Hanuveda

No — and this is the most important warning on this page. Thyroxine requirements typically rise by 30–50% in pregnancy, and untreated or undertreated hypothyroidism is associated with miscarriage, preterm birth, pre-eclampsia and impaired brain development in the baby. Do not reduce or stop for any reason. See your physician for early TSH testing, and expect your dose to go up rather than down.

No, and this is the group Ayurvedic care can most credibly help. The best-designed Ayurvedic thyroid trial studied exactly this population — patients with suboptimal response despite stable levothyroxine — and found improvement in symptom scores, quality of life, weight and body composition with treatment added on top of their medication. Before we start, though, we would check B12, vitamin D, ferritin and blood count and screen for depression and sleep apnoea, because these cause the same symptoms and are commonly missed.

We would advise against it as a general thyroid remedy, despite how widely it is recommended. Ashwagandha raises thyroid hormone levels and has been implicated in thyrotoxicosis, with published cases in previously healthy people. It is contraindicated if you are hyperthyroid, and in hypothyroidism it can change how much levothyroxine you need. It also has documented liver injury cases including one requiring a transplant.

It is the classical drug of choice for glandular swelling, and it is what most patients ask for. Two things are worth knowing. In the best-designed trial, Kanchanar Guggulu on its own was the weaker arm — the multimodal protocol with diet, lifestyle and Panchakarma did better. And a published case series describes a patient developing acute liver injury with jaundice after taking Kanchnar Guggulu, so we monitor liver function when we use it.

Not before it is assessed. Thyroid cancer presents as a nodule, and a neck lump needs ultrasound with TIRADS scoring and, where indicated, a fine-needle aspiration. Kanchanar Guggulu is classically indicated for glandular swellings, which is precisely why this error happens a nodule gets treated for months instead of scanned. Get the scan first. A rapidly growing lump, hoarseness, or difficulty swallowing needs urgent assessment.

Generally no. Excess iodine can cause thyroid dysfunction rather than fix it, particularly in autoimmune thyroid disease, and since India's salt iodisation programme, deficiency has become far less common. Ordinary iodised salt is usually sufficient. Supplemental iodine and kelp are a common self-prescribed error that can make Hashimoto's worse.

Much less than you have probably been told. Goitrogenic foods only matter meaningfully at high intakes combined with marginal iodine status. Soya is worth separating from your levothyroxine dose because it impairs absorption, but there is no good reason to eliminate ordinary vegetables from your diet, and unnecessary restriction makes eating harder without helping your thyroid.

Because it is one of the most commonly fixable problems we see. Levothyroxine needs to be taken fasting, well before food, and separated from calcium, iron, acid-reducing tablets, soya and coffee all of which impair absorption. A surprising number of people whose "levothyroxine isn't working" simply need to change when and how they take it. It costs nothing and it often works better than anything else we could do.

Antibody levels can move, but that is not the same as the gland recovering. Hashimoto's causes progressive autoimmune damage to the thyroid, and that damage is permanent. Selenium has modest evidence for lowering TPO antibody levels without clearly changing clinical outcomes. We would also be cautious with herbs marketed as immune boosters — Guduchi and Ashwagandha among them — since stimulating