Rotten Tomatoes!

Have you ever read nega­tive com­ments about STTM, whether the book or web­site, such as it has dan­ge­rous advice here or there, is too narrowly focu­sed, is writ­ten by a nutty person…or any other varie­ties of angst, ire, and quib­bling? They aren’t com­mon, but here are a few rot­ten toma­toes that have been reported…and our happy reply:

1) STTM is a “desic­ca­ted thyroid-only” site — narrowly focu­sed. Yup. You got it exactly right! We are pur­po­sely and posi­ti­vely narrowly focu­sed. We are focu­sed on the fact that nearly all thy­roid patients have lin­ge­ring symp­toms due to a the ina­de­quate treat­ment with T4-only meds, and the use of the faulty TSH and it’s lousy range. Yes, some of those lin­ge­ring symp­toms may be mil­der than others, and some patients do bet­ter on T4 than others. But I have yet to meet anyone with true hypo who didn’t have some symp­toms rela­ted to a poor treat­ment medi­ca­tion with a poor lab.

Addi­tio­nally, we are narrowly focu­sed on the fact that desic­ca­ted thy­roid was wor­king suc­cess­fully before the T4-only meds were thrust on the public in the 1960’s, and is still is chan­ging lives for those who have switched to it. It works, and patient expe­rience glo­bally is pro­ving it!

2) Some infor­ma­tion on STTM is dan­ge­rous and scary. I couldn’t agree more! Some infor­ma­tion on STTM could be dangerous.…IF you take it out of con­text and IF you don’t use a good doc­tor to help along the way.  But that’s why you will see ALL OVER the web­site and the STTM book to do what it takes to find a good doc­tor to work with.

Addi­tio­nally, this web­site is a com­pi­led patient-to-patient infor­ma­tio­nal web­site, based on the expe­rience of a large and gro­wing body of patients who have switched to desic­ca­ted thy­roid, and/or have dis­co­ve­red other issues rela­ted to their hypothy­roid and are trea­ting those. The infor­ma­tion is based on that repea­ted expe­rience, not on pie-in-the-sky theory or someone simply nee­ding to sound “infor­med.” This is pro­vi­ded for your edu­ca­tion and eva­lua­tion, and is meant to bene­fit your team rela­tionship with a good doc­tor, not to replace that team rela­tionship. To find a good doc to have a team rela­tionship with, go here.

3) The infor­ma­tion on STTM is not based on solid cli­ni­cal research and scien­ti­fic study. That’s abso­lu­tely correct. It’s not. And that’s because solid cli­ni­cal research on what we have found out is not out there yet, except to a small degree, and defi­ni­tely wasn’t tal­ked about if it was.  Patients were for­ced to figure a lot of the infor­ma­tion themselves…because doc­tors have not been listening…and we sta­yed sick.

What the infor­ma­tion on STTM is based on is a large and gro­wing body of patients who got sick-and-tired of fee­ling sick-and-tired, and who switched to desic­ca­ted thy­roid and LIVED again! It’s based on patient expe­rience that the TSH lab range did NOT con­form to how we felt. It’s based on patient expe­rience that a large per­cen­tage of patients see­med to have another pro­blem — adre­nal fati­gue, which needs treat­ment. It’s based on their expe­rience with other issues that came along with their hypo and/or adre­nal fati­gue, such as low ferri­tin, low B-12, autoim­mune diseases..and so forth. STTM is based on things we have lear­ned and how are lives are MUCH improved.

When the day comes that the medi­cal esta­blish­ment learns to LISTEN to cli­ni­cal pre­sen­ta­tion sit­ting right there in their offi­ces, we will REJOICE!!

4) STTM is a self-treatment site. To the con­trary, STTM is a patient-to-patient infor­ma­tion site with the pur­pose of giving you solid patient-experience infor­ma­tion which you need to take to your doctor’s office for far bet­ter treat­ment.  Because doc­tors are not going to change their love-affair with T4 meds like Synth­roid, Levoxyl, levothy­ro­xine, Eltro­xin, or their worship of the TSH test, unless you the patient bring far bet­ter infor­ma­tion into their offi­ces, one-by-one.  All we can do is con­ti­nually encou­rage anyone to do what it takes to find a good doc­tor, whom you can then take the info on STTM or the book to your appoint­ment and make your rela­tionship with your doc­tor a TEAM — your know­ledge, your body, and what your doc­tor can con­tri­bute based on his knowledge.

5) STTM and Janie want to ban T4 medi­ca­tions: Abso­lu­tely not (and as if I have that power. lol)  There is a place for T4. The elderly may just need T4-only, espe­cially if there are serious heart issues which could make the intro­duc­tion of direct T3 a risk.  It can also be a choice for vegans/vegetarians who just can’t fathom taking por­cine and want synthe­tic T4 and Synthe­tic T3.  There may be more rea­sons to have T4.  But STTM will still hold to the facts that desic­ca­ted thy­roid gives far bet­ter results, espe­cially when you address any rea­sons that desic­ca­ted thy­roid didn’t seem to work for you: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/mistakes-patients-make

6) STTM looks non-professional: That could be.  Janie is neither a web­site desig­ner or a medi­cal pro­fes­sio­nal, and her web-designing son cons­tantly prods her to clean up all those empha­sis words that she puts in all-caps.   lol.  But none of that chan­ges the fact that the patient-to-patient infor­ma­tion pre­sen­ted on STTM is cons­tantly chan­ging lives.

7) STTM is a “fringe” web­site: That may defi­ni­tely be the obser­va­tion of doc­tors who hold firm to the TSH lab test and T4 meds, or a patient who wants to follow the crowd. But patients all over the world would cha­llenge anyone to call treat­ment with desic­ca­ted thy­roid a ‘fringe’ treat­ment, which is what STTM is about. 

Postsc­ript: what may be the most accu­rate about STTM is that there is more good infor­ma­tion to come! There is always valua­ble and cutting-edge insight out there which patients are lear­ning in order to best treat our hypothy­roid, our adre­nal fati­gue, and other rela­ted con­di­tions. And as we hear them, we’ll add them.