Treatment for Hypothyroidism

If you’re looking for the best treatment for hypothyroidism then I think it’s important to first understand what options are available to you. Believe it or not, but most people go straight to their doctor without even researching the subject to see if there might be a better option that might be more in line with their own health beliefs.

Do me a favor and do your due diligence and do some research. Only once you’ve become educated can you make an educated decision as to what is best for you and your lifestyle.

I personally believe that everyone needs to be treated as an individual instead of being funneled through a medical system that has a very poor track record for results. The odds are just not in your favor.

But also keep in mind that not every treatment for hypothyroidism is created equal. Some will take you only so far and you might notice small improvements. Others might not work at all because they fail to address the underlying cause of your hypothyroidism. Yet some can change your life in ways that you never thought possible.

So, keep this in mind while you read about the different approaches below and which one I recommend. Educate yourself, read other articles on this site, and then consider each of these options and then choose the best treatment for hypothyroidism that makes sense to you.

In the end, I know you’ll make the right decision.

The Conventional Treatment for Hypothyroidism

Yes, I’m completely biased on this one and I have no problem admitting it. So if you aren’t interested in learning about the various problems with the conventional treatment for hypothyroidism then you should probably stop reading this now.

I have a problem with this form of treatment on many different levels. For starters, my biggest problem is really with the fact that it doesn’t work for the majority of patients. And I’m a firm believer that if it doesn’t work for the majority then it’s safe to say that you could be doing a much better job.

This specific treatment for hypothyroidism is based on a single TSH lab measurement which in itself is not a very accurate indicator of hypothyroidism. But for the lucky ones that actually do get the hypothyroidism diagnosis right, they get pumped full of T4 thyroid hormone.

Without going into too much detail because this is a topic that I talk about a lot, using T4 only is really a half-assed way to treat someone. It fails to take into account the many possible underlying hypothyroidism causes that would be better treated with different methods.

And it’s not the matter of this treatment being harmlessly ineffective. ThisT4 only treatment for hypothyroidism actually makes a lot of people even more hypothyroid because it oftentimes builds up in their body. And as a result, their symptoms get even worse.

This is really a shotgun approach and instead of getting real results, doctors quickly dismiss hypothyroidism as the real problem. And these patients are then subjected to a number of different medications to treat their various symptoms of hypothyroidism as if they were each independent problems.

But in the end, the underlying cause is missed, all because the patient is never treated as an individual with an individual problem.

And the only one who benefits is the pharmaceutical industry because now you’re taking 10 different prescriptions that could have easily been avoided with a good diet for hypothyroidism and the minimal, right medication or supplements that you really needed to begin with.

The Natural Treatment for Hypothyroidism

I’ll be fair and give you some fair warning here because I’m still going to be a little biased here. And that’s because I think there are still some major flaws with those who use a more natural treatment for hypothyroidism.

For me this is like taking a small step forward but mostly sideways.

The biggest difference that I see between the conventional approach to hypothyroid treatment and the more natural approach is the choice of medication.

The conventional backed pharmaceutical industry likes to believe that they can outsmart the human body by using drugs to manipulate various reactions within your body. But the truth is that the human body is so complex that we are still just scratching the surface of how it really works. So they can never account for how using a drug to change one reaction will affect all other reactions within the rest of the body. And so you “may” fix one problem but then you create 10 new ones.

A more natural treatment for hypothyroidism is going to focus on trading out these medical drugs and their numerous side effects with more natural hypothyroidism supplements such as desiccated thyroid extracts from animals or some sort of iodine supplement.

Oftentimes these natural supplements are a far better option than the T4 only medication that conventional medical doctors are taught to prescribe, but is it really addressing the underlying cause of the problem?

The short answer is, NO.

If your body has a problem producing or utilizing thyroid hormone then you still need to address that underlying problem. And that is something that is still greatly lacking with this more natural treatment for hypothyroidism.

The Holistic Treatment for Hypothyroidism

Hopefully I don’t need to imply the bias here but holistic health is the way that I’ve practiced for years and the way that I believe provides the most comprehensive treatment for hypothyroidism.

And you do have to be careful because there are a lot of practitioners out there that claim to be holistic but really do nothing more than recommend natural supplements based on whatever hypothyroidism symptoms you might present with.

But true holism doesn’t focus entirely on symptoms. Instead I use symptoms more like a roadmap in order to determine exactly what the underlying cause of your health problems really is.

For example, are you hypothyroid because your liver is so congested that it can’t convert T4 to T3? Or maybe there is excessive estrogen in your body that is stopping your thyroid from secreting thyroid hormone? Or could it be that you are eating foods that are blocking your body from properly utilizing your thyroid hormone?

And this is where it becomes important to tailor the hypothyroidism treatment to the individual person and not just the symptoms that they present. Your symptoms are just your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong.

But the biggest differences that I see between a holistic treatment for hypothyroidism and all of the others are the focus on your diet and lifestyle.

Your diet is really the foundation of your health. All of the nutrients that your body needs, to not only produce thyroid hormone but also to utilize it properly, you get from your diet. And your body also uses important nutrients from your diet along with thyroid hormone to produce many of the highly protective hormones within your body.

And your lifestyle is just as important as your diet when it comes to treatment for hypothyroidism. The hormonal response from chronic stress in your life is enough to suppress your thyroid significantly. But few doctors or practitioners stop to address your lifestyle and how it might be the limiting factor that is holding your back from overcoming hypothyroidism.