Anyone take herbal supplements to help..

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Anyone take herbal supplements to help..
1
Sat, 10-09-2004 - 10:47pm
with your thyroid problem? If so, which one? And does it help?

Teresa

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-09-2001
Mon, 10-11-2004 - 1:51pm
Hi Teresa - welcome! There are two lists of supplements that I've erecommended and taken myself over th apst eyar. One is from Dr. Perricone of the Perricone Prescription and the other is from Dr. Ridha Arem, from his book, The Thyroid Solution. These are both ok to take if your are HYPOthyroid, not hyper, because many of the supplements will increase your metabolism. None of the supplements are herbal supplements, though. I just feel comfortable taking herbal supplements and none are included on thes doctors' lists anyway. :) My own endo is against taking supplements of any kind because there is no guarantee of the purity or quality of the brands since there is no FDA approval process for them. But there are a couple of organizations that actually do independent testing. One is found here: http://www.consumerlab.com/ and I'll have to get back to you with the other. It's in this month's issue of Health magazine; it's an "approval" organization, like Good Housekeeping is for other products. I just don't have it in front of me.

Here's the lists:

Dr. P's list:

CLA: 1000 mg - 3 to 4 times daily

ALA: 250-500 mg

Q10: 60 to 120 mg

DMAE: 75 mg two times a day (I haven't been taking these - they're expensive)

L-tyrosine - 500 mg 3 times a day

GLA/Evening primrose oil: 1000 mg

Omega 3 fatty acids: 500 mg 2 times a day (I'm taking one with omega 3 and 6)

Vitamin E: 200 to 400 mg

Vitamin C: 500 to 1000 mg

He breaks it down for breakfast and lunch.

Here's breakfast: Vitamin C, Vitamin E, ALA, Q10, Omega 3 and GLA, CLA

Lunch: Vitamin C, ALA, Q10, Omega 3, GLA, CLA (I add folic acid)

And I take another CLA before dinner.

And Dr. Arem's:

vitamin C: 250 - 1000 mg

vitamin E: 200 - 800 IU's

Beta carotene and mixed carotenoids: 1000 - 5000 IU's (This is vitamin A)

Selenium: 50 - 100 mcg

Zinc: 15-20 milligrams

A good B-complex, plus B-6 at 25-50 milligrams

Folic Acid: 400 - 600 mcg

So you can see that some overlap. I've stopped taking supplements for awhile because of my endo's recommendation and because something that I was taking was suddenly making me nautious and I still can't deterime what it was. But I'm going to get back to it because you can't possibly eat all the healthy food needed to get the right amount of vitamins and minerals. And now that I have those sites, I know that the vitamins I buy are safe and actually contain what they're supposed to.

I hope this helps. I know they're not herbs but still .... it's in the same path! Cathy :)