adrenal fatigue tags

Just when you think we’re full of great information for better thyroid care, there’s still more to learn and find out.  Below is information that you might find interesting on STTM.

ADRENALS: For those who discovered via the 24 adrenal saliva test that they needed cortisol support, we have come to realize that some can’t do the ramping up schedule from a small amount to a larger amount without having problems from the feedback loop.

Instead, many simply need to “start” on the higher amount, which would range from 20-30 mg. You can read about that on the How to Treat page, and you’ll note that not one morning amount goes higher than 10 mgs.  With the exception of men, higher than 10 mg seems to suppress the ACTH and adrenals too much.

A NEW LOOK: To make the STTM home page more understandable to newcomers, the home page has broken down the information better into separate pages, and also has a new interesting way of using it.

LISTEN TO THIS INFORMATION: STTM has short audio clips you can listen to, or send someone else to, to help understand what this is all about.

STORIES OF OTHERS: Individual real-life stories continue to come in, proving over and over that this revolution for far better care really does work.

FEEDBACK and MORE FEEDBACK: I get emails daily about lives changed thanks to this patient revolution. It’s wonderful to see people finding out WHY they have depression, less stamina than others, rising cholesterol and blood pressure, hair loss plus other lingering symptoms of  hypothyroidism left untreated because of the lousy TSH, or undertreated because of the equally-lousy T4-only treatment like Synthroid. I can’t begin to post them all, but STTM does contain a sampling of this feedback.

DESICCATED THYROID BRANDS: Wow, the list is growing for desiccated thyroid brands around the world! We now have listings for Denmark, Germany, Italy and New Zealand, as well as more detailed information on compounded thyroid in Australia. Thanks to all who contributed.

KEEPING UP WITH ADDITIONS TO STTM: In case you didn’t know, there’s a page meant to inform you of what’s added to STTM. I may neglect to list a few additions occasionally, but think I’m pretty close to getting most of them up there.

MEDICAL RESEARCH TO PROVE WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW: Did you know that STTM has a page which compiles research and studies which prove what we as patients already know? It’s not loaded with research yet, but it’s growing. And if you have found more to contribute to that page, use the Contact Me form.

SITE MAP: And bottom line, you can always go to the Site Map, or review the information more compactly in the book, which patients are taking into their doctors offices.

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*Stop the Thyroid Madness T-shirts are now 50% off! I like sales, don’t you? And by wearing these shirts, you’ll never know what seed you put in the mind of someone walking past you who’s still on Synthroid or any other T4 meds, and doesn’t know WHY they have depression, rising cholesterol, easy weight gain, the need for naps, etc. You”ll also find humorous bumper stickers which definitely spread the word.

Louis Neipris, M.D., a staff writer who has written many fine articles for myOptumHealth.com, recently wrote one article titled Adrenal Fatigue: Is it for real? It appeared on Upper Michigan News, TV 6 website on July 16th and is making the rounds on other sites. His answer to his own question?  “Not really”. He adds  “it’s not an accepted medical diagnosis.”

Oops.

Dr. Neipris, thyroid patients all over the world beg to differ, as do a growing body of colleagues in your profession. Adrenal fatigue, aka low cortisol, has been discovered on the back of a huge body of thyroid patients, wearing them down with  irritability, anxiety, shakiness, feeling dizzy or lightheadedness, sleep issues, sweating, salt craving, nausea in the face of stress, and a host of other symptoms unique to each individual with adrenal fatigue. My personal observation, as a thyroid patient activist, is that up to 50% of millions of thyroid patients all over the world, may have adrenal fatigue, or at the very least, a sluggish feedback loop.

Even worse, the widespread occurrence of adrenal fatigue, especially in thyroid patients, has caused problems when they try raising a far superior thyroid medication called desiccated thyroid. Because cortisol is needed to facilitate the move of thyroid hormones from the blood to the cells, the direct T3 in desiccated thyroid pools in the blood, causing low-cortisol-induced hyper symptoms like a pounding heartrate and irritability. The first-pass treatment then has to start with hydrocortisone like prescription Cortef from their doctors.

Why have such a large body of thyroid patients found themselves with adrenal fatigue and its low cortisol? It’s clear. The TSH lab test sucks, giving one a “normal” reading for years in spite of obvious clinical presentation of hypothyroid symptoms, and pushing one’s adrenals into overdrive with high cortisol and adrenaline to keep the patient going, and ultimately leading to adrenal fatigue.  On page 65 of the Stop the Thyroid Madness book, you’ll read about a 44 year old woman who went 15 years with a “normal” TSH result, in spite of obvious clinical presentation of hypothyroidism, and which led to her own low cortisol. This is not uncommon.

Second, the risk of adrenal fatigue is high due to the inadequate treatment of T4 medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, Eltroxin and other T4-only meds. They all leave patients with their own brand and intensity of lingering symptoms of a poor treatment, forcing the adrenals to kick in too long for many.

Even William Mck. Jeffries MD., who wrote the medical classic Safe Uses of Cortisol around 1984, understood the preponderance of adrenal fatigue even without the diagnosis of Addison’s, and the need for physiologic doses of cortisol treatment, or the amount needed by each individual.  And he would certainly be amazed by the explosion of adrenal fatigue that has occurred since then in thyroid patients thanks to the lousy TSH and synthetic T4-only ‘affaire de coeur’ with doctors.

Adrenal fatigue may not be an “accepted diagnosis” by many.  But medical professionals and doctors who think it’s not real or an acceptable diagnosis will have to face a huge body of patients globally who DO have real live adrenal fatigue. And adrenally-fatigued patients can get realllllly hostile and angry because of low cortisol, and be very impatient when you deny their reality.  (You’re going to see a lot of comments to this post which I highly suggest reading.)

P.S. Even desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid and the pre-reformulated Armour are not considered to be the standard of practice for treating hypothyroidism, yet thyroid patients all over the world are having lives CHANGED thanks to it.

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***Read below why thyroid patients are not happy with Armour and switching to brand names like Naturethroid.

As the “newly” formulated Armour desiccated thyroid pills, made by Forest Pharmaceuticals/Laboratories, have been hitting the market, so are comments coming out from some thyroid patients…and they are not in the least complimentary.

The reason that Armour had been favored by so many thyroid patients among all the desiccated thyroid brands is the ability to take it sublingually.  Sure, Armour was never officially made to be taken sublingually, but it worked.

Sublingual refers to the administration of a medication via the millions of tiny capillaries that line your mouth and mucous membrane. The pill was placed under the tongue and allowed to dissolve–most of it entering the body directly via your sublingual glands, and only a small amount swallowed.

Some patients who switched from swallowing to sublingual noticed the difference, too.

But the beauty of sublingual has gone even farther than noticing anything different. First, it was always a known “baddy” to swallow any pills that might contain iron, estrogen or calcium at the same time we swallowed Armour or any other desiccated thyroid brand. Why? All three interfere with and bind a certain percentage of the thyroid hormones in our stomachs.  We were forced to take any of those hours apart from swallowing our pill. So doing the Armour sublingually allowed us to swallow the above pills, or drink milk, or eat high iron foods, at our own timing and not hours away.

Second, the old formula was usually gone in our mouths within 30 minutes give or take. Now, patients who take their newly formulated pills sublingually (which now has less dextrose and more cellulose) despise the “chalky, pasty, gritty residue” left in one’s mouth.  It also results in Armour taking far too long to be properly absorbed.

Third, those with adrenal fatigue can find themselves waking up with nausea due to the morning low cortisol. And being able to take Armour sublingually bypassed the need to swallow a liquid to take a pill and promote more nausea.

Fourth, those with Celiac disease, and even those with standard low thyroid digestive issues, found sublingual administration to help their absorption of what desiccated thyroid offers, which they didn’t get well if they swallowed the pill.

All in all, the buzz around patient groups or on comments here  about the newly formulated Armour is not complimentary.  It doesn’t work well sublingually. It’s too chalky. It leaves a gritty paste in your mouth.  And patients are highly disappointed.  Let’s hope that one of the pharmaceuticals takes the ball and runs to create a sublingual desiccated thyroid.

What is your experience with the new formulation? Are you still trying to do it sublingually?  Have you found doing Naturethroid sublingually works? Are you switching to Naturethroid or Westhroid out of principal, as many are stating they are doing? Use the comment section and let’s talk.

*Express your opinion to Forest here: 1-800-678-1605, ext. 66297.

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Michelle, 40-or-50-something, came over to my house today to go over some paperwork. I hadn’t taken my Armour yet, and I said “Excuse me, I need to pop my thyroid meds under my tongue.”

“Oh, I take thyroid meds, too.  Synthroid” she explained as she was writing on the papers with her pencil.

Now when I hear something like that, being who I am, I’m like a bear in a china cabinet who suddenly smells honey.  So as not to overwhelm,  I casually say “Oh, I used be on Synthroid.” And after a long pause while we are going over the paperwork, I say “Did you know there’s a worldwide patient revolution going on against medications like Synthroid?”

At the point, she raises her head in curiosity.

I then stick my paw in the honey: “You and I and millions have been put on meds like Synthroid and then told we are “normal” because the TSH says so. But all of us have continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism.  It’s a lousy medication. “

And when I laid out what those continuing symptoms were, her eyes got as big as saucers and she was shaking her head up and down in recognition. “Depression, rising cholesterol and blood pressure, easy weight gain, fatigue, less stamina than others, dry hair and skin, feeling cold, etc”, I told her.

And the most profound aspect of Michelle? She lives her life like the Energizer Bunny, going and going and going. She told me she often doesn’t get home until 6 pm doing her job, and she clearly has a lot of professional responsibilities.

But does an active Michelle mean that Synthroid works and is just as good a thyroid treatment as desiccated thyroid? You know the answer. She revealed that she’s quite tired when she comes home, wishes she had more energy, and still has issues with her weight, even though she lost some when she got on Synthroid.

And reading between the lines, it was clear that Michelle is probably on an anti-depressant, a statin, and a blood pressure medication.  And…she clearly has an adrenal problem that’s only going to get worse. She has a terrible time falling asleep at night (high cortisol), and is very sensitive to light and noise (high or low cortisol).

Suddenly it dawned on me. I am sitting across hundreds of millions of women, and some men. I am listening to how millions live their lives–making a living, maintaining a home, loving their spouses and children, interacting with people.  But underneath it all, it’s not a pretty picture. They cope, and they cope again.  And they dish out their money for more medications to treat the very symptoms caused by an inferior medication. And as they age, they’ll pay each of their millions of prices, just as my mother did, and as I was headed.  Energizer bunnies with faulty batteries.

P.S. Barack Obama has a health care reform plan. Will it change the lives of those 50 million with thyroid disease in the US, or will it only continue this T4-only travesty and health care scandal?  Are we headed in the same insane direction as the UK when it comes to T4-only?  Express your opinion.

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Today I baked a chocolate cake for my son’s birthday. It was excellent. Why? Because it was the result of several important ingredients. Leaving any of them out would have resulted in a cake less than great.

And your health and feel-goods as a thyroid/adrenal patient, including your ability to successfully get off HC,  is like my son’s cake: a combination of ingredients that you have to get right. Below are ten “ingredients” to investigate and find out which may not be right in you for good health and feel-goods.

1) The right amount of cortisol: Too little cortisol or too much cortisol has its consequences. Too little results in thyroid hormone still pooling, continued hypo symptoms, plus hyper in some. Too much can mean easy bruising, rising blood pressure, fluid retention, a round face, etc.  And both can increase anxiety, feeling poorly, etc.  Watch for symptoms and compare your daily averaged temperatures. Also, have you checked your aldosterone?

2) The right amount of desiccated thyroid: I have a friend who was stuck on 3 grains Armour out of habit. But she continued to have hypothyroid symptoms out of habit. I finally convinced her to talk to her doctor. Labs showed her free T3 was just a few points over mid-range, and having a free T3 towards the top seems to work better for most. So she did raise, and it finally did the trick.

3) Optimal B12 levels: Since hypothyroid patients can have digestive/absorption issues, B12 levels can be lower than optimal. Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, feeling faint, breathless, bruising, heart palps or others. Don’t take a chance. Get a B12 test. You want the result to be at the top of the range.

4) Plenty of Ferritin (storage iron): Low ferritin means you have no iron in storage to draw upon. And it also means you are probably anemic.  Additionally, low ferritin adversely affects the conversion of T4 to T3. Symptoms include fatigue, depression, weakness, achiness, breathlessness or others.  Have a ferritin test.  Optimal is 70-90.

5) Good digestion: Hypothyroid patients can have low hydrochloric (HCL) stomach acid levels. That not only contributes to acid reflux because of the overgrowth of bad bacteria, it means you don’t absorb nutrients well (including low B12 mentioned above). As a result, it’s crucial to give that acid back to yourself.  A tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar mixed in water and taken twice day helps many. Or try taking Betaine, which is HCL in pill form, or any other quality HCL or digestive product.

6) Recognition and treatment of Gluten intolerance: Some thyroid patients lack a particular digestive enzyme, intestinal glutaminase, that helps digest gluten in various food products. As a result, they don’t absorb nutrients well. Symptoms include bloating & gas, aches, stiffness, fatigue, burning or numbness in arms or legs, rashs or hives, worsened allergies & others. Your chance of have a gluten problem is higher if you have Hashimotos disease. If you suspect a possible problem, eliminate all gluten from your diet. Also consider having your doctor run a Celiac antibodies blood test.

7) Controlled EBV: At least 90% of adults have the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) sitting dormant in their bodies. EBV is what causes mononucleosis, but you don’t have to have had mono to carry the virus.  Because hypothyroidism lowers your immune system, it’s not uncommon for thyroid patients to have activated EBV. I did, and my symptoms included extreme easy fatigue, ringing in my ears, achiness and some swelling of my lymph glands. Some may have a sore throat return and other symptoms.  Ask your doctor to test EBV. You’ll then need to ask about treatment options, which include beefing up your immune system.

8 ) Sex hormone balance: When your thyroid or adrenals get out of balance, your sex hormones can follow suit, from estrogen dominance to low testosterone.  When estrogen dominance occurs, you can feel depression, fatigue, and sore breasts.  Low testosterone can equal lower energy and mood. Ask your doctor to test all your sex hormones.

9) Taking plenty of supplements: There are a variety of good supplements everyone with thyroid or adrenal issues should take for good health. They include high potency B-vitamins, Vit. C (1000-3000 mg. or to tolerance), Selenium (around 200 mcg), minerals including magnesium, probiotics, Vitamin D (1000 iu), iodine, and others.  In addition to these, I also take CoQ10 (for heart and blood pressure health), and my favorite: a green powder which I stir in my orange juice.

10) Exercise: If you are a couch potato, you’re going to feel like one. Instead, do what it takes to get moving, which promotes all sorts of good health. If you have adrenal fatigue, keep it very light and easy.  If you just have hypothyroidism, get out and walk.

P.S. My chocolate cake: I think cake mixes are just as good as homemade. I use Devils Food Cake. But the icing is ALWAYS homemade: cream one stick butter, add about 4 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 cup cocoa, then cream or half-n-half.  Shake some sea salt in. Add two tsp. vanilla.  Beat, beat.  Taste. Modify as needed. YUM.