• Reverse T3
• Thyroid Patient Community Call
• hypothyroidism
• t3

Yes, we’ve all heard about T4 (the thyroid storage hormone) and T3 (the active thyroid hormone which rids us of hypothyroid symptoms). We’ve learned that the body not only converts T4 to T3, it also provides some of  T3 directly. The latter fact is why patients have found natural desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, Erfa’s Thyroid, etc. to be a far better treatment for hypothyroidism, besides the T2, T1 and calcitonin you’ll also find in desiccated thyroid–just like your own thyroid would be making.

But in every individual, a thyroid also converts T4 to the inactive RT3 (reverse T3) as a way to clear out excess T4 that the body doesn’t need.  It’s natural and necessary. It will especially happen if you go through surgery or a diet.

Unfortunately, many thyroid patients make far too much RT3, and patients have been making cutting edge discoveries about this fact and how to treat it with their doctors.  High levels of RT3 can be found if you have high cortisol, low cortisol, low ferritin, low B12 and other undiscovered and untreated underlying issues that can go hand-in-hand with being hypothyroid.

Why is a high level of RT3 is problem? That excess RT3 is making itself lazily comfortable on your cell receptors, preventing T3 from gaining access to your body.  It becomes like a clogged up drain to your body. So you stay hypo and symptomatic, in spite of seemingly normal labwork.

This coming THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19th (tomorrow as I write this) on the TALKSHOE THYROID PATIENT COMMUNITY CALL, we’re going to talk about the Reverse T3 problem with thyroid patient advocate Valerie Taylor. She not only owns the NTH Adrenals group (and is considered the most knowledgeable patient on adrenal fatigue in the world), she also created the RT3/T3  group on Yahoo, which you will find on the Talk To Others page.

We’ll talk about excess RT3, symptoms that can go along with it, how to do labwork to determine if you have this problem, how to treat it with T3-only, and more. There’s a Chat Box you can participate in while the show is going on. Audio will come directly out of your computer, and you can call in and ask Valerie or Janie a question. Times are 6 pm Pacific, 7 pm Mountain, 8 pm Central and 9 pm Eastern.

Want to read more? Thyroid patient Nick Foot, who also moderates the RT3/T3 group, has created an excellent Question and Answer RT3 website. This will make you even more informed before this Talkshoe event. Note that the website is still work-in-progress, so expect to see more as he works on it.

For those with the Stop the Thyroid Madness book, there is also more good detail in Chapter 12 called T3 is the Star of the Show, page 155. This is all good information to take into your doctor’s office.

Update: cellulose in our desiccated thyroid meds may be much more of a problem than we ever imagined. See my blog post below.

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*Want to be infor­med of these ‘fringe web­site’ blog posts?  Curious what’s on radi­cal Janie’s mind? Just use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the left below the links.

* The extre­mely hip and sophis­ti­ca­ted STTM t-shirts are half price! I love sales! Spread the word!

* Pre­fer STTM in book form with more detail? You can read about it here.

*Need options for thy­roid treat­ment during the current shor­ta­ges due to demand being grea­ter than supply? Go here.

*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!

I confess that I hated my Chemistry class in high school, even if Mr. Bowen tried to make it interesting and favored the girls over the boys in class.  But lo and behold, one of those elements on the Periodic Table ended up having a significant role in all or our lives as thyroid patients: iodine.

Iodine can be found in every inch your body, but is especially prevalent in your thyroid, which makes it an interesting element for those of us with thyroid disease.  The active thyroid hormone T3 (triiodothyronine) is made up of three iodine molecules, and the storage hormone T4 (thyroxine) has four iodine molecules. In fact, without proper amounts of iodine, your thyroid wouldn’t even function well.

An optimal amount of iodine has also been shown to improve breast health, provide cancer protection, remove toxins like Bromide, fluoride, mercury etc…and in some cases, has helped thyroid patients either lower their dose, or even get off thyroid treatment. Thyroid patient Diana tells of getting off thyroid treatment due to iodine on the Stories of Others page.

***This Thursday evening on the Thyroid Patient Community Call on TalkShoe, we’ll have guest Stephanie Buist, owner of the Yahoo group Iodine and a 9-year thyroid cancer survivor who strongly feels iodine has been a huge factor.   We’ll explore how much iodine a person needs, the loading loading test, the best sources of iodine supplementation, whether you need iodine, as well as controversies with iodine use, including Hashimotos disease or bad reactions.  Times for the call are 6 pm Pacific, 7 pm Mountain, 8 pm Central and 9 pm Eastern. You can listen right on your computer, or call to talk directly to Stephanie and Janie. Join us!

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Sheila Turner of TPA-UK  (Thyroid Patient Advocacy-UK www.tpa-uk.org.uk) is starting the ball rolling on something very interesting:  they have contacted a lab in the UK who will do a qualitative analysis of the old Armour vs. the new reformulated Armour to get a breakdown of the ingredients, and potentially give us an idea WHAT is causing thyroid patients to have a return of their hypothyroid symptoms since Forest reformulated Armour in 2009.

However, says Sheila, this will cost in the region of £600 to £700 (approximately $1100).  Says Sheila, “If there are enough patients who are willing and able to help raise the funding required by giving whatever we can afford, we could finally get the answer as to which changes have been made in the new formula and whether this includes changes in the active (as some have suggested) and the inactive ingredients and put this baby to rest once and for all.”

You can contact Sheila at the above website and make a pledge.  As I write this, they have already have £100 pledged.

UPDATE: Stephanie above has agree to be the ‘Pledge and Money Collector’ for the lab work needed to analyze the old vs new Armour . She can be contacted at ladybugsandbees@sbcglobal.net

*Want to be infor­med of these ‘fringe web­site’ blog posts?   Curious what’s on radi­cal Janie’s mind? Just use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the left below the links.

* The extre­mely hip and sophis­ti­ca­ted STTM t-shirts are half price! I love sales!

* Pre­fer STTM in book form with more detail? You can read about it here.

*Need options for thyroid treatment during the current shortages. Go here.

We had a great Thyroid Patient Community Call Friday night on TalkShoe with John Voliva, RPh, the President of Hooks Apothecary in Evansville, Indiana. Hooks Apothecary is a compounding-only pharmacy that has been in existence for ten years and is a small and high quality family-owned business.

And with our current shortage of desiccated thyroid via the tablets we were used to, compounding pharmacies are a good alternative in the meantime. Here’s what we learned from Mr. Voliva:

1) Different compounding pharmacies will use different fillers. Hooks Apothecary, for example, uses powdered acidophiles, the “active culture” which helps replace the good flora in your gut and improves digestion.

2) Compounded desiccated thyroid can be more expensive for two reasons: they acquire smaller amounts of the powder as compared to the huge amounts obtained by a pharmaceutical like Forest, and it takes time to compound it.

3) A good compounding pharmacy will give you the Certificate of Analysis right when you ask for it, and you should ask for it. This Certificate will tell you how much T4 and T3 is in one grain..and it’s not always simply 38/9 mcg.  It could be 35/8.6 or 39/8.5 per grain…for example.   Find out because there are allowed deviations of 10 mcg +-.  A really good pharmacy will shoot for an even better deviation and will also produce that Certificate right when you ask for it, not a day later. To not receive that documentation right when you ask implies they really weren’t paying much attention to the deviation.

4) A compounding pharmacy will get better deviations when they create a 65 mg grain of compounded desiccated thyroid than when they create a 60 mg grain.

5) Top notch Compounding Pharmacies will be accredited by, or be close to completing the steps towards, the Pharmacy Compounding Accreditation Board.

6) Compounding pharmacies can’t make a desiccated thyroid trouche because of the problems with heat in the processing of the trouche.

7) Mr. Voliva feels it would be too easy to overdose with transdermal (on the skin) desiccated thyroid.

8 ) Compounding pharmacies, via their 5-6 distributors, get the powder from American Laboratories.  But not all compounding pharmacies will be as diligent as others to make sure the deviation is closer to 5%.

9) If the compounding pharmacy is getting their powder via the distributor PCCA (Professional Compounding Centers of America), you can be assured you are getting a good product.  Ask the pharmacist where they are getting it.

10) Compounding pharmacies generally have plenty of desiccated thyroid powder.

My apologies to a group of callers whose chat questions I wasn’t able to see. I have sent a question about that to Talk Shoe’s Customer Support to find an answer before the next Community Call. But on the good side,  the audio worked on everyone’s computer.

Need alternatives during this shortage time? Here are options you can consider.

*Want to be infor­med of these fringe web­site blog posts? Curious what’s on unpro­fes­sio­nal Janie’s mind? Just use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the left below the links.

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I have been driving all day, bringing my husband back home after serious hand surgery yesterday. And while I was away from the computer, I received the below via the Contact Me form of STTM, written by Mary Budinger for the Arizona Net News journal, September 16, 2009:

Dr. Mark Starr’s office team wanted to send over a portion of an article just written for an Arizona health magazine:

Desiccated thyroid from pigs is a bio-identical, complete hormone preparation, containing the entire spectrum of thyroid hormones including T4, T3, T2, and T1 that are in the human thyroid gland.

Current FDA approved thyroid medications include Synthroid, Unithroid, Levoxyl, and Levothyroxine (all only contain T4), and Cytomel (only T3). These hormones are synthetic and contain only a portion of the thyroid’s hormones.

Dr. Mark Starr of Phoenix, Arizona, said patients have called him, frantic that desiccated thyroid is unavailable. “It is so key to my practice, I have enough for my patients. So far, it appears that when supply catches up with demand in a few months, the shortage will be over.”

Dr. Starr is the author of “Hypothyroidism-Type 2.” He said synthetic thyroid acts energetically differently in the body. “All living things have a right spin, and synthetic medications have a left spin. The desiccated thyroid is better tolerated.”

Dr. Broda Barnes did a study that revealed a relative intolerance to a synthetic thyroid product containing T3 and T4 (Thyrolar). One-fifth of the patients who had done well on desiccated thyroid developed rapid heart beats and palpitations when switched to Thyrolar. Dr. Barnes also did a major research study on desiccated thyroid that involved thousands of patients over 30 years; it showed a 94 percent reduction in the number of expected heart attacks. This study is the subject of the 1976 book “Solved: The Riddle of Heart Attacks.”

Lipitor is the best selling drug in the world. But for the first half of the 20th century, desiccated thyroid was the standard treatment for high cholesterol. Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides are one of the myriad symptoms of hypothyroidism. Dr. Barnes’ book included a chapter entitled “The Demise of the Cholesterol Theory.” Desiccated thyroid normalized cholesterol and triglycerides in 95% of the patients Dr. Barnes treated. The 5% who had persistently elevated levels had no increased incidence of heart attacks. Desiccated thyroid therapy also resolved a long list of other hypothyroid symptoms such as fatigue, cold intolerance, joint and muscle pain, dry skin, inability to lose weight, headaches, and menstrual problems. One of the most important benefits that Dr. Barnes demonstrated in studies on both animals and his patients was that desiccated thyroid increases immunity and allows the body to fight off infections. As we come into swine flu season, this is particularly important.”

Dr. Starr, I love the way you put it: “All living things have a right spin, and synthetic medications have a left spin. The desiccated thyroid is better tolerated.” And that’s exactly why the website Stop the Thyroid Madness exists–patients all over the world have found out what a far better “right spin” treatment desiccated thyroid has been for them!  So we present this information, hoping that more and more patients can learn from the paths walked before them, and take this right into their doctors offices.

And about Thyrolar, which is a combination of synthetic T4 and synthetic T3:  we’re glad it exists. But…there have been numerous patients over the years who tried the combination of synthetic t3/ synthetic T4, and who then switched to desiccated thyroid. And they identically report on the NTH thyroid group that they got far better results from desiccated thyroid. That is powerful information.

And yes, Dr. Starr, we are looking forward for supply to catch up, because natural desiccated thyroid is a godsend.

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Join the Thy­roid Patient Com­mu­nity Call on Talk Shoe this Friday. UPDATE: the President of Hook’s Apothecary, a compounding pharmacy that serves Illinois and Indiana, will be in the chat to talk about compounding desiccated thyroid.

Also check out the post below concerning possible hints that we are closer to seeing more desiccated thyroid on our shelves?

*Want to be infor­med of these fringe web­site blog posts? Curious what’s on unprofessional Janie’s mind? Just use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the left below the links.

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Surely most anyone who has been outside has felt a little drop here…then a little drop there…and you wondered:  am I getting ready to be rained on?

Now I’m making no guarantees nor saying this is absolute fact…but because of emails I’m getting and other information, I’m seeing little drops of potential evidence that we may be seeing the beginning of a return of natural desiccated thyroid in our pharmacies. Are we?

For one, a patient called the Forest Hotline today (866) 927-3260, and it said that the 4 and 5 grain is available. Is that an old recording, or could that be a possibility at some pharmacy here or there? Granted, Forest states that the problem of backorders has been found in the “complicated steps in the supply line”, and “one factor is the supplier”.  But if the 4 or 5 grain tablet is available, is something getting through here or there?

Then comes an email from a gal stating she was told by her large national pharmacy that Armour would be in stock by the middle of October.  That is similar to a comment on another blog post below.

Also, American Laboratories, the producer and supplier of desiccated powder, has always stated that they continue to make it–just not enough to meet the demands of larger pharmaceuticals all at once. i.e. perhaps some is getting through.

Little positive rain drops of clues? Maybe. I’m not sure what the near future holds. And there are unanswered questions, such as will Armour still be ineffective for so many in its reformulated state?  In what way, and when, will the FDA follow through on the 1960’s Drug Efficacy Study Implementation (DESI) to prove that desiccated thyroid is safe and effective (which still makes most of us want to ask  “Aren’t 110 years enough evidence?”)

In the meantime, there are options you can use for good thyroid treatment here. Just work with a good doctor if you use any of these options. But a caveat–a few Canadian pharmacies have doubled their prices!! Ouch. I find that very nasty and unethical. So check their prices on the website as compared to what was listed on this page. And GOOD NEWS: a German pharmacy will ship out its own brand of desiccated thyroid.  See it on the Options page.

There continues to be good feedback from patients that most compounding pharmacies have plenty of desiccated thyroid powder in stock.  The above link gives information on how to find a compounding pharmacy. I have used one before that mailed my order to me after my doc faxed the prescription.

Join the Thyroid Patient Community Call on Talk Shoe this Friday.

*Want to be infor­med of these fringe website blog posts? Curious what’s on peon Janie’s mind? Just use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the left below the links.

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