endocrinologist tags

Just as I was finishing up the post below about a short sum­mary on the Endoc­ri­no­logy Today web­site, I saw a link at the bot­tom of the page that inte­res­ted me.  It took me to a blog post on the same site from Decem­ber 10^th tit­led “Why can’t it be my thyroid?”.

And a slew of thy­roid patients around the world, as well as a gro­wing body of doc­tors,  would com­ple­tely disa­gree with this post.

Namely, a DO explains the pro­blem of patients arri­ving in doc­tors offi­ces with “innu­me­ra­ble pos­si­ble symp­toms of hypothy­roi­dism” inc­lu­ding “fati­gue, cold into­le­rance, dec­rea­sed energy, weight gain, depres­sion, hair loss, low libido, mens­trual irre­gu­la­rity and others.”

Yet, he bemoans, these patients have a “nor­mal TSH” which is “well within the nor­mal labo­ra­tory refe­rence range.” He also refers to their nor­mal free T3 and free T4, and sta­tes there is no his­tory to sug­gest pitui­tary dys­func­tion or that the TSH is unreliable.”

He then pro­ceeds to pat him­self on the back because he 1) will treat some patients with a high-normal TSH and other cli­ni­cal fea­tu­res,  2) he will treat to a low-normal TSH of less than 2.0, but like the good-boy-doctor, “still within the nor­mal labo­ra­tory refe­rence range” and 3) he will not induce iatro­ge­nic hyperthy­roi­dism, even if symp­toms per­sist. (yikes)

“Iatro­ge­nic hyperthy­roi­dism”??  Since “iatro­ge­ne­sis” refers to harm­ful medi­cal pro­ce­du­res, he’s pro­bably refe­rring to a TSH below the range, which in his mind, equa­tes to hyperthyroidism.

***Then comes the obser­va­tion that has made many thy­roid patients shi­ver, since so many doc­tors have said it: because he feels that adding T3 to T4 has more nega­tive results than posi­tive, he explains to his patients “that there may be cau­ses of their symp­toms besi­des the thyroid.”

THUD.

So here is my 6-point res­ponse to any doc­tor who might share these beliefs:

1) There’s hardly a thy­roid patient around who hasn’t had a so-called “nor­mal” TSH in spite of clear and obvious hypothy­roi­dism.  The TSH lab test fre­quently lags behind what is rea­lity in the body, and has been doing so since it’s crea­tion in the early 1970’s (see Chap­ter 4 in the Stop the Thy­roid Mad­ness book for his­tory).

2) Having a “nor­mal” free T3 and free T4 means nothing. It’s “where” the result falls in that range that means something. i.e. patients all around the world are noti­cing that having a free T3 mid-range or lower in the pre­sence of hypothy­roid symp­toms is usually a BINGO lab result poin­ting to hypothyroidism.

3) Exactly because doc­tors tend to dis­miss clear hypothy­roid symp­toms as “something else” thanks to a lousy TSH refe­rence range, a bur­geo­ning num­ber of thy­roid patients are falling into adre­nal fati­gue with its low cor­ti­sol, which ser­ves to mess them up even more.

4) A huge body of thy­roid patients who are on desic­ca­ted thy­roid hor­mo­nes (aka Armour, Natu­reth­roid, etc), and who finally have a com­plete remo­val of symp­toms with a nor­mal tem­pe­ra­ture and hear­trate, also have a sup­pres­sed TSH lab result, and not one iota of “iatro­ge­nic hyperthyroidism.”

5) When it appears that adding T3 to T4 is having nega­tive effects, the pro­blem is most likely adre­nal fati­gue that needs correc­tion, and/or low ferri­tin, NOT deci­ding that the symp­toms must be from another cause or T3 doesn’t work.

6) “Fati­gue, cold into­le­rance, dec­rea­sed energy, weight gain, depres­sion, hair loss, low libido, mens­trual irre­gu­la­rity and others” may be sha­red in other con­di­tions, but you are most likely mis­sing CLEAR symp­toms of hypothy­roi­dism, both in the undiag­no­sed patient with a so-called nor­mal TSH, or with a patient trea­ted with the lousy thy­ro­xine, which lea­ves most ever­yone with con­ti­nuing hypothy­roid symp­toms.

“I’m sorry. It IS your thy­roid” is exactly what patients need to hear.

Oh jolly.

Diane, a thy­roid and adre­nal patient, infor­med me of a recent visit to a local Endoc­ri­no­lo­gist.  The doc sta­ted that she was on a com­mit­tee that is wor­king with the FDA to do away with saliva tes­ting, strongly pro­po­sing that it’s not accu­rate tes­ting and is “har­ming” people.

Well, let’s see. For a cou­ple of years now, thy­roid patients who strongly sus­pect they have adre­nal fati­gue by the reac­tions they have to desic­ca­ted thy­roid have been using saliva testing…and lo and behold,  the results they receive nearly com­ple­tely con­form with how they feel! i.e. saliva tes­ting, which tests one’s cor­ti­sol levels at four key times during a 24 hour period,  has wor­ked beau­ti­fully in hel­ping thy­roid patients with adre­nal fati­gue iden­tify their pro­blem, in hel­ping these patients doc­tors have a bet­ter unders­tan­ding of their pro­blem, and kno­wing bet­ter what might be their best treat­ment, which can range from using lico­rice root, to over-the-counter adre­nal sup­port, to hydro­cor­ti­sone (HC).

Harm­ful?? Give me a break. (And why are we not sur­pri­sed this is coming out of the mouth of an Endocrinologist.)

Could it be that medi­cal school trai­ned doc­tors just hate and des­pise any method which a patient might bene­fit from WITHOUT going to the doc­tor and paying big bucks??  hmmmm.  And once again, could it be that a method NOT taught in medi­cal school just MIGHT be a good one (just as desic­ca­ted thy­roid like Armour, Natu­reth­roid, etc. is far, far bet­ter than Synth­roid or Levoxyl, which ARE taught in medi­cal school)?

The FDA appro­ved saliva tes­ting for AIDS in 2005. They appro­ved saliva tes­ting for ovu­la­tion in 2003. They appro­ved saliva tes­ting to detect if a woman is going into pre­ma­ture labor in 1998. And there’s many more they have appro­ved.  So…perhaps this is all a gasp of a com­mit­tee who hates to see patients have some con­trol over their health (terri­ble, awful thing, isn’t it?) or the cry of a com­mit­tee that only reveals its ignorance.

p.s. Dr. Best of San Anto­nio recently pos­ted the follo­wing exce­llent article on saliva tes­ting: http://besthealthandwellnessinfo.com/hormone-testing-i-spit-on-your-blood-test/

HO! HO! HO! Laughing Grape Publishing will send the STTM book for you to a loved one or friend for the holidays!

Look at my blog post below and you’ll see the latest duhhh entry – i.e Endoc­ri­no­lo­gists finally repor­ted that T3 was an effec­tive treat­ment in place of T4. Finally!! Of course, patients know that desic­ca­ted thy­roid is an even BETTER treat­ment, and that has been unders­co­red by those that tried T3 with their T4 (without having a reverse T3 issue), then switched to desic­ca­ted thy­roid like Armour, and noted they felt much bet­ter. But it’s still an announ­ce­ment in the right direction.

But we now have another duhhh entry: The Jour­nal of Cli­ni­cal Endoc­ri­no­logy & Meta­bo­lism has repor­ted that long-term levothy­ro­xine repla­ce­ment the­rapy in young adults is asso­cia­ted with car­dio­vas­cu­lar abnor­ma­li­ties. Another finally. We as patients have already known that for years! We’ve expe­rien­ced what Synth­roid, Levoxyl and all other T4-only medi­ca­tions have done to our hearts! I watched my own mother have to have an angio­plasty because of her long-term use of Synthroid…and we have NO heart disease or pro­blems like this in our family history!

So yes, you will see the announ­ce­ment that a new page is going to be crea­ted here on STTM which will high­light jour­nal entries and medi­cal announ­ce­ments which only sup­port what patients have been expe­rien­cing and trying to tell their doc­tors for a longgggg time. lol. And your con­tri­bu­tions to this new page will be welcomed.

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The new page is here: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/medical-research Check this page often, either to send me new research which sup­ports what we already know, or to find meat to give your rigid doctor.

***You can order the STTM book here, which is a com­plete patient-to-patient book on far bet­ter thy­roid treat­ment. It’s YOUR book!

I’m sick. I’m tired. I feel awful. I’ll go the my doc’s office for help.