5 Ways to Support Your Thyroid – Even if Your Tests are Fine

Are you tired, and gaining weight?  Maybe you’ve been struggling recently with sleeping or getting out of bed?  Your skin is dry, you feel sluggish, constipated, or cold.  Your brain is foggy or you’re losing your hair.  You’ve been having trouble getting pregnant.  Or maybe you’ve just been feeling blue?

Woodbridge Naturopath Thyroid Care

Chances are, if you’re like many of my patients, you’ve googled your symptoms and found out that they could be related to a low-functioning thyroid.  In fact, you seemed to remember that one of your family members had low thyroid years ago.  So, off you went to your doctor, got the required blood test, and it came back…normal.

What?  How could that be?  You’ve got almost every symptom?

The chances are Naturopathic medicine can help you.  The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower front portion of your neck.  It’s likely that your thyroid function is slowing down, but perhaps not enough yet to show up on standard TSH blood tests.  What we want to do is nip things in the bud and support your thyroid, so it doesn’t ever fall into that “Hypothyroid” range.

Woodbridge Naturopath Thyroid Care

There are several things that we can look at as a starting point.  TSH is only one marker of thyroid function.  There are also T3, T4, free T3, free T4, and reverse T3 that will shed light on what’s going on in what I like to call the ‘thyroid system’ (which includes the brain, the thyroid, and the cells of the body).

In addition, we can measure antibodies which will reveal whether there is an autoimmune condition, like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, in process.  “Autoimmune” means that the body is attacking its own tissue, in this case, the thyroid.

Additionally, there are other Naturopathic tests that we can use, such as the Basal Body Temperature, which measures your body temperature on waking, to assess whether it’s within normal ranges.  There are also other signs we look for during a physical exam.

If there are significant signs that your thyroid could use some support, here are some things to consider:

1)  Nutrients – Is your body getting enough iodine, and if so, is it using it properly?  Selenium, zinc, copper, and tyrosine are also important in the proper functioning of the thyroid, and making sure there are adequate amounts of these in your diet is critical.

2)  Herbal remedies – There are a number of herbs that can be helpful in supporting a sluggish thyroid, such as blue flag, bladderwrack, and ashwaghanda, for example.  These should only be taken under the care of a licensed practitioner.

Woodbridge Naturopath Thyroid Care

3)  Homeopathic remedies – There are some great homeopathic preparations that can help the thyroid.  Some of these are in synergistic combinations, and others require proper selection by a Naturopath or Homeopath.

4)  Hydrotherapy and tapping – Using alternating hot and cold water or compresses directly to the thyroid, as well as tapping the area, can help to stimulate thyroid function.

5)  Support the adrenal glands – Since the thyroid and adrenals work very much together, it’s important to strengthen both at the same time .  B complex, Vitamin C, eleutherococcus, rhodiola, adrenal glandulars and homeopathics are all considerations for adrenal support.

What I will usually find is that proper selection of adrenal and thyroid support will bring a feeling of well-being that may patient may not have felt in many years.

Woodbridge Naturopath Thyroid Care

In boosting the thyroid with Naturopathic and Homeopathic treatment, we are helping to prevent the symptoms from getting worse, and, quite possibly staving off more serious thyroid pathology down the road.  If you live in Woodbridge or the Toronto areas, and are looking for Naturopathic thyroid care, contact me here to book an appointment.

Tags: Natural Thyroid help, Thyroid homeopathic, Thyroid Naturopath, Woodbridge Naturopath, Woodbridge Naturopathic