The news this morning about Oprah made me pause.
Yes, it’s being announced today that there will be no more Oprah Winfrey Show on CBS after Fall of next year. She’s saying goodbye. And the rumor is that she will move her talk show to The Oprah Winfrey Network, which replaces the Discovery Health Channel. We’ll see when she formally announces it today on her show.
But the change sure does shine a bright spotlight on a colossal and complete failure by Oprah and The Oprah Winfrey Show for hundreds of millions of thyroid patients. Though she had her own bout with thyroid disease (and may still be dealing with it when you consider her weight issues), we all winced a year ago when she stated that a month long Hawaiian vacation and eating fresh foods with soy milk (a goitrogen) were a great way to treat her thyroid condition. Yikes. We equally squirmed in our seats when Dr. Christiane Northrup made the comment that our thyroid problems were due to an “energy blockage in the throat region, the result of a lifetime of ’swallowing’ words one is aching to say.” Double yikes.
And since then, we have watched nothing, zilch, zero from Oprah and The Opray Winfrey Show about a horrendous 55-year medical scandal of thyroid treatment that has negatively affected the lives of hundreds of millions of thyroid patients worldwide. T4-only meds like Synthroid, the darling medication of the medical community for hypothyroidism treatment, has left hundreds of millions sick. The TSH lab test has equally sent us to hell. Because we have been forced to live with continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism, we’ve endured much more testing and have been put on many other medications to bandaid our continuing symptoms. And a majority of us have had to deal with the additional burden of adrenal fatigue thanks to all the above.
It’s been hell, Oprah. But you never listened. So for me personally, I could care less what you do now. You’ve let millions of us down.
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On a far better note: Last night’s Thyroid Patient Community Call on Talkshoe was excellent. From thyroid/adrenal patient Valerie Taylor, who is absolutely one of the most knowledgeable patients in the world about adrenals and RT3, we gained good information how it raises its ugly head when you have high or low cortisol, low B12, low ferritin and other untreated issues, and how to treat it. You can go back to Talkshoe and listen to the broadcast, which was Episode 7. See my blog post right below this. As far as future Talkshoe Community Calls: they will always be announced here first.
Below that, you’ll read how cellulose as a filler just may be a huge problem in natural desiccated thyroid meds. But we are also discovering that a good desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, even with its cellulose, can seem even worse if we have undiscovered and untreated issues like low B12, low Vit. A, low ferritin, low Vit. D and other conditions common with hypothyroidism. Make sure you have tested for these.
*HO HO HO! Have a STTM book sent to someone you care about as a CHRISTMAS or HOLIDAY present. All the work is done for you!
This entry was posted on Friday, November 20th, 2009 and is filed under Reverse T3, naturethroid, oprah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Rachel said:
Nov 20, 09 at 1:26 pmRight on, Oprah has definetly let us down!
I would like to add to the “..55-year medical scandal of thyroid treatment..” that it has also left many many people UNDIAGNOSED and still needlessly suffering.
I like Dr. David Derry’s comment regarding the use of the TSH test for diagnosis and treatment (instead of clinical presentation), “The consequences of this have been horrendous.”
Rose said:
Nov 21, 09 at 12:48 pmCan you leave a link to the Takshoe show? Thanks much, Janie. Rose
From Janie: link in blog post right below this. lol.
Val M. said:
Nov 22, 09 at 10:57 amTo me it looks like Oprah is a victim of this thyroid scandal– she has helped so many in other areas. Her doctor/endocrinologist is probably also Ignorant of what we now know or one of them Rigid ones who worships the false god of t4 only for everyone despite continuing symptoms. Assuming this is true… how do we educate and help Oprah? Before I found this site, I was unaware of the t3 thing, having an endo that never even told me about natural thyroid and having endless symptoms while on synthroid. Is it possible Oprah falls into this boat some of us were in? Could be. So lets try to help her.. If she discovers what we know to be true and finds relief.. Im sure she would start spreading the news. Time to go to Oprah.com and post yer stories in a calm lucid tone. People are more apt to listen then,. since shouting never worked for me.
(From Janie: Great post, Val. I want to add that patients have been sending her calm lucid emails for years.
So far, no response whatsoever.)
Val M. said:
Nov 23, 09 at 3:55 pmThanks Janie, Someone on oprah.com keeps posting that Oprah does not read the comments… If thats true perhaps one of her workers is “filtering” the posts Oprah actually reads. I say never give up. Eventually something should happen ( I sure hope so)…. and maybe Oprah falls into a boat I once occupied.. believing without question– whatever the doctor said, being led into a premature RAI procedure and given virtually NO information as to the side effects Rai can give you.. In my case the radiation damaged my Parathyroid gland and now Im contending with that problem too.
When I had tripped out symptoms I called the endo’s office who told me my symptoms had NOTHING to do with my thyroid. I then got onto the net and discovered they were in error. I do not see him anymore. I have a new doctor whose eyes are open as well as her mind and am improving. Lets just hope –in regard to Oprah. I personally feel she would not maliciously ignore us or dismiss us if she was on to what is going on. But, indeed, it is a sad state of affairs that the emails from us thyroid sufferers who share in her disease have not yet been either addressed nor brought to her attention so she can investigate for herself.
Lee Roy said:
Nov 23, 09 at 4:28 pmSo sad about Oprah (don’t have pay TV)
mainly trying to contact you janie about some thyroid issues. is this the right place? please email me Thanks
(From Janie: Hi there. If it’s non-personal-treatment questions, there’s a Contact Me form on any page on STTM. Or, if you need feedback on your personal thyroid issues, here’s where you go for feedback: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/talk-to-others )
micheleabelle said:
Nov 26, 09 at 8:14 pmi don’t understand why we should care? she didn’t exactly let us down, as she was never on our side to begin with. she doesn’t “get” it, never did and probably never will. she parades so-called medical “experts” around in front of the unsuspecting masses who will go on feeling ill, thinking all that is needed is to NOT “swallow their words” in order to feel better. i say good riddance. that woman has irritated me for over 20 years.
Donna said:
Nov 30, 09 at 11:45 amJanie: Have you contacted Oprah’s people about reporting on your finding on her show? Get her the book! We will all corroborate your findings- BTW- Has anyone felt very HOT- like a burning sensation across the back of the neck and arms? I have had this for years and have just realized (now that it was gone when I was on Naturethroid and is back now that I have begun NDT) that it is as a result of a need to correct dosing- more corrections are needed, I guess- Painful. Would love to hear comments
From Janie: Yes, and a handful of people have used the publishing company to send her the book. She has ignored it all. As far as the issue you mention, also use this page: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/talk-to-others )
London lady said:
Dec 15, 09 at 12:42 pmHi there, listen folks, Oprah is just one human being. It is not her responsibility to fight anyones health corner. She is a chat show host not a health guru. The world gives her two much power. As a collective it is up to us to make a real difference and raise these issues anyway we can.
I have been asked today to make a documentary on the thyroid scandel. I live in London and would love to speak with individuals who could support this documentary in anyway.
I have also suffered with this dis-ease for 10 years and am finally on cynomel. Please email me on carterchat@hotmail.com.