And getting older increases the incidence of thyroid disease.

Even worse, those who acquire it at an older age are probably going to go through the same bunk and bull those younger have gone through–having depression, rising cholesterol, osteoporosis or ostepenia, weight gain, easy fatigue, couch potato syndrome, dry skin and hair, plus more–-all classic symptoms of undiagnosed or undertreated hypothyroidism.

But older folks are told it’s all just part of aging so here’s your latest tablet for your handy-dandy Wal Mart pill box.

I recently found a great blog by Pam whose Feb. 23rd, 2010 post is titled Older Women and Low Thyroid. She turned 65 in 2009 (and she looks a lot younger) and writes how she found herself with hypothyroid at a later age as well.  And Pam is WAY ahead of the game in her knowledge. She understands that most older folks are put on Synthroid (which can be a lousy way to treat hypothyroidism for many), that getting older means conversion from T4 to T3 can be more difficult,  that being on desiccated thyroid or T3-only just might be the better treatment, and you can get adrenal fatigue at an older age as well (thanks to poor treatment with T4, the TSH lab test, or being underdosed even on desiccated thyroid).

You can read Pam’s post here, as well as about the phone call from her friend who is 50 lbs overweight, has brain fog, is out of work, has no energy…and voila–is on Synthroid so it can’t POSSIBLY be her thyroid. Sad. In fact, what has happened to Pam’s friend is what I keep stating to those who feel they are just doing peachy on T4: watch out, because as you age, the truth about T4 will reveal itself!

Pam, I love your blog posts, and I’m going to hope to see more of those in the “venerable age range” be just as wise as you are!!

**********************************************

FDA HAS MADE A STATEMENT ABOUT NATURAL DESICCATED THYROID: Just before I was going to plop into my bed for the evening, I checked my notifications to discover that right on the FDA website and their 2010 Drug Shortages page (3rd column up from bottom), it states: Forest reports manufacturing issues involving the raw material and RLC reports increased demand. FDA has not ordered Forest or RLC to remove these thyroid (desiccated) tablets from the market. BINGO. I’ve been waiting for this for months, because though websites and groups were formed last year as if we needed to “rescue” desiccated thyroid from being banned, I couldn’t join the fearful rally of a few because my gut was telling me something quite different.  And a few others, I discovered, had the same feeling.  And hooray! Our guts were right on!

Does this mean the FDA “gets it” about desiccated thyroid? Maybe, or maybe not. Yes, their timing WAS awful last year with Time Caps Labs, right when we were starting a shortage. And there does appear to be some kind of future requirement “proving” the safety and efficacy of dess. thyroid–two things we ALREADY KNOW from 110 years of safe and effective use. Duhhh on the FDA. But it’s FAR more hopeful now, and realistic, and will hopefully promote more reasonable thinking from now on.

Onward and upward, folks.

***************************************

Naturethroid is coming back in pharmacies all over the US! See the blog post below or here for information about  the “new” Naturethroid.

(If you are reading this via the Newsletter email notification, just click on the title of this blog post to come directly to the site where you can Comment).

I think back about my mother.

At age twenty-one in 1939, she had most of her thyroid removed due to Graves disease and hyperthyroidism. Because a small part remained, hyper set in once again by 1960 complete with bugged eyes. So Radioactive Iodine I-131 was the next step to once-and-for-all annihilate the thyroid.  Not long after, as her thyroid hormone levels fell, she was one of the early victims of the “new and modern” T4-only medication called Synthroid.

And all hell broke loose. Depression enveloped her everyday life—one of her worst lingering symptoms of hypothyroidism due to the shoddy treatment of a T4-only med as well as the TSH lab test.  I remember her moods, her frequent anger and lack of patience, and her constant counseling appointments.

By 1963, and right before President Kennedy was shot, she submitted herself to Electric Shock Treatment in a futile effort to control her depression.  What a crock.  She was never again the bright and quick-witted woman I remembered as a younger child. Her brain was fried and she had a new dull flat reaction to life. And for the rest of her life, she lived on her antidepressant/anti-anxiety med Elavil and had daily constant naps, weight gain, rising cholesterol, dry hair, heart surgery, stiff joints, brain fog and inability to stand on her feet long–her own manifestation of lingering symptoms while on the lousy thyroxine.

And she did the T4-horror show…all…by…herself. No internet,  no patient groups and forums, no Stop the Thyroid Madness website, blog or book,  no good doc, no thyroid Facebook or Twitter groups, no other good thyroid books or websites. Nada. I came along as a Thyroid Patient Activist too late for my mother, who died in 2003.

It makes me shudder thinking of that lonely hell. But then again, it’s not just in the far past: it happened to her only daughter, me, for nearly 20 years. Complete lonely hell of my own with intense and disabling Dysautonomia induced by my continued hypo state while on Synthroid and later Levoxyl.

And today, because the mass media or any media personality refuses to speak the truth of the 55 year scandal of T4-only meds like Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, Eltroxin, Oroxine, or the cuckoo’s nest of the TSH lab test and range, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of individuals still suffer. How stupid can they get.  This is a scandal that has effected a huge mass of individuals globally, past and present,  including those today who STILL linger with undiagnosed hypothyroidism thanks to the worthless TSH lab test or lingering hypo on the lousy T4-only medications. And all the above when we, as patients, have learned a far better way to treat our thyroid problems

Did you have relatives like my own Mom (who died in 2003) who lived the T4-only scandal alone?  Use the Comment form to tell us about them.  Have YOU suffered from a T4 med? Report it to the FDA here.

Also below, read about Jane Pauley and the health issues that make you wonder, since they can all be connected to a thyroid problem, either undiagnosed or untreated.  Below that, you’ll see posts about Oprah, Reverse T3, the problem of cellulose in our meds, the desiccated thyroid shortages, and more.

*HO HO HO! Have a STTM book sent to someone  you care about as a CHRISTMAS or HOLIDAY present. A card will be included, and the book will be in an envelope with a red bow!! Save money the more you buy!

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.

******************************

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?

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.

*Want to be informed of these blog posts? Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Use the Notifications on the left at the bottom of the links.

*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.

And granted, some of the criticism seems justified.

Even thyroid patients winced and squirmed when Oprah stated that a month long Hawaiian vacation and eating fresh foods with soy milk were a great way to treat her thyroid condition.  Uh huh.   Patients equally gagged at her support of Dr. Christiane Northrup who made the the nutty insensitive 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.”

But the ensuing array of blog posts and articles following in the footsteps of the Newsweek criticism of Oprah has presented quite an irony for thyroid patients whose lives have been changed thanks to natural desiccated thyroid. Adjectives and/or descriptions of Oprah in these blogs and articles have included:

* dangerous

* peddling alternative treatments that are ineffective

* failing to present scientific evidence

* failing to listen to bona fide, medical school trained,  medical professionals

* being too gullible about the so-called wisdom and knowledge of certain patients (ala Suzanne Somers)

* failing to give more attention to science-based, status quo, mainstream medicine

Any of the above sound familiar? Yup, it sure does.

How many times have thyroid patients been told that desiccated thyroid like Armour or Naturethroid was dangerous, or raising it by symptoms rather than the TSH was dangerous. Or it’s dangerous to use because you’ll get heart problems and osteroporosis. Yet thyroid patients on desiccated thyroid have their lives CHANGED, with stronger hearts and increased bone density.

How many patients have had their doctors tell them that desiccated was ineffective as an alternative out-dated product, yet these same patients started to LIVE again with relief from old symptoms from this ineffective “alternative” medication that grandma once used.

How many articles by medical professionals are there who claim that there’s no scientific evidence to prove that desiccated thyroid is effective, in spite of CLEAR observation and reports of a huge and growing body of thyroid patients and certain doctors around the world about relief from depression, lowered cholesterol, better blood pressure, weight maintenance, hair regrowth, better stamina, less sickness and a myriad of other improvements!

How many bona fide, medical school trained,  medical professionals told us ad nauseum that our symptoms were not thyroid related (when they were), that we are “normal” because the TSH lab test says so (when we were far from it), that desiccated thyroid is outdated, unreliable, ineffective, and a ten ton load of other ridiculous comments from bona fide, medical school trained,  medical professionals.

How many doctors have told patients that they should NOT listen to other patients on the internet or Stop the Thyroid Madness because patients can’t possibly have any wisdom or know what they are talking about. Yet, lo and behold, it’s been patients and what they have learned who have started a wide-reaching revolution for better thyroid treatment that works, and a growing body of doctors are listening!

And how many times has science-based, status quo, mainstream medicine completely ruined the lives of thyroid patients because many doctors are too lazy to dare question or think outside the pharmaceutical, medical school box.

Yup, Oprah has made some blunders, gaffes and misjudgments as outlined in the Newsweek article.  She has gushed too quickly when Northrup opens her mouth or Oz walks in with his surgical garb.  But isn’t it a bit ironic that some of the criticism by others towards Oprah are the same blunders, gaffes and misjudgments which most any thyroid patient has heard about their use of desiccated thyroid, and which has all been COMPLETELY wrong.

Bottom line, for every mistake and misjudgment Oprah has made–and CLEARLY she has done so in her understanding of thyroid treatment—she just might be opening the doors to medical truth, somewhere, somehow, between it all.

Janie

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.

Why? Well look at it this way. This is a man of stature. He is an MD, an Adjunct Professor of Medicine, the director of Public Citizen’s health research group which promotes drug safety and public health, and editor of the newsletter Worst Pills, Best Pills, and since August of  ‘08, a member of the Drug Safety Committee.  He also has a resume a mile long.

Yet in spite of his seemingly caring activism for our health and well-being, and his immense experience and education, he is clearly and completely off-base about Armour and other desiccated thyroid prescription drugs.

For example, as as editor of the Worst Pills, Best Pills newsletter,  Wolfe declared Armour desiccated thyroid as a “Do Not Use” product because it is not adequately guaranteed to provide appropriate blood levels of thyroid hormone and reliable alternatives are available”. (Gee, funny how our experiences are completely otherwise….)

Then in the May 2003 issue (of which you have to have a paid prescription to read), he wrote an article titled  “Do Not Use! Natural or Desiccated Thyroid (ARMOUR THYROID) For Thyroid Hormone Replacement Therapy.” In that article, the clueless Wolfe stated that he supported The American Thyroid Association’s statement “There is no evidence that desiccated thyroid, a biological preparation, has any advantage over synthetic thyroxine.” (I guess millions of us and our improved heartrate, stamina, cholesterol, depression and more…aren’t evidence?)

He then proposes that Armour is mostly prescribed for weight loss, is a niche market for the unscrupulous, and concludes with “if you are offered natural thyroid hormone replacement treatment for any reason, this is a red flag and you should get a second opinion.” In a letter to consumers, Wolfe and Public Citizen state that that T3 is only needed from conversion and is predictably found from conversion, that the T2 and T1 also found in desiccated thyroid has essentially no activity, that desiccated thyroid is an unpredictable mixture, that is has no predictable biological activity…plus so many more complete and total inaccuracies based on “intellectual head chatter” not on observation and experience.

Thud.

Mary Shomon, in 2003, did a bang-up job trying to communicate with Wolfe, Worst Pills, Best Pills, and Public Citizen about the inaccuracies of their beliefs and statements…basically to no avail. The TRUTH is here, and in more detail in Chapters 1 and 2 in the STTM book which are enlightening those reading it all!

So we are left wondering, six years later, what his four-year appointment to this committee will mean. But let’s make a few things quite clear to contrast some of the fears going on and expressed on thyroid groups:

1) Armour is not being banned.
2) Wolfe is one of a current 9 members of this committee. Wolfe is not “the committee”.
3) Wolfe and seven others currently have voting rights. He is the only “Consumer Representative”.
4) There are still six more vacancies.
5) The committee is NOT the power. They simply make recommendations. And historically, the FDA can be slow to act on their recommendations, or doesn’t follow them at all (which is a GOOD thing when it comes to a SAFE and EFFECTIVE medication like desiccated thyroid).

So what can you do? I challenge you to follow and act on the below, which puts our energies into communication, not feeding the ego and power of a misguided man with our overtly expressed fears as if they have actually come to pass :

1) Remember 1-5 above. Armour is fully available. Keep the facts straight, and fear-mongering down.

2) STTM has a powerful and growing page of testimonies of those who switched to desiccated thyroid.  Are you in there? If not, you need to be. This website currently has a huge audience. It’s noticed by doctors all over the world, as is the STTM book, which is YOUR book of YOUR experiences,  which is also being ordered by doctors. Use the Contact Me form at the bottom of that page.

3) Tell your experience with Synthroid or other thyroxine medications at the following websites:  www.rateadrug.com,  www.drugs.com,  www.askapatient.com They don’t include any of the desiccated thyroid meds yet, but you can tell of the negative experiences with all the T4-only drugs, including adrenal fatigue if you fell into that, and all your lingering thyroid symptoms.  The above links will take you to their Synthroid page–you can search for the other T4 meds.  Remember to mention Armour or other desiccated thyroid meds and how they have helped you!! Update: thyroid patient Gina found the drugs.com Armour page: http://www.drugs.com/comments/thyroid-desiccated/armour-thyroid.html

4) Report your T4-only experience to MedWatch, the FDA’s  program for reporting problems.  You will see an Online Reporting Form to download. Don’t fail to mention which problems were removed or greatly improved when you switched to Armour, or the fact that you now have to deal with adrenal fatigue thanks to the inadequacy of T4-only treatment. You can also call 1-800-FDA-1088, but remember: your call is not to draw attention to Wolfe’s opinions! It’s to draw attention to how lousy a treatment T4 is as compared to how much better Armour has been.

5) Go to my article titled Synthroid Sucks: the Rallying Cry of Thyroid Patients vs. Clueless Doctors and comment on this article, including mentioning what Armour, Naturethroid or other desiccated thyroid did for you. Rate it as well. Both keep this article in the media and in the eyes of others.

6) Go to www.medications.com where patients ask questions and YOU can answer, mentioning YOUR experience and how much better desiccated thyroid has been. Clicking on that will take you to the Synthroid patient questions. Answer them. Be careful with links–they may not catch them at first, but will remove them if they do.  You can mention website names, tho, like Stop the Thyroid Madness.

7) Send people here to follow all these steps. Power is in numbers!

8 ) Use the following website to email or write your senators and representatives: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ THEY DO READ THEM. And they will remember this!  Here’s a template letter you can use:  www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/template-letter-to-your-senator-or-representive/

If you have other ideas and places to write or call, add your comment to this post. Remember,  put your power in communication! LOTS of communication.

P.S. Did you know that the American Thyroid Association, in cooperation with the American Association of Endocrinologists, together support January as “Thyroid Awareness Month”…which is supported through an unrestricted grant from Abbott Laboratories, the makers of Synthroid?? Major UGH.

Namely, they express deep concern that that since hypothyroid symptoms can mimic other conditions, patients may be getting an incorrect diagnosis which could expose some patients to the harmful effects of excess thyroid hormones, while other serious conditions may go undiagnosed.

And they add: In other patients, adequate replacement with levothyroxine does not resolve symptoms, which are attributed to hypothyroidism rather than other conditions that may coexist, such as depression.

The article continues with:  Normalisation of thyroid stimulating hormone means a return to normal health in most patients with primary hypothyroidism.

In other words, what you have above are the Three Stooges of the stated beliefs of the British Thyroid Association.

Stooge stated-belief #1: “Incorrect diagnosis allow other conditions go undiagnosed” What is inferred is that there are a host of diagnoses of hypothyroidism that are incorrect. Why? Because a wise physician dared to listen to clear symptoms of hypothyroidism or use the free T3, in spite of a so-called “normal” TSH–a lab test which measures a pituitary hormone, not the cells ability to receive enough thyroid hormones.

Stooge stated-belief #2: “If adequate doses of levothyroxine do not resolve symptoms, those symptoms are due to something else.” That is akin to saying if eating 100 calories a day results in malnutrition and starvation, your malnutrition and starvation is due to something else. And one particular symptom they are referring to is depression–a classic symptom of undiagnosed and undertreated hypothyroidism in MILLIONS of individuals around the world.  And isn’t it just odd how that depression resolves itself when the patient is put on Armour and allowed to dose by the elimination of symptoms.

Stooge stated-belief #3: “A normal TSH lab result equals normal health in those treated for hypothyroidism”. Gee, funny how millions of thyroid patients around the world have had a so-called “normal” TSH lab result along with a diverse blend of continuing and CLEAR hypothyroid symptoms.  Additionally, we have a large and growing body of patients who, when they switched to Armour desiccated thyroid or other fine desiccated thyroid prescription meds,  had those symptoms resolved when they were dosed according to the free T3, improved blood pressure, strong heart beat, lowered cholesterol, and complete elimination of symptoms. Patients have learned what works!

When you understand the British Thyroid Association’s hell-bent and rigid stands against Armour desiccated thyroid, their promotion of one of the worst labs ever created to diagnose and dose by, their love affair with the most inadequate thyroid medication ever thrust onto the market by money-grubbing pharmaceuticals (levothyroxine), and their complete failure to listen to patients and recognize continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism while on synthetic T4, you come to realize how meaningful any article on hypothyroidism will be by the British Thyroid Association.

P.S.  Do ya wonder if the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has the smarts to report the other side of the story??

*Want to be informed of these blog posts? Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Just use the Notification feature on the bottom  of the links to your left.

1) That the NHS is correct to ban Armour

2) That Armour is a “second drug” that causes harm.

3) That it’s only “fringe” patients who don’t do well on T4

4) That none of the above patients are hypothyroid

5) That they don’t feel well on T4 because of other reasons

6) Therapy is not needed if the TSH is below 10

You know what patients have a fantasy about, Dr. Gutler?? That folks like YOU become hypothyroid and are put on T4. You’ll then have to eat dirt as you see your blood pressure rising, or your cholesterol doing the same, or depression and fatigue setting in, or your adrenals overworking, or weight gain and a host of other continuing symptoms of hypothyroid while on T4. OH WAIT. Those are all due to something else. Gee, let’s put you on anti-depressants, statins, blood pressure meds, pain meds, anti-anxiety meds since those “other” reasons never seem to be fixed.  OH WAIT. They DO get fixed when these same patients are switched to Armour or any other desiccated thyroid, and have addressed their low cortisol or low ferritin thanks to years of undiagnosis or undertreatment with T4.

SHAME ON YOU.

p.s. It’s because of opinions like yours that the Stop the Thyroid Madness book has been sent to patients in over 16 countries, so far. People want to find out the TRUTH.

Update: you can read Sheila’s and UK-TPA’s response here: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/uk-tpas-response-to-the-rcp/

See more from Sheila that gives UK patients hope: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/relationship-between-the-RCP-and-MHRA/

Want to be notified of my blog posts? Curious what’s on my mind? Use the Notification method to be informed. Look on the bottom left of the links where you can sign up. )

And I have written about it in the news media here:  http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Royal-College-of-Physi-by-Janie-Bowthorpe-090210-698.html

p.s.  In the 1600’s, Galileo was the first most prolific voice to proclaim that the earth revolved around the sun (Armour), in contrast to the firmly held position that the sun revolved around the earth (Thyroxine).  He was denounced as being dangerous and heretical. But over time, the truth won out.

Are you from the UK? Tell us what you think.