By Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is one of the most complicated hormonal and autoimmune conditions I commonly treat. I am sure you would not be googling natural solutions to solve Hashimto’s unless you were not getting lasting solutions that actually worked as I describe in my story about “Why I Became a Naturopathic Doctor.”
While I don’t have the autoimmune form of hypothyroidism, I do understand the ups and downs, the good days and flare days, and the other frustrations of having an autoimmune disease first hand. I know what it is like to not get lasting solutions that work, passed around from one uncaring doctor to the next, and wasting my money and time on useless treatment. I have wasted a lot of money in my life on useless natural remedies and prescription drugs to maintain my autoimmune disease and other conditions I have been challenged with such as acne, eczema, psoriasis, ADHD, depression, chronic pain, and anxiety.
Let me take a minute to explain how I help my patients with Hashimoto’s achieve lasting solutions so that they do not have to rely on prescription drugs, and only need natural hormones, herbs, and vitamins.
While our normal medical model in American health care works in a paradigm of: TAKE X Thyroid DRUG FOR X Hashimoto’s SYMPTOM
What I actually want to do as your Naturopathic Hormone Doctor is the following:
#1 Why do you have Hashimoto’s in the first place?
#2 Working to investigate the “Root Cause” of your symptoms.
#3 When did these symptoms start? What else was going on?
#4 Are there genetic or environmental causes?
#5 Are female hormones flaring Hashimoto’s?
#6 Eliminate food triggers
#7 Improve Insomnia so the body can actually heal and repair the joints
#8 Manage Hashimoto’s joint pain naturally
#9 Evaluate adrenal stress hormones that support the thyroid and reduce inflammation
#10 Implement gentle exercise or work with a fitness trainer
#11 Implement counseling for patients with anxiety from Hashimoto’s thyroid storms that transition to depression when the storm has passed and the thyroid hormones are burnt out.
#12 Test vitamins, minerals, and nutrients related to proper thyroid function
#13 Implement natural thyroid hormones, and properly adjust them
#14 Use herbal medicine and supplements for inflammation
#15 Teach my patients my simple 4 week Autoimmune meal program so they can learn how to eat in a healthy Naturopathic inflammation reducing manner that helps women with Hashimoto's actually lose weight, lower pain, and balance hormones. Thus no longer living on Tylenol and Advil for pain, and high amounts of caffeine for fatigue.
Without understanding #1 and #2 on my list, I sadly have seen many Hashimoto’s patients fail with natural medicine. I want every single patient in my practice to be a success story. So please do treat yourself to a Naturopathic visit with me if you want real answers about your Hashimoto's, want the right nutrition for your Hashimoto's, want me to fix the underlying female hormone imbalance that is most often causing weight gain, pain, swelling, and chronic fatigue and the #1 reason why more women have autoimmune disease than men.
While I love helping women with Hashimoto’s, I also have been doing this job for over seventeen years as a Naturopathic Hormone Doctor and I know what it takes to get results. We need to think of this as a process and not just one simple prescription that will magically fix it all.
Trust me, if that existed you know I would already be on it and be blogging about it! 😉
So let's have realistic expectation and work through each challenge around your Hashimoto's symptoms in steps. If that sounds like what you need then please pop over to my SCHEDULE page and let’s get working on your Hashimoto’s symptoms now! I would be happy to help!
Next, I will answer everyone’s most common questions I get about Hashimoto’s.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HASHIMOTO'S THYROIDITIS AND HYPOTHYROIDISM?
Hashimoto's thyroid treatment is extremely different than regular hypothyroidism in Naturopathic Medicine. In my mind, Hashimoto's requires a completely different treatment plan because it is an autoimmune disease, therefore I am working to balance the immune system as a Female Hormone Specialist and Naturopathic Doctor, in order to improve thyroid function naturally.
Patients with regularly hypothyroidism, such as myself require much less treatment to feel optimal than my autoimmune thyroid patients. Hashimoto's can be one of the trickiest conditions to treat, however many women are unaware they suffer from it.
Many of my patients have been treated for their thyroid for years without knowing what type of thyroid disease they have. Half the time most MD’s could care less what form of thyroid disease the patient has because it does not affect their thyroid treatment. The thyroid treatment is the same for an autoimmune Hashimotos as standard hypothyroidism. This makes little sense since we are comparing apples and oranges.
IS HASHIMOTO'S A HORMONE CONDITION OR AUTOIMMUNE CONDITION?
Did you know with Hashimoto's the real problem is actually the immune system attacking the thyroid, and there is generally nothing actually wrong with the thyroid gland itself? I like to think of the thyroid in this situation as the poor little kid getting bullied in the schoolyard. He is constantly under attack, but otherwise would be completely fine. When we fail to address the immune system in this frustrating autoimmune disease, we fail to ever truly help the patient return their inflammation levels to normal, restore energy, and reduce arthritis, achy joints, swelling and traveling pain that is the hallmark for Hashimotos.
If you are a thyroid patient that has not been tested for Hashimoto's yet, you have constant traveling mysterious aches and pains that no doctor or physical therapist can diagnose…I will bet the farm that the diagnosis is Hashimoto's.
As a thyroid doctor and Hashimoto's specialist, it is extremely important to me to understand my thyroid patient’s diagnosis, and if they have just a “Lazy Thyroid” as I have in regular hypothyroidism, or whether they have an autoimmune disease that is actually causing the hypothyroidism.
WHAT VITAMINS AND MINERALS SHOULD I TAKE FOR HASHIMOTO'S?
Nutrients that most thyroid patients are deficient in can also cause severe adverse reactions for my Hashimotos patients as I describe in my "Thyroid and Iodine" blog. This is why self treating Hashimoto's can be dangerous. I have seen patients harm themselves from too much iodine, zinc, tyrosine, b-vitamins and thyroid cofactors that can throw the sluggish low thyroid into hyperdrive and cause an actually “Thyroid Storm” where the immune system is ferociously attacking the thyroid, resulting in thyroid cell destruction.
During a Hashimoto's thyroid storm the thyroid hormones are dumped into the bloodstream causing the heart to be immediately triggered, as T3 stimulates contractility and thus palpitations, tachycardia and anxiety can ensue from the hyperthyroid storm.
When we work to address the autoimmune condition from a Naturopathic standpoint, we can calm these thyroid storm attacks down and lessen the rate of destruction the thyroid will endure. Once the thyroid has endured enough attacks, and as part of the natural aging process of our glands, most Hashimoto's patients eventually require thyroid replacement hormones.
WHAT IS THE BEST THYROID MEDICINE TO TAKE FOR HASHIMOTO'S?
While it may have a higher likelihood of adverse reactions for those with autoimmune Hashimotos I do see Armour Thyroid work the best to control symptoms and improve fatigue and weight loss. Armour thyroid is a generic term for “Natural Dessicated Thyroid” because the pig gland is desiccated generally there is no reaction to the natural thyroid medication for the majority of my Hashimotos patients and therefore the "rule" that autoimmune patients should not be given Armour thyroid is simply untrue.
WHAT IS THE MOST COMMON THYROID HORMONE YOU PRESCRIBE FOR HASHIMOTO'S?
Around 95% of the Hashimotos patients in my hormone practice prefer Natural Dessicated Thyroid or Armour over levothyroxine or synthroid.
The other choice is synthroid or levothyroxine combined with T3. I do not recommend patients take T4 alone or “T4 Monotherapy” unless they are great converters to T3, the metabolically active thyroid hormone. Because most women struggle with this conversion, especially when in Menopause and Perimenopause as female hormones can impact the thyroid levels and smother them, reduce thyroid function, and cause the metabolism to slow down.
Therefore monitoring the thyroid for women in their forties and fifties is critical in Women's Health.
Women with Hashimotos should find a seasoned Hashimotos Expert that specializes in Naturopathic Medicine, Herbs and Nutrition. Many other hormones can impact the Hashimotos patient such as adrenal hormones, estrogen, progesterone, and insulin. In my mind, there is no patient that needs a Naturopathic hormone doctor more than a Hashimotos patient!
Your naturopathic doctor should be providing hormone testing and treatment to the adrenals which are the underlying foundation of support for the thyroid, in addition to addressing gut health and the microbiome which are also triggering many women with this frustrating thyroid disease.
SHOULD I SELF TREAT MY HASHIMOTO'S?
Some of the most dangerous things I have witnessed patients do as a doctor is read random blogs and self treat their Hashimoto's which can be extremely dangerous and result in a heart attack or stroke if thyroid hormones are too high. Treating Hashimotos properly is extremely complicated and requires a multifaceted approach to correct hormones, nutrition, inflammation, and most importantly balance the immune system, helping it to become less reactive and thus less likely to “bully” or attack the thyroid.
If you would like my help with your thyroid condition simply visit my SCHEDULE page to set up your initial Naturopathic visit!
Dr. Nicole Sundene, NMD
Dr. Sundene is a Naturopathic Doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, and is considered a Female Hormone Expert in Women's Health and Bioidentical Hormones. She specializes in Holistic Women's Health for Menopause, Thyroid, Hashimotos, PMS, Perimenopause, Autoimmune, Postpartum, Chronic Fatigue, Depression, Anxiety, Food Allergies, Digestion, Dermatology , Acne, Psoriasis, Eczema and Adrenal Hormonal Conditions. In 1999 she began working for a Hormone Doctor prior to starting Naturopathic Medical School. With over 22 years of experience in both Prescription and Natural women's health and hormones she presents to women the best integrated health solutions for their Chronic Disease. She has been an Herbalist for over 27 years and enjoys teaching women how to use herbs to balance their hormones, nutrition and optimize their health. Dr. Sundene relies on blood testing for her hormone metrics. The hormone testing is covered per the patient's insurance plan and conducted at certain points in the woman's menstrual cycle. To learn more about Hormone Testing for Women Visit: Bioidentical Hormones. Follow Dr. Sundene on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more tips on Women's Health, Female Hormones and Naturopathy!
Thank you for understanding and treating Hashimotos disease seriously. I never even knew I had Hashimotos until I became your patient. Thank you!
Excellent Blog!