Maca for hypothyroid

Dear Dr. Muller:

Thank you for providing Maca Root for Americans. I have Hashimoto's disease have been taking it for 10 days now. I just got the results of my yesterday's blood test. My thyroid numbers have improved already. I had a test 2 weeks ago (prior to starting on Royal Maca) and one yesterday. My T4 levels went from 3.9 to 5.0 (this was and is while being on 4 Armour Thyroid 60 mg./day). The TSH scores (pituitary) only improved slightly from .10 to .11 but it was still an improvement."

Dr. Muller Responds:

Well, I always get surprised when I see changes happening this quickly, but I shouldn't be surprised. The orginal animal tests that were done on maca show a significant change in ovarian and testicular function (infemale and male rats) in only 72 hours! Since there are clinical reports with lab tests to back them up of improvement in thyroid and adrenal function aswell, in a few days or a few weeks, it is appears that maca is working about the level of the hypothalamus/pituitary axis. However, the mechanism of action is not clear, just how this is accomplished. Having said that, I hasten to point out that everyone's thyroid problem is a little different and in addition there are great differences in the way people respond to herbs, to foods -- even to exercise. One size definitely does not fit all. Some women are experiencing a great improvement in menstrual regularity and menstrual pain and others are experiencing a tremendous increase in energy but still have irregular periods after starting to take organic whole root maca extract powder or capsules. Some women have been able to reduce the thyroid medication--they start getting symptoms of being overmedicated and consult their physicians on dosage. I got a phone call from a woman last week who after taking organic Royal Maca Extract Powder (3 caps a day) for only four days, had a TSH level so low that her physician cut her thyroid medication in half. Other women are not able to reduce their meds (based on the results of their lab tests) but experience many improvements in their hypothyroid symptoms. There is also a group of women who don't experience any significant difference taking the maca, and some of these women have contacted me too. In a majority of cases, there was evidence that they had a sluggish liver and/or bowel and needed to detoxify their liver/kidney/intestinal organs to experience a greater sense of well being and improvement in the functioning of their endocrine glands. In those cases, I suggested that they alternate taking Royal Break-Stone Tea and Royal Cat's Claw Tea.

teacup wrote:Anyone here tried Maca?