How to recover your auto-immune system, improve thyroid antibodies and reverse Graves’ disease

4 Methods that can improve your thyroid antibodies, strengthen the immune system and help Graves’ disease and Hyperthyroidism symptoms

by Svetla Bankova

Graves’ disease, as I hope you know by now, is not a thyroid disorder! It is an auto-immune disorder that affects the thyroid gland. Hashimoto’s, Rheumatoid arthritis, Diabetes Type 1, Lupus etc. are also auto-immune disorders, they just affect other organs of the body. Therefore, the removal or destruction of the thyroid gland (which is the affected organ and the victim) will not solve the problem with your malfunctioning auto-immune system!  Neither will do the herbs or supplements, or any other unconventional or conventional method that targets the thyroid gland only! As you can see from the picture, it proves my point:

The purpose of any treatment should be to lower the thyroid antibodies and to fix the autoimmune system, which has been compromised and caused Graves’ disease.  But how do you do this? I often receive emails from clients saying that all their thyroid results (i.e. TSH, FT3 and FT4) are normal but their thyroid antibodies are still high. Well, yes…because the medication they were taking tries to “trick” the thyroid, but it can’t trick the immune system, which is the real issue on a first place… 

With this mind, I am going to outline a two-step approach for treating Graves’ disease:

– Controlling the symptoms of Grave’s disease, using natural therapies as much as possible (herbs, vitamins, supplements) instead of toxic medication. (we talked about this in previous posts, but if you missed the articles check “Free articles” section).

– Treating the underlying immune system disorder, which will reverse Graves’ disease completely. And we will talk about this now. 

There are four (4) methods I know that can help the auto-immune system performance and it’s up to you which one you’ll choose, or a combination of them. I know that they work, because I’ve tried some of them, others that I did not personally try- I researched and the corresponding information is below.

Methods that work directly on a physical and chemical level

1. Aloe Vera Gel

Aloe Vera contains a very important substance, called acemannan, found in its sugar part. It is a long chain polysaccaccaride and acts as an immune modulator, especially for the thyroid antibodies. Meaning that it has the power and ability to slow down or enhance the immune system response. In our case- it should be able to manage the immune system to recognize its own cells and not attack them. It acts however it is required by the immune system! I trust only one company when it comes to Aloe Vera and this is ForeverLiving. Click here to find more details:

2. Bovine Colostrum 

Bovine Colostrum contains a few substances that are known to affect positively the immune system: PRP: Proline-Rich Polypeptides,  Lactoferin and Immunoglobulins. While the PRPs act as an immune modulator and prevent the overproduction of lymphocytes and stimulates the production of T cells, Lactoferin and Immunoglobulins are effective in fighting viruses and bacteria within the body.  Bovine colostrum is also used for boosting the immune system, healing injuries, repairing nervous system damage, improving mood and sense of well being, slowing and reversing aging, and as an agent for killing bacteria and fungus.

Additional information, supported with scientific research: Click here

3. Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN). I personally haven’t tried this product, and it is often presented as “one drug can cure all” by some Big Pharma companies. I am not specifically endorsing this product, as I never tried that but it is good to know if any of the other natural products don’t work work. You can find more information  about LDN on http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/. The website is sponsored by Advocates For Therapeutic Immunology and its purpose is to provide information to patients and physicians about important therapeutic breakthroughs in advanced medical immunology. It’s run by three medical doctors, and one of them, Bernard Bihari, MD, was the discoverer of the major clinical effects of low dose naltrexone. Use your own judgement!

Psychological approach for treating the autoimmune disorders

The first thing I would definitely recommend is stress reduction techniques and life style changes. The reason: auto-immune system is highly influenced by hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. When our body experience chronic stress for prolonged period of time it exhausts the immune system to the point where it can not recognize the body’s own cells, causing autoimmune disorders like Graves’ disease and Hashimoto’s. Practically, the above mentioned LDN increases the endorphins, which help the better performance of the immune system. In other words, the happier you are, the better your immune system will perform.  And I personally believe in that fact, just prefer to use other methods to achieve better health (check my books).

Whether or not you are using any type of anti-thyroid medication, I think the above products probably would only help (check with your doctor about LDN) and will not interfere with your usual treatment plan. If in any doubt, always check with your physician. 

For other alternative methods to help your hyperthyroidism and Graves’ disease,  for deeper understanding of all the reasons that stay behind your thyroid disorder, check my latest book “Mental, emotional and psychological aspects of thyroid disorders”.