Red Light Therapy / LLLT Cures Hypothyroid?

Strongbad

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The research is a bit hard-to-read for me to understand, but the gist is that after 10 sessions of 830nm LLLT, patients are cured of hypothyroid(?) I have 850nm infrared panel laying around. I might try this 10 session thing to compliment Peat diet and see how it goes.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20662037 :

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis (CAT) remains the most common cause of acquired hypothyroidism. There is currently no therapy that is capable of regenerating CAT-damaged thyroid tissue. The objective of this study was to gauge the value of applying low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in CAT patients based on both ultrasound studies (USs) and evaluations of thyroid function and thyroid autoantibodies.
STUDY DESIGN/MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Fifteen patients who had hypothyroidism caused by CAT and were undergoing levothyroxine (LT4) treatment were selected to participate in the study. Patients received 10 applications of LLLT (830 nm, output power 50 mW) in continuous mode, twice a week, using either the punctual technique (8 patients) or the sweep technique (7 patients), with fluence in the range of 38-108 J/cm(2). USs were performed prior to and 30 days after LLLT. USs included a quantitative analysis of echogenicity through a gray-scale computerized histogram index (EI). Following the second ultrasound (30 days after LLLT), LT4 was discontinued in all patients and, if required, reintroduced. Triiodothyronine, thyroxine (T4), free T4, thyrotropin, thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb) and thyroglobulin (TgAb) antibodies levels were assessed before LLLT and then 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 months after LT4 withdrawal.
RESULTS:
We noted all patients' reduced LT4 dosage needs, including 7 (47%) who did not require any LT4 through the 9-month follow-up. The LT4 dosage used pre-LLLT (96 +/- 22 microg/day) decreased in the 9th month of follow-up (38 +/- 23 microg/day; P < 0.0001). TPOAb levels also decreased (pre-LLLT = 982 +/- 530 U/ml, post-LLLT = 579 +/- 454 U/ml; P = 0.016). TgAb levels were not reduced, though we did observe a post-LLLT increase in the EI (pre-LLLT = 0.99 +/- 0.09, post-LLLT = 1.21 +/- 0.19; P = 0.001).
CONCLUSION:
The preliminary results indicate that LLLT promotes the improvement of thyroid function, as patients experienced a decreased need for LT4, a reduction in TPOAb levels, and an increase in parenchymal echogenicity.

Much more detailed version of the study here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3534372/
 

Dean

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Man, that would be something if that were true. Then again, it might drive me to tears if the hypothyroidism I could never get doctors to treat throughout my lifetime is something I could have solved myself by sitting under some lights for awhile.
 

narouz

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I think this is special kind of light, right?
A laser.

I believe you can buy them and...seems like they were not impossibly expensive.
Guess it depends on the power.
 

narouz

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http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ53BNE/?tag=rapefo-20

This one is the wrong wavelength--630nm, I believe.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OZ53BNE/?tag=rapefo-20

This one has a mixture of wavelengths, some are 830nm.
I believe the wattage cited in the study was 50mW,
which I think may mean 50 milliwatts...?
50 milliwatts = 0.05 watts.
In the product above, there are 12 lights at what they call 5W each.
5 watts is a lot more power than the 50mW light cited in the study,
if mW does mean milliWatt...

Just tossing out some products and specifications as a starting point....
 
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Strongbad

Strongbad

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Unfortunately it doesn't say if you should shine it on your thyroid and for how long. It just says punctual technique and sweep technique. I'd assume you light it up on your thyroid from outside (not inside). The wavelength is 830nm so it penetrates deep into the skin.

I'd try 20 minutes per session on my thyroid (850nm) and see how it goes. This is fully experimental.

It is a REQUIREMENT to eat lots of fructose/sugar and supplement vitamin A, E, K and maybe D and Calcium, too. Red light stimulates metabolism, thus it'll deplete glycogen very quickly. Otherwise, you'll get inflammation, which is not what you want from red light.

I first read http://heelspurs.com/led.html, and basically 660nm and 850nm are sweet wavelength spots for healing things. I just read other lllt / red light therapy studies and most of them use wavelength around 660nm and 830nm, too.

660nm is used to heal things skin-wise and anything that's close to skin surface. 830nm is used to penetrate deeper into organs, like pancreas or adrenal glands.

I won't recommend getting that anti-aging device. Too expensive. I got mine by searching "security camera illuminator 850 nm" on amazon or ebay. It's so much cheaper and stronger than that anti aging device. It's infrared, so the light is very dim to naked eye. Don't stare at it for too long, just to be safe.

The higher the wattage, the lesser time it takes to use it. Otherwise, inflammation occurs if glycogen energy is completely depleted (quickly).

I'm also going to use 660nm RED LED panel to treat my hair loss in addition to head-massaging therapy (that jimmyquick recommended):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24078483

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:
Low level laser therapy (LLLT) has been used to promote hair growth. A double-blind randomized controlled trial was undertaken to define the safety and physiologic effects of LLLT on males with androgenic alopecia.
METHODS:
Forty-four males (18-48 yo, Fitzpatrick I-IV, Hamilton-Norwood IIa-V) were recruited. A transition zone scalp site was selected; hairs were trimmed to 3 mm height; the area was tattooed and photographed. The active group received a "TOPHAT655" unit containing 21, 5 mW lasers (655 ± 5 nm), and 30 LEDS (655 ± 20 nm), in a bicycle-helmet like apparatus. The placebo group unit appeared identical, containing incandescent red lights. Patients treated at home every other day × 16 weeks (60 treatments, 67.3 J/cm(2) irradiance/25 minute treatment), with follow up and photography at 16 weeks. A masked 2.85 cm(2) photographic area was evaluated by another blinded investigator. The primary endpoint was the percent increase in hair counts from baseline.
RESULTS:
Forty-one patients completed the study (22 active, 19 placebo). No adverse events or side effects were reported. Baseline hair counts were 162.7 ± 95.9 (N = 22) in placebo and 142.0 ± 73.0 (N = 22) and active groups respectively (P = 0.426). Post Treatment hair counts were 162.4 ± 62.5 (N = 19) and 228.7 ± 102.8 (N = 22), respectively (P = 0.0161). A 39% percent hair increase was demonstrated (28.4 ± 46.2 placebo, N = 19; 67.2 ± 33.4, active, N = 22) (P = 0.001) Deleting one placebo group subject with a very high baseline count and a very large decrease, resulted in baseline hair counts of 151.1 ± 81.0 (N = 21) and 142.0 ± 73.0 (N = 22), respectively (P = 0.680). Post treatment hair counts were 158.2 ± 61.5 (N = 18) and 228.7 ± 102.8 (N = 22) (P = 0.011), resulting in a 35% percent increase in hair growth (32.3 ± 44.2, placebo, N = 18; 67.2 ± 33.4, active, N = 22) (P = 0.003).
CONCLUSIONS:
LLLT of the scalp at 655 nm significantly improved hair counts in males with androgenetic alopecia.


660nm Red LED: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2FAFWE/?tag=rapefo-20

850nm infrared: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CMVision-IR...019?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4e5858bb
 

jyb

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narouz said:
I think this is special kind of light, right?
A laser.

I believe you can buy them and...seems like they were not impossibly expensive.
Guess it depends on the power.

I tried that last year, out of random. Every day for a couple week. Shining a red light laser on the thyroid gland (very high wattage for a laser, so I increased the beam diameter to dilute the energy and not get burnt obviously...).

But I never noticed anything from that particular experience.
 
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Strongbad

Strongbad

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jyb said:
narouz said:
I think this is special kind of light, right?
A laser.

I believe you can buy them and...seems like they were not impossibly expensive.
Guess it depends on the power.

I tried that last year, out of random. Every day for a couple week. Shining a red light laser on the thyroid gland (very high wattage for a laser, so I increased the beam diameter to dilute the energy and not get burnt obviously...).

But I never noticed anything from that particular experience.

Do you remember the wavelength (nm), the wattage and how long your session was? Did you measure temp before and after? I'm curious since I'll give this one a try.
 

jyb

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Strongbad said:
jyb said:
narouz said:
I think this is special kind of light, right?
A laser.

I believe you can buy them and...seems like they were not impossibly expensive.
Guess it depends on the power.

I tried that last year, out of random. Every day for a couple week. Shining a red light laser on the thyroid gland (very high wattage for a laser, so I increased the beam diameter to dilute the energy and not get burnt obviously...).

But I never noticed anything from that particular experience.

Do you remember the wavelength (nm), the wattage and how long your session was?

200mw. Always less than a minute in total (over several areas), since studies show that too much can destroy any benefit - haidut posted about this last year.
 

aguilaroja

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Strongbad said:
... after 10 sessions of 830nm LLLT, patients are cured of hypothyroid(?)

Thanks for pointing this out. The same group did a controlled study, and cytokine research:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22718472
Lasers Med Sci. 2013 May;28(3):743-53. doi: 10.1007/s10103-012-1129-9. Epub 2012 Jun 21.
Low-level laser in the treatment of patients with hypothyroidism induced by chronic autoimmune thyroiditis: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
Höfling DB1, Chavantes MC, Juliano AG, Cerri GG, Knobel M, Yoshimura EM, Chammas MC.

"... LLLT was effective at improving thyroid function, promoting reduced TPOAb-mediated autoimmunity and increasing thyroid echogenicity in patients with CAT hypothyroidism"


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25101534
Photomed Laser Surg. 2014 Aug;32(8):444-9. doi: 10.1089/pho.2014.3716.
Effects of low-level laser therapy on the serum TGF-β1 concentrations in individuals with autoimmune thyroiditis.
Höfling DB1, Chavantes MC, Acencio MM, Cerri GG, Marui S, Yoshimura EM, Chammas MC.
 

Brian

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Strongbad

Strongbad

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Holy S*** my temp went up to 98.3F after doing the infrared session! In my entire 4 months of Peating, I've never broken the 98F barrier! Usually, my temps are 96.9F waking up, 97.9F afternoon before 3pm and 97.4F before sleeping. I measured 97.9F exactly before trying the 850nm infrared on my thyroid for 20 minutes. Note that I also consumed lots of Betaine HCL capsules and taurine food (to help food digestion) hours priors to this infrared session.

After that, I ran my miscellaneous errand for 1 hour then took the temp. Holy S*** 98.3! This is f**ing awesome :D !

To make sure that it's not a misread, I redid temp reading 4 more times. No kidding, 98.3F across the board with 1 reading of 98.2F.

I hope this is not a fluke. It's pretty exciting. I'd continue monitoring the temp as the week goes by. The next session is Friday (twice a week). 9 sessions left to go.

BTW, I read many testimonials that it's better to have day(s) off between red light sessions. Red light therapy is like working out at the gym. Hitting weights stimulates muscle growth, but the muscle growth itself occurs during downtime.

aguilaroja said:
Thanks for pointing this out. The same group did a controlled study, and cytokine research:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22718472
Lasers Med Sci. 2013 May;28(3):743-53. doi: 10.1007/s10103-012-1129-9. Epub 2012 Jun 21.
Low-level laser in the treatment of patients with hypothyroidism induced by chronic autoimmune thyroiditis: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
Höfling DB1, Chavantes MC, Juliano AG, Cerri GG, Knobel M, Yoshimura EM, Chammas MC.

"... LLLT was effective at improving thyroid function, promoting reduced TPOAb-mediated autoimmunity and increasing thyroid echogenicity in patients with CAT hypothyroidism"


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25101534
Photomed Laser Surg. 2014 Aug;32(8):444-9. doi: 10.1089/pho.2014.3716.
Effects of low-level laser therapy on the serum TGF-β1 concentrations in individuals with autoimmune thyroiditis.
Höfling DB1, Chavantes MC, Acencio MM, Cerri GG, Marui S, Yoshimura EM, Chammas MC.

Yay, more great news :D
 

Brian

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Where did you come up with a 20 minute session? That seems kind of long. Joe Cohen at selfhacked.com usually recommends starting at 10-30 seconds and working up to a few minutes.
 
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Strongbad

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Woke up with 97.3F :D Huge improvement over my daily 96.9F

Brian said:
Where did you come up with a 20 minute session? That seems kind of long. Joe Cohen at selfhacked.com usually recommends starting at 10-30 seconds and working up to a few minutes.

Most of the lllt sessions i read on studies last about 15-20 minutes, so I put 20 minutes to test how far I can go.

10 minutes in: my throat and back teeth start feeling sore and warm (not from the device!)
15 minutes in: feeling heart beating faster (in a good way, not panic or anything) and feeling some blood pulse flowing through my body. Body feels warmer overall.

So next time I'll probably limit it to 15 minutes.
 

ravster02

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Strongbad said:
Woke up with 97.3F :D Huge improvement over my daily 96.9F

Brian said:
Where did you come up with a 20 minute session? That seems kind of long. Joe Cohen at selfhacked.com usually recommends starting at 10-30 seconds and working up to a few minutes.

Most of the lllt sessions i read on studies last about 15-20 minutes, so I put 20 minutes to test how far I can go.

10 minutes in: my throat and back teeth start feeling sore and warm (not from the device!)
15 minutes in: feeling heart beating faster (in a good way, not panic or anything) and feeling some blood pulse flowing through my body. Body feels warmer overall.

So next time I'll probably limit it to 15 minutes.

What's your dosage of HCL?
 
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Strongbad

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8 capsules of 650mg HCL/Pepcin total, but not all at the same time. 4 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, 2 in the evening before dinner. I stopped after started farting a lot with stronger smell.

This morning, I took 2 capsules of HCL and lots of cottage cheese (taurine). No problem so far.

Also noticeably hungrier and thirstier than usual.
 
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Strongbad

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So far the result is inconclusive. My temp went up to 98.3F earlier this week after 20min session of 850nm infrared on thyroid, but slowly dipped down to 97.9F yesterday afternoon. I had another 20min session and it went up to 98.7F! Within 15min, my temp went up to 98.6F, on 20min it went up to 98.7F.

So it's unknown whether 850nm infrared cures hypothyroid at the moment (I only had 2 sessions out of 10 total), but it definitely works like taking thyroid supplement: NDT, Cypro etc. And as far as I've observed so far, it doesn't have any side effects that are usually caused by thyroid supplement. Except coffee, that is.

I take lots of fructose powder + orange juice and vitamin A,D,E,K (taking E and K on separate time) before using the infrared to make sure that glycogen is filled up first.

Next session is Monday.
 

narouz

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Strongbad--

I've been out of touch with this thread
so apologies if I've missed it,
but what is the exact light device you are using?
Is it a low level laser?
And if so, what is the power and what are the wavelengths of the lights?
 
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Strongbad

Strongbad

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narouz said:
Strongbad--

I've been out of touch with this thread
so apologies if I've missed it,
but what is the exact light device you are using?
Is it a low level laser?
And if so, what is the power and what are the wavelengths of the lights?

These are the 2 devices I bought and use for the experiment:

For hair regrow and skin:
660nm Red LED: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2FAFWE/?tag=rapefo-20

For thyroid:
850nm infrared: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CMVision-IR...019?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4e5858bb

I do the hair/skin therapy on different days than thyroid. I also cover my neck with towel so that the red light doesn't get to thyroid during hair/skin session. Obviously, I leave the neck wide open during thyroid session.
 

narouz

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Strongbad said:
narouz said:
Strongbad--

I've been out of touch with this thread
so apologies if I've missed it,
but what is the exact light device you are using?
Is it a low level laser?
And if so, what is the power and what are the wavelengths of the lights?

These are the 2 devices I bought and use for the experiment:

For hair regrow and skin:
660nm Red LED: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M2FAFWE/?tag=rapefo-20

For thyroid:
850nm infrared: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CMVision-IR...019?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1c4e5858bb

I do the hair/skin therapy on different days than thyroid. I also cover my neck with towel so that the red light doesn't get to thyroid during hair/skin session. Obviously, I leave the neck wide open during thyroid session.

Okay, thanks!
Just to clarify,
the device used in the study you cited upthread a ways
was a low level laser, an LLLT, I believe.
And, in my admittedly dim understanding of this technology,
I think that is a very different and much more powerful device.

I'm not saying those lights you're using are useless,
at least the 850nm one,
because red light is supposed to penetrate deeply.
But...I think the LLLT's are a whole different animal.
Keep us posted--very interesting.
 

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