Many people with thyroid conditions don’t want to cover up their symptoms with thyroid medication. This is great, as they realize there is an underlying cause of their problem, and they want to attempt treating their condition naturally. Of course some people do need to take thyroid medication on a permanent basis, but I’m not referring to these people. In any case, many people who want to restore their health naturally think they can do so on their own. As a result, they gather as much information as they can through reading books and surfing the internet, and then put together their own treatment protocol. Sometimes people will see positive changes in their symptoms when self-treating their condition. On the other hand, many people won’t see much of a difference. Either way, most people who attempt to self-treat their condition aren’t able to successfully restore their health back to normal. So I decided to dedicate this post to those people who are looking to take a natural approach, but are thinking about self-treating their condition. What I’m going to do here is list five reasons why you shouldn’t self-treat your thyroid condition. This is true whether you have primary hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, or an autoimmune thyroid condition such as Graves’ Disease or Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis. Reason #1: There are risks when self-treating your condition. Even when using natural supplements and herbs, there are always risks involved. Most people don’t have a strong knowledge of these supplements and herbs, and many assume that because they are natural there is no risk involved. While the risk might be minimal, it still exists. Plus, just abruptly stopping your thyroid medication and replacing them with nutritional supplements and herbs makes it even more risky. Reason #2: You can’t trust everything you read. Once again, many people come up with a natural protocol based on what they read in a book, or on the internet. Heck, some people try to piece the information I provide on this website to develop their own natural treatment protocol. Of course different people will need different supplements and herbs, and will also require different dosages. As a result, it’s extremely difficult to come up with a treatment plan which will work based on the information you read on this website, or anywhere else. And much of the information on “natural cures” put out there are by people who don’t have much experience with this. Most aren’t even healthcare professionals. This doesn’t mean there aren’t people who are very knowledgeable about natural treatment methods. You just need to be extremely careful about any information you read in books, and especially on the internet. Reason #3: The body is extremely complex. Although it would be great if one could restore their thyroid health simply by eating well and taking some random supplements and herbs, it’s almost always not this easy. The body is way too complex to restore its health just by taking supplements and herbs, eating well, etc. Obviously eating well and taking supplements and/or herbs is very important to restore one’s health back to normal. But doing this alone won’t cure your condition. If you’re looking to completely restore your health back to normal, just remember that the body is very complex, and because of this it is highly unlikely you will receive optimal results by self-treating your condition. Reason #4: It probably will cost you more money in the long run. Many people choose to self-treat their condition because they figure they will save money taking this approach. After all, they won’t need to pay a doctor for an initial or follow-up consultation, will be able to price-shop for any supplements or herbs they buy, etc. However, after they realize they aren’t going to receive optimal results they will frequently end up consulting with a holistic doctor anyway. So while you might save money initially, in the end it almost always will cost you more money when self-treating your condition. Reason #5: You most likely won’t receive optimal results. This obviously relates to the previous four reasons I spoke about, as for all of the reasons I have mentioned, it is unlikely you will receive optimal results by treating yourself naturally. I do get some emails and comments from people stating they self-treated their condition and felt much better after doing this. And as I’ve mentioned, some people will feel better when self-treating their condition. On the other hand, many people don’t feel much of a difference at all. But even those people who do feel better when self-treating their condition most likely won’t fully restore their thyroid health back to normal. In summary, while it might seem easy enough to self-treat your condition, the truth is that for the reasons I mentioned above, most people don’t receive optimal results when taking this approach. This is why I recommend consulting with a natural endocrine doctor for those people who are truly interested in restoring their health back to normal. While there still isn’t any guarantee by taking this approach, you stand a much better chance of restoring your health than if you were to attempt this on your own.