Topic of the Week
What is the Thyroid Keeper’s Protocol?
Topic of the Week!
What is the Thyroid Keeper’s Protocol?
My Thyroid Keeper’s Protocol is a management protocol developed using the biology and science that is Graves’ Disease and Hyperthyroidism. I developed it through extensive research, my own path to full antibody remission and 8+ years of talking to other Gravesters while looking at their labs, dosages and iodine intake.
Your anti thyroid med dose is never static. It changes as your needs for suppression change. Doctors just put us on a dose and leave us there for months without even checking to see that’s it still correct. Think of it in the way a diabetic’s needs for insulin change. For them it’s necessary to test and adjust regularly. At times they must test hourly, daily or monthly. This is also true for us except we don’t need to test any more frequently than every 2-4 weeks due to the slow cycle of the thyroid feedback loop. Once stable and optimal, monthly is usually sufficient. A minimum of monthly testing is required to maintain stable and optimal (not just within range) thyroid levels in order to achieve full antibody remission. If you don’t test often enough, you won’t catch small changes until they become big changes that take longer to correct. In order to get antibody suppression we MUST remain optimal at all times. Plus, optimal is where we feel best!
The most important factor in our diet is limiting our iodine intake. Iodine limits change just as our dosages change. Iodine is thyroid fuel. We must limit it but how much it must be limited is also ever changing just like our dosage needs are. Our goal is the correct amount needed combined with the proper dose of meds to achieve and maintain optimal thyroid levels. We can’t just restrict all iodine or limit it to a static amount since our needs are ever changing. We need optimal thyroid levels not hyPO levels or no thyroid hormone in order to feel our best.
We must test the proper levels! We cannot manage Graves or Hyperthyroidism by TSH alone. We must also test Free T3 and Free T4. FT3 and FT4 are your actual thyroid hormones and we must know what they are in order to maintain optimal levels. TSH is a pituitary hormone not a thyroid hormone. Graves’ Disease antibodies actually prevent your thyroid from even seeing TSH until they have come down enough.
What dose you need to be on and how much iodine you need in your diet are too individual and vary too much for me to teach you in the group setting. Please consider allowing me to assist you with managing and maintaining your thyroid levels properly so you can achieve antibody remission too and have the best quality of life along your path to full antibody remission.
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My ! I Your too!
