If I start taking thyroid, am I on it for life?

stressucks

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I wanted to try to address things through diet and lifestyle alone, but am not seeing fast enough results.

If I start thyroid, am I on it for life? Is it bad to be on it for life?

I thought maybe if I started I could eventually make things perfect and get off of it.

Also, where do I go to learn how much and when to take (and what)?
 

natedawggh

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No. Once your thyroid system is healed it works on its own.

You can get natural thyroid concentrate as a Prescription, or just natural desiccated thyroid as a supplement. I've found the supplement to be helpful without being obvious.
 
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stressucks

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natedawggh said:
No. Once your thyroid system is healed it works on its own.

You can get natural thyroid concentrate as a Prescription, or just natural desiccated thyroid as a supplement. I've found the supplement to be helpful without being obvious.

awesome, the natural dessicated thyroid seems like what I would go with,
 

leo

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I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I would like to know how many here on this forum began thyroid treatment, healed their thyroid, and then successfully got off thyroid. Successfully being defined as no recurrence of hypothyroid symptoms while not taking any medication???

I have participated on many health and thyroid forums over the years, and I have not seen this happen yet.

I would love to hear of someone who has done this, and exactly how they made it happen as I think that would be the goal of most of us, who do not want to be on pharmaceuticals for life.

Even Peat takes thyroid, and do you not think his thyroid would have been healed by now?
 

4peatssake

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leo said:
I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I would like to know how many here on this forum began thyroid treatment, healed their thyroid, and then successfully got off thyroid. Successfully being defined as no recurrence of hypothyroid symptoms while not taking any medication???

I have participated on many health and thyroid forums over the years, and I have not seen this happen yet.

I would love to hear of someone who has done this, and exactly how they made it happen as I think that would be the goal of most of us, who do not want to be on pharmaceuticals for life.

Even Peat takes thyroid, and do you not think his thyroid would have been healed by now?
Check out these two threads by cfhunter. She no longer supplements thyroid.

Thread 1 - temps UP after stopping thyroid meds

Thread 2 - 22 days off thyroid meds, 27 days eating Peat style update

I also think the term "meds" can be a misnomer. Taking a natural dessicated thyroid supplement and equating it to taking "medicine for life" is off the mark in my opinion. Ray Peat used dessicated thyroid for years and only switched to synthetic hormones when Armour was reformulated with toxic excipients.

We no longer eat entire animals and supplement thyroid that way and sadly, we live in a world where our food supply is being poisoned and hypothyroidism is rampant. Not everyone takes thyroid. It is a choice.

I think the goal is to get well and gain optimal metabolic functioning and go from there. No sense setting the cart before the horse. I also think our overall attitude and outlook on getting well goes a very long way in achieving any great measure of success. It is important to be happy about the changes you are making and being sure they work for you, otherwise frustration can take over and nothing will ever seem to work. :2cents
 
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stressucks

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Lots of threads to read on here about this. But what is natural thyroid and do I just buy a supp off of amazon? Any recommendations?
 

leo

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I consider meds anything made by a pharmaceutical company.....maybe I'm wrong.

I don't dish having to take thyroid ....I have taken it for many years. And I do not stress over it...it is what it is.

I was just trying to be honest about her question, which was once on thyroid, is it usually for life. And my opinion is yes.

cfhunter is unusual in that her temps went up when she stopped medicating....maybe she didn't need it to begin with?
 
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j.

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leo said:
I consider meds anything made by a pharmaceutical company.....maybe I'm wrong.

Some anthropologists who visited isolated societies noticed that they ate the whole animal, including the thyroid. So those people were on "thyroid for life", and I don't think there is anything unnatural about that.
 
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stressucks

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I'm mostly concerned about creating dependence. Like if I go off of it, will I be worse than I was before I started taking it?

If I go off of it and come back to baseline, that's awesome.

Also I didn't realize there were completely natural supplements. There seems to be no downside to that. I need to find a good one.
 

charlie

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When you go off of it you will go back to the metabolism that your body can support on it's own.
 
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In most people with primary hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland isn't damaged in any way (at least it isn't for me). The whole organ is still there. That means that, in theory, it should be able to perform to its full capacity. The question is whether it can't or doesn't want to. By can't I mean there is something preventing it from working (PUFA, thyroid inhibiting chemicals, whichever), by won't, I mean this is a problem in the brain, something like downregulation of biological activity of TSH causing decreased T4 release etc. In that case, it's a matter of the body willingly reducing its metabolism, coming as directive from the hypothalamus, as a response to some stressor, adaptive mechanism? I don't know and don't have any references for this, just speculation.
 

leo

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j. said:
leo said:
I consider meds anything made by a pharmaceutical company.....maybe I'm wrong.

Some anthropologists who visited isolated societies noticed that they ate the whole animal, including the thyroid. So those people were on "thyroid for life", and I don't think there is anything unnatural about that.

Of course there is nothing unnatural about that. They were getting it in their food supply.....but I do not believe what you are taking from a bottle made by a pharmaceutical who is adding and subtracting ingredients is quite the same.

Like eating an orange or taking a whole foods vitamin c tablet. You are not getting the benefit of other things that work synergistically with the orange.

Also I doubt they were eating the whole animal everyday..maybe an occasional feast was beneficial to the thyroid.....However, those on thyroid meds are taking it daily. That suppresses your own production. Whose to say that along with that the thyroid does not just go to sleep?

Again I'm not dishing it. However, in retrospect I wish I had studied and read more about it before I just jumped into taking it, because for me, it looks like I will have to medicate with it for life. The few times I have tried to wean I get severe hair loss.
 
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j.

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leo said:
Of course there is nothing unnatural about that. They were getting it in their food supply.....but I do not believe what you are taking from a bottle made by a pharmaceutical who is adding and subtracting ingredients is quite the same.

Some NDT brands add very little to it. ERFA I think doesn't add much to it.

Maybe people who consumed a lot of fish head soup, which has thyroid, ate it often.

I think taking thyroid when you don't have it in your food is like taking gelatin when you aren't eating bone broths.
 

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