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.

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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!

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!

But the real cuckoo’s nest for many thyroid patients, who knew firsthand the life-changing benefits of natural desiccated thyroid, was a maddening return of serious hypo symptoms on the new Armour and subsequent new stress on their adrenals, sooner…or later! You can read several horror stories in the comments of the post below, or go here.

So patients turned to other alternatives: Naturethroid and Westhroid by RLC Labs…then when the desiccated thyroid shortages hit in the Fall of 2009, Erfa’s Thyroid, Compounded desiccated thyroid, and others. And there have been problems for some patients on most everything they switched to.  The LEAST problematic has been Erfa’s Thyroid, and the most problematic was Compounded.

So what has been the common thread in the most problematic desiccated thyroid products? CELLULOSE, a plant fiber, and more commonly known by the trade name Avicel. And what does fiber do in your stomach? Inhibits absorption. Armour’s cellulose was raised, and bamm…problems.  Compounded desiccated thyroid, with cellulose as a filler, has been problematic for many patients with a return of hypo symptoms,  especially if  it was Methyl Cellulose, a larger particle size product. But some have even had problems with compounded containing Microcrystalline Cellulose, the smaller cellular product. And a certain body of patients even had problems with Naturethroid before it became scarce. And Naturethroid uses cellulose as a filler.

Is this problem true with T3-only products? Yup. Patients have noted that generic T3 is far less effective than the brand name Cytomel (both Liothyronine Sodium)  And what filler it up to 70% in the generic T3?  CELLULOSE.  See the percentages here for Paddock’s generic T3.

Why have less problems been reported with Erfa’s Thyroid? Perhaps because it has no cellulose as a filler! See this list of ingredients, which STTM has been working on lovingly for a few years.

What does literature say about the use of Cellulose as a filler in medications? Plenty. Cellulose is from wood. Wood is fiber. And fiber in your gut affects absorption. From http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/fiber-000303.htm we get this:

* Dietary fiber has been reported to lower the blood levels and effectiveness of tricyclic antidepressant medications…Reduced dietary fiber intake increased the blood levels and improved symptoms in these patients.

* While fiber supplements may help to regulate blood sugar levels, they may also interfere with the absorption of anti-diabetic medications….Therefore, fiber supplements should not be taken at the same time as these medications.

* Taking soluble fiber such as psyllium with carbamazepine (Tegretol), a medication used to treat seizure disorders, may decrease the absorption and effectiveness of carbamazepine.

* Fiber in the form of pectin (from fruit) and oat bran reportedly reduces the body’s ability to absorb cholesterol-lowering medications known as “statins,”… and could lead to decreased effectiveness of these medications.

* Fiber supplements may reduce the body’s ability to absorb digoxin (Lanoxin), a medication used to regulate heart function.

* Clinical reports suggest that psyllium or other soluble fibers may lower lithium levels in the blood, reducing the effectiveness of this medication.

* In one clinical study, the fiber supplement guar gum reduced blood levels of penicillin.

Cellulose can clearly be a problem, especially when it’s ratio is too high as compared to the desiccated thyroid. So what can you do?

If you are using a compounded medication, strongly request powdered acidophiles as your filler.  One gal states her compounding pharmacy uses powdered Ginger (but beware of too much Ginger if you have Mitral Valve Prolapse. It can cause palps if you take too much–my experience).  See what other fillers your compounder can offer.

Another possibility is Cellulase, an enzyme which helps the splitting and breakdown of cellulose, and which was proposed to me by Naturopathic student Stephanie Buist. Google “cellulase” and find supplements that contain it.  If it looks promising to you, I’ll be curious to read your experience with swallowing a cellulase supplement, then swallowing your problematic desiccated thyroid.

And leaning towards Erfa’s Thyroid can be a plus.

Have other ideas or comments about Cellulose in our desiccated thyroid? Use the COMMENT function below and let’s talk!

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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.

(This post garnered a lot of attention, up to FIFTY comments just a few hours after it went up. People are very interested in sharing their experiences in coping with the shortages! See below and add your own.)

This year will go down in history as shockingly miserable for enlightened thyroid patients on natural desiccated thyroid.

First came a reformulation in the most popular brand–Armour by Forest Labs. Patients worldwide in groups and forums reported a serious return of their hypothyroid symptoms on this product. A huge disappointment.

Second came the production shutdown of the two generic makers of desiccated thyroid: Time Caps Labs and Major Pharmaceuticals. It’s the first step in the FDA’s compliance plan to corral all grandfathered-in drugs (drugs already in existence when the the FDA was created in 1938) and make them each prove the efficacy and safety of their medication via very expensive clinical trials.  i.e. over 110 years of safe and effective use of desiccated thyroid is not enough for the FDA?? We are still waiting to see the outcome of that plan with RLC  and Forest Labs.–the two who were actually in existence before 1938.

Third came demand being greater than supply and shortages. Because of informative patient websites like Stop the Thyroid Madness,  Sheila’s TPA-UK, Lyn’s ThyroidUK, Stephanie’s Natural Thyroid Choices, some areas of about.com (and other good websites I don’t mean to miss here), plus many fine patient forums and groups,  patients found out why they had continuing symptoms on T4 thyroxine, and demand for natural desiccated thyroid grew exponentially.

STTM then created a list of options for all thyroid patients until the shortages resolved themselves, and also created CDT (Coalition for Desiccated Thyroid) where patients could discuss alternatives in a supportive and factual atmosphere.

And we’ve seen some interesting experiences and comments:

The new Armour: One grain tabs started to appear on some pharmacy shelves the past month.  Other pharmacies have still been waiting.  Many patients appear to have switched to other alternatives, though. One gal still on it feels she is finding success by adding T3 to the amount of new Armour she is on.  Time will tell if patients can ever find success with the newly formulated Armour, and most feel it’s a huge loss.

Naturethroid and Westhroid: Patients reporting on their switch to either of RLC Lab’s two identical products report doing well, having to raise it slightly or lower it slightly, or just not liking them at all. Others have had a hard time finding it on their pharmacy shelves, but have been seeing some appear in the last few weeks.

Erfa’s Thyroid from Canada: When it became clear that the FDA was allowing this excellent product to be shipped to patients, many switched and had their prescriptions faxed to a Canadian pharmacy. Prices at many of those pharmacy websites were doubled after prescriptions started to come in from the US. Most patient who stuck with it seem to love it, reporting you can do it sublingually, as well. A few haven’t been impressed, but were finding their former success by raising it.

Compounded desiccated thyroid: In spite of being a more expensive option, some patients found success with this. Others learned they preferred the filler to be Acidophiles.  If not the latter, Microcrystalline Cellulose was preferred over Methyl Cellulose–the latter which appeared to lessen the effectiveness of the compounded thyroid.

Synthetic T4 and Synthetic T3: some patients switched back to the synthetic combination, but many report that it hasn’t been as effective as desiccated thyroid was.

Other options: Patients moved to OTC products like Nutri-Meds, etc, which can be much weaker. Others sought desiccated thyroid from other countries and have found success.

So I’d like to hear from all of you.   Did you go back to synthetic T4?  What desiccated thyroid did you switch to? What worked and why? What didn’t work for you and why?  What product do you hope to switch to once you run out of your current meds?

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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.

But you gotta wonder if they will be wearing noise reduction headsets and ear plugs…or not…when it comes to the scandal of synthetic T4-only medications.  Will they?

Just today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the Safe Use Initiative, “a program aimed at reducing the likelihood of preventable harm from medication use”.

Statements I gleaned from this initiative include:

1. Today, tens of millions of people in the United States depend on prescription and over‐the‐counter (OTC) medications to sustain their health—as many as 3 billion prescriptions are written annually. Too many people, however, suffer unnecessary injuries, even death, as a result of preventable medication errors or misuse.

2. Although FDA and many other stakeholders have been working to improve how the healthcare system manages medication risks in the United States, it is widely recognized that more needs to be done to protect the public from preventable harm from medication use.

3. Medications offer great benefit, but they come with risks. Whenever medications are not used optimally, risks of harm can increase significantly.

4. FDA proposes to identify, using a transparent and collaborative process, specific candidate cases (e.g., drugs, drug classes, and/or therapeutic situations) that are associated with significant amounts of preventable harm.

This initiative is actually far broader than what I gleaned above, and also involves self-abuse, exposure of dangerous medications to children, dire side effects, and more. Five areas are also specifically targeted:  Consumer medication information (CMI), Medication dosing devices, Acetaminophen toxicity, Alcohol-based surgical preps, and Medications in vials. You can read more in the fact sheet.

But if the FDA is going to do their job with this initiative, or do their job overall, you have to wonder if they will listen to and include the problems associated with being treated with a T4-only medication as experienced by millions of patients worldwide. Continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism while on this inadequate treatment is widespread and damaging for many, causing hands reaching deep in pockets to pay for numerous doctors appointments, besides antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, blood pressure meds, statins, cortisol meds for adrenal fatigue, and other medications which we would have never needed, and would have been preventable, if we had been on natural desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid or Westhroid in the first place.

Many patients on thyroxine, T4-only medications will also report actual hospital visits due to the side effects of a poor treatment.

In other words, thyroxine aka levothyroxine aka T4 treatment has been an unsafe and harmful treatment, causing millions to suffer unnecessary injuries and side effects for over 50 years of its useless and popular use.  It fits the Safe Use Initiative. Or at the very least, it calls for the FDA to listen to patient experience with this lousy choice to treat hypothyroidism.

Listen to us, FDA. Listen and be wise.

P.S. See the blog post below about a genetic reason why so many do lousy on T4.

*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 due to demand being grea­ter than supply? Go here.

This is the same article referred to by Endocrinologist Dr. Gary Pepper on the last Thyroid Patient Community Call on Talkshoe.

Basically, the article states that a genetic variation in the enzyme that converts T4 to T3, deiodinase D2 (also called Type 2 Deiodinase, or 5′-Deiodinase), may be responsible for why so many thyroid patients don’t do well on Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, etc, and in turn, do so much better on natural desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, Erfa’s Thyroid, or the combined synthetic T4 and synthetic T3 (Cytomel).

In other words, where some may have a strongly functioning deiodinase D2 enzyme which converts T4 to the active T3 well, others may have a modified deiodinase D2 enzyme, causing less optimal conversion.

In the Editorial, the two Endos Kim and Bianco explain the reality of “polymorphism”–a condition in nature in which changes or variations occur, and in one patient from another, a change in the DNA.  As related to conversion of T4 to T3,  some thyroid patients have a less effective deiodinase D2 enzyme in the conversion of T4 to T3.  Specifically, there is a common variant of the gene, threonine (Thr) 92 alanine (Ala), and it results in decreased D2 enzymatic activity.

The study proposes that this alteration from polymorphism occurs in 16% of those studied, and concludes that the majority don’t have this problem, and thus, “most do fine on T4-only medications”. But 16% do have this problem and need the combined therapy of T4 with T3.

Bristol was also mentioning this reality in 2004 here, even if they thought it was as low as 5%.

As Dr. Pepper hinted, this study could do wonders to open the eyes of Endocrinologists about the use of desiccated thyroid, or at the very least, about combined hypothyroid treatment with synthetic T3 added to synthetic T4.  And I’m glad for that when so many patients have found Endocrinologists to be narrow-mindedly stuck on Synthroid or other T4-only thyroxine products.

Of course, informed thyroid patients know this is only a baby step in the right direction, even if a good one! So we’ll rejoice for this study, and watch for more progress from the medical community and Endocrinology in general. For example, saying that “most do fine on T4″ simply because they have may a non-variation might be proven wrong as physicians take the time to really look at those “fine” patients, especially as they age and symptoms of an inferior treatment do pop up. And though the combination of synthetic T3 with synthetic T4 definitely gives better results, thyroid patients who then moved to desiccated thyroid with it’s T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin report even better results and clinical presentation!  We’ve also learned that the TSH lab test absolutely sucks when it comes to diagnosis and treatment.  Read TSH Why It’s Useless, or see even more detail in Chapter Four of the STTM book, titled Thyroid Stimulating Hooey.

And finally: do thyroid patients really believe that problems with T4-only treatment is simply due to a genetic abnormality or variation? Maybe. But isn’t it funny that a healthy human thyroid does NOT depend solely on conversion, but also gives direct T3. hmmmmmm

P.S.  Patients also know that the use of the supplement Selenium helps with conversion, by the way, but has never stopped our first-hand knowledge that desiccated thyroid rocks!

*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 due to demand being grea­ter than supply? Go here.

I once cracked open an egg to find it had TWO shells.  And that oddity is equivalent to finding an Endocrinologist who supports the use of natural desiccated thyroid. 

Voila!! ~~ you can listen and talk to an Endo who does just that on this Thursday evening’s popular THYROID PATIENT COMMUNITY CALL on TalkShoe.

His name is Dr. Gary Pepper, Board Certified by the American Boards of Internal Medicine, and Endocrinology and Metabolism and editor-in-chief of metabolism.com.  Besides serving many years in distinguished leadership positions, he was selected as one of the top 100 physicians in New York City by New York Magazine and is also a featured expert with CNBC and ivillage on topics of diabetes and endocrinology. He states:  Almost daily I reread the words of Sir William Osler: “It’s often more important to know what sort of person this disease has than to know what disease the person has.”

i.e. this is one of a rare but growing breed of doctors who supports what we as thyroid patients already know–that desiccated thyroid is a five-star hypothyroid treatment and T4-only is about as effective as a doughnut diet for most. And lo and behold,  Dr. Pepper is an Endocrinologist! Of course, I can give no guarantees how he is as a doctor in his own office, but I do appreciate his understanding that T4-only treatment may not be the best way to treat hypo.

Join us this Thursday evening, 6 pm Pacific, 7 pm Mountain, 8 pm Central and 9 pm Eastern by clicking on the first link above titled Thyroid Patient Community Call.  When on that page, you’ll also see the exact day and time left before the call. You’ll be able to listen to the call right on your computer, or you can dial in and listen on your phone. There is also an option to talk one-on-one live with Dr. Pepper and Janie.

And remember: neither I or Dr. Pepper can offer personal medical advice or provide individual specific counseling. Those are between you and your personal physician.

***P.S.  PharmaTimes this month reported that this quarter’s sales of  Synthroid (levothyroxine) were up 3.7% to $134 million by Abbott Labs. Sad for most of those patients. If you know of someone who has been put on a T4 med, send them here: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/t4-only-meds-dont-work or to the audio page here: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/audio-shorts (third one down).

*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 due to demand being grea­ter than supply? Go here.

On the heels of an excellent Thyroid Patient STTM Community Call on iodine with guest Stephanie Buist (see below), it was just announced by the Food Standards Authority of Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) that Australia will add the micronutrient iodine to bread. New Zealand already started that practice in September of last year.

The announcement mentions the importance of iodine to thyroid functioning, as well as for infant brain and nervous system, both during and after pregnancy.  For the latter, it states “Not having enough iodine during pregnancy and early childhood can cause developmental delay and lead to reductions in mental performance. This damage prior to 2-3 years of age is irreversible.”

Apparently, the  soils of Australia and New Zealand are not too prolific in iodine, and patient levels have been revealing that fact for decades. But Stephanie Buist, the friendly and knowledgeable owner of the yahoo group Iodine, as well as a thyroid cancer survivor, states that even most US soils are becoming depleted.  It’s not just a problem of the northern US “goiter belt”, Europe or Africa anymore.

The importance of iodine goes even farther than thyroid functioning, pregnancy and infant brain development. It has a key role in breast health, your immune system, bones, estrogen metabolism, lung health, eyes, and cancer prevention. The iodine4health website lists many benefits as well as areas not understood yet.

How much do we need? Experts like Abraham, Flechas and Brownstein will emphatically state that we probably need more than is recommended.  At least 50 mg of iodine may be necessary for awhile to bring your levels back up to healthy amounts, besides stop the the side effects of iodine on hashimotos disease.  i.e. thinking you are getting enough iodine naturally from foods, or even from natural desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, Erfa’s Thyroid, or compounded, may not be so.

How do you find out if you are iodine deficient? Stephanie stated on the Community Call that the majority of folks probably are deficient. But if you want to be sure, you can do the Iodine Loading Test.

What are good iodine supplements? Lugols is an liquid variety, and my husband and I personally use it in our morning juice or Emergen C (my husband uses Emergen C in water since he’s diabetic, and it’s a good way for him to get his Vitamin C).   In pill form is Iodoral, developed by Abraham.  You can google either and find some website sources. Also good to take with iodine supplementation is magnesium, Vitamin C, and selenium, which helps with the detox effects.

You can listen to the recording of Stephanie’s and my conversion on iodine by going to the link below for Episode 5 of the Thyroid Patient STTM Community Call. (Yes, I will correct the skipping you hear in my voice next time.)

Read Diana’s experience with iodine helping her get off desiccated thyroid. Not something we can all do, but it happened to her!

*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 due to demand being greater than supply? Go here.

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.

Erfa, the makers of the Canadian version of natural desiccated thyroid, simply called “Thyroid”, has recently announced that the FDA is not requiring the extensive FDA Form 1572 from US citizens and their doctors when they fill their prescriptions from Erfa directly. i.e. it’s now a lot easier to get your prescription filled directly from them.

http://www.erfa-sa.com/thyroid_usa.htm

And those who have started to use Erfa’s Thyroid report being quite pleased. A cherry on top is that Thyroid has that old sweet taste we used to all like with the old Armour, and it can be done sublingually as well! You can see the ingredients here.

Also, I am continuing to get emails from patients that both Armour and Naturethroid is starting to appear on pharmacy shelves, even if in small quantities.  I’m personally not too excited about Armour reappearing if Forest continues to make the reformulated version. Just too many patients reporting a return of hypo symptoms, even when they raise it, plus new symptoms of undertreatment and/or challenged adrenals thanks to the reformulated version. Sad. Oh how we will all miss the old Armour.

In the meantime, here are options for thyroid treatment we all have until we see a good return of desiccated thyroid, including Naturethroid and Westhroid. They are all far, far better than being on T4 alone like Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, et al. You’ll also note compounded thyroid, which can be a good option, and you can read about on a recent blog post.  Australians happily use compounded in their own country. Any option you and your doctor choose may mean a readjustment by your body, by the way.

Want to talk to other patients on how they are dealing with the shortages? Join the Coalition for Desiccated Thyroid.  Or if you simply need patient feedback about your hypothyroidism, go to the Talk to Others page.  Remember that no patient group is meant to be a substitute for your relationship with your doctor.

**The next Thyroid Patient Community Call will be held Thursday Oct. 8th on TalkShoe, and our topic will be iodine and your thyroid with patient expert Stephanie Buist. Come join us and listen right on your computer, or you can also talk live to Stephanie or Janie with your questions.

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