Were you immediately told you needed to have your thyroid poisoned or removed in order to “stabilize” your condition? 

Let's think about this for a minute. 

The thyroid’s job is to control your metabolism (energy), so if it's running hot maybe we should take a look at the signals it's getting from the mind and the body before we destroy it permanently. 

So what signals would the thyroid be getting to make it rev up your metabolism to max burn? 

The first thing that comes to mind is THREAT. Where is the threat? What is the body preparing to fight or run from? 

Threats can come in many forms- they can be physical toxins, like chemical exposure, heavy metals or mold illness; or they can be emotional in nature like a traumatic life event or unresolved conflict. 

First, ask yourself these question: 

1. What is your total toxic burden? (if you don't know what toxins you are being exposed to, check out my mini Detox Masterclass)
2. How is your nutrient intake?
3. What traumatic event happened at the time this started?
4. What conflict have I been holding on to or avoiding? 

 As a quick reminder- there are only 3 causes of disease- nutrient deficiency, toxic burden and stress. So answering these questions can quickly highlight WHERE the threat is most likely coming from. 

Hint: it's usually a combination of all three!

For my patients with hyperactive thyroid (or anything else for that matter), step one is to reduce toxic burden and maximize nutrient absorption (so the body can process toxins more efficiently) by removing Carroll Food Intolerances and following an animal-based whole foods diet. 

This alone has been enough for some of my patients to see drastic improvements in thyroid function and allow them to avoid surgery and come off of drugs. 

Step 2 is to evaluate mental-emotional stressors.

This can be done through conflict resolution, personal development work, coaching and my NEW favorite- Holistic Counseling- which helps identify deeply held subconscious beliefs about oneself that are fundamentally untrue. 

In Holistic Counseling, once these untrue beliefs are identified you have the choice to let them go and simultaneously release the physical disease patterns they were creating. 

This approach definitely isn't for everyone. It takes a motivated and open minded person to be willing to look within themselves to find the source of suffering, but those who are brave and willing, also reap the most benefits. 

What I don't often recommend is a bunch of band-aid type supplements and drugs that don't actually solve any of the problems highlighted in the above questions. 

So what about all the fancy herbs that help to “stabilize” the thyroid? Are those ok? 

For every treatment we must consider 4 things: 

1. What are the risks? 
2. What are the benefits? 
3. What are the alternatives? 
4. What is the risk if nothing is done? 

Risks: 

In the case of Graves disease or thyroid storm, the risk of having your thyroid removed or radiated is that you will no longer have a functioning organ of metabolism. You will forever be dependent on medication to maintain your energy, warmth and basic bodily functions. There will be no ability for the body to subtly adjust hormone levels to adapt to changing needs. 

The risk of taking medications to poison the thyroid (and frankly kill it slowly) is that you are ingesting literal toxins that are traveling around your body and poisoning a lot more than just your thyroid. 

The reality is, once you remove or destroy your thyroid there is no going back. You are permanently crippling yourself and committing to a lifetime of medication. This works out well for the manufacture of the drugs and the doctor writing the prescription, but not for you.

With herbal supplements there is definitely less risk, at worst they do nothing, so maybe this makes them more appealing. 

Benefits:

The benefits to surgery, radiation or conventional drugs are that the hyperactive thyroid symptoms are immediately relieved and no further fluctuations in hormone levels are possible as discussed above. 

The benefits of supplements is that they might have a nutritive value that helps with detox and inflammation to “tonify” the thyroid. 

Alternatives:

The alternatives are to pursue health as discussed above, as in focus on removing toxins and stress, optimize the diet for your individual needs and realign the mind and body so the thyroid no longer feels like it needs to run in overdrive to keep up with perceived threats. 

This may sound like a lot of work, but it's actually quite simple to implement. I ask my patients to invest 1-2 hours per week in learning the basics about their body and environment and most see improvement within 1 month. 

And the beauty is that the improvements are compounding and last a lifetime. Meaning this investment pays for itself year after year as you no longer have to wonder what ailments you might suffer because you now have the life skills to prevent them. 

Taking action is hard, commiting to change is hard, but being sick and scared is hard too. Choose your hard. 

Risk of inaction: 

If nothing is done you could get lucky and unintentionally resolve the threat and begin to feel better, or your thyroid could keep working in overdrive until it naturally burns out or you develop cancer. 

So for most people, even going the conventional route would be better than doing nothing. 

If you’re ready to tackle your Grave’s disease (or any other symptoms for that matter) and actually learn why disease occurs in the first place so you can prevent it in the future, consider jumping on a call with me to discuss what it would look like to work together.

Simply fill out this application and my team will be in touch. 

In heatlh,

Dr. Terra Winston, ND