calcitonin tags

Last May, a very inte­res­ting article appea­red in the May 2009 issue of the Jour­nal of Cli­ni­cal Endoc­ri­no­logy and Meta­bo­lism, tit­led For Some, L-Thyroxine Repla­ce­ment Might Not Be Enough: A Gene­tic Ratio­nale and pre­sen­ted by Endoc­ri­no­lo­gists in Bris­tol in the UK. It’s accom­pa­nied with an edi­to­rial by Endoc­ri­no­lo­gists Brian W. Kim and Anto­nio C. Bianco.

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.

Thy­roid pro­blems have become rampant.

And it’s not just in the US with indi­vi­duals like Oprah, fit­ness guru Jillian Michaels, Sex and the City’s Kim Cat­trall, George and Bar­bara Bush, Kelly Osbourne and others.  A recent article in the Daily Mail-UK high­lights the saga of  Clare Bal­ding, the BBC TV sports pre­sen­ter in the UK whose thy­roid was gladly remo­ved due to a malig­nant tumor.

Even the gal who wrote the well-written article about Clare, Pippa Jolly, reports having gone through the same remo­val 13 years pre­vious due to an extreme case of Hashi­mo­tos and a nodule pres­sing against her trachea.

But within the infor­ma­tive and hope­ful tone of the article are a few Rod­ney Dan­ger­field thuds of the con­ti­nuing SCANDAL and idiocy of a par­ti­cu­lar thy­roid treat­ment which even the most inno­cent of article wri­ters can be fooled.

Thud #1: The very first sen­tence of the article says: Some good news for Clare Bal­ding, the BBC TV sports pre­sen­ter, is that her recent ope­ra­tion to remove her can­ce­rous thy­roid gland — a thy­roi­dec­tomy — should be the end of the matter.

End of the mat­ter? Only if she had been put on desic­ca­ted thy­roid like Natu­reth­roid, et al. Because it appears she’s on the delight­fully enchan­ting synthe­tic “thy­ro­xine”, the dar­ling of most UK doc­tors and which ser­ves to leave almost ever­yone with their own brand and inten­sity of con­ti­nuing hypothy­roid symp­toms.  You can lis­ten to my audio here about T4.

Thud #2: Diag­nos­tic rates are on the inc­rease, says Pro­fes­sor Mon­son, as thy­roid tests are now done rou­ti­nely at GP sur­ge­ries. ‘As a result there is a higher detec­tion rate and the disease can be tac­kled ear­lier and if neces­sary follo­wed up by surgery.

Right. Those inc­rea­sing diag­nos­tic rates, some which are based on the lousy TSH lab test, are ove­rri­dingly catching someone’s hypothy­roid state years after it star­ted, which lea­ves a cer­tain per­cen­tage with the misery of adre­nal insuf­fi­ciency and host of other pro­blems from being undiag­no­sed so long.  And if one is trea­ted after sur­gery based on the same holy TSH, you will only con­ti­nue to have your brand of con­ti­nuing symp­toms. You can lis­ten to my audio on the TSH here.

Thud #3: If the thy­roid is remo­ved or not func­tio­ning pro­perly, thy­ro­xine will need to be taken in drug form for life. 

You and millions of others have been hood­win­ked into thin­king it’s thy­ro­xine you will need the rest of your life, aka Eltro­xine, Synth­roid, or levothy­ro­xine,  et al.  But those T4 meds force you to depend on con­ver­sion alone, a pro­cess not well done in many, and you miss out on what natu­ral desic­ca­ted thy­roid would be giving you as a much wiser treat­ment–exactly what your own thy­roid gives: direct T4, T3, T2, T1 and cal­ci­to­nin. Or even at the VERY least, giving your­self synthe­tic T4 with synthe­tic T3.

Thud #4: Now I have to have my hor­mone levels chec­ked every three months and make sure I take my medi­ca­tion, but other­wise I feel fine. 

I com­ple­tely believe Pippa when she says she feels fine. But I want to warn her:  some CAN feel fine on a T4-only medi­ca­tion, but even­tually and espe­cially as she ages,  she’s going to have to watch out for those pesky little demons of being on an infe­rior, ina­de­quate medi­ca­tion, which can inc­lude rising cho­les­te­rol, chro­nic low-grade depres­sion, rising high blood pres­sure, or a host of other symp­toms which are indi­vi­dual to each per­son on thyroxine.

Here’s hoping Clare and Pippa join the gro­wing body of patients all over the world whose lives are being chan­ged thanks to natu­ral desic­ca­ted thyroid.

*Want to be infor­med of these blog posts? Curious what I’m ran­ting about now? Use the Noti­fi­ca­tions on the lower left of the links. 

With recent news of Oprah’s con­ti­nuous weight gain (currently par­tially due to her fai­lure to pro­perly treat her hypothy­roi­dism and pro­bably Hashi­mo­tos (see post below this), it can make us all shud­der as we deal with the holi­days and all that great food!

I admit it: At Christ­mas­time, I LOVE the easy Gin­ger­bread Boy Coo­kies recipe I used when the boys were little, the Mic­ro­wave Fudge recipe to die for, my world famous Cho­co­late Chip Merin­gue Coo­kies which I color red and green, my mother’s won­der­ful Pra­li­nes which I occa­sio­nally try to make myself,  and Grandma’s Fruit Cake–yeah an actual fruit cake I LOVE, which I order EVERY SINGLE YEAR at this time.

And it’s hard not to gain weight! Is that you, too?? So let’s go over 6 HOLIDAY FACTS about thy­roid treat­ment with desic­ca­ted thyroid:

1) Armour, Natu­rethy­roid, Westh­roid, or any other desic­ca­ted thy­roid medi­ca­tion is not meant to be a Christ­mas weight loss pill. Desic­ca­ted thy­roid medi­ca­tions con­sist of thy­roid hor­mo­nes: T4, T3, T2, T1 and cal­ci­to­nin. They simply give you back what your own thy­roid is not giving you…the same five hor­mo­nes which give you back a stron­ger immune sys­tem, a nor­mal body tem­pe­ra­ture & impro­ved meta­bo­lism, bet­ter energy, healthier hair and skin, less aches & pains, emo­tio­nal hap­pi­ness, bet­ter lipid pro­fi­les like cho­les­te­rol, stron­ger bones…and on and on.  But even with all that bene­fit, and even though it does improve your meta­bo­lism, desic­ca­ted thy­roid is not meant to be a weight loss pill.

2) Armour et. al. can only do its holi­day job if you have strong adre­nals or ade­quate cor­ti­sol treat­ment. Because cor­ti­sol is nee­ded for thy­roid hor­mo­nes to move from your blood to your cells, you can only bene­fit opti­mally from desic­ca­ted thy­roid during the holi­days if you are lucky enough to have strong adre­nals, or if you are giving your­self back the cor­ti­sol you need based on sta­ble temps, blood pres­sure, and remo­val of most low cor­ti­sol symp­toms.  So don’t for­get that cor­ti­sol right now, and defi­ni­tely con­si­der adding a stress dose of cor­ti­sol if things get rough with the in-laws. (See Chap­ter 6 in the STTM book for even more details about sta­ble temps, blood pres­sure, and stress dosing)

3) Don’t drink that Armour down with Egg Nog! Cal­cium is a known bin­der of thy­roid hor­mo­nes in your sto­mach, kee­ping you from bene­fi­ting from some of those health-giving thy­roid hor­mo­nes.  So if you swa­llow your desic­ca­ted thy­roid, get the water.  Or even bet­ter, do it sublin­gually.

4) Don’t expect Armour to keep you from loo­king like Santa Claus: you still gotta exer­cise & watch what you eat! It’s true: the opti­mal use of desic­ca­ted thy­roid does raise your meta­bo­lism and eats those extra calo­ries up like Pac­Man.  But if you’re like me, you can still have a ten­dency to put on those love handle but­ter pounds if you eat your fill of holi­day foods.  ho ho ho. To cur­tail the gain, add exer­cise to your holi­day regime, or inc­rease what you already do. I try to aero­bi­cally walk a LOT during the holi­days. And when I’ve eaten a Christ­mas stoc­king full of goo­dies, my next meal will be nothing but high pro­tein, like  tur­key, chee­ses and nuts. Or, you can also balance your intake by choo­sing one meal a day to be low gly­ce­mic to somewhat balance out the high gly­ce­mics you know you are going to eat later. For exam­ple, I make my break­fasts only eggs and nitrate-free bacon, or plain yogurt with berries, nuts, and Stevia.

5) Buil­ding a holi­day snow­man outside?  Con­si­der an extra 1/4 grain of Armour. It’s a fact that pro­lon­ged expo­sure to cold inc­rea­ses your demand for energy, which in turn can inc­rease your demand for more thy­roid hor­mo­nes. As a result, many patients find that adding an extra 1/4 grain of desic­ca­ted thy­roid to one’s daily amount helps meet the demands of Frosty the Snow­man or that holi­day sprin­kling of lights all over your house in the cold air.  Talk to your doctor.

6) Give a gift of the STTM book to a loved one. There are other good thy­roid books on the mar­ket, but unlike all of them, this is the bible of patient expe­rience on suc­cess­ful thy­roid treat­ment. You’ll find volu­mes of infor­ma­tion that patients all around the world have lear­ned. A true patient-to-patient guide to fee­ling won­der­ful again.  Go here to order.  And the publishing com­pany is exten­ding the time you can order a book to be sent DIRECTLY to your loved one.

Six years ago, when I got invol­ved in thy­roid patient advo­cacy by star­ting the Natu­ral Thy­roid Hor­mone Users group on Yahoo, I did it because I was ama­zed and shoc­ked what switching to desic­ca­ted natu­ral thy­roid did for me! There I was, on the brink of appl­ying for Social Secu­rity Disa­bi­lity after YEARS of misery & lack of ans­wers, and simply chan­ging to a dif­fe­rent thy­roid treat­ment com­ple­tely tur­ned my life around. I owe some of that change on what I found out on Mary Shomon’s Thy­roid group in early 2002.

And it daw­ned on me: if desic­ca­ted thy­roid with its T4, T3, T2, T1 and cal­ci­to­nin did this for ME, what could it do for others?!I  A group was NEEDED with a direct focus on desic­ca­ted natu­ral thyroid.

And over time, as NTH grew and other fine inter­net patient groups evol­ved and grew, other patients were just as ama­zed at what it was doing for them, as well.  This wasn’t coming across at ALL as a treat­ment only for “some”. It was coming across as a treat­ment that might just bene­fit quite a large body on indi­vi­duals! We also lear­ned by the seat of our collec­tive pants about low ferri­tin, low cor­ti­sol, low B-12, Celiac and glu­ten into­le­rance – you name it.

From all the above came the STTM move­ment: a patient-to-patient com­pi­la­tion of all we have lear­ned – and then the book with even more infor­ma­tion.  The STTM move­ment was crea­ted because “inter­net groups” were NOT enough to get the word out about the effi­cacy of desic­ca­ted thy­roid, nor were they enough to change the huge and rigid medi­cal esta­blish­ment. Change had to come from the bot­tom up – in other words, edu­cate patients, who in turn can take the new infor­ma­tion into their doctor’s offices.

But sadly, with the suc­cess of patient infor­ma­tion about the ama­zing results of desic­ca­ted thy­roid treat­ment has come vei­led cri­ti­cism and over­blown mis­con­cep­tions within our own ranks. And it’s a sad thing to behold!

Namely, we can now read a Sep­tem­ber 10^th inter­net blog “con­ver­sa­tion” by so-called thy­roid patient advo­ca­tes who imply that it is “dogma and narrow-minded” if anyone dares state there just might be a thy­roid treat­ment which JUST MIGHT BE bet­ter for most all thy­roid patients. IMAGINE the auda­city!! I guess it was just as “dog­ma­tic and narrow-minded” when it was first sug­ges­ted there were bet­ter ways to deal with cer­tain health con­di­tions than blood­let­ting. I can hear it now: “To deny blood­let­ting is just boxing peo­ple in!” “Offe­ring blood­let­ting as a choice is hel­ping peo­ple expand.”

And con­trary to the self-righteous tone, con­des­cen­ding mis­re­pre­sen­ta­tions, and vei­led cri­ti­cisms towards cer­tain patient groups, this patient move­ment is not a one size fits all move­ment.  Ins­tead, it’s a “one size JUST MIGHT BE a bet­ter alter­na­tive” than the other avai­la­ble alter­na­ti­ves, and we strongly encou­rage that each patient con­si­der fin­ding a doc­tor to help them give it a try.  And, if something about desic­ca­ted thy­roid isn’t wor­king, we strongly encou­rage patients to look at par­ti­cu­lar rea­sons that can under­lie problems.

If you think T4 is wor­king for you, go for it! The same goes for the use of T3 only, or synthe­tic T4/T3, or cer­tain ratios of T4 and T3.  Choice is a bles­sing we can all res­pect.  Just keep an eye out for depres­sion, rising cho­les­te­rol, less sta­mina than others, adre­nal issues and/or a myriad of other con­ti­nuing hypo symp­toms that just might creep up on you as you age on these treat­ments.  Or, con­si­der that we’ve seen many peo­ple on these treat­ments, who, when they switched to desic­ca­ted thy­roid like Armour, Natu­reth­roid, Westh­roid, etc, they repor­ted even bet­ter results. (The use of T3-only for high RT3 is a dif­fe­rent issue and is where T3-only may be abso­lu­tely nee­ded and good. We also res­pect those who have ethi­cal issues with ani­mal products.)

Finally, I encou­rage others who con­si­der them­sel­ves thy­roid patient advo­ca­tes to TAKE A BIG BREATH and TAKE THE TIME to be in open-minded dia­lo­gue with all patients, inc­lu­ding me and all of us over here, ins­tead of openly igno­ring our exis­tence or deci­ding what we pro­mote is simply narrow-minded dogma.  You might find that direct com­mu­ni­ca­tion and kind­ness is a far bet­ter method to help thy­roid patients ins­tead of the underhan­ded vei­led bashings and mis­re­pre­sen­ta­tions within this recent blog con­ver­sa­tion.

Shock and amazement. 

At the 90^th annual mee­ting of the Endoc­rine Society, it was announ­ced that T3 can be an effec­tive subs­ti­tute for T4. And…the tar­get TSH was .5 — 1.5.

DUHHHHHHH.

But it’s GOOD news.

OK, so…

1) it’s light years behind what patients had already figu­red out for a longgggg time
2) it’s not as effec­tive as being on desic­ca­ted thy­roid (which has exactly what your thy­roid would be giving you: T4, T3, T2, T1 and cal­ci­to­nin)
3) the TSH needs be even LOWER when you are ade­qua­tely trea­ted.
4) NO THYROID TREATMENT SHOULD BE BY THE LOUSY TSH AT ALL.…

.…but it’s a GOOD STEP in the right direction!!

http://www.endocrinetoday.com/view.aspx?rid=28931

p.s. Maybe if some of those Endo’s would open their minds to what PATIENTS HAVE LEARNED on this site and the book, they might finally make the next great step!! TAKE THIS INFORMATION INTO YOUR DOCTOR’S OFFICE!! It’s the power YOU have to change this mess!