Acupuncture for Thyroid Health In Kingston WA

Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine are able to help quite a few more conditions than people typically expect. For example, most people are surprised to hear that Chinese Medicine can be very effective for the treatment of thyroid disease. The thyroid gland is the body’s speed regulator. When the thyroid hormone level is at the right level the tissues all work at the right speed. When the thyroid gland starts to fail it’s like the band at a dance has slowed down the tempo and everybody starts dancing very slowly. In the body this slowing down can result in some serious and very frustrating symptoms. These symptoms may include stubborn weight that doesn’t seem to go away no matter how hard you try, depression, and low energy. In some patients anxiety, and digestive symptoms like constipation and bloating may also occur. Read on to learn how acupuncture impacts thyroid health in Kingston WA.

Chinese Medicine In Kingston WA

Chinese Medicine targets the underlying imbalance that ultimately resulted in the development of thyroid disease. One such underlying cause is an improperly functioning immune system. In America, the most common type of thyroid disease by far is auto-immune thyroid disease, called Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. This condition results from the immune system mistakenly attacking the thyroid gland. As damage accrues the thyroid gland has a harder and harder time keeping up. Slowly hypothyroid symptoms develop. Chinese medicine can be very effective in getting the immune system to come back into balance. The three points Yi Zhong, Er Zhong, and San Zhong, located on the outside of the lower leg are used to treat thyroid disease as well as thyroid disease effects such as exophthalmos (bulging eyes caused by hyperthyroidism). These points have not only an energetic relationship to the thyroid but when we think of another common thyroid symptom, pretibial myxedema (a skin condition caused by thyroid disease), this skin alteration is located on the anterior lower leg, near the location of these acupuncture points. The points zusanli, hegu, and zhongwan on the leg, hand, and abdomen work together to regulate the immune system.

Chinese herbal medicine is also used in the treatment of thyroid disease. Herbal formulas that are often used include Er chen tang, ban xia hou po tang, zhi bai di huang wan, and bu zhong yi qi tang. In addition to these formulas, we often some of our own formulas designed to address the altered immune function associated with Hashimoto’s disease.

Lastly, diet is a vitally important and often underutilized aspect of thyroid disease treatment. By instructing our patients in the proper foods to balance and prevent further development of their conditions we empower them to take their health into their own hands by being able to influence their health with their daily food choices. There are countless ways that food choices can influence thyroid health, from optimizing selenium, and iodine intake, to avoiding goitrogenic compounds, and even the way you prepare certain foods can all impact thyroid health. That’s why all patients in acupuncture treatment at our office go through a complimentary nutritional evaluation and personalized diet plan implementation.

If you are sick of feeling terrible it is possible that you may be suffering from thyroid dysfunction. We have the ability to test your thyroid gland in our clinic and can decide together on the best course to get your thyroid function back, so you can get back to enjoying your life.