My mom was recently told by her doctor that her thyroid was enlarged, and he encouraged her to have it removed. Located in the neck, the thyroid gland’s job is to produce hormones that regulate our metabolism. Called the “spark plugs of the body,” by Dr. Paul Eck, the thyroid hormones are essential for energy production in our cells and impacts every area of body functioning: digestion, heart health, fat metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, protein synthesis, body weight, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration, muscle strength, sleep and sexual functioning.
Thyroid cells are also the only cells in the body that absorb iodine, which combines with the amino acid tyrosine. Amino acids are the building blocks of cells, and we know our metabolism “refers to the way the body turns food into energy,” (thank you A 2 Z of Health, Beauty and Fitness: http://health.learninginfo.org/function-thyroid-gland.htm).
Even more, thyroid hormones “are also concerned with creativity and expression in the world. They are needed to reach out to the world and participate in it. Those with very low thyroid functioning are often withdrawn and depressed for this reason. In contrast, many famous people who are ‘out in the world’ have higher levels of thyroid hormones,” says Dr. Lawrence Wilson, at http://drlwilson.com/Articles/hormone%20therapy.htm.
It’s also interesting to me that the “thyroid gland is located right at the level of the fifth energy center called the throat chakra. This center has to do with expression and creativity. Thyroid problems are sometimes more severe in individuals who are having difficulty expressing themselves, or who feel suppressed or shut down in their creative endeavors.”
Being that the thyroid is so essential to our body’s functioning and well-being, why would a doctor advise someone having thyroid problems to just cut it out?
There was no discussion between my mom and the doctor about why the thyroid was enlarged, how it gets that way, and other possible ways to treat it. Instead, he was eager to refer her to several experts who could schedule her thyroid removal (at a mere average patient cost of $37,246!!: http://www.surgerycosts.net/price.php?medical=thyroidectomy-surgery), after which she would have to take thyroid medication for the rest of her life (joining the millions of Americans alone who take these drugs). When we look at the money to be made by these pharmaceutical companies, we can understand the motives.
As Dr. Wilson, MD, who has taken the time to address this issue (thank you Dr. Wilson!), tells us, “Hormone replacement therapy is costly. The costs include 1) the hormones, 2) repeated testing that is absolutely required to prescribe them properly and 3) longer-term costs because one must usually stay on them for years. Other hidden costs may be the damage they cause to the body. In addition to the financial burden, one becomes dependent on tests and doctors that in itself extracts a human cost. Cost is not important if it saves a life, but it is important for most people, especially if less expensive alternatives such as nutritional balancing can be used instead” (http://drlwilson.com/Articles/hormone%20therapy.htm).
Natural therapies are available for thyroid treatment. Unfortunately, it’s not part of our Western medicine protocol to even address them. This makes it essential for people to actively become involved in researching, for health.
Our medical system has not always been this screwed up. Before the American Medical Association (AMA) came along in 1847, natural therapies and holistic medicine were the norm.
It’s not surprising to learn that money is the reason why things have changed, to the point where when someone suggests looking into natural, “alternative” remedies for health issues, they are looked at as a little “quacky.” What most of us don’t realize is in the 19th century, the homeopathic schools were the leading health treatment!
As the story goes, John D. Rockefeller’s father was actually, literally, a snake-oil salesman.
“He was a patent remedy seller. The drugs, of course, are oil-based, and John D. Rockefeller was an oil magnate. He also had a bank. So did J.P. Morgan. The drug industry—the patent remedy industry—was in competition with the natural herbal remedies, and the homeopathic remedies. And the way they prevailed in the whole system was that, first of all, they funded the American Medical Association—the AMA Journal, which got their funding from advertising. And if your drug was advertised in the AMA Journal, then you’ve got the AMA’s seal of endorsement… It was a cartel.”
Civil litigation attorney Ellen Brown writes about this in some of her 11 books on health and the politics of health, “including the Web of Debt: The Shocking Truth About Our Money System (which focuses on the money and banking system itself), and Forbidden Medicine, which traces the suppression of natural health treatment back to the corrupting influences of our financial system.”
Brown became involved with the legal team of Jimmy Keller, who is an alternative cancer therapist in Tijuana who was jailed for, “the alleged crime of representing that he had a high rate of cure for cancer.”
“He always showed the movie World Without Cancer to his patients, which is by Ed Griffin,” she says, “so I read the book World Without Cancer, and it linked the cancer industry—the cancer cartel, basically—with the banking cartel. It showed they had the same roots.
It went back to the Rockefeller-Morgan cartel at the turn of the 20th century. Rockefeller, Morgan, and Carnegie supported drugs, funded the medical schools, and basically got the homeopathic schools shut down. (In the 19th century, the homeopathic schools were the leading health treatment.)
… I realized in the course of that that if you wanted to get to crux of the problem, you had to deal with banking, because that was actually where they got their power. They got their power from the power to create money.”
Brown recommends reading The Creature from Jekyll Island and World Without Cancer to learn more about the links between banking and the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Mercola highlights more about this here: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/07/15/ellen-brown-discusses-money-system.aspx?e_cid=20120715_SNL_ArtNew_1
Natural is the Way
As I’ve been researching natural thyroid treatments for my mom, I have not been surprised to learn that good nutrition is the basic therapy, as it is for many, if not all dis-ease.
Australian Naturopath & Wellness Coach Louise O’Connor offers the following suggestions (note: natural food!)
- “Up your intake of iodine-rich foods such as Japanese sea vegetables e.g. nori, wakame, kombu and arame. Thyroid hormones contain iodine making this a critical mineral for normal thyroid activity.
- Cook your brassica vegetables for six to seven minutes. These vegetables contain ‘goitrogens’ which prevent the use of iodine. Goitrogens are found in broccoli, sweet potato, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, brussel sprouts and mustard greens. Cooking inactivates the thyroid inhibiting effect.
- Choose traditional soy products. In Asia, small amounts of traditional soy foods are consumed. This includes tofu, natto, miso, tempeh, and boiled soy beans (edamame), rather than the large amounts of refined and unfermented soy products that are now found in our Western supermarkets.
- Eat selenium-rich foods such as asparagus, Brazil nuts, grains, garlic and mushrooms. Selenium assists activation of thyroid hormones.
- Eat foods that provide a plentiful supply of zinc such as oysters and pumpkin seeds. Zinc is a necessary nutrient to assist healthy thyroid activity.
- Avoid trans fats or ‘plastic fats’ found in margarine, TV dinners, bakery foods, commercially prepared snack foods and deep fried food. These very unhealthy fats are very damaging to the thyroid cell membranes.” –http://www.natural-hormone-health.com/natural-treatment-for-thyroid-problems.html
I’ve also read that pineapples contain bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme that eats anything foreign in our bodies!
And again, we see how natural foods lead to natural health. Anything else needs to be cut out!
NaturaLawes 