Being a Vegetarian and the use of desiccated natural thyroid

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Note: This page was written by a thyroid patient. If you have any personal concerns, do talk to an informed doc. 
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As a person who wants to avoid meat, how do I look at desiccated thyroid like Armour being made from pig, or bovine products?

There is an alternative to explore: combining synthetic T4 (Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, etc) along with synthetic T3 (Cytomel). They do work great if you understand to get optimal.

Can I as a vegetarian look differently at using desiccated thyroid?

Another alternative is to consider the stance taken by Serene Shick. Serene is a vegan and Messianic. She found herself with many symptoms of hypothyroid, and did a great deal of research. She concluded that desiccated thyroid was her treatment of choice, in spite of her vegan choice:

All the evidence points to this being the superior medication for this illness, although most docs want to give the synthetics like T4-only. Armour is all natural, which appeals to me in spite of the fact that it is derived from pigs. As you know, being vegan and Messianic, this doesn’t sit well, but I have come to believe that what makes my body/brain/temple perform optimally takes precedence over the desire to exclude all animal products from my diet as well as the mitzvah against pork. It is a very tiny amount and I am already feeling incredibly better: my thinking is clearer, I feel more in control of my emotions, and I am actually having frequent moments of real joy! So I am certain that YHVH has led me to this discovery. [The above was quoted from a website which doesn’t exist anymore. ]

BOTTOM LINE: yes, you can use the synthetic T3 and synthetic T4 and get benefit by getting optimal. Additionally, there can be good reason to use desiccated thyroid all along, in spite of being a Vegetarian.

STORIES OF OTHER VEGETARIANS AND THEIR TREATMENT OF HYPOTHYROIDISM:

  • Read A.M.’s thyroid treatment story, where even though being an ovo-lacto vegetarian since a child, she decided that desiccated thyroid was her best choice, and especially for pregnancy.
  • And here’s the thryoid page about L of UK’s story of having been a vegetarian for many years, and not taking the use of desiccated thyroid lightly.
  • Here is the story of a UK vegetarian with both hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue who found out that she needed to reintroduce meats in her life.

To read about Jewish restrictions concerning the use of pork, and the use of desiccated thyroid, go to this thyroid page.

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