mom and best friend who are also also hachimotos. I also still have symptoms (dry skin and hair, I easily gain weight and it takes FOREVER to lose, I sleep with a pillow between my legs for my back issues but the legs touching do bother me...I never thought to look into it, always cold etc.... (I could go on forever). My arguement has always been that even though my levels say they are within range they vary from upper to lower range at every test....maybe its just not a good range for ME! I think this armour is a GREAT thing.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

You're welcome AliCat. Just remember to keep eating RAW, it will REALLY help. Even if you don't feel it right now, your body is using that raw food and is working on repairing your body. I have e-mailed you.

[AliCat]

Got it and sent a reply! :)

[abundancia2007]

My acupuncturist has said the same thing to me about eating things to warm up the body.

But...You can increase your body heat via yoga or other movement practices :)

Also, you can have some warmed tea (not over 110F) at mealtimes...I know the tea can be considered cooked, but you can use some warm water, raw honey or sweetener and ginger...that'll get your chi fired up :)

BTW, I also have low thyroid...I take Armour which is derived from pork/pig LOL, so I'm not 100 percent vegan, but I am 95-100 percent raw :)


I used to use Barleygreen for low thyroid (made by AIM).
Recently I have found a cheaper solution: Powerhouse 32 (from Rainbow Acres) - a nutritional powder. It's rather obscure and hard to find in google at first but is a cheaper solution, only costing $15.99 and has more to it and more weight. Eventually I want to get where what is listed on that Powerhouse 32 label is in my diet. I would like to experiment with kelp now that I have found a kelp that does not taste so fishy, but right now am boosting for winter with the Powerhouse 32.

Here is a site that helped me to solve low thyroid that I had had for 6 years -
you must alkalinize AND have organic iodine at the same time - then no more low thyroid.....

http://biomedx.com/microscopes/rrintro/rr4.html

Here are foods which interfere with iodine absorption......

http://www.naturalhealth.org/articles/comparingconventional.htm


If my body becomes acidic due to cooked and processed foods, stress, lack of sleep, lack of water, etc, etc, I become pretty cold. But I also can go all raw and be cold .. with proper ORGANIC iodine (like from kelp), it works together. It's why I am taking Powerhouse 32, for the kelp .... I usually don't like kelp because often it tastes fishy. The one I got recently doesn't, though. When I run out of Powerhouse 32 I will see if I can maintain my temp with only kelp. Tried it with dulse - which I love - but could not get it to work.

My mom and grandma and sister are also low thyroid. My mom tried Barleygreen and it had a temperature-raising effect on her so much so that she threw open the window in the middle of winter ... and she has complained about being cold all the time the entire 30 years of MY life!
I wish my sister would try it, but people have to take their time on some things, and come to their own conclusion.

I haven't tried the warm foods aspect just yet ....

abundancia2007

[honeybee joy]

Helen,

Did you have hashimotos or just regular low thyroid?
I have hashimotos, and I notice sometimes myne will swell up.
Does this happen to you if you have hashimotos?

Here lately I have been taking a multi vitamin, and it has 150 mgs of iodine from kelp, and I have noticed that I have been getting really hot! Wondering if it might be time for me to get my dosage lowered. I have been moody and brain foggy and can't get out of bed, my spelling has went from bad to worse....and I am all raw, and no, I rarely eat any goitergenic veggies. I do have broccoli and cauliflower once or twice a week.

I have heard that thyroid problems stem from an unhealthy liver.

Anyone have any info on that?

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Honey Bee,

I HAD Hashimoto Thyroiditis, a goiter and a cold nodular. I no longer have them, but I still have my hypothyroidism, which my body is slowly repairing (meds cut way back).

When I had Hashi's, my throat would swell up, but I haven't had the problem for a few years now (since going on Armour Thyroid).

It sure wouldn't hurt for you to get your levels tested. I'm thinking the same thing for me. I'm starting to get more symptoms, even though my diet hasn't changed much . . . I high raw, but just eating certain cooked foods can cause hypo symptoms in me.

I had my iodine tested and I have plenty in my system. Some people have thyroid disease due to the lack of iodine, but that wasn't my case. I had not heard about the liver thing. I know stress can set it off. I got mine right after my son was born. I dropped from 180 pounds to 120 pounds in 3 months, then lost another 7, down to 113 (I'm 5'6") and I looked sick. It was then that they tested me for Hashimoto Thyroiditis . . I had no idea what a thyroid was or what that disease was. They gave me Synthroid, and I took it for about 3 years. I never felt any different and didn't take any more for the next 15-20 years. Then by chance, about 6 years ago, they tested my thyroid and my TSH was 40 something. They put me on Synthroid and it was downhill after that. 2-3 years of my life was ruined until I went on Armour and then found raw foods.

Anyway didn't mean to ramble on . . . but I would think that many things could set off the thyroid disease. If you have a bad liver, it could cause stress on your body and trigger many different ailments like thyroid disease. They say any kind of stress, like having a baby, financial stress, car wreck, etc., can all set off Hashimoto Thyroiditis. (I need to find that article on it). That's why it's so important that we eat right . . it helps our bodies to repair itself, taking away a lot of stress off our bodies. As our bodies heal, and it can take years, we can handle the outside stresses, like giving birth and such without fall prey to some kind of illness like Hashi's.

Okay, I'm going to go and look for that article about what can trigger Hashimoto Thyroiditis, and will post the link once I find it.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi HoneyBee,

Boy I can't find the particular article I was looking for, but here are a few articles pertaining to hashimoto Thyroiditis:

This one talks about giving birth & thyroid disease
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/hashimotos/a/hashimoto.htm

This one talks about smoking & enlarged thyroid
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa101397.htm

Mitral Valve Prolapse and Thyroid Disease
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/symptomsproblems/a/mitralvalve.htm

Caffeine, Calcium and the Thyroid
http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa092398.htm

Selenium Supplementation & Hashi’s
http://thyroid.about.com/cs/newsinfo/l/blselenium.htm

I didn't see anything about the liver, nor could I find the article that stated that stress could set it off. Hmmmm. Sorry I couldn't help you there.

Anyway, just continue with your eating raw and I'm sure in time you'll see improvement. It just may take a while. Most people that I know that was 100% raw, it took about a year of eating that way before their thyroids tested normal.

[sailaway]

I too have hypo thyroid and Hashi, goiters,etc (see sailaway for all illness) Before going raw I was up to 200mg of Synthroid and up to 25mcg of Cytomel4x day. After going 100% raw I was able to drop the cytomel and reduce my Synthroid. I remained raw for almost 1 year, I fell off raw and have bounced between 50-80% raw. I want to go back to 100% but have not been there yet dispite feeling sick every time I eat cooked. My current Synthriod is 125mg and holding at current raw level but I know if I went back to raw I would be able to reduce it more. Another big thing for me is the Hot flashes that were so intense before raw went away completely and returned as soon as I eat cooked. All it takes is something as small as a cookie and I flash with in 15 minutes. If I eat a meal cooked I will flash all night long to the point of no sleep. One would think I would not touch cooked food but I still pop things in my mouth without thinking. My goal is to get back to 100% raw again for 30 days.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Sailaway,

I hear you. When I eat too much cooked, I get some flare up of my Fibromyalgia, or headaches. Yet I still fall prey to the processed foods. It's been a slow process but I find over time I do eat more raw and less processed with fewer bouts of fibro or headaches. I know in time I'll get to 100% and stay there.

I've only had a few weeks of hot flashes and they were very mild. I haven't had any in a couple of weeks now. I hope that was all I am getting. My menopause has basically been smooth sailing and I think that it has to do with my high raw diet over the past 5-6 years.

We're both on our way and we'll both get off our thyroid meds!!!! We can do this!!!!

[abundancia2007]

I too have hypo thyroid and Hashi, goiters,etc (see sailaway for all illness) Before going raw I was up to 200mg of Synthroid and up to 25mcg of Cytomel4x day. After going 100% raw I was able to drop the cytomel and reduce my Synthroid. I remained raw for almost 1 year, I fell off raw and have bounced between 50-80% raw. I want to go back to 100% but have not been there yet dispite feeling sick every time I eat cooked. My current Synthriod is 125mg and holding at current raw level but I know if I went back to raw I would be able to reduce it more. Another big thing for me is the Hot flashes that were so intense before raw went away completely and returned as soon as I eat cooked. All it takes is something as small as a cookie and I flash with in 15 minutes. If I eat a meal cooked I will flash all night long to the point of no sleep. One would think I would not touch cooked food but I still pop things in my mouth without thinking. My goal is to get back to 100% raw again for 30 days.

When I was working on getting my adrenal well, I read that if a person's temperature is consistently low, then it was more thyroid than adrenal. If it was variable, it was more adrenal than thyroid.

I have something additional to add today, a serendipitous insight about low thyroid and the properties of RAW PEARS. There are sites on the Internet that say don't eat this food or that food because it interferes with iodine absorption. Mostly it is the cabbage family, which I hate anyway, but some say pears and peaches, which I will eat anyway no matter what, I don't care WHAT THEY SAY. So for the past three days I have been eating pears nonstop because I was given homegrown pears (maybe eaten 30 pears? because they were ripe and I was going to lose them if I didn't eat them), and although I stopped taking Powerhouse 32 by accident a couple days ago my temperature has continued to go up. Normally when I stop PH 32 or Barleygreen my temp drops by 0.3 or 0.4 degrees till I am back where I started: FREEZING. This happened on my first time taking PH 32. I just got up to 98.3 when I promptly RAN OUT of PH 32, and was not able to get more till my temp was back where it started. I reached 98.6 today. My temperature was 97.4 upon waking two days ago, and it SHOULD have gone back down from not getting around to taking the PH 32, but it kept going up. I looked up pears and iodine in a search engine and found some sites saying it does have iodine. Another site mentions the vitamins and minerals in foods that specifically block iodine... that site mentioned Iodine. And I am like, ooookayyy.... so iodine blocks iodine........... that doesn't make any sense!! Whatever their conclusion is, my conclusion is that my body needs pears. In addition to getting warmer, I went from remembering no dreams to being able to handwrite a whole page of dreams each day for the past two days, and for the past two days I suddenly have a sex drive.
Makes me wonder what else I am missing by not trying things I hate or which are said to interfere with iodine. !!
I am building a list of actual foods with iodine (not just seaweed), and there are plenty, but you have to compare a bazillion sites, because each site says things a bit different and does not focus on the same things.

abundancia2007