Thyroid issues

[skyblueish]

As someone recently put on levothyroxine (low level) to correct this condition I am concerned that lactose seems to be at the top of the list of ingredients. Am wondering if anyone else who has this condition and is vegan has found or knows of an alternative. Did try a liquid which was lactose free and glucose free sometime ago but it was very sweet tasting and wouldnt want to be taking aspartame or other artificial sweetener. The tablets dont really agree with me but as I am over 50 now am told I must take them to keep my heart healthy.
Any suggestions most welcome. thankyou all !

[dreama]

I've been taking thyroxin all my life but it's the first time I've heard those little white tablets weren't vegan. I was just worried about animal testing but it's not a new drug. I've had it since I was 8 months old.

I've just checked the ingredience on the internet. There is one called "L-Thyroxine" which does not contain lactose and another called ELTROXIN for hypothyroid which does. My ezee reader (print enlarger) is not working right now so I won't know which type of thyroxine I'm using. I hope it's the one without any dairy. We've always just called it thyroxine.

[skyblueish]

I wouldnt worry too much, its doubtless a very tiny amount and I dont think there is an alternative anyway. Was hoping someone else may know somthing I dont. My concern is more that I never felt well after eating dairy before becoming vegan, many years ago, and so worried in case the lactose might affect me the same way. It does but only mildly.
How much levothyroxine do you take, may I ask ?

[dreama]

I take about 250 mg of Thyroxine only I don't know the trade name of the type I take as when I looked online there was a product called L thyroxine which didn't have dairy and anotherone that did so it seems to vary. I'm going to my dad's tommorrow and I'll have a look at what it says on my packet there.

[veggiegirl3]

I also have an underactive thyroid and take medication. I take it and hope that my thyroid will continue to improve (it's healing itself!!). I have heard that excercize and iodine in the diet help.

[DianeVegan]

You may also want to stay away from fluoride, especially if you drink a lot of water which is fluoridated (as much is in the U.S.)

"Fluorine tends to substitute for iodine in such a way that a person who is exposed to fluorine becomes deficient in iodine, and deficiency in iodine causes a certain type of enlargement of the thyroid which is frequently associated with a low metabolism, a deficiency in thyroid function." - Dr. Richard Capps (from The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson, 2004)

Here (http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/thyroid/index.html) is a website with more information and links to others - I can't vouch for how accurate the information is, however there is a lot of info out there concerning fluoride and hypothyroidism.

[veggiegirl3]

Wow! Who knew?!

[insubordination]

Don't know of an alternative to drugs. They seriously make me sick so I stopped taking them for a while. Then I switched brands but I don't know...I still feel like shit. My endo also advised me to avoid flouride, brassica family vegetables, soy and to increase iodine intake. I also take coconut oil and stinging nettle tea. I don't know if it helps but it hasn't harmed.

Just curious, do any of you have nodules or goitre? My huge nodule is being monitored as 'indeterminate' and they are probably going to remove half my thyroid. Love that word "indeterminate" - so comforting.

[moonshadow]

i'm lactose intollerant and have had my doctor put in a request for lactose free thyroid meds (i take t4 and t3). my thyroxine is ordered from the states (levoxyl) and my other one is ordered from germany (thybon).

there are no british lactose fee thyroid tablets. my daughter, who was born without a thyroid, takes the usual british ones, as she has shown no signs of being lactose intollerant, yet. once she reaches age four or so, we'll see if that changes (because of ending our infancy at around age four, many people develop lactose intollerance at around this age, as their bodies stop producing lactase).

levoxyl tastes gross, as it doesn't have the lactose to sweeten it. at the moment xylia takes her medicine without liquid, and i don't think she'd take the levoxyl this way, and she must have thyroid meds or she won't develop, so i'm willing to put up with her having a bit of lactose in her daily life so that she grows up well.

good luck finding something that you feel comfortable taking!

[dreama]

i'm lactose intollerant and have had my doctor put in a request for lactose free thyroid meds (i take t4 and t3). my thyroxine is ordered from the states (levoxyl) and my other one is ordered from germany (thybon).

there are no british lactose fee thyroid tablets. my daughter, who was born without a thyroid, takes the usual british ones, as she has shown no signs of being lactose intollerant, yet. once she reaches age four or so, we'll see if that changes (because of ending our infancy at around age four, many people develop lactose intollerance at around this age, as their bodies stop producing lactase).

levoxyl tastes gross, as it doesn't have the lactose to sweeten it. at the moment xylia takes her medicine without liquid, and i don't think she'd take the levoxyl this way, and she must have thyroid meds or she won't develop, so i'm willing to put up with her having a bit of lactose in her daily life so that she grows up well.

good luck finding something that you feel comfortable taking!

I'm lactose intolerant although I didn't realise this until I became vegan. Before then I was a very fussy eater. I've needed throxine since I was born. It's a pity that you have to order the differant thyroxine from the states as I'm worried incase my doctor may refuse to do so. I don't know what to say really that is likely to convince her really. I'm unhappy about taking the medicine now because I hate having to eat anything with Dairy, and being lactose intolerant and also because dairy causes cancer and my mum and many relatives on mum's side of the family have died from cancer.

At the same time not taking thyroxine will make me ill as I need thyroxine. I'm going to phone my doctor tommorrow and ask but she'll probably refuse to do anything so I really don't know what to do.

[moonshadow]

if you're lactose intollerant, they should be able to special order it under nhs. both of the doctors surgeries i've been with here have done this for me.

[dreama]

The problem is how to convince my doctor that I am Lactose Intolerant. We've never discussed it before and I've been taking the thyroxine tablets since I was 8 months old so she might think that because I already taking it for so long I'm ok. I did find significate improvement in health from giving up dairy (except the thyroxine tablet). Although I'm not feeling too healty right now because I've been trying to avoid them because of them having lactose. I only take the tablets when I feel ill and have skipped taking several days worth but it can't go on like this.

Would it be possible to order the vegan thyroxine myself? Could you tell me more about the vegan thyroxine tablets you take?

[moonshadow]

i just told them that dairy products give me severe gut cramps.

when i got my first lot of thyroxine here, i didn't realize that they had lactose in them. i took one, went to work, and was shortly landed on the toilet with horrible cramps.

i couldn't figure out what dairy i could have had until i got home and saw the thyroxine tablets on the counter.

so i told the doc what happened, and he wrote a letter stating that i needed lactose free tablets. when i moved to devon i had to get another letter from the new surgery for the new pharmacy. subsequent prescriptions have lactose free printed on them.

i only have the pharmacy containers of my levoxyl, but you can go to their website www.levoxyl.com (http://www.levoxyl.com)

my t3 is thybon 20 henning it's from germany, so everything on the box is in german... the other important word on it is: Liothyroninhydrochlorid.

i'm part of a congenital hypothyroid group. it is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/congenital_hypothryoidism_/ in case you're interested. it's mostly parents with children who have ch, but everyone likes the insights from adults with ch, too. xylia was diagnosed at about 2 weeks old.

good luck getting on a lactose free thyroid pill!

[dreama]

Good news! I now take lactose free thyroxine. It comes as a liquid form and I measure it out with a syringe.

[cvC]

Excerpts from a couple of articles which suggest that a gluten-free diet might help:

"...researchers found that...organ-specific autoantibodies (i.e., thyroid antibodies) -- will disappear after 3 to 6 months of a gluten-free diet."

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/latestresearch/a/celiac.htm

"In most patients who strictly followed a 1-yr gluten withdrawal (as confirmed by intestinal mucosa recovery), there was a normalization of subclinical hypothyroidism."

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=112805 46&dopt=Abstract

Here's what someone has to say about thyroid surgery:

"Most holistic practitioners, to include a growing number of MDs, recommend NEVER destroying part of your thyroid with radioactive iodine or a poison like methimazone or surgically removing part of the thyroid to slow down hormone production in the event you have hyperthyroidism. Invariablely this will drive you into low thyroid from which you may never recover."

http://www.rense.com/general66/thy.htm

Something which suggests that kelp and something called Fucus might help with the treatment of a nodule, although I can't say that I personally find the idea of sea vegetables very appealing:

"BRIEF CASE HISTORY OF A THYROID NODULE
A 35 year old female patient (two children) presented with a rapidly growing thyroid nodule which seemed to arise with no overt cause. The nodule was not firm but cystic. Once it had stabilized, a fine needle aspirant sample was collected; the cyst was apparently totally benign . Synthetic thyroid hormone was suggested to promote the nodule's shrinkage. The patient refused. Almost four years after the nodule stabilized the woman began taking 3-5 grams/day of powdered Fucus and Nereocystis kelp, mixed. After six months, the nodule had completely disappeared. The woman continues to take some maintenance dosages several times a week."

http://www.ryandrum.com/thyroid1.html

[Taste Test]

Hey there

Anyone have any experience with thyroid issues?

I seem to have an inflammed, painful thyroid (and have all the side effects, nausea, fatigue and muddled brain) and I'm wondering if there's anything I can do. I've read a bit about it online but not I'm seeking to hear from other people who've experienced thyroid issues and how they helped themselves through nutrition, diet or medication. From what I understand it's relatively common so there must be a few of you who can shed some light on this topic!

Cheers guys,

Jess

[Taste Test]

p.s. to the best of your knowledge, did anything cause your thyroid problem?

(I'm wondering if there's some behaviour that I can change... if need be)

[insubordination]

There are several thyroid issues which I'm sure you've read about. Depending on your symptoms, you could be hyper, have hashimotos, graves hypo or having another problem, even cancer (though it doesn't sound like it).

I don't know why but I never paid much attention to my neck. One day I notice a HUGE lump. I also had other symptoms such as feeling extremely fatigued and depressed all the time and a lot of hair loss and weight gain an irregular body temperature...cold feet etc. I even cut back to four days a week at work because I just couldn't manage it. It was a little bit scary. I just used to want to be still all the time and just slept from Friday night to Monday morning because I needed it to get through the week.

After numerous specialists, biopsies, ultrasounds, blood tests, urinary iodine tests etc. I was told I was 'critically' low in iodine and was advised to take a liquid iodine drop every morning. This made me violently ill so I was advised to take kelp (ditto). Finally, I switch to iodised salt (I dislike salt but at least it doesn't make me sick). I also took other measures such as not drinking fluoridated water and cutting out down on soy and other goitregens (such as brassica vegetables)

I was diagnosed as hypothryoid and put on synthroid but did not do well on it. It was both the side effects and the dosage. I swung the other way and became hyperthyroid.

At the recommendation of my doctor, I'm off the medication but get monitored regulary and will probably have to go back on at some point. The fact that my hair is growing back quite noticeably tells me that I'm improving.

My main issue now is the large nodule (goitre) in my neck. I thought it was just from iodine deficiency but it has now come back as 'indeterminate' so it is being monitored every two months. IfI get a bad biopsy next time, the doctor wants to remove a section of my thyroid gland.

Everyone's thyroid story will be totally different. Mine's an odd one. All I can say is, get it checked out immediately.

I also recommend that (especially non-US) vegans get a urinary iodine test and include a source of iodine in the diet.

[Taste Test]

That is very, very helpful thank you so much.

I am having a similar experience (ultrasound tomorrow morning on neck) and am very much not wanting to go on the rollercoaster ride of treatment that my "healthcare professionals" are about to put me on. I am avoiding soy (because I've heard it binds the iodine) and certain vegetables and will look into iodine supplements. The nausea and fatigue is out of this world and it is encouraging to hear that someone else has gotten through thyroid issues.

[Taste Test]

Well - correction. Had the ultrasound looks like it is a thyroglossal duct cyst. Thanks for your post anyway, dunno why I'm nauseous, I guess more test are in order!

[insubordination]

So glad it was a cyst. Phew! However, muddled brain, fatigue and nausea are symptoms I suffered. Did the doctor check your TSH, t3m t4 and urinary iodine.

[Taste Test]

Thanks, yes, we checked all of those except the iodine and I have to go into surgery soon to have the cyst removed. : ) Very much appreciate you input!

Jess

[insubordination]

Bummer you have to get it removed. Is it really big? Do they have to remove any of the gland?

[Taste Test]

Nope, just the thyroglossal duct and the cyst. Apparently its a congenital birth defect for me to even HAVE a thyroglossal duct and rare for a cyst to show up in someone over 20.

I'll be glad to have it out, at the moment it's obstructing my swallowing. I had the appointment with the surgeon today and feel confident now that it's best to remove it.

My thyroid will remain entirely intact unless (I imagine) there is something found to be wrong with it - which is unlikely, but not impossible, it is rarely a carcinoma. I am keeping positive and feel happy that I can do something to clear my airway and swallowing finally.

I feel a bit more upbeat today, knowing that there is some resolution to the problem. And infact the surgeon said (as did my doc) that sometimes the cyst swells after a viral infection, which would match up with the severe vertigo and the fatigue that I have been experiencing.

I am lucky that all my bloods, in every count, iron, b12, and thyroid function have been tip-top. It shows that my diet is not the cause of my problems (as a new vegan I was concerned). I am also lucky in that every symptom pointed to a thyroid issue such as yours (including the fact that my mother has graves and graves ophthalmology, which is hereditary) and it is thankfully not.

I hope that your health improves also, I feel for you, suffering with these issues, as I have supported my mother through similar changes and there were some scary, worrying times as her thyroid was destroyed through radioactive iodine two years ago. It's amazing that such a little gland can have such a powerful impact on our entire body.

[insubordination]

I hope the operation goes well. Perhaps you had a viral infection at one point then. Don't worry about me. I'm 100% healthier than I was at this time last year. I don't know how my body balanced it out since most people are on meds for years, perhaps the iodine deficiency brought on these other problems. There is so much contrary information that it can drive one crazy.

That radioactive iodine treatment sounds nasty. I'm glad that I haven't had to experience that.

It sounds like you have a good docs. I wasn't 100% happy with the two endos I tried, though one was very expensive.