Thyroid Supplementation - Is It Worth It?

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FlatEarth said:
post 115751 For those who supplement with thyroid or think that it's a good idea:

How do you justify supplementing thyroid when it results in atrophy of the thyroid gland?
How is it worth it when you are basically trading your thyroid-producing gland for being enslaved to a supplement for the rest of your life?

This is one of the points that made me hesitate to try Thyroid -- not so much the displacement of my own Thyroid gland but the point of supplementing/relying on external Thyroid.

What I hadn't thought about, at the time, was the affect of ageing. As we get older, our bodies get a little more inefficient and worn down because it isn't designed to continually function as it did when it was 10 years old. The body survives long enough to replicate. But if we want it to do more than that, like keep it running at its peak into our 20s, 30s and beyond then it's going to need extra help.

That extra help is supplemental Thyroid (and B-vitamins, red-light, pregnenolone etc). If it means being "enslaved to a supplement for the rest of your life" to have the regenerative and energetic ability of our youthful selves as we continue to get older then so be it.
 
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tara

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HDD said:
post 116025 From "Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness" by Broda Barnes, M.D.

"During treatment, it should not exceed the upper limit of normal---98.2---unless a cold, sore throat, or other infection is present. The thyroid gland will not decrease its normal function unless the basal temperature is maintained for some time above the upper limit of normal."
Thanks HDD. :)

mayweatherking said:
post 116142 I agree with that.. except the dude comes off as a scam artist. I tried to look into what a good nutritional foundation was, only to find it costs like 60 or 90 dollars or something to buy his book on nutrition. Or any other information he has costs money as well. Who knows if what he is saying is even accurate. He seems like he is just talking off peat's principles, so I don't see how he should take all of his information, then basically say thyroid hormone is not good when activates it. It's like.. what does he know? He gets all his info from peat, then goes off on a tangent about how thyroid hormone is not needed most of the time, when he doesn't even pull the info himself, then charges people 100 dollars just to find what he suggests.

Have you seen all the free video clips and articles Jeanne and Josh have posted?
If you have a more honourable way to make a living, good for you. I can think of a lot worse.

Giraffe said:
post 116082 Josh Rubin says, "It only works if you have a strong nutritional foundation." Make sure your body gets what it needs to convert T4 to T3, and address obstacles like too much estrogen. Then it might turn out that you don't need thyroid meds at all.
This make sense to me.
 
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Giraffe

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FlatEarth said:
post 116016
Giraffe said:
post 115843 Maybe you misunderstood this one:

Ray Peat wrote:
If a person has an enlarged thyroid gland, progesterone promotes secretion and unloading of the stored "colloid," and can bring on a temporary hyperthyroid state. A thyroid supplement should be used to shrink the goiter before progesterone is given. Normal amounts of progesterone facilitate thyroid secretion, while a deficiency, with unopposed estrogen, causes the thyroid to enlarge.

Indeed that is the quote I was referring to. Thank you for digging that one up.

In my experience taking testosterone, my gonads underwent a definite downsizing, and it's my understanding that because ample amounts of testosterone were present in my bloodstream, by some signaling mechanism, the gonads were instructed to not produce anymore, and thus the lack of use or need caused the atrophy. It seems logical to me to assume the same thing would apply to Thyroid.

The quote from Peat above suggests to me that the enlarged thyroid would shrink when supplemental thyroid is taken. Am I wrong?

JR: So, we need selenium to convert T4 to T3. We need glucose to make the conversion: this is important, as most people today stay away from the right types of sugars. But at the same time - from maybe exogenous sources, or the body‘s inability to detox it, blood sugar issues, excess stress - the estrogen itself will block the T4 to T3 conversion as well.
RP: And once that happens, the estrogen can reach the point at which it starts inhibiting the thyroid gland itself. The thyroid gland, to produce the proper ratio of three parts T4 to one part of T3, it does that by breaking down the thyroglobulin, a colloidal kind of glob of protein inside the follicles of the gland. This has to be digested as needed, breaking each protein molecule down and releasing these free thyroxin and T3 hormones. And estrogen inhibits the proteolytic enzyme that releases the hormones. So, first, it slows down the liver function, but then it reaches the point where it will even block the thyroid itself. And this is where women tend to have high frequency of goiter, thyroid enlargement. They call it Hashimoto‘s thyroiditis, but most often it's what they used to call a colloid goiter, where, since estrogen stimulates the stress hormones in the brain, increasing TSH, estrogen causes the pituitary to drive the thyroid harder, meanwhile it's blocking the ability of the thyroid gland to secrete it, so it tends to enlarge the thyroid, and, then they get diagnosed as having thyroiditis. Progesterone happens to activate these proteins that allow the thyroid to secrete, so I advise women who have an enlarged thyroid not to take progesterone until they've taken care of the enlargement of the thyroid. Because progesterone will normalize the proteins so fast that sometimes they will go into a slightly hyperthyroid state for a few weeks.

The Thyroid - East West Healing Blog Talk Radio, 2011
So what I read is that both thyroid supplements as well as progesterone help the enlarged thyroid to release the stuff that is stored, and thus get back to normal size. Progesterone might be a bit too fast.
 
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One way thryoid supplementation works is to eliminate the dependence on cortisol and adrenalin for metabolism. Then the other hormones including testosterone and progesterone and estrogen can get back into healthy balance. And thyroid supplementation may not be necessary at that point.
 

Strongbad

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I'm never a fan of thyroid supplement. It's very tricky to find the right dosage without causing complications as there are Peatarians here who report issues of mis-dosage, side effects and how they need to supplement other minerals or vitamins to achieve the right balance.

Not to mention it's very expensive and not easily available. Supplementing thyroid for the rest of our lives would easily cost us $$$$$$$$. With that much money, I prefer to buy good food or do other things like backpacking etc.

And in principle, thyroid supplement is only a quick fix to a bigger issue which is hypothyroidism. I'd rather fix my thyroid via food and lllt so that it'll do its job and regulate/produce thyroid hormone automatically.

I'm not saying that thyroid supplement doesn't work. Obviously it does and a lot of Peatarians report better temp, better pulse, warm feeling etc. But there are lots of people who live long life and healthy without it. Eating right food is more important.
 
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how old are you Strongbad?

I'm in my 50s and I think for YEARS I've had significant health issues due to low thyroid. And never knew it. I'm dreaming of feeling warmer, and not having the difficulties with exercise and slow intestinal peristalsis that I've experienced, among other things. I am also using LLLT and I think that over time I won't need the thyroid anymore. But for now it seems the thing to do.

As far as the forums containing a bunch of people with "complications", those are the ones you hear from. There are tons of people who take thyroid and don't perceive problems and don't post on forums.
 

Strongbad

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ecstatichamster said:
post 117184 how old are you Strongbad?

I'm in my 50s and I think for YEARS I've had significant health issues due to low thyroid. And never knew it. I'm dreaming of feeling warmer, and not having the difficulties with exercise and slow intestinal peristalsis that I've experienced, among other things. I am also using LLLT and I think that over time I won't need the thyroid anymore. But for now it seems the thing to do.

As far as the forums containing a bunch of people with "complications", those are the ones you hear from. There are tons of people who take thyroid and don't perceive problems and don't post on forums.

I'm in mid 30s at the moment.

In retrospect, I may have come across rude and rushed to judgement without considering people who are struggling with hypothyroid for an extended period of time. I don't doubt the potency of thyroid supplement to temporarily provide relief to hypothyroid sufferers. It definitely works, it's just that the end goal should always be to permanently fix the thyroid and to cease thyroid supplement. It could take 4 months, 6 months, a year, two years, 4 years or even a decade. However long it takes to fix the thyroid.

I'm currently loaded with supplements: vitamin B1, B2, Niacinamide, B5, B6, B12, Biotin, D, E, K2, Magnesium, Rolera, Zinc etc. But I do plan to lessen the supplement intake as I add more nutrient-dense food into my regimen overtime. I'll eventually stop supplementing altogether except vitamin D for backup since it can get pretty cloudy where I live in the states. Especially during winter.
 
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