This is a case of Miss. A.A.B. (PIN 24256), a Chartered Accountant, who visited Life Force, Chembur branch on 6th December 2014.

She was diagnosed with an Underactive Thyroid in the year 2011. After consulting an endocrinologist, she was put on thyroid supplements of minimal dosage of 25mcg. However, her thyroid levels didn’t get reduced. Hence her dosage was raised to 50mcg progressively, then to 75mcg, and finally settled on a daily dose of 100mcg for the past three years. 100 mcg per day is a quite high dose. Despite taking thyroxine supplements, she complained of excessive weakness, hair fall, and a sudden gain in weight. She had gained almost 6kgs in the last 4 years. As per the reports, her TSH was 5.47 while she was on thyroxine. Apart from this, she also complained of vague symptoms, such as the pain in calves, generalized body ache, and constipation. As far as her family history was concerned, her mother was also suffering from an Underactive Thyroid.

Family History:
Her father suffered from hemorrhoids and Diabetes. The mother of the patient was a known case of an Underactive thyroid and Hypertension. Her grandmother also suffered from Diabetes. 

Physical Generals:
She had a mixed diet with an excessive liking for salty food, particularly fish. She had an excessive thirst, but her perspiration was scanty. She was extremely sensitive to the cold weather.

She was a final year student, who was pursuing CA. She belonged to a low socio-economic status, wherein her father was jobless and mother would sell essence sticks and food items for earning and was the only earning member in the family. Her brother was an engineer at Schneider electronics. 

As far as her mental sphere was concerned, she had a strong personality, but of late, she had become very irritable. 

Dr. Rajesh Shah studied the case in detail. He explained to her that it would take time to take her off from the thyroxine supplements as she had been taking its high dose for the past three years. Dietary changes were suggested to her. He prescribed her Natrum Muriaticum 30 for 6 weeks.

Follow-Up 1:
The patient visited the clinic on 10th January 2015 for her first follow-up. Her hair fall had reduced by 50%, her bowels had improved, and her relief from weakness was better as well. She was symptomatically much stable and experiencing an improvement in her general health. 

Follow-Up 2:
In her next follow-up dated 13th March 2015, she came with her latest thyroid profiles. Her TSH value had dropped down from 5.4 in September 2014 to 0.56 in March 2015. Dr. Shah reviewed her case and advised the patient to reduce the dosage of Thyroxine supplements from 100mcg 1 tablet daily to alternate 75mcg and 50 mcg for 2 months. He also revised her homeopathic medicines accordingly.

Follow-Up 3: 
The patient continued to experience an improvement symptomatically. Her hair fall had stopped, with just 8 to 10 hair strands falling in a day. She felt more energetic, lively, and more enthusiastic than before. She no more suffered from a body ache, and her pain in the calves had subsided completely. Her menstrual cycles turned regular now, and her bowels were normal too. The patient was advised to repeat her thyroid tests before the next follow-up.

Follow-Up 4: 
The patient’s thyroid reports dated 10.09.2015 showed that her TSH was mildly elevated to 6.12. Although the patient was symptomatically doing fine, her TSH levels were high. The line of her treatment was thereby changed, and we increased the dose of her thyroxine supplements back to 100mcg daily. But, because the patient was otherwise doing well, we continued with the homeopathic treatment.

Follow-Up 5:
Her thyroid profile was repeated in November 2015 and her TSH was 2.47, which is well within the normal range. The patient was now asymptomatic. She didn’t experience any symptoms or complaints. 

As per her last test results dated 7.6.16, her TSH was 1.873.  

Conclusion:

This case illustrates that homeopathic medicines play a positive role not only in treating an Underactive thyroid but also in stimulating the thyroid gland to function normally. But, with the prolonged intake of thyroxine supplements for more than 3 years, the thyroid gland tends to lose its efficiency to be stimulated. In such cases, thyroid functions need to be evaluated regularly and accordingly suitable medicines are given to manage the case symptomatically. Mrs. A.A.B., as on 10.7.18, continues to take homeopathic treatment for all her general complaints which were otherwise not manageable with thyroxine supplements and she continues with her thyroxine supplements too.

- Written by Dr. Amrita Utekar, Associate doctor to Dr. Rajesh Shah