Thyroid Treatment: Conventional or Alternative?

One weekend in January I drove home to my parent’s house even though I had been feeling a fluttering of the muscles in my neck that I assumed were agitated glands turning into a sore throat. After more than 24 hours with a strange neck swelling and no throat soreness, my parents insisted I go to the emergency room. Eight hours, one blood test, two ultrasounds later, I left with pictures of my cyst, a normal blood test result, and a questionable thyroid. Never paying attention to it before, I realized how temperamental the thyroid can be.

The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland about two inches wide located at the bottom of your neck under the Adam’s apple that wraps around your windpipe. Each lobe or wing is located on either side of the middle strip connecting the two—called the isthmus—and the gland is wrapped around where the larynx and trachea meet. The thyroid has three main functions: to control the pace at which your body burns energy also known as metabolism, to determine the sensitivity of the body to hormones, and to manufacture proteins.

Affecting up to 27 million Americans, thyroid dysfunctions can be dangerous to your health as they affect nearly every organ of the body. The two hormones secreted by the thyroid affect brain development, the heart, nervous system functions, metabolism, cholesterol levels, your body temperature, dry skin, muscle strength, breathing, weight gain/loss, and menstrual cycles.

The most common thyroid problems are diagnosed as hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid in which the patient’s metabolism burns energy quickly resulting in too much thyroid hormone in the body or the opposite hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid in which there isn’t enough hormone and energy burns slowly and symptoms of depression and weight gain can occur.

The number one cause of hyperthyroidism in the United States is Graves’ disease. Graves’ disease is where the body’s immune system attacks itself ruining otherwise healthy tissues and cells. Thyroid cysts, or nodules, could also be a culprit of hyperthyroidism and women are five to ten times more likely than men to develop it.

Hashimoto’s disease is the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the United States. Hashimoto’s, like Graves’ above, is also an autoimmune disorder which attacks its own cells and tissues except the body is already making very low amounts of the thyroid hormone and Hashimoto’s antibodies prevent the thyroid from continuing to produce it. Hypothyroidism can also be caused by different types of thyroiditis which causes stored hormone to leak out of the inflamed gland.

There are always two sides to every fence and the thyroid debate seems to be which method of treatment is right for each specific thyroid dysfunction. The fence seems to be planted right between Western medicine’s pill-popping and surgical remedies and alternative medicine’s holistic approach. So which treatment is the correct one?

According to Drs. Richard and Karilee Shames there isn’t just one. Co-authors of two books on thyroid diseases, the doctors were asked in an online interview whether they thought a one-size-fits-all umbrella-solution approach to determining thyroid treatment was wise, “When trying to re-balance the delicate, complex thyroid system, it is not the job of the practitioner/advisor to have one favorite therapy, or a pat answer that applies to everyone.” Urged to comment further as to whether or not one path—either conventional or holistic—is in the best interest of the patients, the Drs. replied, “The one thing we know is that ‘absolutes’ are not trustworthy. No one therapy is ever likely to be right for everyone.” The Drs. Shames continued to call for better education among patients and those caring for patients, urging them to research all benefits and risks.

Some studies say taking the organic mineral selenium  helps Hashimoto’s disease, while others swear by natural iodine pills, coconut oil, or synthetic hormone injections to solve their thyroid problems. More thyroid information, symptoms, treatments and questions can be found at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), a division of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

After six months of watching and waiting my thyroid cyst eventually grew and I developed another one on the opposite lobe. Having recently had a biopsy to detect what type of nodule it is, if I need to discuss treatment when the results come I now know I need to do extensive research and consider all of my options, conventional and holistic.