Chinese Medicine Works for Graves' Disease!
by Julie
I wanted to just take a minute to share some very positive news with you that may offer encouragement to others seeking holistic solutions to their thyroid disease. Two years ago I was diagnosed with Graves' Disease. In retrospect, I realize now that my symptoms at that time were quite severe. I had lost a lot of weight, was hypertensive, and my thyroid was about 3 times the normal size. My doctor advised me to get on antithyroid medicine right away (I was nursing at the time so there were no other options), so I did that, but had adverse symptoms, like headaches and sudden weight gain--20 pounds in about a month! Those symptoms combined with my personal belief in holistic health pushed me to seek an "alternative" approach and stop taking the antithyroid meds (I only took those for about 6 weeks).
I started seeing a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, and consequently began acupuncture combined with herbal therapy. I saw the positive effects immediately, but it took a little longer to get everything balanced again. I was getting fairly intensive treatment over the course of about 5 months, and then I started to go only intermittently. A year after I was diagnosed with Graves', I went back to an endo for a check-up and was told my disease could now be categorized as subclinical, and that I should just keep up the good work and keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't flare up again. Another year later, my lab results put me in the normal range!
Realizing that this approach may not work for everyone, I hope that it gives encouragement to some folks who believe in natural, holistic healing. I cannot express enough how very positive this course of treatment has always felt for me. Rather than feeling pushed into treatment options that I didn't feel were well understood but bore a lot of risk, acupuncture and herbal therapy has always felt intuitively right. It only makes sense that disease is a result of imbalances of chemistry or energy within the body, and so we should regain balance rather than treat the symptoms. It has been an awakening experience for me. I have learned again how important it is to believe in my own intuition and trust the body's ability to heal itself.
Again, I hope my experience offers some encouragement to others who are dissatisfied with the treatment options offered to them.
(Footnote: I would add that in addition to going to a licensed acupuncturist, I would personally recommend seeing a doctor who studied medicine in China. Their philosophies about medicine are interwoven with their life philosophies and it may be difficult to grasp this from our culture.)
