When Dr. Eric Osansky, a chiropractor, hit middle age, he began focusing more on his health: exercising more, improving his diet, and detoxing. Despite that, his health seemed to decline instead of improve.

Symptoms such as heart palpitations and rapid weight loss were initial clues. Then, he unexpectedly discovered an abnormally high heart rate after testing it at a retail store kiosk.

“My resting heart rate was 90, which for me is high,” he recalled. “For the next few days, I would take it manually, and it was anywhere between 90 and 110 beats per minute. Then I knew something was wrong.”

Seeing his primary care doctor, Eric learned he had hyperthyroidism. Then, a few months later, a test of TSI (thyroid-stimulating immunoglobulin) levels led an endocrinologist to update his diagnosis: Graves’ disease, an autoimmune hyperthyroid disease. With no family history, Eric felt blindsided by the sudden onset.

“With Graves’, very commonly, the TSH is undetectable,” Eric said. “By the time I went and got my blood test, it was nonexistent. They know something is up when they see an undetectable TSH.”

Herbs for Graves’ Disease

As a chiropractor, Eric had taken several functional endocrinology courses over the years. Faced with his health setback, he referred to his notes for guidance on Graves’ disease. He learned that the conventional, or allopathic, treatment for Graves’ disease is anti-thyroid medication such as methimazole.

“I wasn’t opposed to taking it [anti-thyroid medication], but I figured I’d try the natural approach first,” he said.

Eric started with anti-thyroid herbs. Bugle weed reduced his symptoms, but he still experienced heart palpitations.

Next, he tried the herb motherwort, a natural beta blocker. Again, his symptoms improved. However, he wanted to go beyond suppressing symptoms to target the cause of his hyperthyroidism.

Targeting Underlying Causes of Hyperthyroidism

Eric took multiple avenues to target the root cause of hyperthyroidism. The triggers can vary in each person, so he tested.

He ran a saliva test to assess his adrenals. Turns out, he had low levels of the hormones cortisol and DHEA, and low secretory IgA. Low secretory IgA (Immunoglobulin A) levels often indicate a weakened mucosal immune system.

“Based on those findings it made me aware that stress was a factor,” he said. “Not that I didn’t think that stress wasn’t an issue, but I thought I did a good job of handling the stress.”

Beyond work and life stress, Eric realized he had likely been overtraining in an effort to lose weight. Heavy exercise can stress the body and adrenals.

In response, he scaled back his exercise and made time for stress management while prioritizing sleep. He began taking licorice root to address low cortisol along with vitamins B and C.

Graves’ Disease Remission

Eric also took lifestyle steps such as reducing his toxic load, and focusing on gut-healing and his diet. A paleo diet helped him reduce inflammation. When he noticed that his secretory IgA was still low, he cut out nuts and seeds and saw an improvement.

In time, he transitioned to the autoimmune paleo diet (AIP), which he now recommends to his thyroid patients. Doctors, he said, typically will say that diet won’t help, but Eric has seen it improve most autoimmune and chronic health conditions.

As he saw improvements, he gradually got off of the herbs.

“I was able to wean off the bugle weed and motherwort gradually,” he said. “Because everything looked good, the labs looked better, eventually I would reduce the doses and retest the antibodies as well.”

With all these steps, Eric noticed his symptoms subside and his thyroid and adrenal lab tests improved. He no longer had lab markers for Graves’ disease or any symptoms.

Natural and Integrative Graves’ Treatment

These days, Eric specializes in natural endocrine solutions for hyper and hypothyroid conditions. He is the author of the books “Natural Treatment Solutions for Hyperthyroidism and Graves’ Disease,” “The Hyperthyroid Healing Diet,” and “Hashimoto’s Triggers,” and is the host of the Save My Thyroid podcast.

Whether someone wants to take a natural or integrative thyroid approach, he meets them where they are. Integrative thyroid treatment might look like taking medication short term while simultaneously following an anti-inflammatory diet or addressing other concerns such as adrenals or gut health.

“The goal is to get them to the point where they really don’t need the anti-thyroid medication,” he said. “As their numbers improve, the endocrinologist will gradually decrease the dose.”

He says there’s a time and place for thyroid surgery or radioactive iodine, however, an integrative approach to avoiding it could be a low dose of bugle weed or medication, plus lifestyle changes.

To stay in remission, Eric continues to follow a modified paleo diet and continues to watch his stress levels. He does sauna sessions about three times a week and moderate exercise.

Among the maintenance supplements he takes are fish oil, probiotics, prebiotics, magnesium, and vitamin C.

For those diagnosed with Graves’ disease, he offers hope. In the short term, diet changes and stress management can support your body as you look for causes and symptom management.

“Do what you need to do to manage the symptoms,” he said. “You want to be safe, whether it’s through the herbs or through the medication. But there’s a reason why you developed Graves’, and why you have that autoimmune component, and while managing your symptoms, you in my opinion, want to do things to try to find and address the cause of the problem.”

You can find more about Eric at www.naturalendocrinesolutions.com.

Listen to Eric’s story on the Rebuilding My Health Radio podcast: