How to Treat Hypothyroidism

Video Transcript

"My name is Christine Marquette and I am a registered dietitian with the Austin Regional Clinic and I am going to talk to you about how to treat hypothyroidism. There are several different causes of hypothyroidism. It could be you had radiation to your thyroid. It could be something that is temporary that may have occurred due to some other type of illness. If that is the case and it goes away there really isn't any treatment needed but if you have had a problem with your thyroid and it has been found that it has not been found to secrete enough of your thyroid hormones usually the first line of therapy is to actually give you synthetic thyroid hormones and typically what is used is Levothyroxine Sodium and this particular thyroid hormone is the T4 hormone and your dosage will depend on exactly what level you will need based on your age, your gender, and your body weight. Often times your doctor will prescribe a certain dosage and have you take that for a period of six weeks and a blood draw will be done to measure your TSH as your thyroid stimulating hormone and based on that result your doctor will adjust your dosage up or down as needed. The other thing that needs to be done is to control or treat hypothyroidism and make sure that you avoid any type of soy products whether it is soy oil or soy foods. The reason why is soy is actually known to be an endocrine disrupter and can actually interrupt your thyroid hormone and your thyroid function so if you are already having hypothyroidism it is best to avoid all soy products. It can also be useful to avoid goitrogenic foods things such as brussel sprouts, korobi, kale, cabbage, all of these types of foods can also inhibit thyroid function so it is best to avoid these if you are treating hypothyroidism."