Educational information, not medical advice — ask your doctor or midwife.
Thyroidinum is a homeopathic remedy made from the dried thyroid gland of a sheep (Latin name: Ovis aries). It is also called thyroid gland extract. People use it for signs of a slow thyroid, such as tiredness, weight gain, dry skin and feeling cold.
Like all homeopathic remedies, it is made by watering down the source material again and again. At the common 30C strength, no sheep thyroid is left in the pill. Low strengths such as 1X or 3X can still hold real thyroid hormone, which does act on the body.
Here is the plain verdict. Trials do not show that it works better than a dummy pill. Long use in a tradition is not proof of effect, and we say that once here for the whole page.
No one has shown how Thyroidinum could work at normal homeopathic strengths. At 30C the source has been watered down so far that not one molecule (a tiny particle of matter) of sheep thyroid is likely to be left.
Homeopathy rests on the idea of "like cures like". The claim is that a substance that causes signs in a well person can, once watered down, ease those same signs in a sick person. Homeopaths also say that shaking at each step leaves an imprint in the liquid, but no test has ever shown such an imprint.
One thing here is real. Very low strengths, such as the mother tincture or 1X to 3X, can still hold thyroid hormone from the gland. That hormone can speed up the heart and change how fast your body burns energy, so those forms are not inert (not free of real effect).
Thyroidinum comes as small sugar pellets, tablets or liquid drops. Pellets are the most common form and are meant to melt under the tongue.
Strengths are written as a number with an X or a C, such as 3X, 6X, 6C, 30C or 200C. A higher number means more watering-down steps and less chance that any source material is left. Some shop products blend it with other homeopathic remedies.
Do not mix it up with desiccated thyroid, sold under names like Armour Thyroid. That is a licensed drug with a measured hormone dose and needs a prescription.
Doctors in the late 1880s found that feeding sheep thyroid helped people whose own thyroid had almost stopped working. It was one of the first gland treatments in medicine.
Homeopaths soon tested the dried gland on healthy people and wrote down what they felt. Thyroidinum entered homeopathic books around 1890 and has stayed in them since.
It is a known remedy in homeopathy, but not a leading one. Its record sits inside one tradition and goes back a little over a hundred years.
Some reactions to Thyroidinum need urgent care. Call your local emergency number or go to an emergency department straight away — do not wait to see whether it passes.
Get emergency help now if you have chest pain, a racing or irregular heartbeat, severe shaking or you feel faint after taking any thyroid product.
Get emergency help for anyone who becomes very cold, very drowsy or confused with a known slow thyroid. That is a medical emergency.
See your doctor within a few days if you are tired, gaining weight, losing hair or always cold. A simple blood test can show whether your thyroid is the cause.
Also see your doctor if you have a lump or swelling in your neck, trouble swallowing, or a hoarse voice that lasts more than three weeks.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
Reviewed by the HealisticMD editorial team How we grade evidence →
The published evidence for Thyroidinum is weak or absent. That usually means no controlled trial has tested it, not that a trial found it ineffective — the two are different, and we grade only what has been published.
What it is typically used for, usual dose, cautions, and the study behind it where real trial data exists.
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