January 11, 2010

Dr.JohnCLowe

Please note: Dr. Lowe is NOT an MD or DO who see’s patients and can presc­ribe. He’s a thy­roid and fibro “researcher” with good know­ledge about T3,  fibro, meta­bo­lism, sup­ple­ments etc. Many ques­tions have been coming in which are already ans­we­red on STTM, or are more tar­ge­ted to a prac­ti­cing phy­si­cian, not a researcher. FYI.
:)
1 – 14-08: COMMENTS with your QUESTIONS ARE NOW CLOSED TO POSTING.  There are more than he can ans­wer right now. See you tonite!

On the heels of an infor­ma­tive and won­der­ful THYROID PATIENT COMMUNITY CALL on Talkshoe last week with Dr. John C. Lowe (see posts below), we’re going to do it again this coming Thurs­day, January 14th.  Join us for Part 2!

Dr. Lowe is a fibrom­yal­gia, thy­roid, and meta­bo­lism researcher who has always been such a cham­pion for bet­ter diag­no­sis and treat­ment in thy­roid patients. He is Editor-in-Chief of the open access jour­nal www.thyroidscience.com as well as his own www.drlowe.com

And this time, Dr. Lowe is going to spend more time ans­we­ring  your spe­ci­fic ques­tions. Check out his web­si­tes above to get an idea what his exper­tise is, which inc­lu­des the use of T3,  Hashi­mo­tos autoim­mune thy­roid disease, iodine, fibrom­yal­gia, the tyranny of the TSH lab test, good sup­ple­ments, the FDA, and more.

So here’s your chance: think of one or two ques­tions you’d like to hear him ans­wer. Please, if you have more more than two,  narrow them down to the two most impor­tant, and keep them brief.  No excep­tions. Two max only, and brief.  Then use the Com­ments below to post them.  Be sure and check out if your ques­tions have already been asked in other comments.

I’ll be collec­ting the ques­tions ahead of time and will let him pre­view them. He wants to give you his best.

TIPS ABOUT TALKSHOE: Some repor­ted being boo­ted off and having to quickly rejoin. One step that may help is to down­load the Talk Shoe Live Pro ahead of time (takes 25 minu­tes for some) and use that soft­ware during the call, since it gives you far more sta­bi­lity.  Also, make SURE you have everything else clo­sed and/or not run­ning on your com­pu­ter at the same time you are in the Talkshoe call. I will also be chat­ting with Talkshoe sup­port and will get more ideas.

Also, don’t wait until the call occurs to men­tion your ques­tion. We found it dif­fi­cult to try collec­ting them on the Chat. Ask now!!

Yes, you can also call in live during the Call, but it’s good to first let me know your ques­tion here.

And finally, at a cer­tain point of those who join (after 300 on chat), Talkshoe par­ti­ci­pants are auto­ma­ti­cally una­ble to post on the chat. You can lis­ten, but no chat­ting. So if you want to chat, join as soon as the Call opens up, which is 15 minu­tes before the actual audio begins. Times for the audio are 9 pm Eas­tern, 8 pm Cen­tral, 7 Moun­tain, and 6 pm Pacific.

The Stop the Thy­roid Mad­ness Talkshoe page: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=62603&cmd=tc

********************
See the blog post below those about Lowe for a very insight­ful Guest Blog Post by Amy about her role as an Under­co­ver Thy­roid Advo­cate. Below that, you can read how I was wrong about what it was like to be thy­roid­less, and seve­ral great comments.

  • Want to keep track of these “fringe web­site” blog posts? ;-) Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Use the noti­fi­ca­tion on the lower left of the links, called a News­let­ter, or an RSS Feed.
  • The extre­mely hip and sophis­ti­ca­ted STTM t-shirts are half price! Great BUMPER STICKERS, too. Spread the word – YOU may make a dif­fe­rence in someone’s life.
  • Check out the patient-to-patient book with even more detail (and which doc­tors seem to res­pect more than websites).
  • Need to unders­tand all your best options for thy­roid treat­ment? Go here.
  • Keep infor­med of each live Thy­roid Patient Com­mu­nity Call on Talkshoe by sig­ning up as a follo­wer.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 11th, 2010 and is filed under hypothyroidism. 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.

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59 Responses to “Dr. Lowe wants to talk to you more directly this Thursday – post your questions here!”

  1. No'a Winter Lazerus said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 1:55 pm

    Ques­tion 1 — What are some of the diverse pro­blems with T4 the­rapy and does he pre­fer Desic­ca­ted thy­roid for most patients.

    Ques­tion 2 — What does he feel is the best treat­ment for the auto-immune disease aspect of Hashimoto’s Thy­roi­di­tis beyond just thy­roid the­rapy as most allo­pathic doc­tors do not have any solu­tion to the other pro­blems with the auto-immune aspect of that illness.

    Thank you

    No’a

  2. Victoria said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:03 pm

    When a patient’s OAT (ova­rian, adre­nal, thy­roid) axis is mes­sed up, how do you know which sys­tem to treat first? Or do you treat all three at the same time? Can treat­ments “can­cel one another out?”

  3. Venizia said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:07 pm

    Is it ok to stay on T3 (cyto­mel) only, for the rest of my life? What do we say to doc­tors to con­vince them it is ok?

  4. Amy M said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:14 pm

    1. What is your take on long-term T3-only the­rapy, there are many who are not taking any T4 at all and find they can’t tran­sis­tion back over to T4 meds.

    2. Do you think it’s pos­si­ble to design a good head-to-head study com­pa­ring desic­ca­ted thy­roid and synthe­tic T4?

  5. Paulette said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:18 pm

    I would like to ask Dr. Lowe two questions:

    1. What do I do if I keep inc­rea­sing my thy­roid and added some cor­ti­sone, but still am losing hair and my temps are low, but all my labs show hyperthy­roi­dism (TSH unde­tec­ta­ble and above nor­mal range free T3) and also am having some hyper symp­toms (sha­ki­ness, ner­vous­ness, fast heart rate)?

    2. Seve­ral doc­tors have strongly advi­sed me to stop taking so much thy­roid as my TSH is unde­tec­ta­ble, sta­ting that it would cause osteo­po­ro­sis. I am very small boned and this is a great con­cern to me.

  6. Jan said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:35 pm

    Thank you Janie and Dr.Lowe
    I am on T3 only (gene­ric Cyno­mel) and have been for 9 weeks now. I am up to 200mcg daily (in split doses), but I have no real impro­ve­ment of symp­toms yet. My adre­nals are sta­ble, so my ques­tions are…

    1.Why am I not sho­wing an impro­ve­ment of symp­toms yet(still very hypo)?
    2.Am I mis­sing something?

    My symp­toms inc­lude, low temps, hair falling out, con­sis­tent weight gain, fati­gue, and so on.

    I take vitamin/mineral sup­ple­ments also inc­lu­ding B vita­mins, zinc, sele­nium, iodine.

  7. CindyCB said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:36 pm

    My ques­tions are:

    1) Would you say adre­nal and thy­roid glan­du­lar extracts have suf­fi­cient hor­mo­nes in them to be of use?

    2)Exactly how does low cor­ti­sol block your thy­roid hor­mone receptors?

    Thank you :)

  8. Tasia said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:47 pm

    Can someone with RT3 issues use natu­ral desic­ca­ted thy­roid suc­cess­fully? I’ve had bet­ter results with desic­ca­ted thy­roid than with Cyto­mel des­pite my high RT3 issue w/ natu­ral thyroid.

  9. Liz R. said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 2:48 pm

    1)Has he heard of swo­llen glands in the necks asso­cia­ted with hypo w/ or with Hashi’s and a 7mm nodule that hasn’t chan­ged size in a year?
    2)If hypothy­roi­dism is pre­do­mi­nantly a female disease, why isn’t more research done with it con­junc­tion with female sex hormones?

  10. Anna Maria Bjornsdotter said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:14 pm

    Ques­tion 1. Can anti­de­pres­sants, like mir­ta­za­pine, inter­fere with thy­roid hor­mone production?

    Ques­tion 2. Is it pos­si­ble that the weight gain, drow­si­ness and cog­ni­tive impair­ment many peo­ple expe­rience when being medi­ca­ted with anti­de­pres­sants are due to repres­sed thy­roid hormones?

    Thank you very much!
    Maria

  11. Lindsey said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:15 pm

    1) Have you ever put a patient on com­poun­ded T3/T4 and still remain to have hypo symp­toms even after seve­ral dosage rai­ses?
    2) Is there any dif­fe­rence bet­ween gene­ric and brand name Synth­roid and can they make a dif­fe­rence in how a patient feels?

  12. Regina said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:20 pm

    1) Can’t lose weight, even on 800 calo­ries. Am on 2 grain Erfa TSH 0.039, Free T4 8.3 (middle of range), Free T3 4.9 (outside upper range). Am not hyper. Doc wants to add 10 mcg T4 and pos­sibly cor­ti­sol (Cor­ti­sol back in cir­ca­dian rhythm, but low in the pm).

    2) Could not losing weight be rela­ted to mal-absorption? I don’t feel or look mal-nourished. Plenty of good sup­ple­ments and healthy foods.

  13. Shirley said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:38 pm

    Is there truly a con­nec­tion bet­ween hypothy­roi­dism, (Hashimoto’s spe­ci­fi­cally), and pso­ria­sis. If so, is there any suc­cess­ful treatment?

  14. Abigail said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:43 pm

    Just one ques­tion and this will ans­wer all ten que­sions I have: Can you pro­vide me with a refe­rral to a doc in NY? (I have fibrom­yal­gia a few years and no end in sight. I am thy­roid­less as of a few months ago and una­ble to find a doc to help me with my thy­roid resis­tance pro­blem.)
    If I lived anywhere near Dr. Lowe I’d be there :) but right now will do with a refe­rral to a NY doc.

  15. Heather said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:43 pm

    1) What is the best treat­ment for Hashimoto’s Thy­roi­di­tis while pregnant?

    2) How harm­ful is it to the unborn baby if I haven’t been on any treat­ment for Hashi’s for the first 10 weeks of pregnancy?

  16. Alice said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 3:52 pm

    1) What is your posi­tion on using Iodine Sup­ple­ments for patients with Hashimoto’s? Dr. Browns­tein makes a good argu­ment for using it while Dr. Kha­za­rrian gives rea­sons why it could cause a autoim­mune attack.

    2) Dr. Kha­za­rrian in his book points out that if Hashimoto’s anti­bo­dies can be sup­pres­sed by addres­sing the trig­gers that cause them, patients may not even need thy­roid meds. Do you have any expe­rience with this?

  17. LindaD said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 4:50 pm

    To add to Venezia’s ques­tion: Is it okay for a thy­roid­less indi­vi­dual to stay on T3 only for life?

  18. Karen said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 5:09 pm

    Can taking t3, through inc­rea­sed pro­duc­tion of SHBG, lead to an estro­gen defi­ciency in the body? If so is there any way to add estro­gen without de-activating the posi­tive effects of the thy­roid med?

  19. Deanna said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 6:02 pm

    Finally have my thy­roid under con­trol with levoxyl and com­poun­ded time release t-3. I just got put on Iso­cort for adre­nal issues and up to 8 per day. When should i see some impro­ve­ment? Still swo­llen, una­ble to lose the weight,and waking up at night.

  20. Vivien said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 6:25 pm

    Is there still huge back orders on Nature-Throid medi­cine. My insu­rance says I have to get my presc­rip­tions thru CVS phar­ma­cies. CVS doesn’t have it and says it has been bac­kor­de­red thru their sup­plier since August! and have no clue when or if they will get it in stock.

    What’s a Natu­ral form of thy­roid medi­cine that’s alter­na­tive for Nature-Throid?

    (From Janie: that’s ans­we­red right here: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/options-for-thyroid-treatment)

  21. Jennifer said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 6:48 pm

    Just a gene­ral request here – for those of us who will not be able to join in this R, can a transc­ript of the con­ver­sa­tion be made or recor­ding be archi­ved of this ses­sion? Thanks!

    (From Janie: Recor­dings are always there. :) Just check the same link.)

  22. Liz said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 7:29 pm

    I have recently been diag­no­sed with Hashimoto’s at age 25, although I have had hypo symp­toms since I was a child. I unders­tand that natu­ral thy­roid is the best option, but for someone in my case would it be best to start on only Cyto­mel because of reverse T3.

  23. Liz said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 7:33 pm

    Do you believe PCOS is ulti­ma­tely cau­sed by hypothy­roi­dism? If so, are there many fer­ti­lity sucess sto­ries once pla­ced on direct t3?

  24. Lindsey said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 7:36 pm

    I can’t afford the adre­nal saliva kit; how do I get my doc­tor to treat me with HC?

  25. Emma said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 7:43 pm

    Does Dr Lowe have a pre­fe­rred method of mea­su­ring meta­bo­lism — e.g. body temp, meta­bo­lic cham­ber? Do these corre­late more accu­ra­tely with patients’ symp­toms than TSH/T4/T3? I’d like to know whether symp­tom inten­sity rela­tes directly to meta­bo­lic level rather than hor­mone levels, and whether there are other hormonal/nutritional fac­tors that help to deter­mine the speed of metabolism?

    How is liver/kidney func­tion affec­ted by hypothy­roi­dism? I had many non-immune food into­le­ran­ces (e.g. to wine, spicy foods, cheese) when I was hypo, that are now gone. This seems to be a mys­te­rious sub­ject area.

    Also, as someone who was diag­no­sed with fibrom­yal­gia at age 13, only to have all my symp­toms vanish 20 years later, after being diag­no­sed hypothy­roid, I’m fas­ci­na­ted by Dr Lowe’s desc­rip­tion of the cri­ti­cal events that led to the usage of TSH/T4 tests, and how the diag­no­sis of fibrom­yal­gia came into exis­tence, and I’d like to hear more on this subject.

    Thanks!

  26. Barb said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 7:48 pm

    1. If there’s only a weak corre­la­tion of FT3 with your meta­bo­lism, how does he deter­mine opti­mum thy­roid dose?

    2. What does he think cau­ses rT3, and has he ever correc­ted it so the patient could return to NDT?

  27. mary said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 8:28 pm

    1) I am an 18 year-thyroid can­cer sur­vi­vor who has deci­ded not to con­ti­nue going through the 5 year RAI total body scan tes­ting, I’m worried that drin­king the toxic cock­tail could even­tually cause me more harm. your thoughts?
    2) With no thy­roid, is it bene­fi­cial to take iodine or can the body not absorb it? I do take it.
    note: I was on Synth­roid for 16 years. Felt horri­ble & fought with Endoc­ri­no­lo­gist. I now have a D.O. and taking Armour & feel much bet­ter, though with the shor­tage it is impos­si­ble to get.

  28. L. Morgan said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 8:34 pm

    Hi,
    Thank God for STTM in hel­ping us to navi­gate through all of this crazy, Thy­roid stuff. Any sug­ges­tions on how we, as a group, can help in get­ting the info out to doc­tors that T4 meds are not for ever­yone? As you know, many patients, inc­lu­ding myself, are not recei­ving ade­quate treat­ment by our doc­tors. There should come a time where we don’t have to SEARCH for a doc­tor in order to get pro­per treat­ment. All doc­tors should be edu­ca­ted based on your fin­dings, for exam­ple. In addi­ton, chan­ges need to be made based on patients’ sto­ries and accounts. Can you sug­gest ways in which we can be heard by the medi­cal pro­fes­sion and hope­fully help to trans­form the way in which Endoc­ri­no­lo­gists treat thy­roid disease/disorders? What do you think would be the best methods in the quest to reform the prac­ti­ces of Endoc­ri­no­lo­gists?. Do we con­tact the AMA or other orga­ni­za­tions? Any ideas? I just believe that until we help change the way doc­tors are edu­ca­ted about thy­roid disease, we’ll con­ti­nue to have major pro­blems in the way they treat us as patients.

    Thank you for your time

  29. Debbie Fox said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 8:43 pm

    1. How does alpha delta wave intru­sion play into fibro, and is it reme­died through thyroid/adrenal balance.

    2. How do you test for adre­nal fati­gue ie: blood, saliva or urine; and should they not all corre­late w/each other?

  30. Regina C said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 9:48 pm

    I star­ted Iodine supp. 2 months ago and hypo symp­toms (non-Hashimoto) have impro­ved greatly. Do you have any sug­ges­tions on the best stra­tegy to inc­rease iodine and even­tually dec­rease synth­roid to zero?

  31. Miryum said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 9:53 pm

    Are ‘psychia­tric disor­ders’ roo­ted in meta­bo­lic dys­re­gu­la­tion and if yes do you believe that ‘Post Trau­ma­tic Stress Disor­der’ is dri­ven by the same meta­bo­lic dysregulatiion?

    What is the grea­test length of time it has taken for your patients to go from being depen­dent on ‘psychia­tric drugs’ to living really well without it, due to your treat­ment? About how many suc­ces­ses do you see per week/month?

    Thank you very much!

  32. Shelley said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 10:14 pm

    1. Is there sometype of refe­rence sheet for blood tests that shows what is the ideal?
    2. RLC labs carries a Thy­roid sup­ple­ment called ‘Hypo Sup­port For­mula’. Do you have any expe­rience with recom­men­ding this pro­duct to per­son who has Hashimoto’s.

  33. Jennifer Quiroz said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 10:26 pm

    What I would like to know is if pro­perly medi­ca­ted, can a per­son with hypothy­roi­dism ever be the per­son they were before or will one always have to strug­gle with sick­ness and phy­si­cal pro­blems the rest of their lives and would there ever be the pos­si­bi­lity that one’s thy­roid could heal and no medi­ca­tion be needed?

    Thanks,
    JQ

  34. katie a said:

    Jan 11, 10 at 11:13 pm

    I am con­fu­sed about Iodine for patients like myself with Hashimoto’s. I have been tes­ted and have very low iodine, but if I take sup­ple­ments I get sick.
    Howe­ver, I have found that when I eat shell­fish, I feel much bet­ter – I have more cla­rity and my musc­les do not fati­gue as much. I also find that some­ti­mes I can tole­rate kelp, but after a few days I start get­ting auto immune symp­toms again and just feel awful I would love some gui­dance and infor­ma­tion on this issue.

  35. denise said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 2:20 am

    Hi
    1. Me and my son age 14 have hashimoto,s thy­roi­do­sis we are both hypo does is this run in family and what are the chan­ces of it pas­sing onto his chil­dren my eldest son has been tes­ted for thy­roid and it is ok for now.

    2. on the mor­ning of blood tests i dont take my tablets till after my bloods have been taken as i was told if you take them before this can give a false rea­ding is this right.

  36. ghazaleh said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 7:20 am

    I have recently been diag­no­sed with Hashimoto,s,although for almost 10 years i am suf­fe­ring from acute fati­gue, men­tal fog­gi­ness and poor memory. I am a phD stu­dent of Engi­nee­ring and could you ima­gine how difi­cult it is to handle this pro­grame? I take 0.05mg/d Levothy­ro­xine ‚howe­ver, no impro­ve­ment has gai­ned. I am going to give up phD,its a stress­ful prgramme and my body cant tole­rate huge stress and fati­gue. Because of poor memory i am not suc­cess­ful in my studying,can not attend any dis­cus­sion . PLease give me any recom­men­da­tion how to improve phyis­cally, men­tally and emo­tio­nally. my emo­tion chan­ges every hours. I am tired of this situa­tion while i am always worried for my future . please please please help me. my life is totaly full of mess.

  37. Sandra said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 9:05 am

    Hello!!
    Many many hugs to Janie, Darla, Sam for all you do and to all the other team who are lite­rally saving our lives!!.

    Ok to keep it short.

    I am hypo, can­cer in 94 no thy­roid, health dec­li­ning 5 – 7 years now and am still on Levothy­ro­xin. Seen 6 natu­ro­paths and no one has sug­ges­ted natu­ral thy­roid and now that I know what I know thanks to STTM I am get­ting it on my next appt. (hope­fully)
    My ques­tion 1) is it best to wait until I am no lon­ger hypo and fee­ling good on natu­ral thy­roid before I do any heavy metal detoxing/chelation or clean­ses? In the past when I did try I just got too sick to con­ti­nue so I gave up.
    2) If I’m hypo what amount of iodine is safe to take to bene­fit me and should I make sure my adre­nals are good first before taking.
    Many thanks for con­si­de­ring my questions!

  38. Joann said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 9:31 am

    Do you have an opi­nion or have any expe­rience uti­li­zing Low Dose Nal­tre­xone for autoim­mune thy­roid disorders?

  39. Anna Sofia said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 11:49 am

    I have been on Synth­roid for 20 years (125 mcg) after a goi­te­ro­pe­ra­tion where they remo­ved a big part of my thy­roid. I have been una­ble to work for the last 8 years due to what I now unders­tand are hyposym­toms but have alw­ways been told it was psychia­tric. I star­ted on T3 in sep­tem­ber and are now on 40mcg and take cor­ti­son for my adre­nals. Am having a bit more energy but expec­ted a big­ger impro­ve­ment. Could this be due to thy­roid hor­mone resis­tance, how can I tell and what are the treat­ment and tests for this? ( I am hoping and trying to get at presc­rip­tion for Des­si­ca­ted Thy­roid soon!)THANK YOU!

  40. Rachel said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 11:50 am

    1. For adre­nal fatigue/hypothyroidism, what do you recom­mend doctors/patients use to deter­mine whether or not the patient is ade­qua­tely trea­ted? For ins­tance, do you recom­mend using FT3/RT3 ratio, tem­pe­ra­tu­res, cli­ni­cal pre­sen­ta­tion (symp­toms), or ? as good indi­ca­tors in how the thy­roid meds are being used at the cellu­lar level?
    2. Have you seen asthma and or skin pro­blems such as excema improve with thy­roid hor­mone treatment?

  41. Bev Cousineau said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 11:58 am

    My last saliva test for cor­ti­sol was very poor [8am 3, noon less than one, 5pm 1, mid­night less than one]. I had taken a break from Iso­cort to take this test and had been doing well on 3 tabs daily. I then star­ted on HC because of my con­cern re the herbs in Iso­cort as I found I am salicy­late sen­si­tive. I had con­ti­nual weight gain on the HC and no impro­ve­ment so I have gone back on the Iso­cort. My doc­tor had never seen such a weight gain. Why would the HC cause weight gain?

  42. shira said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 12:43 pm

    I have been on synth­roid a few months then switched to cytomel-only treat­ment. On both treat­ments my blood levels of free t3 remai­ned low, des­pite being on ade­quate doses (125 mcg.) I con­sis­tently have symp­toms of hyper-stimulation (as per your writ­ten work) and low levels of free t3. I’ve been on hydro­cor­ti­sone to sup­port my adre­nals just in case it was low cor­ti­sol that was pre­ven­ting t3 from reaching the cellu­lar level; howe­ver, my free t3 con­ti­nues to remain low. I’ve had to reduce my thy­roid hor­mone dose to negli­gi­ble amounts which lea­ves me with hypothy­roid symp­toms. I have also been sup­ple­men­ting with iron belie­ving low ferri­tin was a con­tri­bu­tor, but to no avail. What do you think is pre­ven­ting the t3 from reaching the cellu­lar level?

    With much appre­cia­tion for taking the time to help us!

  43. L. Morgan said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 2:47 pm

    Hello, Dr. Lowe:

    1) Can you please sug­gest some com­prehen­sive, accu­rate resour­ces for Grave’s Disease?

    2) Being post RAI, I am inte­res­ted in your views about foods to avoid and sup­ple­ments that I need to take and anything else that might make life bet­ter. (I tried fish oil but then rea­li­zed I pro­bably don’t need the iodine; Is it okay in small amounts or best to avoid all together)?

    Also, I wan­ted to sug­gest to those who have had Hyperthy­roi­dism due to G.D. or due to another ori­gin – please get a bone den­sity test. None of my doc­tors sug­ges­ted it. Thank­fully, I had a rou­tine scree­ning through a drugs­tore that aler­ted me to a pro­blem. A for­mal bone den­sity test revea­led that I have Osteopenia.

    None of my Endos or other doc­tors have offe­red any help/suggestions regar­ding my GD. And when I ask que­si­tons about GD in rela­tion to my thy­roid issues and other phy­si­cal ail­ments, I get hardly anything in terms of info. They have never even men­tio­ned the poten­tial eye inflam­ma­tion that could occur as a patient with GD.

    I’ve found a few resources(i.e. books, sites) that dis­cuss Grave’s Disease. But, I would love to know if you can sug­gest some more.

    Thanks so much,
    L. Morgan

  44. Sky said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 6:24 pm

    On behalf of my dad what is the best way to treat fibrom­yal­gia and hashimotos.

    Do you believe in reverse t3?

  45. Cheryl M. said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 7:41 pm

    1) I am con­cer­ned about the poten­tial for prion con­ta­mi­nants in des­si­ca­ted thyroid.

    2) It is my unders­tan­ding that pharmaceutical-grade thy­roid pro­ducts (Unith­roid, Synthroid,…)are “bioi­den­ti­cal”. What is the dif­fe­rence bet­ween trea­ting with Armour vs. synthe­tic T4 and adding T3 as nee­ded or a T4/T3 combo?

  46. Starrie said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 8:36 pm

    1) I need recom­men­da­tions for SAFELY star­ting to take Iso­cort. I don’t want to risk a thy­roid dump etc.

    2) I am also having trou­ble fin­ding a doc­tor who is willing to guide me through this pro­cess. Any recom­men­da­tions would be appreciated.

  47. Kate said:

    Jan 12, 10 at 9:12 pm

    Dear Dr Lowe (you rock!),

    I was hos­pi­ta­li­sed in a state of ‘hypo­ma­nia’ and diag­no­sed with bipo­lar disor­der way back in 2001. 6 months later I expe­rien­ced another MAJOR depres­sion (the worst of 3) des­pite being on a high dose of sodium val­proate and ris­pe­ri­done. Not long after that lithium was added to the mix which hel­ped lift the depres­sion and I was slowly wea­ned off the sodium val­proate. A month or so later I was diag­no­sed by an endoc­ri­no­lo­gist with hypothy­roi­dism when nearly ALL my hair fell out (I’m tal­king ‘comb over’ mate­rial) and I had already gai­ned 25kg. I remem­ber being told I had pro­bably had hypothy­roi­dism since I was 15 (in 1994). I also remem­ber my endoc­ri­no­lo­gist saying at the time that my anti­bo­dies loo­ked ok so I didn’t have ‘hashi’s’.

    I have been taking lithium and Oro­xine and have been in remis­sion from bipo­lar mood swings ever since des­pite lin­ge­ring thy­roid and adre­nal symp­toms, which I always thought were rela­ted to bipo­lar disor­der and lithium the­rapy until now. These symp­toms have been get­ting worse and worse since about 2005 des­pite always having nor­mal TSH T4 test results since star­ting Oro­xine in 2002. No one has tes­ted me for anti­bo­dies since because my TSH T4 test has always been ‘nor­mal’ and no one will do it now (not yet any­way) because my TSH T4 test is ‘normal’!

    So here are my ques­tions for you:

    1) Is it pos­si­ble that Hashimoto’s can cause symp­toms of bipo­lar disor­der that can result a mis­diag­no­sis of bipo­lar disorder?

    2) It is pos­si­ble that I may have had ‘nor­mal’ levels of anti­bo­dies at the time I was tes­ted (I still don’t know if both anti­bo­dies were ever tes­ted) and still have had Hashimoto’s as the cause of my ori­gi­nal bipo­lar symptoms?

    Thank you for you help :)

  48. Bonnie Lefrak said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 6:04 am

    Dear Dr. Lowe:

    Thank you for your great work and all your help.
    TWO Questions–

    1. If using T3 only– will Iodo­ral cause the body to make T4, or enough T4 to negate all the pro­gress of clea­ring exc­ces­sive RT3?

    2. Are there any issues with fer­ti­lity and or main­tai­ning a preg­nancy on T3 only? Will clea­ring RT3 and using T3 perhaps reset regu­lar mens­trual cycyles/ovulation?

    Thank you Janie and the mem­bers of STTM!!!

  49. Marie said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 6:48 am

    Do you recom­mend Natu­reth­roid over Erfa for patients in the USA? Are Natu­reth­roid patients fee­ling as well on the new Natu­reth­roid for­mula as they were fee­ling on Erfa?

  50. Lynn Dunning said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 8:12 am

    To Regina:

    Have you been scree­ned for Celiac disease? I could not lose weight until even trace amounts of glu­ten were gone from my diet. I am a low car­ber so ate little glu­ten any­way, but even a trace is enough to do damage to a Celiac. Blood tests do not rule OUT Celiac; they can only rule it in. So, if bloods are nega­tive, the next step is an ente­ro­lab test. Only after an ente­ro­lab test can one say they defi­ni­tely do NOT have Celiac disease.

    Also, you may be a per­son that hyper­con­verts T4 to T3 on their way to an opti­mal dose as I did: http://forums.realthyroidhelp.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=16314

  51. Carol said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 9:38 am

    Q-1: Can Dr. Lowe ela­bo­rate more on his expe­rien­ces with myo­fas­cial triggger-points and hypothy­roid con­nec­tion? For me, this is the most stub­born of all my hypo symp­toms… gets worse the more hypo I am and treat­ments pro­vide only tem­po­rary relief.

    Q-2: Doc­tors seem to auto­ma­ti­cally con­si­der pal­pi­ta­tions a symp­tom of over-medication, but can they be a hypo symp­tom as well? I have expe­rien­ced pal­pi­ta­tions on the new Armour but not on Nature-throid so I’m won­de­ring if the palps are most likely indi­ca­tive of nee­ding more or less medi­ca­tion (i.e. Armour since that’s the only med I have access to at the moment).

  52. Jennifer McCalla said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 12:53 pm

    1)I am still trying hard to find a Doc in my area that is willing to treat my thy­roid that is ‘nor­mal’ accor­ding to my blood­work. I am also terri­fied that my daugh­ter may have the same issues. She is star­ting out with hea­daches & low temp. at age 5 &1/2. When is a good time to get her chked out? Or should I wait till she’s a little bit older to worry about her having hypo? I don’t want her to suf­fer as long as I have!
    2)How do you know if you have hypothy­roi­dism or a pro­blem with your hormones/estradiol?

  53. Jan said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 3:13 pm

    Ques­tion one: I have been on des­si­ca­ted thy­roid for two years. I have an RT3 pro­blem that wor­se­ned with Hydro­cor­ti­sone the­rapy. I have low ferri­tin and trou­ble tole­ra­ting any sig­ni­fi­cant iron sup­ple­men­ta­tion. Should I be on T3 any­way while I work on rai­sing ferri­tin? Currently taking 25mg of HC and 1/2 grain of NatureThroid.

  54. Debbie R. said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 8:12 pm

    Dr. Lowe,

    I have read on your web­site that you recom­mend a once daily dose of T3 for those on T3-only the­rapy. But on STTM and the RT3 dis­cus­sion group, I’ve read recom­men­da­tions to mul­ti­dose. I began by mul­ti­do­sing but have begun wor­king toward trying to dose once daily. So far I’ve been plea­sed, but am con­cer­ned that I will have dif­fi­culty func­tio­ning in the a.m. without a night­time dose (one of my worst symp­toms is chro­nic urti­ca­ria that res­ponds directly to T3 — so it is worse in the mor­ning until the T3 builds throughout the day). Right now I’m taking 4 25mcg cyno­mel upon rising, 1 25mcg around 11 am, and 1 at bed­time. Could you ela­bo­rate on your argu­ments for a sin­gle dose and why the argu­ments for mul­ti­do­sing might or might not have vali­dity? Thanks so much.

  55. Susan said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 8:42 pm

    For the meno­pau­sal woman; please address the com­ple­xi­ties of bioi­den­ti­cal hor­mone repla­ce­ment (using estra­diol and pro­ges­te­rone), high cor­ti­sol, (chro­nic insom­nia) and Hashimoto’s.

    What else can be taken for chro­nic insom­nia (high cor­ti­sol levels, unba­lan­ced estrogen/progesterone, hashimoto’s) besi­des PS (phospha­tidyl­se­rine) or Seriphos, which is non addictive?

  56. Debbie R. said:

    Jan 13, 10 at 10:33 pm

    Dr. Lowe,

    Do you have any expe­rience with preg­nant moms on T3 only the­rapy? Could there be any risks to the baby from the absence of T4 or cal­ci­to­nin intake for the mom?

    Also, any advice about how to decide whether to stay on T3 the­rapy for life if doing well or to try switching back to NDT or a T3/NDT com­bi­na­tion after effec­ti­vely clea­ring out a huge ove­ra­bun­dance of RT3?

  57. DeAnna said:

    Jan 14, 10 at 7:37 am

    Dr. Lowe,
    I have con­tac­ted your office and wife at one time. I also live in The Wood­lands. You had men­tio­ned you do not treat patients, but you do com­mu­ni­cate with PCP’s to treat patients in con­junc­tion. If this is what you recom­mend — Can you recom­mend a doc­tor that will work with you in The Woodlands/Houston or even Natio­nal (I would tra­vel) for a Thy­roid­less per­son??? I am recently married and unders­tand my body is so mes­sed up I do not think I will be able to con­ceive a child. I am also an RN and extre­mely frus­tra­ted with my DO and Inter­nist. I do not believe the TSH is a value to follow with me as I clearly do not have a PITUITARY ISSUE. I have dealt with this my entire life. Both my mother & MGM had Thy­roid Can­cer with Partial/RAI. I’m currently on Syth­roid since the refor­mu­la­tion of Armour and lack of NT.

    Thank you — Thy­roid­less since 2 years old and tired,
    DeAnna

  58. Laura said:

    Jan 14, 10 at 9:10 am

    Dr. Lowe, I have been told I am a dif­fi­cult case. Main com­plaint is chro­nic, all-over muscle (I mean every muscle!) fatigue/soreness, fati­gue (mostly in the eve­ning) and scalp sore­ness. Nor­mal thy­roid labs (low-normal FT4/FT3 and RT3 a bit ele­va­ted) and una­ble to dose up on “any” thy­roid medi­ca­tion. Have tried low doses of all thy­roid meds (Armour, Levoxyl, Levoxyl & Cyto­mel combo) with no impro­ve­ment and una­ble to dose up due to heart palps. and irri­ta­bi­lity. Nor­mal cor­ti­sol, nor­mal vita­min panel, except receive perio­dic iron infu­sions due to heavy periods and am below nor­mal mag­ne­sium but sup­ple­ment with upper limit doses with no muscle impro­ve­ment. No muscle disease, no lyme disease, no arth­ri­tis, no anti­bo­dies, no food into­le­ran­ces, etc. Everything always comes back nor­mal. Also take high-quality vita­mins and sup­ple­ment with bio-identical pro­ges­te­rone. None of this seems to help. For­tu­na­tely, my doc­tor is willing to test for anything and try anything. Any advice would be much appre­cia­ted. Laura

  59. Kathy M said:

    Jan 14, 10 at 1:07 pm

    Since there are thou­sands of us in the NTH groups.…would it be pos­si­ble for Dr. Lowe to use us as part of his research?

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