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Supplementary and Alternative Medicines. WARNING: The modern therapies would never have been considered if the old remedies had worked. Many of these alternative medicines have made the popularity charts and best seller lists and are commonly believed to perform all sorts of miracles. When properly prepared these bits and pieces of plants do some of the things they are advertised to. In addition it seems appropriate to question the wisdom of ingesting thousands of compounds simply to get a couple of effective ones. It also bears mentioning that dietary supplement, cosmetics and herbal concoctions are not required to meet the standards of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The quality of supplements is up to the manufacturer and not all of them are honourable or even careful. Batches of herbs are often imported from third world countries where they may have been grown or harvested in questionable surroundings and treated with unknown chemicals. Scientific studies done on these herbal supplements have shown a wide variability in the potency and content from manufacturer to manufacturer and from batch to batch. There fore claims made on packaging and medical herbs may be advertising slogans and should be treated with diligence. There are no herbal or other alternative therapies that will 'cure' Hashimoto's or rebuild the thyroid or rebuild thyroid function (except small amounts of iodine in the case of iodine deficiency). Any therapies that promise any of these things are simply rubbish and are potentially dangerous. The only efficacious therapy for autoimmune thyroid failure is thyroid hormone replacement. This can be by either synthetic or natural hormone. None of these hormones is produced in plants so there are no herbal remedies for this condition. The natural hormone must be obtained as an extract from the thyroid of some animal. The natural development of autoimmune thyroid failure is such that the sufferers go through cycles from normal to hyper to hypo and back again. In this developing situation, anything can produce what looks like a cure because the person will get better - for a while - simply because that is what happens naturally. Autoimmune thyroid over activity (Graves') is a little different. Some 20% of sufferers will simply recover if left to themselves. The autoimmunity recedes by itself. These people can be miraculously cured by almost anything that doesn't actually kill them. There are also a number of herbs and plant substances that interfere with some aspect of thyroid function. These substances therefore can reduce the severity of the problem and in mild cases can probably bring the condition under some control. *Massive doses of iodine, for instance, will shut the thyroid down for a short period. *Chlorate interferes with iodine uptake and can therefore limit the over activity. *Iso-thio-cyanate in plants like cassava, ( see information on goitrogens) interferes with the organification of iodine and can also help to limit over activity. The problems are that these goitrogenic substances are not available in controlled doses and they are of only limited effect. They therefore will not solve the problem for people with rampant Graves'. These people need antithyroid drugs and probably radio iodine or surgery if they are to survive. Homeopathy is of no use at all in treating thyroid conditions. Thyroid building compounds and diets are of no use at all. The vast majority of the herbal and related remedies that are now promoted were the foundation of the medical treatment of thyroid disease in the past. They have fallen by the wayside because they do not work or do not work as well as the current mainstream therapies. Alun Stevens MSC FIAA DISCLAIMER: All material supplied by Thyroid Australia (Brisbane) is for information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. For medical advice please see a Doctor.