TCM Interpretation of Activity of 1) Thyroid Hormone & 2) Antifungal

[Guest guest]

In considering all the various effects of lifestyle, foods, etc., on

health, I was wondering if anyone had a TCM view of how the activity

of thyroid hormone is considered. If it was a herb, what would its

nature and function be?

 

(I'm talking about thyroid hormone that one would take, prescribed by

a Western doctor, for thyroid insufficiency - there are three types,

one which has the active form of thyroid hormone T3 only, one which

has the inactive precursor T4 only and one that has a combo.)

 

Then, I have the same question about an antifungal taken orally,

called Diflucan.

 

What I'm seeking is really a shorthand way of viewing how these

things may be interacting with TCM herbs. For instance, if the

thyroid hormone is basically yang, then if exhibiting excess yang

symptoms I might look more into herbs that can modulate that. (Short

of going back to my Western doctor for a medication adjustment, or,

in conjunction with it.)

 

Thanks very much.

 

My guesstimate would be that thyroid hormone is indeed a 'yang herb'

and perhaps moves qi.

 

My guesstimate on Diflucan would be that one could consider it as

alleviating damp and maybe clearing wind/heat.

 

I'd love some more advanced views.

[Guest guest]

> In considering all the various effects of lifestyle, foods, etc., on

> health, I was wondering if anyone had a TCM view of how the activity

> of thyroid hormone is considered. If it was a herb, what would its

> nature and function be?

 

I am in no way advanced, but just to say most of the opinions I have come

across categorise thyroxine as kidney yang - one paper below. I did find one

author who thought it was connected to the Heart.

 

[Relation of hypothyroidism and deficiency of kidney yang]

[Article in Chinese]

Zha LL.

Inst. of the Integr. of TCM-WM Med., Shanghai Med. Univ.

 

32 cases of hypothyroidism caused by various factors were treated for one

year with Chinese medicinal herbs preparation " Shen Lu tablet " (SLT) to warm

and reinforce the Kidney Yang. 34 normal persons were studied as a control

group. After treatment with SLT, the clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism

were markedly improved. Average serum concentration of total T3, T4

increased significantly from 67.06 +/- 4.81 and 3.29 +/- 0.42 before

treatment to 120.50 +/- 6.34 ng/dl and 6.31 +/- 0.38 micrograms/dl,

respectively (P < 0.001). Serum levels of TSH decreased evidently from 20.81

+/- 2.78 before therapy to 3.32 +/- 0.61 ng/ml (P < 0.001). Before treatment

with SLT, hypothyroidism group had higher erythrocyte sodium content

([Na]Rbc) than that of normal group. The permeability of the cell membrane

oMNaos and the activity of sodium pump oKNaos in intact erythrocytes were

markedly lower in the treated group than that in the normal group. In

hypothyroidism patients treated by SLT the [Na]Rbc significantly dropped,

and the oNNaos and oKNaos were significantly raised when compared with those

before treatment, P < 0.001. It is suggested that hypothyroidism was closely

related with Deficiency of Kidney Yang and energy metabolism.

 

PMID: 8400766 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

 

Jackie

[Guest guest]

> In considering all the various effects of lifestyle, foods, etc.,

on

> health, I was wondering if anyone had a TCM view of how the

activity

> of thyroid hormone is considered. If it was a herb, what would its

> nature and function be?

>

(snip)

 

> What I'm seeking is really a shorthand way of viewing how these

> things may be interacting with TCM herbs. For instance, if the

> thyroid hormone is basically yang, then if exhibiting excess yang

> symptoms I might look more into herbs that can modulate that.

(Short

> of going back to my Western doctor for a medication adjustment, or,

> in conjunction with it.)

 

There is an amazing overlap between the symptoms of Kidney Yang

Deficiency and hypothyroidism, but they are not equivalent. There

have been plenty of cases where people who had their blood levels of

thyroid hormones raised to normal via replacedment hormone still had

many of the symptoms of hypothyroidism. These did not disappear

until after the person was placed on Yang tonic herbs and herbs to

warm the Interior. Likewise, there have been cases of people who

were Kidney Yang Deficiency who still had symptoms which were not

relieved until the person was placed on thyroid replacement hormone.

BTW, cases of hypothyroidism are not nearly as common in China as in

the US and West.

 

> My guesstimate would be that thyroid hormone is indeed a 'yang

herb'

> and perhaps moves qi.

 

I would say thyroid hormone is Yang in nature. For those new to TCM,

Yang activates, warms, and dries. Yin calms, cools, and moistens.

These are simplified definitions, but definitions that give a lot of

insight into TCM healing and how things work.

 

You will need to be reevaluated regularly by both your MD/DO and your

TCM healer.

 

I'll be posting more detailed info on thyroid problems and Cushings

Syndrome from a TCM perspective. I recently got a new book, The

Treatment of Modern Western Medical Diseases with by

Bob Flaws and Philippe Sionneau. There is a lot of good info in it.

 

A paperback book with a lot of good Western info on the thyroid and

various thyroid disorders is Your Thyroid: A Home REference by

Lawrence C. Wood, MD, FACP, David S. Cooper, MD, FACP, and E. Chester

Redgway, MD, FACP. The copy I have dates from 1989. I hope there is

a more recent edition because it's one of those rare books that is

full of factural information explained very well to non-medical

readers.

 

Victoria

[Guest guest]

> I'll be posting more detailed info on thyroid problems and Cushings

> Syndrome from a TCM perspective. I recently got a new book, The

> Treatment of Modern Western Medical Diseases with by

> Bob Flaws and Philippe Sionneau. There is a lot of good info in it.

 

Is there much on insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia - as opposed to

diabetes proper in that book Victoria?

 

Jackie

[Guest guest]

> Is there much on insulin resistance/hyperinsulinemia - as opposed to

> diabetes proper in that book Victoria?

 

So far I've only found a footnote at the end of the chapter on

diabetes. Here is the limited information. I think you'll going to

find the info on Cushing's Syndrome more interesting in terms of why

the horse can't tolerate certain herbs he should be able to tolerate.

 

Info on insulin-resisance diabetes from The Treatment of Modern

Western Medical Diseases with by Bob Flaws and

Philippe Sionneau, p. 216:

 

" Western MDs have known for years that insulin resistance (or

inability to properly deal with dietary carbohydrates and sugars_,

abnormal blood lipids, obesity, and hypertension increase the risk of

both heart disease and diabetes. Among progressive practitioners,

this combination of conditions is known as syndrome X. Syndrome X is

a diet-caused hormonal dyscrasia which mostly affects middle-aged

adults, espectially after meals. Insulin resistance and the syndrome

X it results in is primarily due to eating a diet high in refined

carbohydrates and simple sugars, saturated fat (as found in beef),

omega-6 fatty acids (found in vegetable oils), and trans-fatty acids

(found in margarine and foods with partially hydrogenated oils). In

Chinese medicine, fatigue after meals is primarily a spleen vacuity

symptom, while overeating fats and oils engenders both heat and

dampness. Thus the core disease mechanisms of syndrome X are spleen

vacuity with dampness and heat. In real life, if there is spleen

vacuity, there is liver depression and vice versa. Therefore, in the

overwhelming majority of syndrome X patients, there is also liver

depression qi stagnation which aggravates and adds to the spleen

vacuity, depressive heat, and damp evils. When these heat evils

eventually damage the righteous yin of the stomach, lungs, and/or

kidneys, syndrome X evolves into diabetes. "

 

My comments will follow in another post.

[Guest guest]

> So far I've only found a footnote at the end of the chapter on

> diabetes. Here is the limited information. I think you'll going to

> find the info on Cushing's Syndrome more interesting in terms of why

> the horse can't tolerate certain herbs he should be able to tolerate.

 

Do you mean Chai Hu? If not, I'm not sure what you mean.

 

Jackie