In this episode, I interviewed Berris Burgoyne about herbal quality. This was a great interview, as Berris discussed the herbs she uses in both her Graves’ and Hashimoto’s patients. Just to be upfront, the goal during this episode was not to promote any brands of herbs, but one of the main reasons I decided to do this episode was because for years, I had been recommending the MediHerb brand of bugleweed to my patients with hyperthyroidism. Due to the supply chain issues, it’s been on backorder for quite a while. I have noticed that other brands of bugleweed haven’t been as effective. I reached out to Berris because she is an expert in this area and has a lot of experience with MediHerb products.
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With me, I have Berris Burgoyne, who is a renowned naturopathic clinician with 33 years of experience. She owns and runs a naturopathic practice in Brisbane, Australia. She is a well-known international speaker. She has lectured in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. What sets Berris apart as a speaker and educator is her ability to take complex technical data and transform it into practical, clinical information that is easy to understand and apply. This, coupled with her extensive clinical experience, makes her an authoritative and dynamic presenter. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this interview, Berris.
Berris Burgoyne:
Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be here with you.
Dr. Eric:
I’ve looked forward to this. Berris and I are going to discuss the importance of herbal quality and get into talking about bugleweed and other herbs that could benefit thyroid health. Can you start out by discussing the importance of the quality of the herbs?
Berris:
Certainly. I have been a naturopath, and my main modality in doing that for the last 33 years is herbal medicine. That’s where my real passion lies. I have always been very careful about the quality of the herbs I use. There is a brand in Australia that I use called MediHerb, which is also available in the United States. I have always used that brand of herbal medicine because I’m really confident in the testing procedures they use to make sure that they are giving the practitioners the very best quality herbs.
When we’re talking about herbal quality, it’s very complex. We have to start thinking about how the herb is grown. The reason we use herbal medicine is if they are full of phytochemicals, these magical ingredients, that have the activity in the body we are using them for. We have to think about how they grow and how they are harvested, how they are dried and how they are processed after that.
There is a lot of testing that has to go in when a company gets an herbal medicine in to make sure first of all, that it’s the correct species, that it’s the correct herb. They do a lot of different testing for that to make sure it’s not adulterated with anything because that’s not that uncommon.
Also, to make sure it’s the correct herb part that is used. Plants have lots of different parts. People don’t always differentiate between the different parts that are actually used. They will talk about the herb per se. Sometimes, you don’t know what part is used when doing research on an herb. A good example of the importance of this is something like nettle root or nettle. Most people would know of nettle, stinging nettle. We use the leaf in herbal medicine as a really good depurative herb, which is very good for the skin and internal cleansing. Then we use the root for prostate problems. We have to know what part of the plant we’re using. If we’re using the wrong part of the plant, then we’re not going to get the benefits we’re after. In many cases, we won’t get any benefits at all. That’s very important.
You have to test the herb when you get it in and make sure it’s the correct herb. You have to test during the procedure of making that liquid herbal extract or tablet. You have to test the finished product to make sure it still has the level of active phytochemical we need. It’s very complex. I feel very confident that the brand that I use really goes through all those steps to make sure we have good quality medicines. That’s what I want to give my patients. Ultimately, if I’m not giving them good quality medicine, we won’t see good clinical outcomes. That’s what I want for my patients, as we all do.
Dr. Eric:
That’s true. That’s definitely important. We want people to get better. Is it true, at least I’ve heard, that Australia has much higher standards when it comes to herbs compared to some other countries?
Berris:
Yes, we do have very high standards. We have the TGA, the Therapeutic Goods Association, that oversees the manufacturing of all medicines. Unlike the United States, in Australia, herbal medicines are classed as medicines. They are not food supplements or dietary supplements; they are medicines. Anybody manufacturing herbal products for sale to practitioners, etc., have to do it under what’s called GMP, Good Pharmaceutical Practice. That covers all medicines whether you are producing pharmaceutical drugs or nutritional supplements or herbal medicines. Any company that has that GMP/TGA license, they are set up in exactly the same way as a pharmaceutical company with the same stringent guidelines in place. They get audited. Auditors from the TGA can turn up and do an audit.
Dr. Eric:
You also mentioned different parts of the herb are important. This goes for all the herbs, like echinacea or ashwagandha. That is something that most consumers aren’t aware of. Do you see where, not to knock other companies, but some companies might use the wrong part of the herb? Maybe it’s because they don’t know any better, or it’s less expensive to use different parts of the herb.
Berris:
Mostly herbal medicine people will be using the right part because they know. Tribulus is a good example of this. In Western herbal medicine, we tend to use the aerial part of the tribulus plant, the leaves. Most people have heard of tribulus. It’s been used in other traditions of medicine. The fruits have been used. That’s a very valid medicine in that system of medicine for what they use it for. But when we’re talking about using tribulus to improve male and female reproductive health, for example, we need the aerial parts, the leaves, because that’s where all the research on that topic has been done. You do see in health food shops and over the counter sales tribulus, which is sometimes the fruit. That’s very valid, but you can’t think it’s going to help with these other things where the research has been done on the leaf.
I personally think if you’re going to a naturopathic physician or someone who is specializing in using herbs and nutrients, whether they are chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists. Doctors sometimes go to a professional to get what you need because I’ve seen patients who have wasted a lot of money just going into health food shops and buying products that they have read about on the internet, or their neighbors told them about it or something. It’s not often actually what they need. You can easily waste a lot of money.
Dr. Eric:
That’s true. A lot of people read about something or watch a video and get it on their own. They might ask the person working at a health food store, who might just have very basic knowledge. It is a good idea to work with a qualified health care practitioner who has knowledge when it comes to the quality of the herbs.
Berris:
When you go into a health food store, those people have very limited time. They are giving you advice the best they can under the circumstances. But when you go to a practitioner, practitioners will be gathering all the information they need to prescribe very appropriately for you. That is extremely important.
Dr. Eric:
I also wanted to ask you the difference between using alcohol, specifically ethanol, versus glycerin. There are some people who are cautious about using herbs that have ethanol. Can you talk about some of the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Berris:
This is a really interesting topic. I can totally understand people thinking, “There is alcohol in this herbal medicine. I don’t know that I want to be using that. I’ll get the glycerin-based ones or glycetracts, as they’re called.” We’d probably all do that if it was viable to do that, but it’s not. The reason that alcohol/ethanol is used to make herbal extracts is that the ethanol is a fantastic solvent. It draws out the chemicals from that herb. Glycerin doesn’t do that. It doesn’t draw out phytochemicals of very many herbs at all.
The other thing is that ethanol is a very good preservative, whereas glycerin is not. You can get herbal extracts that have a shelf life of a few years depending on the level of ethanol in them. Even though glycerol is a nice idea, it doesn’t work for most herbs. One herb that it works very well for is marshmallow root. I use that in a glycetract in my clinic because it works well with marshmallow root. But for most herbs, it doesn’t work well.
You can buy liquid herb medicine that is a glycetract, but it’s not going to have the level of phytochemicals that you need to do the job that you’re using it for. Sometimes, companies will make ethanol water extract of the herb, and then they will take the ethanol off and add glycerin to it. That sounds like a good idea, too, except the problem with that is those constituents that are soluble in ethanol or alcohol are not soluble in the glycerin, so they drop to the bottom and don’t mix through properly.
I think most companies would be making glycetracts if it was viable, and you could make very good quality herbal medicines doing that, but you can’t. When you think about the amount of ethanol, if you were to get an herbal formula from your health care practitioner, maybe in that whole formula, there would be an average of maybe 40-45% ethanol. That sounds like an awful lot. You’re only taking a 5ml or 7.5ml dose in most cases. If you think about the level of ethanol in that, it’s not very much. It’s maybe a third or quarter of what you would get in 100ml glass of wine. I’m not sure what that is in ounces; I should have looked that up. I know you have wine in six and nine ounces, is that correct?
Dr. Eric:
I’m not much of a wine drinker, so I can’t tell you from experience.
Berris:
It’s much less than what you would get in a standard drink. Your standard drinks in the USA are much smaller than ours. I think they’re 150ml. If anyone wants to look that up in ounces, it gives you an idea. Very little alcohol in there. Our body is actually designed to metabolize small amounts of alcohol because we produce alcohol in our normal day to day metabolism. The liver is designed to metabolize small amounts at any one time.
When I think about this and get asked things like this, I have been in clinical practice for 33 years. I use a lot of liquid herbs in my practice along with herbal tablets. I have never seen an issue; I only have seen good results. Probably for the first 10 years of my clinical practice, I used only liquid herbs because we didn’t have any good quality herbal tablets in Australia. I used only liquid herbs. Every single one of my patients got maybe one or two different formulations to take.
Dr. Eric:
A small amount of alcohol, which I realize, but then also, it’s a better preservative, so it lasts longer on the shelf. Perhaps most importantly, it has a higher amount of phytochemicals, so it will have a greater therapeutic effect with the ethanol compared to the glycerin.
Berris:
Absolutely. Some herbs will work well with making them in alcoholic water extract and taking the alcohol off. Most herbs don’t. You’re not going to get good therapeutic activity if you’re not using good quality medicines. That’s the bottom line. Basically, you’re absolutely wasting your money.
Dr. Eric:
Before we started this interview, I briefly told you about my experience with Graves’ and how I took bugleweed, specifically the MediHerb bugleweed. Can you talk about bugleweed, some of the indications for those who are unfamiliar with it?
Berris:
Bugleweed is an herb that we use for hyperthyroidism, high thyroid function. The species of the one we use is lycopus virginicus. In Europe, they use a different species called lycopus europaeus. But they are exactly the same; they are interchangeable basically. The research is often done on the European one because that is where a lot of the research has been done.
There is definitely research to show that bugleweed, or lycopus species, is very good for reducing thyroid hormone in patients with hyperthyroidism, whatever the cause. Most times, when people have Graves’, for example, that is an autoimmune disease, and it is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. There are other causes as well. Whatever the cause, lycopus is the key herb that you’ll use. For us, it would be bugleweed. In Europe, it’s called gypsywort.
That is the only use for it. You don’t use bugleweed for anything else because it will reduce thyroid. We want to do that if we have overactive thyroid, but not if we have poor or underactive thyroid. It’s an excellent herb. That is my key herb that I use in my practice to support patients with hyperthyroidism. It works extremely well.
Dr. Eric:
Same here. That is the main herb I recommend for those with hyperthyroidism because I had a lot of success with it. I don’t know if you have an answer, but I’d like to pick your brain on this. I find that bugleweed works for a lot of people, but there are some people where it doesn’t seem to work, and maybe they need to take antithyroid medication while trying to address the cause of the problem. I’m sure it’s not just bugleweed; I’m sure it’s other herbs as well. Can you talk about why bugleweed or other herbs might work wonderfully in some people but not in others?
Berris:
That’s a really good point. I treated a lot of thyroid conditions in my clinic. It’s one of the areas where I specialized as well. Partly because you said you had Graves’. I have a history of Hashimoto’s, which is an autoimmune thyroid disease causing hypothyroidism. When we have a condition, we know a lot about it. Mostly in my clinical practice, I have seen patients with hypothyroidism, and I have also seen a lot with hyperthyroidism, too.
My experience with hyperthyroidism is exactly the same as yours. Most patients will respond well to the herbal medications, but some, you just cannot get on top of it. They have to go on the antithyroid pharmaceuticals. That is something I think as practitioners, we have to face: Sometimes, what we do works, and sometimes, it doesn’t. Quite often, when we see these patients, they’re also under the care of a physician or endocrinologist. Often, we’re working in conjunction with them. You wouldn’t give bugleweed to someone who is already taking those antithyroid medications though. Don’t do that.
For me, my experience is that the hyperthyroidism is a little bit harder to treat than hypothyroidism. It depends how far advanced it is when you see the person. It depends on their underlying health of the patient, their lifestyle, a range of things. Sometimes, it comes down to genetics and how susceptible they are.
Dr. Eric:
Good point. I mentioned that I took the MediHerb bugleweed. One question I had is what differentiates the Mediherb bugleweed from other brands? I think you mentioned it. You said it uses the lycopus virginicus. For some reason, I thought it had a couple of different types of bugleweed.
Berris:
Mostly it would be lycopus. It might just say “lycopus species.” Lycopus species generally reduces thyroid function. Certainly the MediHerb is the one I use in my clinic as well. You can guarantee a good quality. It is what it’s supposed to be. There is no “Somebody has made a mistake when they harvested it or something;” that doesn’t happen here. It’s not adulterated with anything else. As I said, I’ve only ever used MediHerb in my clinic, so I don’t have experience with others. I do sometimes have patients come in and say, “Look, I have been using this, and it doesn’t work.” I say, “Try what I use, and I think it will probably work.”
Dr. Eric:
That’s why I wanted to bring it up. As of this recording, hopefully this won’t be the case too much longer, but the MediHerb bugleweed has been on backorder, so I haven’t been able to recommend it. Since then, I’ve had a number of people say that other herbs that they have been taking haven’t been as effective as the bugleweed. They were taking bugleweed, and once it was on back order, they had no choice but to switch to something else. Not to say the other herbs didn’t work at all, but I’m realizing how good of an herb bugleweed is because I do get people who mention that this brand is just not working as well. When we do a follow-up thyroid panel, it’s not having the same effect. That’s why I wanted to bring it up.
It’s a unique situation with it being on back order for so long. Seeing the effects of other herbs. To be fair, bugleweed is not like ashwagandha or milk thistle or other herbs where you can find those herbs in every single health food store or many places online. There is only a handful of companies that have bugleweed.
Berris:
Yes, that’s correct. For many herbs that we use in clinical practice, there might be “That’s out of stock,” or “I’m out of stock in my dispensary at the moment, so I can use this other herb instead.” When we are treating nervous system problems, for example, there is a whole range of herbs we can use. But when we are talking about bugleweed, there is no substitute. It’s bugleweed. It’s the herb for hyperthyroidism, to directly deal with the thyroid and reduce the production of the hormones. There is no substitute for that.
With things being out of stock, as a practitioner, since 2020 with the beginning of the COVID pandemic, supply chain issues. Everything that we deal with, including the medicines that we use. Manufacturers can’t get the raw materials because of supply chain issues. 100 ships are sitting off the coast of different countries waiting to dock and unload. Then of course, it’s getting things from the manufacturer to my clinic sometimes. It’s very difficult. As a practitioner, it’s been very frustrating, but it’s one of those things that we can’t do anything about. It’s happening around the world; it’s a thing of daily life really.
Dr. Eric:
Can we discuss some of the other herbs that can benefit thyroid conditions?
Berris:
For hyperthyroidism, if it’s an autoimmune disease, then as a practitioner, I would also treat the immune system to deal with that autoimmunity. If you can have an impact there, then of course, you can deal with the hyperthyroidism through that route as well.
What’s happening in Graves’ Disease, for example, is you have antibodies that sit on the receptors, thyroid stimulating hormone receptors (TSH). When those antibodies are reproduced, they sit on those receptors and keep telling the thyroid gland to keep producing more thyroxine, even when we don’t need it. That’s why our thyroxine goes high. If we can modulate the immune system so that we can maybe reduce the production of those antibodies, then we are also solving the problem, particularly when we do that along with the bugleweed.
For me, echinacea. Everyone has heard of echinacea. It is a great herb for immune modulation. There is some research showing that it can be beneficial in autoimmunity. That’s one herb I use a lot in my autoimmune patients, whatever the autoimmune disease is.
There are also other herbs, like an herb that comes from the Indian tradition of medicine called hemidesmus that I use a lot in my clinic. That is a very mild immunosuppressant herb. In my clinical experience, it tends to bring down the production of those auto antibodies. I might bind them with anti-inflammatory herbs, for example. I often give that in a tablet formulation, but sometimes in liquid. Echinacea, I use in tablet form. I use echinacea root. I use a combination of echinacea angustifolia roots because that is what I found works much better.
Dr. Eric:
It’s interesting that you mentioned echinacea because a lot of people are familiar with it when someone has a cold but not so much with autoimmunity. Some people are concerned about taking echinacea with autoimmunity. The concern is it might possibly exacerbate the autoimmune response, but in your experience, that hasn’t been the case.
Berris:
No, just the opposite in fact. Very early on, when we started using echinacea as a common herbal medicine, of course, the First Nations people in the United States have been using it as long as they have been there. That’s where we have gotten our traditional information about echinacea from.
In the early days of research with echinacea, it stimulates your immune system; therefore, it probably can make the immune system overactive, so it will worsen autoimmune disease. It was a lack of really good understanding about how echinacea works. There is evidence to show that echinacea primarily works on the innate immune system, and then we have the adaptive immune system, which has the antibodies. There is research to show that many people with autoimmune diseases have a deficient innate immune system. They think the origination of the autoimmune disease is a problem in the innate immune system. If we can use anything that can support the health of the innate immune system, then we are going to benefit from that. Not only in coping with the autoimmune disease, but also keeping the general immunity up to fight infection efficiently.
Echinacea can be taken long-term. We also read sometimes that it should only be taken short-term because it can wear the immune system out, and that is not great either. It does work better if it’s taken long-term. You don’t need a high dose to do that.
Dr. Eric:
When you say long-term, do you mean many months or even years?
Berris:
Years. I take it every day and have done so for many years. My college mentor has taken it every day of his life as well.
Dr. Eric:
I have heard that, too. I just want you to share your experience. It’s great you are letting people know not to be afraid of echinacea when it comes to autoimmunity.
Berris:
All of my patients who come to me with, say, Graves’ or hyperthyroidism, I would give bugleweed. I also give echinacea, and I also give that combination of hemidesmus and angustifolia. That is dealing with the autoimmunity and the hyperthyroidism very well. I will often also give them another herb called motherwort.
Dr. Eric:
I took motherwort as well when I dealt with Graves’.
Berris:
Motherwort, as far as I know, doesn’t have any direct effect on the thyroid, but it’s very good for some of the symptoms of hyperthyroidism, like the fast heart rate and that sort of thing. It’s a very nice for the nervous system to help keep people calm. That’s my approach for Graves’.
If we’re looking at Hashimoto’s, which is the most common cause of hypothyroidism, another autoimmune disease, then I use herbs like ashwagandha. It’s been shown mostly in animal research. A lot of the herbs that we have, due to funding issues primarily, we don’t always have clinical trials. For many of them, we do.
For ashwagandha, animal studies have shown that you can improve thyroid function and thyroid hormone output. It’s another one that I have used a lot. I use it in combination with bacopa. It’s an herb that we use for cognition, memory, etc. It’s another nice nervous system herb. That’s been shown in animal studies to improve thyroid hormone output as well.
I also use bladderwrack, which contains iodine. That is the main reason I use it. Iodine is a key constituent for thyroid hormone production. If you don’t have enough iodine, you can’t produce thyroid hormone in the body. That’s a really nice combination that I use to support improving thyroid function.
Dr. Eric:
For Hashimoto’s, you recommend ashwagandha, bacopa, bladderwrack. For Graves’, bugleweed, motherwort, hemidesmus, and echinacea. Correct?
Berris:
The hemidesmus and echinacea for Hashimoto’s as well.
Dr. Eric:
Hemidesmus and echinacea for both.
Berris:
For any autoimmune disease in fact. I sometimes use coleus for Hashimoto’s or low thyroid function. It does also improve thyroid output. It can also reduce body fat, which is sometimes an issue when you have low thyroid function. There have been a few clinical trials showing that coleus can do that.
Dr. Eric:
Interesting. I didn’t know that. Coleus can reduce body fat in some cases?
Berris:
Yes. You need a good dose of coleus to do that. I use coleus in my clinic as a tablet for that purpose and for low thyroid. The active constituent in coleus is called forskolin. In the clinical studies, they’ve used doses of forskolin per day that I can get, 50mg of forskolin per day in coleus in clinical studies. I can get that in using three of the coleus tablets in my clinic every day. That is what I use in my thyroid patients because it helps thyroid, but it also helps them to lose body fat as well.
Dr. Eric:
A couple of quick questions I know people are going to have. One is going to be the iodine in the bladderwrack. No question, iodine is necessary for thyroid hormone production. But there is some concern with iodine exacerbating some thyroid conditions, like hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism, but also the autoimmune component. Same with Hashimoto’s. Some say to stay away from iodine completely, even from a food perspective. What are your thoughts on that? Obviously, you’ve had a good experience with the bladderwrack over the years with your Hashimoto’s patients. You yourself have it as well.
Berris:
Iodine can increase the level of the auto antibodies we find in Hashimoto’s. You probably need higher levels in order to do that. You can’t avoid iodine. You just can’t avoid it. Low thyroid function and goiter, which we don’t see so much now because we have an understanding of what causes it, and it’s iodine deficiency. There are certain areas in the world where the stores are very iodine deficient, including places in Australia. Before we realized what was happening, we would see a lot of people in those areas with goiter. You can’t avoid iodine. It’s not good for your thyroid, but it’s also not good for a lot of other tissues in the body. It’s not just thyroid that requires iodine.
The amount of iodine in the tablet I use with bladderwrack in my clinic is not very high. I have never seen an issue. However, sometimes, to be quite honest, most of this I have seen from out of the United States, where some people will advocate hugely high doses of iodine. Iodine is usually prescribed in the mcg dose, but you see them prescribing huge doses of iodine. I have never been a fan of that; I have never done that in my clinic. I have actually never prescribed iodine as a separate supplement in my clinic. When I give it to patients, it’s always in the bladderwrack. You have a complete herb there. It’s not just straight iodine. That is very important when we are talking about herbal medicine in particular.
If you have too much iodine, you can see Hashimoto’s occur as well. I have seen this in some areas of Japan, particularly on the west coast, where they eat huge amounts of seafood and seaweed, and they get huge amounts of iodine. They see a lot of goiter and Hashimoto’s there because of too much iodine. If you are taking some bladderwrack prescribed by your health care practitioner at the correct dose for you, you aren’t going to see those issues at all. It’s very important.
If we’re thinking, Well, should I be giving this patient something with iodine in it? We can prescribe iodine level testing for patients. I do a 24-hour sample collection, where I get patients to have that tested. That gives us an indication. Is the iodine already high? Obviously, I wouldn’t use it. But often, it’s low. It’s very rare that most people are supplementing with high doses of iodine or eating huge amounts of seafood, which we don’t see in most of our patients. Otherwise, they won’t have high iodine. It’s more likely to be low. When in doubt, as practitioners, we test.
Dr. Eric:
Good points. Ashwagandha. Some people are concerned about ashwagandha being a member of the nightshade family. Some people don’t do well with nightshades. I wanted you to mention that.
Also, with ashwagandha, since it can help in some cases with lower thyroid hormone levels to increase it, should those with hyperthyroidism avoid ashwagandha?
Berris:
People with hyperthyroidism should avoid ashwagandha. It’s a fabulous herb. It’s one of my favorite herbs, one of my most prescribed in my clinic. But it’s not the adaptogenic nervous system herb for hyperthyroid patients.
In fact, I have read some research, case reports, where a patient developed hyperthyroidism or was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism after taking reasonable doses of ashwagandha. It may well be that that patient already had borderline or undiagnosed hyperthyroidism, and the ashwagandha just made it worse so that the symptoms were much more obvious.
If you have normal thyroid function, and your thyroid is healthy, ashwagandha is not going to suddenly make it hyperactive. I don’t think I have a single patient in my clinic who hasn’t had ashwagandha at some time. Not for hyperthyroid patients.
As for being a nightshade plant, it is indeed. I have used it in patients who have a nightshade sensitivity without problems. One patient I had once, she said, “I absolutely cannot have anything in the nightshade family. Do not give me anything.” I never gave her ashwagandha. Sometimes, you don’t even know. Patients may not even think to mention they have a nightshade sensitivity when you see them at first consultation. It might be something they mention down the line later. They have been taking ashwagandha with no issue. It’s one thing in practice: we never get all the information in the first consultation.
Dr. Eric:
It sounds like most of the time, you don’t see a problem with your Hashimoto’s patients when it comes to ashwagandha. It is something you give pretty much to everybody, it sounds like. Just like with any herb, besides the nightshade, anybody could have a negative reaction to any herb. If it’s not agreeing with them, you will tell them to stop that herb.
Berris:
Absolutely. That happens in clinical practice. It’s what we call idiosyncratic reactions. Their reaction is very uncommon and totally unpredictable. It’s the same as how people can suddenly develop an allergy to nuts in mid-life that they never had before.
In my practice, if somebody comes back and says, “This herb doesn’t suit me. This is what’s happening,” then I will take them off of it. Most herbs, we can bring other herbs that will have similar effects.
Ashwagandha is excellent for the thyroid not only because of its seemingly direct action on improving thyroid hormone, but also, it helps to improve energy, and it keeps people calm. You would think with low thyroid, because it’s low metabolism, energy is low, but you can sometimes have thyroid patients who are very low energy but also feel quite anxious. They are not sleeping well, etc. Ashwagandha is very good for that.
Bacopa is also good for concentration and memory, which is lacking when you have low thyroid. It also gives you that nice nervous system support.
The beauty of herbal medicine is that all herbs have multiple activities, actions, not just one. If you give an herb to someone, we are not just doing one thing, we are doing multiple things.
Dr. Eric:
Ashwagandha is also great for the adrenals, which can also cause low energy. From what I understand, it can be taken whether someone has high cortisol or low cortisol, correct?
Berris:
Yes, it can. It supports the adrenals. The adrenal gland produces cortisol. If it’s producing too much cortisol, we need to support the adrenal gland, so it doesn’t wear out from doing that, which happens. Then we get very low cortisol. But if there is low cortisol, we need to support the adrenal gland to balance in producing the correct amount of cortisol.
What we are talking about here is not just the adrenal gland; we are talking about the HPA axis, the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis, which controls our response to stress. Herbs like ashwagandha support that whole HPA axis, not just the adrenals.
It’s called an adaptogen because they help us to adapt the effects of stress. When we are talking about the adaptogen’s effects on the adrenals, they don’t have a direct effect per se on the adrenals, but what they do is they spare the adrenals from the effects of the stress we’re experiencing. They are improving the activity of the whole HPA axis.
I think these adaptogenic herbs that we have, nature has been amazingly generous. I think these are the real key herbs for our modern lifestyles because they help us adapt to the stress that we experience. Most of them help to improve immunity in one way or another. Most of them will help to improve energy and sense of wellbeing. They are all things that are fundamentally essential in our modern lives.
Dr. Eric:
You’re right. One other herb I wanted to ask you about, if you have any experience with it, is lemon balm. That is also commonly given to those who have hyperthyroidism.
Berris:
Thank you for reminding me. Lemon balm can improve hyperthyroidism as well. It’s also a really nice calming herb. It does help digestion in some people if stress affects their digestion. That’s another one I often use in my hyperthyroid patients.
Dr. Eric:
Wonderful. I personally did not take lemon balm when I dealt with Graves’, but I do have some hyperthyroid patients take it. Bugleweed is my main go-to, as it is with you. Motherwort is #2 probably as far as the herbs that I give for those with hyperthyroidism. Lemon balm is on the list, too, for some people.
I want to respect your time, but is there anything else that you’d like to share? You shared so much, so if not, that’s fine. I appreciate the time you spent so far going over all these herbs.
Berris:
No. Thank you for the opportunity. As a practitioner, things that I think are really important, if you are going to feel better in taking herbal medicine or any medicines, is to see a health care practitioner in order to have the correct medicines prescribed at the correct doses and to be sure that you are getting good quality medicines. I personally would never go online and purchase an herbal medicine where I didn’t know it was made, how it was made, how it was overseen in the manufacturer.
When I went into naturopathy in college, I am still very altruistic, but I was under the assumption that the whole herbal medicine industry would be altruistic. It’s actually not. There is a lot of deliberate adulterations and substitutions, and there are a lot of accidental ones. You have to make sure you are using a product where all that testing has been done, so you are guaranteed you’re going to get good quality, safe herbal medicines.
Dr. Eric:
Well said. Thank you so much, Berris. Appreciate you sharing your knowledge. I learned a lot, and I’m sure the listeners did as well.
Berris:
Thank you very much.