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Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis: Low-Dose Naltrexone as Immuno-Modulator?
Related: auto-immune disease, Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, health, Low-Dose Naltrexone
See this video by Dr Gary Foresman on low-dose Naltrexone for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis and other auto-immune patients and sometimes cancer patients too.
Recommended book: The Paleo Thyroid Solution, by Elle Russ @AMAZON. Elle does consulting also, which might be very helpful to those with thyroid conditions. It was her suggestion that in my particular case that the Naltrexone option might be good to try first. You’ll still need to work with a doctor of course.
A lifetime of tamping-down symptoms, or a CURE?
Synthetic drug therapy to treat symptoms for a lifetime seems inherently ill-advised. But it’s how nearly all modern medicine works, and why prescription drugs are the 3rd leading cause of death. It’s a shameful customer-generation system in which people are never helped with improved health, only put on a lifetime treadmill of masking symptoms with more and more dangerous drugs.
Thyroid replacement hormones are relatively low risk, but they are not free from risk, never as good as a properly-functioning thyroid. And getting dosage right can be tough, especially with paint-by-numbers endocrinologists who think “normal” and “feel like shit” are compatible. If your thyroid is still functional (mine is), it seems foolish to not give it every chance to heal.
“Druggable” should always be the last option after “foodable”. For most people, food is by far the best medicine, which should be obvious at a glance. Fix those problems FIRST before drugging yourself! The ill health stemming from the slow but inexorable poisonous effects of the modern food supply are on display at any big box store or similar. Unforced errors.
But I’ve been trying the “foodable” route for 2+ years: whole fresh foods high in nutritional value only, zero processed food or restaurant food (often the same thing). No joy, though while I am in weakened state, I am stronger than last year which was pretty bad. And I never get sick.
Low-Dose Naltrexone
Summary of on low-dose naltrexone...
Web search for low-dose Naltrexone...
Web search for low-dose Naltrexone Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis...
What I seek is no less than a cure, letting my body get its thyroid hormones right.
The idea is that low-dose Naltrexone modulates the endocrine and immunological systems (both), retraining the immune system to stop attacking itself (auto-immunity), and in particular the thyroid.
And the idea is also that it might fix the problem, and therefore no need to continue the therapy. Whereas thyroid hormones are generally a lifetime commitment, and a very expensive one. But were it necessary to rely on drug therapy the rest of my life, I like the idea of low-dose Naltrexone much better than replacing thyroid hormones directly—let the body work its pathways as much as possible.
Low-dose Naltrexone options are typically 1.5mg, 3mg, 4.5mg, requiring compounding. My regular doctor has 10 years of experience with it, so that adds additional comfort to the equation. Although it is claimed to be exceedingly low-risk at such low doses. Insurance typically will NOT pay for it, but it is relatively cheap ($1.50 a day or less).
Maybe low-dose Naltrexone will work and maybe it won’t. But if there is any significant chance of a cure, that sounds way better than getting on a lifetime roller-coaster of thyroid medication.
Chart below: see Testing for Thyroid Peroxidase (TPOAb antibody test): GARBAGE RESULTS from one or both Labs?.
