Discussion Forum: General Discussion: Medical Aspects: Thyroid

Home : Discussion Forum

Discussion Forum: General Discussion: Medical Aspects:
Thyroid

michellet
Enthusiast

Nov 28, 2002, 4:38 AM

Post #1 of 8 (6119 views)
Shortcut

Thyroid	Can't Post

hello all--
I am writing for Thyroid advise. I have a history of thyroid problems (and my mother and maternal grandmother had thyroid cancer). My thyroid problems have been absent for about 2 years. (and i have regularly practiced yoga to stimulate the organ over the past years) But, as it turns out, my thyroid is swollen again. I am going to a thyroid specialist soon, and should then have a real "diagnosis". Hashimoto's Thyroititis has been suggested as a possibility, and, though, it may not be the problem, it has got me wondering about yoga sessions for autoimmune diseases such as this one (HAshimotos). I am relatively aware of which poses stimulate and which ones quiet the thyroid (from previous underactivity) but I wonder which yoga poses are good for something like hashimotos. also, if any of you have experience with this--I would love advice about where to find out more about alternative ways to deal with this disease and other related types of thyrotitis (ie not hormone therapy replacement).

I really appreciate any help or advise!
Nameste,
michellet

(This post was edited by michellet on Nov 28, 2002, 4:43 AM)

kristinmichele
Novice

Dec 3, 2002, 10:10 AM

Post #2 of 8 (6010 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hello Michellet,

I was very interested in your post because I have been newly diagnosed with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (since July). In fact, I think we exchanged posts before on this subject, in the old forum. I am glad you posted again: I would love it if an ongoing discussion could be generated in this forum with Iyengar students or teachers, if there are others here concerned about thyroid or autoimmune disorders.

With Hashi’s, my thinking is that a thyroid-stimulating practice may not necessarily be beneficial. The pituitary gland is already secreting excess TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) in a vain attempt to induce the thyroid to produce more hormone. At the same time, the immune system is attacking and disabling the thyroid, so it cannot produce normal amounts of hormone.

By the same token, an immune-stimulating practice may be self-defeating. Yoga: the Path to Holistic Health has a sequence called “Immune Deficiency”, implicitly, for a weakened immune system. However, with Hashi’s, the immune system is not necessarily deficient: it is on overdrive and is wrongly programmed to attack self as non-self. It needs regulation, not stimulation.

Stress may be a factor in this disorder. You mentioned that Hashimoto’s is genetic, which is very true; an aunt on my father’s side has it. However, I also learned its onset can be triggered or aggravated by events or habits. I developed Hashi’s during a very stressful episode, which included relocating, moving twice, getting married, and dealing with noisy upstairs neighbors.

Until now, my yoga practice was very aggressive and stimulating. For example, I was emphasizing both backbends and headstands and not following them with counterposes: books on Iyengar yoga recommend that headstands can cause irritability by bringing blood to the pituitary region and should always be followed by shoulderstands, which bring blood to the thryroid. I was also over-emphasizing surya namaskar, doing excessive repetitions daily and overarching my low back. I was taking lots of “Power Yoga” classes, the kind where the heat is cranked up and there is not much emphasis on alignment. I believe these practices may have been aggravating to the immune and endocrine systems.

My diagnosis caused me to reflect on quality of my practice in this way. The Iyengar method, in both the execution and sequencing of poses, is the most balanced form, and I have become a devoted Iyengar student. I feel better this way, but it is not a cure, just more appropriate for the body. I do need to take thyroid hormone replacement, although I’m on the lowest possible dosage.

All the best with your upcoming visit to the thyroid specialist. I would be very interested in hearing your opinions (including disagreements!) on anything I’ve said, as I am not an authority. Please also let me know if you discover any additional information on Iyengar yoga and autoimmune disease / hypothyroidism. Please share your thoughts, as you may very well be more knowledgeable than me!

Does anyone else on the board have experience with Iyengar yoga in regard to autoimmune or thyroid disorders?

namaste,
Kristin

ps - I am not a yoga teacher or health care practitioner, just a student struggling to educate myself.

michellet
Enthusiast

Dec 4, 2002, 3:14 AM

Post #3 of 8 (5985 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Dear kristenmichelle,

thanks for your reply. It is nice to be in dialogue with someone about this. I actually had the wonderful oppurtunity to have a 3 day workshop with Lois Steinberg over the weekend (in Berlin Germany). She is a very advanced Iyengar teacher (and dynamic person)who has a tremendous wealth of knowledge about thereaputics. SHe also has a history of thyroid problems, and of yoga practice for thyroid problems.(having gotten some of my results back, it seems -from my antibodies--that Hashimoto'S is not what I have, however, things are still in the air). I would recommend getting in touch with Lois via email ( I believe her email is posted on one of the Iyengar Yoga teacher lists) with specific questions. She shared a lot at the workshop, but I won't claim to be able to restate everything perfectly, but I can share a very minamalistic overview of what she had to say.. She talked about how 2 things are important with organic problems. 1. resting the organ (with the thyroid it is important to keep the neck soft. do standing poses with the head turned down or at the edge of a wall (corner)with the head back over the wall /forward bends/shoulder stand--with soft neck/ she showed a variation of head stand balancing further back on the crown/ she also said that she had used a block for head stand, her head and neck flush with it , at the wall) /do supine poses with the head higher. But above all maintian softness in the neck 2. she also talked about the importance of learning to move the organ correctly (which is something best learned with a teacher who is experienced). She talked about her experience in INdia (with the Iyengars) when she had thyroid problems: she did back bends a lot, but carefully, learning to move the organ appropriatly. (again, I think this is something to work on with an advanced teacher, not alone until a teacher has demonstrated it correctly). Lois has an amazing wealth of knowledge, and I can only recommend that you contact her personally. Her center is in Illinois-- it could be worth a trip there for some personal therapy.

If I learn anything new, I'll be sure to post it here.
In the mean time, all the best to you,
Nameste,
michellet
PS. Lois has a website: http://www.yoga-cu.com

(This post was edited by michellet on Dec 4, 2002, 3:43 AM)

kristinmichele
Novice

Dec 4, 2002, 8:47 AM

Post #4 of 8 (5970 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Dear Michellet,

What good fortune for you to be able to attend a workshop with a teacher specifically experienced with thyroid problems. Thank you for sharing the information - I can understand as I take a lot of tension in my neck while practicing.

Congratulations on your antibody test results. You are very blessed if you don't have antibodies and don't have Hashi's: there is hope for you to reverse the hypothyroidism and correct the disorder.

Many thanks for Lois contact information and Web site - I will try and get in touch with her.

In the meantime, if you like, let's keep this thread open regarding anything new we each learn. You can also contact me at my e-mail address, which is in my profile.

cheers,
Kristin

michellet
Enthusiast

Dec 20, 2002, 3:49 AM

Post #5 of 8 (5839 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hello again!

I was looking for thyroid related websites (etc.) and found this website that mentions a book about alternative approaches to Hashimoto's. I have not seen the book itself, but I thought I would pass the link on:
http://www.thyroid.bizland.com

Hope you are well!
Michellet

rochelle
New User

Nov 5, 2003, 11:06 AM

Post #6 of 8 (4419 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi-
I appreciate this discussion thyroid issues and yoga, as a practitioner of 10 years with a history of both autoimmune disorder (ITP, where the immune system attacks platelets) and elevated TSH/borderline hypothyroidism. The thyroid issue was of concern due to both a family history of severe hypothyroidism and goiter,and the recognition of the potential for the immune system to go haywire in my specific case. Both issues appeared at age 32, and now at age 35 I can say that both have been resolved to the point where I just monitor them periodically and haven't had abnormal lab results for more than a year. I'd like to share a few things I've learned along the way.

My experience with the autoimmune blood disorder taught me more than ever to have faith in the body's potential to heal and correct itself given proper support. Disorders that the medical professions tend to categorize as chronic in adults need not necessarily become chronic. I must give the disclaimer that I am only a single case and may have been merely lucky, but I will say that my complete recovery, with the help of Traditional Chinese Medicine, ayurveda and yoga, came as a great surprise to the "Western" doctors who were willing to remove my spleen and/or have me live out the rest of my days on Predisone and antibiotics.

I strongly recommend working with a highly qualified herbalist, and using your yoga practice both to address physical and psychological stress and to create time to bring your will and spirit into the healing process in a unified way. My own approach was to try to practice inversions daily, with headstand always followed by a significantly longer shoulderstand, and to spend extended time in supine poses with my attention focused on calming the sense of "overdrive" activity in the immune cells. In Savasana, I would try to listen to the organs and cells, trying to be receptive to the body itself and even "ask" it if it had anything to "tell" me. I used whatever came to me in the way of meditation and visualization to direct my own energies and attention to understanding and healing whatever was out of balance. While I made full use of the information and assistance I was able to get from doctors, I did not leave it up to them to "cure" me.

In the course of what became my personal health project, I distinctly remember trying to understand this puzzle of whether the immune system needed to be "stimulated" or "boosted," or "pacified," or even "shut down," which is what the corticosteroids accomplish. I tossed out all my echinacea and herbs that are touted as immune "stimulators," thinking that, as you mention, Kristin, the system was already overactive. In the end, I have come to believe that a confused immune system is indeed a weak immune system that can benefit from being strengthened through herbs that support and build, but not the types of treatmeant that stimulate in the sense of caffeine, for example, which stimulates your energy temporarily and leaves you worn out, ultimately depleted. As Kristin also mentioned, autoimmune problems do often show up in periods of unusual stress and (as was my case) after an extended period in which the body is already showing less alarming signs of immune weakness (low-grade infections such as UTI, fatigue, susceptibility to colds & flu, etc.)

With respect to thyroid health in particular, I would like to second the motion about practicing with softness and vitality in the throat area and spending time in poses such as supported shoulderstand and setu bandha where the neck position is said to increase blood supply to the thyroid. I don't have any personal evidence to support it, but this just makes sense to me, and as I mentioned, I have been successful in bringing my elevated TSH down from 7.5 to 3.3 (normal range = .5 to 4.7) in a period of 2 years.

The MAIN thing I attribute this to, however (and the reason I started this long post in the first place) is eliminating SOY products from my diet. My TSH high of 7.5 came after a fabulous week at a yoga retreat where I consumed 2-3 times my normal intake of soy. The TSH started coming down immediately and steadily once I cut out the soy. There are a few articles written on the potential anti-thyroid effects of soy - I can try to find the references if you're interested. I feel it's very important to mention, since many yogis adopt vegetarian diets and the Western version relies VERY heavily on soy for protein. Go for the mung beans!!

Best wishes,
Rochelle

kristinmichele
Novice

Nov 19, 2003, 1:49 PM

Post #7 of 8 (4345 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Rochelle,

Thank you for posting your experience - it is very encouraging. I wish I could take as much control as you have.

Ah, shoulderstand… When I was diagnosed, I had been doing yoga for 12 years. I absolutely loved shoulderstand (still do) and therefore had really emphasized it in my practice. I am totally perplexed, since I had been practicing the very pose that is supposed to help the thyroid. Since diagnosis, I have been trying to adjust and deepen my practice, and yet it seems like my condition has progressively worsened.

You mentioned stress, and in that I think you have really unlocked something. In autoimmune conditions, the main problem is not the affected organ but really the immune dysfunction. Your approach to yoga is very instructive because it sounds like it really addresses the stress and immune issue in a holistic way. You make an important distinction between immune stimulators and other stimulators like caffeine, because the latter can exacerbate stress by stimulating the adrenals. Have you cut out caffeine entirely? I experience chronic stress, anxiety, worry, etc, all of which I have not really addressed. This must undoubtedly be contributing to the autoimmune progression.

Also, you mentioned that you incorporated ayurveda into your recovery: can I ask you how that worked, in terms of what supplements or practices you used?

Kristin

rochelle
New User

Dec 8, 2003, 5:29 PM

Post #8 of 8 (4221 views)
Shortcut

Re: Thyroid [In reply to]	Can't Post

Hi Kristin-
For my autoimmune problem, herbal therapy really was the cornerstone and the one thing that really seemed to produce noticeable results. I changed some things about my yoga practice at that time to try to support the healing process, but I can't say that I found the asana cure for the problem. I worked with a highly qualified traditional Chinese medicine doctor, while at the same time changing my diet to completely eliminate sugar, alcohol, caffeine and other potential food allergens (I kept this up for a year) and taking 2000 mg Vit c daily. More than a year after my platelet counts were back in the normal range, I went to the Ayurvedic Institute for panchakarma therapy. At that time, I switched to the ayurvedic herb formula that was prescribed for me and continued with a more ayurvedic-based diet focused on balancing/reducing pitta. This seemed to be successful both for maintaining my platelet counts and supporting my thyroid, which also got back into the normal range for a time. Most recently, I've stopped all herbal supplements, and my TSH has crept back up above normal. I plan to start again. Hope this helps!

Search for (options)