Graves Disease

Graves' Disease (Hyperthyroidism)

Perhaps we should start referring to Graves' disease as Bush disease. Both former President Bush and his wife, Barbara, had it during his term of office. Their condition was revealed in 1991, and they controlled it with medication.

Shortly after the Bushes' thyroid condition became known, a young lady told me that her Graves' disease medication was causing her some troublesome side effects, and she wanted to stop taking it. She asked me to check my database and other sources for herbal alternatives.

I warned her that her condition was nothing to toy with. Like all hormonal imbalances, Graves' disease is a complex condition that's not generally amenable to self-treatment with nonstandardized medications, and herbs generally fall into that category. She countered that she was going to stop taking her drugs no matter what I said, so I figured the least I could do was see if any natural alternatives might help her.

Delving into the literature, I came up with bugleweed as one of the most promising alternatives. Months later, the young woman told me that she'd quit her medication and had been drinking mint teas containing plenty of bugleweed. After she'd been off her medication for a month, she dropped by my office, beaming. She'd just had a checkup, and her blood level of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), one of the things that goes off-kilter in Graves' disease, was fine. The same was true a month later.

I honestly don't know why this woman got better. Maybe it was the bugleweed that did the trick, but I certainly wouldn't recommend that everyone with Graves' disease toss their medication and start drinking bugleweed tea.

Not being a medical doctor, I don't understand all that much about hormonal disorders. If you have Graves' disease, I'd say that you should see your doctor, not a botanist or herbalist, and do follow your doctor's advice. But in this case, a natural alternative succeeded in bringing Graves' disease under control, and we have her charts to verify her improvement.

Thyroid Set on High

With hyperthyroidism, there are abnormally high blood levels of thyroid hormones circulating in the body. These hormones are secreted by the thyroid gland, which is located in the neck just behind and below the Adam's apple. The disease was named after an Irish physician, Robert James Graves, who lived in the early 1800s and was the first to identify its telltale pattern of symptoms: enlarged thyroid gland, bulging eyes, rapid pulse, profuse sweating, fatigue, an increased metabolic rate leading to substantial weight loss and neurological symptoms such as restlessness, irritability and fine muscle tremors.

Levels of circulating thyroid hormones depend on several things: availability of the mineral iodine, levels of TSH released by the pituitary gland (located in the center of the brain) and the health of the thyroid gland itself. TSH levels are further regulated by yet another part of the brain, the hypothalamus. All of this translates into a simple formula in a healthy individual: As TSH levels increase, the levels of thyroid hormone also increase, until a balance is reached. If the thyroid is malfunctioning, its attempts to regulate hormone levels will throw the system further out of whack.

Thyroid diseases affect about 2.5 percent of Americans, or some 6.5 million people, most of whom are women. There are two types of thyroid hormone imbalance, hyperthyroidism (hyper- means "too much") and hypothyroidism (hypo- means "too little"). In this chapter, I deal with too much thyroid hormone; for more on hypothyroidism, see page 272.

Women are four times more likely than men to have Graves' disease. (They are also twice as likely as men to develop thyroid tumors.) There are several different kinds of hyperthyroidism, but Graves' disease is by far the most common. It's an autoimmune condition, meaning that it's thought to be caused by the immune system attacking the body, and it affects about one million Americans.

Doctors treat Graves' disease by trying to suppress thyroid hormone production. Any of several drugs may be prescribed, and sometimes, usually in drug-sensitive elderly people, radiation may be used to disable a portion of the thyroid gland itself.

Green Pharmacy for Graves' Disease

If you have symptoms of Graves' disease, see a doctor and take the prescribed medication. Do not attempt self-treatment, even though it worked for the young woman whose story began this chapter. In addition to following your doctor's advice, and with his permission, you might also try these herbs.

Bugleweed (Lycopus, various species). Bugleweed has a considerable folk history for treating thyroid conditions, and modern research supports this use. This herb inhibits iodine metabolism and reduces the amount of hormone that's produced by thyroid cells.

Leaf extracts are more active than root extracts. The recommended oral preparation is a tincture (alcohol extract) rather than a tea. In one study using laboratory animals, bugleweed tincture resulted in a significant decrease in thyroid hormone levels.

Bugleweed is widely used in Europe as an herbal treatment for early-stage Graves' disease, often in combination with lemon balm. However, I must caution that bugleweed--and other herbal treatments for Graves' disease--have mild effects and are best used in early stages of the condition or in addition to synthetic pharmaceuticals.

Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). In Europe, lemon balm, also known as melissa, is often recommended along with bugleweed for treating Graves' disease. Studies show that lemon balm causes a decrease in blood and pituitary levels of TSH after a single injection, thus reducing thyroid hormone production. It's not clear if lemon balm has a similar effect when taken orally, but I believe the chances are good. It's probably worth a try.

Self-heal (Prunella vulgaris). A quarter-pound serving of self-heal greens with bugleweed tubers, spiced up with basil, oregano, rosemary and spearmint, should contain significant quantities of the compound rosmarinic acid, which helps suppress thyroid hormone production.

Kelp (Laminaria, various species). Herbal pharmacologist Daniel Mowrey, Ph.D., author of The Scientific Validation of Herbal Medicine and Herbal Tonic Therapies, notes that among the Japanese who consume a great deal of kelp, thyroid disease is practically unknown, but among the Japanese who have become Westernized and eat little or no kelp, thyroid disease is on the rise.

You can buy powdered kelp in health food stores to sprinkle on your food as a seasoning.

Verbena (Verbena, various species). Often called vervain, verbena seems to have properties similar to those of self-heal. Extracts have been shown to suppress thyroid hormone production by influencing levels of TSH in the body.

broccoli (Brassica oleracea). Remember how George Bush hated broccoli? His aversion to that wonderful vegetable deprived him of something that might have helped treat his Graves' disease. broccoli contains naturally occurring substances called isothiocyanates, which help restrain the thyroid from producing too much hormone. When Bush was diagnosed with Graves' disease, several alternative health authorities urged him to eat broccoli. One even published a book titled Why George Should Eat broccoli.

Radish (Raphanus sativus). All of the cruciferous vegetables gently and naturally suppress thyroid hormone production, but radishes do it best, according to medical anthropologist John Heinerman, Ph.D., author of Heinerman's Encyclopedia of Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs. Cruciferous vegetables include broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens, radishes, rutabagas and turnips. Radishes are used in Russia precisely for this purpose.