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Treatment for goiter is not often given unless other symptoms develop and one has a thyroid disease such as hyperthyroidism. If symptoms occur, you may be given hormone replacement pills or surgery to remove part or all of the thyroid gland.
Some cases of goiter are caused by iodine deficiency and patients may be given iodine solution.
A study in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation showed that iodine supplementation on its own was equally as effective as hormone therapy, either alone or in combination with iodine.
So before you have hormone replacement pills you may want to see if iodine supplementation corrects your goiter without them.
Researchers from Ferdinand-Sauerbruch-Hospital and Göttingen University Department of Nuclear Medicine studied 166 patients with goiter. They were separated into three groups.
Group one received levothyroxine (artificial thyroid hormone) daily, group two received iodine supplementation daily, and group three received a combination of both daily.
In all three groups there was a decrease in goiter during the treatment, but when the treatment was stopped, group one’s goiter increased to pre-treatment levels while the group who received iodine had a sustained positive effect from their supplementation.
The combination group only had a slight rebound effect after their treatment ceased, leading researchers to conclude that giving iodine supplements could be used as a first line treatment for people with iodine deficiency related goiter.
In addition to thyroid problems, iodine deficiency can also cause miscarriages, stillbirths, stunted growth, speech, hearing and mobility problems, brain damage and cretinism.
Sources of Iodine
Iodine is found in plants grown in iodine-rich soil. Deficiencies are more likely to occur in communities that don’t have much iodine in the soil, typically in land areas. Sources of iodine are:
Iodized salt
Seafood
Iodate (a bread stabilizer, not often used)
Kelp
Food coloring erythrosine, although this is not totally available to the body and may not be completely utilized
Skin disinfectants that contain iodine which goes into the bloodstream, causing the person to absorb iodine
Sources:
Iodine Deficiency, The International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders. Web. 25 January 2012.
http://www.iccidd.org/pages/iodine-deficiency.php
Sources of iodine, The International Council for the Control of Iodine Deficiency Disorders. Web. 25 January 2012.
http://www.iccidd.org/pages/iodine-deficiency/sources-of-iodine.php
Treatment of endemic goitre due to iodine deficiency with iodine, levothyroxine or both: results of a multicentre trial. European Journal of Clinical Investigation, Volume 19, Issue 6, pages 527–534, December 1989. Abstract: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2362.1989.tb00270.x/abstract
Goiter: An Overview By Joanna Karpasea-Jones January 23, 2012
https://www.empowher.com/thyroid-conditions/content/goiter-overview
Joanna is a freelance health writer for The Mother magazine and Suite 101 with a column on infertility, http://infertility.suite101.com/. She is author of the book, 'Breast Milk: A Natural Immunisation,' and co-author of an educational resource on disabled parenting.
Reviewed January 27, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jessica Obert
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