How Acupuncture Can Help with Hashimoto’s Disease
The applicability and favoritism of functional medicine and acupuncture by many has deep roots in its procedures, philosophy, and approaches. One such demonstration of these differences as compared to Western medicine can be seen in Hashimoto’s disease, an autoimmune deficiency.
The manifestation of autoimmune conditions in an individual stem from a multitude of influences, ranging from genetics, hormones, environment, stress, or other factors. These imbalances will then initiate the accidental harming of the body’s own tissues, which will then lead to the arisal of autoimmune conditions.
There are three main factors that outline the difficulty in treating these diseases: the ambiguity, delay of diagnosis, and varying development across each individual. Each patient presents a unique backstory and unique symptoms, and there can be ambiguity in knowing the exact causes behind the disease. Also, patients often experience detainment in receiving a diagnosis for the disease; for example, there are instances where the autoimmune imbalances were hidden and does not reveal itself in annual medical checkups because standard screening protocols only look for basic problems. Since autoimmune diseases are addressed better when the discovery is sooner rather than later because of the onset of new symptoms. Because of all of these combinations, healthcare professionals can find difficulty in using traditional approaches to know exactly which region to target and begin treatment for. This uncertainty combined with side effects that often present itself after treatments (i.e. from medicine) cause trouble in effectively addressing these diseases.
One difference in conventional approaches and functional medicine reveals itself in the focus and goals while treating thyroid disorders. Functional medicine will pinpoint the actual causes of thyroid dysfunction, while conventional approaches usually will only focus on addressing the symptoms. For example, standard lab testing for Hashimoto usually includes the thyroid stimulating hormone, free T4 and free T3, antibodies, and lastly an imaging test, or ultrasound. However, in the functional medicine approach, advanced lab testing differs in its methods, such as reverse T3, gut health and diet testing, environmental testing, and nutrient deficiencies, to obtain a more well-rounded picture of how the individual’s immune system has changed. In this way, the holistic approach that functional medicine utilizes is more esteemed in its work to maintain the body’s overall harmony and health.
Hashimoto’s disease is the condition that occurs when the immune system accidentally harms the thyroid gland. The causes of this can include changes relating to the individual’s environment, hormones, stress levels, and/ or diet, or have predispositions such as genetically. Another cause can comprise childhood trauma because of its ability to damage or weaken parts of the body to present itself in autoimmune problems later in life. To expand on some of these ideas, Hashimoto’s disease can progress with viral infections, imbalances in the gut, or environmental exposures such as to toxic chemicals or to mold.
In functional medicine, Hashimoto’s disease in an individual must be treated differently from patient to patient, a notion that is important to follow through with the vast possibilities of how the disease developed. Because of this, Hashimoto’s disease has to be targeted from changing even the most miniscule daily living habits, consisting of first altering the individual’s nutrition habits and food intake (i.e. an individual may currently be consuming items that may worsen their health). Other routines must also be altered, ranging from sleeping habits, exercise, and the ability to control stress. Then, supplements and herbs that will work on maintaining the health of the autoimmune system will be prescribed to treat the disease. To further these treatments, acupuncture is a method that works at a cellular level by increasing the qi, or energy, in the cell and body, and can be used to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and manage symptoms. In other words, functional medicine will modify an individual’s entire lifestyle to restore system harmony and prevent potential future diseases from occurring in the future.
The one most important feature in healing Hashimoto’s disease is to heal the gut because of its significant role in the immune system. This key point of healing the gut will lead to fascinating results such as minimizing an individual’s swelling and inflammation and also lessening flares in other symptoms. In general, gut health strategies in functional medicine can be shown through monitoring the health over time with testing, changing lifestyle habits and environmental impacts, utilizing supplements in order to maintain immune system balance, and others.
So, after understanding the impact that functional medicine brings to an individual’s overall body’s harmony through its holistic approaches, it is also important to gain insight into what a first consultation will look like. When entering the clinic, Dr. Safiya will ask you to fill out an in-depth overview of your initial conditions, including symptoms, current supplements, medical history, past treatments, genetic and family history, and diet. This full summary will provide an understanding of your lifestyle habits, goals for healing, health history, and overall symptoms. After this information is given, a tentative treatment plan will be developed based on targeting the roots of your symptoms. This usually includes a combination of Chinese medicine such as acupuncture and herbs with Western medicinal supplements. This plan will differ from a traditional healing method in its ability to fully rid of the disease instead of purely ridding of symptoms. So, even though healing will take time because of a gradual alteration of your entire lifestyle, it will provide beneficial and lasting results that will minimize and prevent the occurrence of further health issues.