EPISODE 100
Freedom To Choose a Natural Thyroid Treatment Approach
We’re celebrating episode 100! This is the 100th main episode of the Save My Thyroid podcast, although if you count the Q & A episodes I release on Thursday we’re actually closer to 200 episodes. Either way it’s truly been a pleasure serving you.
Since this episode’s release coincides with July 4 – Independence Day here in the US – today, I wanted to remind you that you have the freedom to choose a natural thyroid treatment approach.
You have the freedom to choose the treatment you want. Whether you have hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto’s, most of us can choose from various treatment options. Medical doctors and endocrinologists can give recommendations, but ultimately it’s up to you to choose what you want to receive.
That doesn’t mean that the natural treatment route will be the right choice for everyone, but we must make informed decisions about our health without being pressured down one path or another. I hope this episode will help you on that journey.
Thank you so much for supporting the podcast, and I look forward to catching you in the next 100 episodes!
During this episode, you’ll learn:
- Why I wanted to create this episode on your freedom to choose
- Remembering that for many people, there are multiple options for treating thyroid issues
- The forced choice between anti-thyroid medication and radioactive iodine thyroid surgery
- Hashimoto’s and thyroid hormone replacement
- Why it’s important to take steps to preserve your thyroid
- The future of the Save My Thyroid Podcast
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Here is the transcript for this episode:
This is the 100th main episode of the Save My Thyroid podcast. I say “main episode” because when I first started the Save My Thyroid podcast, there was only one episode per week on Tuesdays. A few months later, I started doing episodes twice a week, the second episode being a Q&A episode on Thursdays, which I’m still doing. I count those as bonus episodes.
As a result, since this is being released on July 4, I figured I would have an Independence Day episode. The topic is that you have the freedom to choose what treatment you want. No medical doctor, including no endocrinologist, can tell you what you need to do. Of course, they can give recommendations, but ultimately, it is up to you to choose what you want to receive. This goes for those with hyperthyroidism or Hashimoto’s. I will spend a couple minutes on each condition. When I’m done with this, I will take a few minutes to discuss the future of this podcast.
When it comes to hyperthyroidism, most people listening to this I assume want to do everything they can to save their thyroid, to avoid radioactive iodine and thyroid surgery. As you know, there are endocrinologists who will tell you that you need to take antithyroid medication or get radioactive iodine or thyroid surgery. I’m not saying not to take antithyroid medication. There is a time and place to take it. They can’t tell you that you need to take it though.
When I worked with an endocrinologist, she was pretty laidback. She didn’t pressure me to receive radioactive iodine or thyroid surgery, but she did recommend that I take antithyroid medication. I can’t remember if she said you need to take antithyroid medication. If she did say that, she would have been wrong because I didn’t take it. I took herbs like bugleweed along with motherwort. They managed my symptoms effectively. That being said, they don’t work on everybody who has hyperthyroidism. The point is, I had a choice, and I chose a natural treatment approach.
Some people might choose that, and it might not be the right choice. They might end up needing to take antithyroid medication. Even then, I shouldn’t say it’s not the right choice. It’s just a choice, and they made the choice, and it didn’t work out, so they need to take the medication. That could have happened with myself as well.
Same thing with radioactive iodine and thyroid surgery. Some endocrinologists will tell you that you need to choose between these two. Some might say to take antithyroid medication. If 18-24 months go by, and you’re not in what they call remission, you need to choose between radioactive iodine and thyroid surgery, that is not true. That is their opinion, but you don’t need to choose those.
There are other options. There is long-term methimazole and others. Not preferred, but better in my opinion than receiving radioactive iodine or thyroid surgery. If someone can’t tolerate antithyroid medication, and they say you need to get one of those, then again, there is cholestyramine or LDN, which I’ve discussed in other episodes. There are natural agents, which they won’t be supportive of. But there are choices.
If they tell you the only three options are antithyroid medication, radioactive iodine, or thyroid surgery, you need to keep in mind that those are the choices they give, but there are other options that you have. You have the freedom to choose what treatment approach you receive.
The same with Hashimoto’s. As you know, the title of this podcast is Save My Thyroid, which also applies to those with Hashimoto’s. Unfortunately, a lot of people with Hashimoto’s are given thyroid hormone replacement. That’s not the unfortunate part. Some people do need to take it. But many times, that’s the only treatment that will be given to those folks.
You need to remember that Hashimoto’s is an immune system condition, and the immune system is damaging the thyroid gland. If all you do is take thyroid hormone replacement, your thyroid is getting destroyed, so you want to do things to preserve the health of your thyroid to save it.
Another example, some medical doctors will say, “You need to take synthetic thyroid hormone,” such as levothyroxine, which is synthetic T4. You don’t need to do that. You have the choice to take desiccated thyroid hormone if that’s what you want to take. They can give their opinion and say that you should take synthetic thyroid hormone. That’s still their opinion. Just because they say you should take it doesn’t mean that’s correct. They will have their own biases, just like I do.
At the same time, I try to keep an open mind, even though I prefer the natural methods and trying to do things to address the cause of your condition. I realize there is a time and place for thyroid hormone replacement. There is a time and place for antithyroid medication. There is even a time and place for thyroid surgery. But the problem is that many doctors jump to these treatments without doing anything to address the cause of the problem.
That really is all I wanted to discuss here. This wasn’t meant to be a lengthy episode. I wanted to celebrate the 100th main episode and talk about how you have the freedom to choose the treatment you want.
I want to take a couple of minutes to discuss the future of this podcast. Up until this point, I have been doing mostly guest interviews on Tuesdays with some solo episodes. That will continue. Most of the guest episodes especially will benefit those with hyperthyroidism and Hashimoto’s. With the solo episodes, there are some that are released on Tuesdays that focus on hyperthyroidism, and there are others that will benefit those with Hashimoto’s as well. That trend will continue.
The Q&A episodes that have been released once a week, I plan on continuing with those. More of them focus on hyperthyroidism than the Tuesday episodes. The majority of them will still benefit those with either condition, but you may see an episode, sometimes even two episodes a month, that focus on hyperthyroidism. Sometimes, there will be a few months that go by without an episode that focuses on hyperthyroidism.
The reason I have episodes that focus exclusively on hyperthyroidism is because there are a number of podcasts that are related to thyroid health. As far as I know, this is the only one that has an emphasis on hyperthyroidism. What you see out there is the opposite. Most of the podcasts just focus on hypothyroidism and Hashimoto’s. There are some that will have some episodes on hyperthyroidism, but they may have a few per year. Very rarely do they have an episode dedicated to hyperthyroidism. Most of the dedicated episodes are to hypothyroidism. That’s why I decided to have episodes focusing on hyperthyroidism. Other information on the episodes can benefit people with both.
For those who are listening with Hashimoto’s, just wanted to let you know that’s why there are some episodes related to hyperthyroidism exclusively. There really aren’t other podcasts that are focusing more on hyperthyroidism. If you have Hashimoto’s, in the future, there will be plenty of content that will also benefit you as well.
In 2023, I started having episodes called Your Thyroid Questions Answered, where people can submit their questions in advance. I still plan on doing this. I do it every couple of months. That might change. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll do one eventually every 4-6 weeks. For now, it will probably still be every couple of months. If you have a question, feel free to email info@naturalendocrinesolutions.com.
I can’t promise I’ll answer all questions. I’m more likely to answer a question that will benefit a good number of people with thyroid or autoimmune thyroid conditions. If someone asks me a question that will just benefit them, and nobody else, I’m not saying I definitely won’t answer it, but I’m less likely to. I want the questions to benefit a wide number of people. Keep that in mind before you submit the question.
I think that is all I wanted to talk about here. Thank you for tuning in not only to this episode but previous episodes. I really look forward to sharing future episodes with you. Thank you so much for supporting this podcast. Once again, I look forward to catching you in the next 100 episodes.