Hyperthyroidism

 
I have hyperthyroidism and graves disease, will herbs and acupuncture
help this disease and condition?
Thanks
Pam

There are many therapies within Chinese medicine that target that thyroid gland. Though, not in so many words.

We split things up in Chinese medicine according to Yin and Yang. Yin is the cooling mechanisms in the body and Yang is the warming mechanisms. Hyperthyroidism means that you've got too much thyroid going on in your body. In Chinese medicine it means that you're deficient in Yin which is the cooling mechanisms.

Our job with acupuncture and herbal therapies is to increase the Yin in the body and clear out the lingering heat and its associated symptoms caused by the excessive amount of thyroxin in the body.

The exact mechanism by which this works is unknown. It may be that for many, hyperthyroidism and its most common manifestation, Grave's Disease is induced by stress and acupuncture has a great ability to reduce the effect of stress on the body, mind and spirit of the patient. With that precipitating factor reduced, we are in a position to supplement this therapy with herbs to cool you off, slow you down and basically undo what the hyperthyroidism has created.

It would be interesting to see how much thyroxin remains in the blood stream following acupuncture and herbal therapy. Certainly the symptoms will be reduced. I don't know if that would actually translate to a smaller amount of the thyroxin in the blood stream but it is likely just a matter of time before it really has been researched.

A practitioner of Chinese herbalism would be able to tell you more, and more importantly differentiate the causes of your interior heat from a number of other possible causes consistent with the Chinese paradigm.

	Al Stone, L.Ac. Beyond Well Being Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicines Santa Monica, CA. (310) 264-6668