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Goiter Is A Comparatively Unknown Disease, Thanks To Iodized Salt

| Health & Science

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Hyperthyroidism And Goiter.

The problem with most iodized salts is they contain aluminum as a drying agent.  Eating radishes eliminates the problem.

Herbal remedies for treating hyperthyroidism include the following. Bugleweed (Lycopus) leaf tea inhibits iodine metabolism. Lemon Balm (Melissa Oficinalis) in combination with Bugleweed is used in Europe as a remedy for Grave’s disease (hyperthyroidism).  Any herb that contains rosmaranic acid will help suppress thyroid hormone production, including self-heal, oregano, basil, verbena, rosemary and spearmint.  Combining the aforementioned herbals makes a tasty tea and may help lower thyroid hormone production. 

By placing the fingers on one side of the windpipe and the thumb on the other, it’s possible to perform simple exercise to improve thyroid function.  With the fingers and thumb in place lightly stroke up and down the length of the throat.  Or, place the end of the middle finger and thumb just above the notch at the top of the breastbone and on either side of the throat.  This is the area of the thyroid and is a specific thyroid acupressure contact.   Improvements in thyroid function will assist the digestion, assimilation of nutrients, better metabolism, improved immune system potential and elimination of poisons and toxins from the body.  These two exercises are also beneficial in reducing facial wrinkles and improving overall skin condition.

Placing the hands, one on top of the other, over the thyroid area and relaxing for a few minutes can help strengthen the thyroid.  Reiki is a good example of how this works.

Lowering stress with yoga, Qi Gong, T’ai Chi, Reusri Dut Ton and other exercises that emphasize breath control, stretching and relaxation can balance the thyroid.  Exercise that bring the chin to the chest like the Plow or shoulder stand in Yoga or exercises the roll the head straight back and stretch the muscles and skin of the throat will benefit the thyroid and parathyroid.  Pressing the chin to the chest, without collapsing the sternum, should also prove beneficial.

Two yoga postures that are specific for balancing the thyroid are the fish and the shoulder stand.  Both can be done on a exercise mat.  To do the fish, begin by lying flat on the back with the hands by the sides.  Press down with the elbows, arch the chest upward and place the top of the head on the mat.  The shoulder stand is an advanced posture and should be learned under the supervision of a qualified instructor     

The acupressure point at the seventh cervical vertebrae, the same one as used for the pituitary and bone pain, helps to balance the thyroid.  Acupressure points at the edge of the breasts, level with the nipples are master contacts for the thyroid, prostate, ovaries, and entire reproductive system of both male and female.

Another thyroid acupoint is at the top of the area where the two leg bones of the lower leg divide.  You’ll find an indentation about 3” below the knee joint and 1/3 of the way outside of the centerline.   This acupoint is also specific to abdominal lymph, diabetes, eyes, feet, muscles and capillaries. Pain at this point can indicate a number of underlying problems.  Using the ends of the middle fingers or ends of the thumbs, move in small circles and continue until pain subsides.

Russian folk medicine claims that rubbing with fresh oak bark or dried bark first thoroughly soaked in water can reduce swelling of a goiter.  A thick poultice of dry oak bark mixed with water and applied directly to the goiter and left on overnight, is said to rapidly reduce the swelling.  Wearing real amber beads was said to prevent and remedy goiter.  Also many different types of ocean fish (high in iodine) were recommended.

Chinese remedies for goiter include: dry equal parts (500 gr.) seaweed and sea grass and grind or pound into a powder.  Drink 10 gr. in warm water once per day.  Combine 70 gr. seaweed and 10 gr. sea kelp and make into a soup or tea.  Drink one cup three times daily.  The Chinese herbalist and physician Sun Shu Mao (581-682 ad) theorized that goiter was caused from drinking and eating foods deficient in iodine.  This has been proven to be correct.  His remedies included seaweed, kelp, lamb and pig thyroid.  Drinking the juice from a partially ripe persimmon once a day is said to remedy goiter and hypertension.  Mussels, saltwater clams, oyster, sea grass, seaweed and kelp are all prescribed in China for treating goiter.   

A large percentage (close to 100% on average) of people studied in a research project who were suffering from Parkinson’s disease also had hyperthyroidism.  Once the hyperthyroidism was treated the Parkinson’s disease dramatically improved.  Also see section on parathyroid for more Parkinson’s disease information.

Ref: Folk Remedies, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) And Health Options From Around The World.

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About Larry Miller

I was born in Los Angeles in 1940. My father was a fighter pilot instructor during WWll and we moved from coast to coast, maybe that’s where I got the nomad in my blood. After graduating from high school in 1958 I joined the Marines. That lifestyle wasn’t for me and upon my discharge I went on with my life, and have never looked back. I worked briefly for a Caterpillar dealer in Riverside, CA before moving back to N. California where I was a welder and truck driver for a chemical company. Truck driving wasn’t my calling anymore than being in the Marines, and I went back to work for another Caterpillar dealer steam cleaning dirty tractor parts and welding. They sent me to schools, lots and lots of schools. I spent as much time going to trade schools as I did at work. I went from cleaning parts to apprentice field mechanic, to mechanic to the parts department to satellite store manager in less than two years. They wanted me to move to Sacramento and be a salesman: I moved to Oregon to learn to commune with nature. I went to work for another heavy equipment dealer and was later contacted by the World’s largest Lorraine Crane dealer and offered the position of purchasing agent and general parts manager. In 1967 I was offered a line of automotive parts and supplies and went into business for myself. My business revolved around eleven race cars that we maintained for others, driving race cars professionally and maintaining high end sports cars. I was a championship and regional champion driver. My business was the largest import parts and service, non dealer, in the state until I sold it in 1979. We went sailing in 79, first to Mexico and then Hawaii. I was an award winning Trans-Pacific sailor and sailor of the year, Hawaii, Island of Kauai. An opportunity presented itself in Hawaii during 1981 and I was back in business, importing Japanese auto body and hard parts. I also felt the pull to write and began freelancing for magazines and newspapers in 1982. My main focus in my articles is, and always has been, health, wellness and fitness. Most of us have heard the saying, “Time is all we have.” I disagree. Our health is all we have, because without our health, we have no time. I was a US Olympic team hopeful in racewalking and held all the records for the state of Hawaii. As a sponsored athlete in my forties, I finished first in nine marathons in a row in my division, qualified for the Ironman® and was the state USCF cycling champion five times in Hawaii and Oregon. Celinda and I were married in 1988 after a three year engagement. We sold our businesses and organic farm and sailed back to Oregon. After our sailboat boat was sold, we moved to Joseph, Oregon, two miles from the trailhead into the Eagle Cap Wilderness. We were caregivers for my mother the last ten years she was alive. We moved to New Mexico in 1995 because it was too cold for my mom in Oregon during the winters. Celinda designed, and I engineered and built our strawbale house. I began writing the weekly health column for a local newspaper in 1996, and still do. In 2000, I took the summer off to do a four month, 4000 mile, hike, bike and kayak odyssey. I’d been writing health, fitness and sports articles since 1982 and the journey produced a full-length, nonfiction, first person adventure book, Yol Bolsun, May There Be A Road, which can be bought from Amazon.com and others over the Internet. The summer of 2001 was spent hiking. kayaking, fishing and exploring the southwest. In 2002 Celinda and I spent the summer in Canada learning the hospitality business at a resort in preparation for doing promotion for the resort in the US. Most of 2003 was spent reestablishing the trees and landscape that had died during the stay in Canada. We had a house sitter and the house sitter had an ex-husband, and that’s a long story. In July of 2004 I did a solo kayak trip on the Snake River, taking pictures, writing articles and pencil sketching the journey. I hope to do another kayak adventure on the Snake River during the summer of 2008, on the section I missed in 2000 and 2004. In 2005, I returned to Canada to the resort where we’d spent 2002. I was supposed to be there for the month of June. I’d contacted people I’d met in 2002 and they came back to Canada to fish, hike and spend time at the resort, Echo Valley Ranch and Spa, while I was there. My one month became five and then it was off to Spain to do the El Camino de Santiago as a travel companion with one of the guests who’d returned to Canada in June. During the summer of 2006 a friend from Ireland, who I’d met in Spain the year before, came to visit in NM and we fished, hiked and explored the White Mountains of AZ. He’d never slept out in the wild in a tent before, and it was quite an experience, for both of us. My newspaper articles were put on the Internet beginning in 2002. I was asked to give public speaking engagements, photo and video presentations, on various subjects for the library in Deming, NM and continue to do so. In 2006 I videoed and produced a DVD for the Smithsonian Institute’s travel exhibit “Between Fences.” NMFILMS had a conference by invitation only, which I attended. While attending the conference, I realized that film making wasn’t what I wanted to do but I still wanted to use my sixteen years of experience and enjoyment of videoing and photography. During the winter of 2005, I discovered that no one on record had ever run from the Arizona border to the Texas border, a distance of 165 miles. During the spring and summer of 2006 I trained for the run and the run was completed in October, 2006. In late 2005, I began building and maintaining websites incorporating all the things I enjoyed about video, photography, travel and the out of doors. 2007 has been a summer of upgrading the home and property which resulted in a downgrading of my enthusiasm for being located in one place. If we don’t like what’s happening in our life, we need to change what we’re doing. Celinda and I are ready to pull up roots and move on. I guess I’ve come full circle. I’m ready to revert back to my childhood, and a nomadic lifestyle.

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