Every now and then, someone will ask me, “What is a gut cleanse?” I wanted to talk about this here. Maybe you’ve heard from others that a gut cleanse can help with autoimmune conditions such as Graves’ and Hashimoto’s. Perhaps you even gave one a try, hoping it would calm your autoimmune thyroid condition, but you didn’t notice much of a difference. Does this mean that these protocols don’t work? Maybe you’re missing the real issue? If you would prefer to listen to this episode, you can access it by Clicking Here [1].
I’m bringing this up because recently, a member of one of the Facebook groups posted the following: “Doing a gut cleanse today to take out toxins, mucus, parasites, and impurities. Trying to eat and drink right to defeat this Graves’ Disease. We all can’t stop until we get it right. That methimazole will try to wreak havoc on our weight.”
First of all, what is a gut cleanse? There are really different definitions. Some people might be thinking about a parasite cleanse and feel that is synonymous with a gut cleanse. When I think about a cleanse, I’m also thinking detox.
What is the difference between a gut cleanse and a detox? With detox, you’re also involving the liver and kidneys as well as the lymphatics. Some parasite protocols involve supporting the lymphatics first, doing things to support the detoxification pathways, opening those pathways, and focusing on microbes, things like parasites, for example. An example of a company that takes that approach is CellCore.
I don’t typically use the term “gut cleanse” with people I work with. I recommend detox support, gut repair protocols, such as the 5R protocol, which you might have heard me talk about in the past. Gut repair protocols might include antimicrobial protocols for parasites, but it’s not just parasites. It could also include protocols if someone has H-pylori or other gut microbes. It really does depend on the person.
The question is, “Can a gut cleanse or whatever you want to call it move the needle for Graves’?” While liver detox, a parasite cleanse, a gut cleanse might make you feel better mentally, if the gut lining is still inflamed or your immune system is still on edge, there are deeper issues that aren’t being solved.
That’s where we need to pause. Instead of just asking, “Should I do a cleanse?” it might be helpful to ask, “What is my gut really trying to tell me?” Is it about parasites? Toxins? Is there something else going on?
I’m not saying that an occasional gut cleanse might not help. Again, people have asked me about that with parasite cleanses. Do I just recommend routine parasite cleanses? Do I personally do parasite cleanses? I do not. I don’t recommend to people I work with just to do once or twice a year a parasite cleanse. I personally don’t do it.
I do regular detox- I don’t want to say programs. We are always detoxifying. I am always doing things to support detoxification and can talk about that. Even differentiating here between a liver cleanse, gut cleanse, gut repair protocol.
When someone is talking about a parasite cleanse, that almost always, to me, involves herbal antimicrobials, things like wormwood, black walnut, clove oil. When I do treat parasites, I like to recommend herbal antimicrobials, just like I recommend for treating with H-pylori. I am not against doing those. I just don’t recommend for people to routinely do those once or twice a year.
When I say I’ll maybe do a three-week detox, or DesBio has something called the OmniCleanse, which is an eight-week purification program, that does involve taking antimicrobials. It involves taking things to support detoxification. One could argue we maybe don’t want to do that either just randomly. I agree.
It’s good to work with a practitioner. Of course, I will be biased since I’m a practitioner. There are other things that also need to be in order as well before you just do random detoxes. I definitely want to talk about this a little bit.
Like I said, when I think about a gut cleanse, things like probiotics, prebiotics, digestive enzymes. If you want to incorporate gut healing agents such as L-glutamine, aloe vera, zinc carnosine, I think that’s fine. When you’re incorporating herbal antimicrobials, that’s completely different. I’m thinking more about a parasite cleanse or a general antimicrobial cleanse. I’m not saying there is never a time and place for that. I want to talk more about that.
The person who posted on Facebook also spoke about methimazole, which is of course an antithyroid medication. Methimazole would try to wreak havoc on her weight. It could do that. Methimazole lowers thyroid hormones. That’s the reason why someone takes it. They are taking it because they have hyperthyroidism and are looking to lower those thyroid hormones. That can result in weight gain.
The research also shows that methimazole could affect the microbes in the gut. It could cause dysbiosis, which is an imbalance in the gut flora. It potentially can affect the intestinal barrier. I am not a huge fan of methimazole, but I understand there is a time and place for it. A lot of people I work with take it because you want to be safe while addressing the cause of the problem.
When I dealt with Graves’, I took the herbs bugleweed and motherwort, which many of you know. Those herbs aren’t a good fit for everyone. Not everyone can effectively manage their hyperthyroid symptoms by taking those herbs.
Getting back to the gut cleanses, the liver detoxes. Many of these promise a reset in 7-10 days. I mentioned a three-week detox, an eight-week detox, things that I do. Like I said, I am continuously detoxing. We are always doing it regardless. You don’t have to take supplements to detox.
You’re doing a lot of it through the food you eat, especially if you eat a lot of plant-based foods. If you are eating more of a carnivore-based diet, you need protein to support detoxification. It’s not like you’re not detoxifying. Definitely the plant-based foods play a big role in detoxification.
I also do sauna. Typically, three days a week. Another way of eliminating toxins.
When I do a so-called liver detox, let’s say, and again, it’s not just liver. When I do the OmniCleanse from DesBio, which I try to do once a year, it’s not just focusing on liver. It’s focusing also on kidneys and supporting lymphatics and even supporting cerebral spinal fluid. When I do it, I recommend someone else to do this for eight weeks or another detox for three weeks. You need to have realistic expectations.
When treating parasites, even 7-10 days or two weeks is a short period of time. It could take a month, a few months to eradicate parasites. Once you eradicate it, you usually want to do things to repair the gut. That’s part of the 5R protocol.
The first R is Remove. That’s what the cleanse typically focuses on: removing. Removing toxins, removing parasites, for example. Then there are the other four Rs.
The second R is Replace, things like digestive enzymes, stomach acid. A lot of people have gut infections because they’re low in stomach acid. Things like butane HCl can help although you want to try to address the cause of the low stomach acid. If you’re chronically stressed, that will suppress stomach acid. If you have H-pylori, then you need to get rid of that to help restore stomach acid balance.
The third R is Reinoculate. Prebiotics, probiotics.
The fourth R is Repair. Things like glutamine, L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, aloe vera, drinking bone broth or cabbage juice.
The fifth R is Rebalance. Through mind-body medicine, incorporating Vagus nerve exercises, nervous system retraining. You want to do more than just kill parasites or eliminate toxins. It’s important, but that’s why just doing a so-called gut cleanse itself usually isn’t the only solution.
What should you do first? If there is a detoxification component, or even if you’re just killing things through antimicrobials, should you do this? Should you do other things to support the gut?
For example, if someone is constipated, they probably don’t want to be aggressive when it comes to detoxification. Also, they might have issues when following an antimicrobial protocol. You need to eliminate the toxins released from killing these microbes. If you’re constipated, that’s not a good thing. You could try to do it at the same time. Work on moving bowels. Really, you want to have at least one daily bowel movement before getting really aggressive when it comes to especially detoxification, but even arguably, when doing a parasite cleanse, for example.
I wouldn’t say having a 100% healthy gut is necessary to incorporate detoxification, to follow an herbal antimicrobial protocol. In other words, it’s not like you have to spend six months on the 5R protocol before incorporating detox. The first R of the protocol is remove. It’s a bit of a catch-22 because you can’t always jump into that remove step. Maybe you have to be very gentle.
There is nothing specifically about constipation in the protocol. If you are constipated, if you are not having regular bowel movements, you do need to have those regular bowel movements. It’s just a matter of being hydrated, maybe. Maybe it’s a matter of being more active if you’re sedentary. That won’t help. What you eat as well. If you’re eating a lot of refined foods and sugars, fast food, that’s not going to help. You definitely want to focus on diet and hydration and regular movements, but you might need to go beyond that when it comes to chronic constipation.
Getting back to parasite cleanses. Some listening to this might wonder why don’t I recommend parasite cleanses? It seems obvious that we all have parasites, and we should do a parasite cleanse at least once if not multiple times a year. Definitely a controversial topic. I have had different podcast guests here offer different perspectives.
When it comes to treating parasites, Dr. Jason Hawrelak is a prebiotic researcher and educator. He is also a clinician and has been in practice for over 20 years. He actually was my instructor when I went through my master’s in nutrition back in 2013.
He is definitely not an advocate of routine parasite cleanses. When I interviewed him on the podcast, he mentioned that even if someone tests positive for a parasite, treatment is not always necessary. An example he brought up is Blastocystis hominis, which is definitely controversial. If I see Blastocystis hominis on a GI Map, I will recommend a treatment for it. He said it is not always necessary to treat it.
I didn’t specifically ask him if someone with Graves’ or Hashimoto’s has positive Blastocystis hominis, should you treat it? He was saying just in general, if he sees something like Blastocystis hominis, it doesn’t mean you always need to treat it.
On the other hand, I’ve had other practitioners on the podcast who do recommend regular parasite cleanses. Elizabeth Yarnell, I have had her on a couple times. She is a traditional naturopath. She has personally dealt with MS, and she was able to reverse it. Just like I have been in remission from Graves’ for a number of years, same is true with her and MS. She has helped many others with MS and other autoimmune conditions. She believes everyone should undergo routine parasite treatment. Maybe not routine. She does recommend working with someone like her and getting guidance, not just a regular parasite cleanse.
The point is, she recommends it across the board. She doesn’t do any stool testing, for a number of reasons. They are not perfect, which I agree with. Also, she doesn’t treat parasites in the gut but parasites elsewhere.
I am not saying there is not a time and place to put someone on an herbal antimicrobial protocol for parasites. It’s just something that I don’t recommend routinely for people to do.
Let’s say I am suspecting parasites, but a GI Map comes back negative. Maybe we still focus on other things, and the person is still having GI symptoms. At that point, maybe I will recommend an herbal antimicrobial protocol and assume that there are parasites.
I have done that with SIBO as well. I like testing for it in the form of a breath test, but they’re not perfect either.
I also should mention when I dealt with Graves’ personally, I didn’t follow an antiparasitic protocol. Therefore, I can’t say that treating parasites was necessary for my recovery. Again, I’ve worked with so many people over the years. Some people I do put on an herbal antimicrobial protocol. Almost always, I am doing testing and finding something first, whether it’s H-pylori or parasites or SIBO, etc.
Where does this leave us? Hopefully, you understand that if you were to do a gut cleanse or a parasite cleanse or a detox, by itself, it probably won’t be a cure for your Graves’ or Hashimoto’s. Again, it could have some short-term benefit and long-term benefits.
I don’t do parasite cleanses, but I do detox for a reason. I do sauna. Sauna is more consistent. I do it every week. Do I absolutely need to do a three-week detox every now and then? An eight-week detox once a year? I don’t know. Honestly, I might not with everything else I do. I figure it doesn’t hurt.
Same thing with people I work with. I wouldn’t say everyone I work with needs to go through the OmniCleanse or a three-week detox. I almost always recommend something to support detox, whether it’s NAC, which is a precursor to glutathione, or one of my products, Hepatommune Supreme, which not only has NAC but milk thistle and schisandra and other ingredients to support detox as well as immune system health.
Just want to let you know that the real solution isn’t just about doing a one-time cleanse or any other individual protocol. It’s really about creating an environment where your thyroid and gut both have the chance to heal. This requires a number of different things.
I definitely recommend, if you haven’t done so already, to read my books, Natural Treatment Solutions for Hyperthyroidism and Graves’, third edition, as well as The Hyperthyroid Healing Diet. The latter talks about food and food triggers, not just guessing, but trying to pay attention to what inflames your body.
Some practitioners recommend food sensitivity testing. I can’t say I’m a big fan of that. I like the elimination diet, which also isn’t perfect, but they don’t give false negatives typically, like food sensitivity testing, and sometimes false positives. Like I said, the elimination diet and reintroducing foods is the way I prefer, but it’s also not perfect.
I do talk about food sensitivity testing in my book. The pulse test as well. You can definitely check it out if you haven’t read it already.
Of course, you want to rebuild the gut. You want to incorporate that 5R protocol. Before supporting the gut lining, removing what you need to remove. Like I said, you might also need to do other things as well. If you’re constipated, address that. Again, a lot of different things. Sleep, managing stress, regular movement, all of this is important.
When you’re navigating Graves’ or even a different type of hyperthyroidism, it can feel isolating. You’ll have to sort through confusing options on your own. That’s why I wanted to make a space where these conversations can continue in a more personal and supportive way.
That leads me to talk about my Healing Graves’ Naturally community, which I recently launched. This community is off of Facebook, on a platform called Skool. It’s a place to take what we talk about here and apply it to daily life, whether that’s figuring out which foods are triggering symptoms, hidden triggers, or having a safe place to ask questions.
For now, it is free to join. Eventually, it will become a paid community. It will probably be at a very low cost. I just don’t want it to get too large; that’s why I’m strongly considering making it paid in the future for a low monthly rate. At this stage, you can be part of it at no cost.
This means you can take advantage of the support, resources, discussions while it’s still open and freely available. I’ll talk about one of the resources shortly.
As far as what members are finding most valuable, there is hope beyond the standard three options. When you go to an endocrinologist, you are told the only choices are antithyroid medication, radioactive iodine, or thyroid surgery. Here, we talk about root cause approaches that can help you move forward and doing things to save your thyroid.
Also, you will get guidance from someone who has been there. I personally overcame Graves’. The fear and uncertainty. I created what’s called the SAVED Thyroid Method to give others a clear step-by-step path. I have been helping people with hyperthyroidism since 2009. Evidence-based natural solutions. It’s also based on what I do in practice, but I also do a lot of research.
Access to the Graves’ Survival Roadmap training. This is in the Skool community. This step-by-step training goes into the SAVED Thyroid framework in great detail. It even has action steps at the end of each lesson, so you can implement what you learned.
This is new also. I’m starting to do monthly Hyperthyroid Healing Diet group Q&A calls. This will be hosted by one of my nutritional health coaches. Every now and then, I will pop in. She will answer your questions related to diet and hyperthyroid healing. Trying to provide a lot of value.
Progress with Graves’ doesn’t just come from doing these seven-day gut cleanses. It comes from listening to your body, making steady adjustments, getting the right kind of support along the way. You don’t have to figure this out in isolation. Having a place to ask questions, share experiences, and learn what actually works can make the path much clearer.
If you have been looking for a place that goes deeper than quick fixes, where you can learn, ask questions, get practical strategies, definitely come join the community. It’s currently free to join. It’s where I share resources, guidance, and direct support to help you move forward with confidence.
You can visit SaveMyThyroid.com/HealGravesDisease. Hope to see you in the community. Right now, as of recording this, there are over 300 people in the community. That’s of course just going to grow. The reason we don’t want it free forever is because the Facebook groups are just way too big. One of them is almost 25,000 members, which is great for my ego, but to me, it’s too big. Here, I want it to be more intimate. So far, it’s been great. We have been getting a lot of engagement, which is wonderful.
That is it for this episode. Hope you found this information I provided to be valuable. When it comes to gut cleanses and liver detoxes, parasite cleanses, whatever you want to call them, I am not saying there is not a time and place for them, but definitely not a cure-all when it comes to saving your thyroid. Thank you for listening. Look forward to catching you in the next episode.