Lowered thyroid function is common in our country and affects men and women. It’s a symptom of an underlying hormone imbalance. For many women, it’s a side effect of their contraception (birth control pills); for others the cause is not as clear. Patients suffer with hair loss on their head, loss of eyebrow hair, dry skin, and difficulty losing weight. With appropriate Naturopathic care, their thyroid lab tests can show improvement, as do their symptoms. Many people are interested in learning if iodine is a factor for their lowered thyroid function. We’ll look at what herbs and foods specifically support the thyroid, and what ‘healthy’ foods may be contributing to lower thyroid function. For those with Hashimoto’s, the most common form of thyroid disease, they had an autoimmune reaction. This means that the body’s immune system got ‘confused’ and attacked the thyroid as if it were a foreign invader like bacteria or viruses. Taking thyroid medication helps with the symptoms that result, but we still have to support and re-educate the immune system to keep the viruses and bacteria away while protecting (instead of attacking) its most precious resource: you!
