free T4 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.

Have you ever had someone say something in JUST a way that it hits you bet­ween the eyes?? That’s what Diane did to me. She’s a thy­roid and adre­nal patient, and we were dis­cus­sing the way a huge medi­cal web­site still gives out back­wards and harm­ful thy­roid treat­ment infor­ma­tion, telling patients to “raise their Synth­roid” to coun­ter their con­ti­nuing hypothy­roid symp­toms (which doesn’t work), or pro­noun­cing that because their TSH is “nor­mal”, those symp­toms are not rela­ted to hypothy­roid (they are.) This huge web­site has kept patients sick for YEARS, and is one of the main rea­sons I crea­ted STTM!

And Diane said to me “Somehow the true mes­sage needs to get into the main stream.”

Boink! That just hit me squa­rely bet­ween the eyes! Sure, I’ve been saying the same in a dif­fe­rent way for years – that our mes­sage needs to get out. But when Diane men­tio­ned the “mains­tream”, it hit me. 

Here we are, vic­tims of a medi­cal scan­dal which has been going on for 50 years, and which has effec­ted HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS all that time. Some of those vic­tims are dead; and many more are still alive, with new vic­tims hap­pe­ning DAILY. Yet, the “mains­tream media” has never taken the time or inte­rest to report on this. HUHHH??

Wiki­pe­dia defi­nes the mains­tream media as the sec­tion of the media spe­ci­fi­cally envi­sio­ned and desig­ned to reach a very large audience, and that might inc­lude tele­vi­sion, radio, news­pa­pers and maga­zi­nes. Yet, what do you see on any of those mediums? You see the regur­gi­ta­tion of the old-boy, Poll­yanna methods of hypothy­roid diag­no­sis and treat­ment – the use of the TSH and total T4, plus T4-only meds like Synth­roid, Levoxyl, Levothy­ro­xine, et al. And if there is men­tion of desic­ca­ted thy­roid, it’s bare. YAWN.

Some pun­dants feel that there is a form of lite­rary cen­sorship going on in the main media…i.e. if it’s not sen­sa­tio­nal, for­get it. Others will cite bias and mani­pu­la­tion by those that report, espe­cially in the poli­ti­cal arena. 

But what I lean to believe is that there’s a monkey-see, monkey-do men­ta­lity in the media. Namely, the mains­tream media lazily con­forms itself to the lou­dest, lon­gest or most financially-influential voice. And who’s had that voice in the thy­roid treat­ment arena?? The money-grubbing phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals, who thrust billions of dollars into medi­cal schools, besi­des their bright-eyed reps, to even­tually con­vince every doc­tor since the early 1960’s that the lousy T4-only medi­ca­tions (Synth­roid, Levoxyl, et al), and the dubious TSH lab tests, are from God Almighty. 

So, that lie keeps being repea­ted, ad nau­seum, and the TRUTH, which comes from every­day patients all around the world, gets igno­red by the mains­tream media. Thus, millions out there still sit, mise­ra­ble or com­pro­mi­sed in their day-to-day lives, and on a myriad of other pills to coun­ter the lin­ge­ring symptoms…because their main con­tact with the world – the mains­tream media – is deaf and dumb – and they have not yet found Stop the Thy­roid Mad­ness, and may not for years!

So.…what can YOU do?? Con­tact the mains­tream media. SCREAM at the mains­tream media. DOG the mains­tream media. I have wor­ked hard to put YOUR truth up here and in the book. You can help by sprea­ding that word, one by one, like the Lilli­pu­tians who moved the giant. 

*To con­tact ABC, go here.
*To con­tact MSNBC, go here or email Health@MSNBC.com
*To con­tact CBS, go here. Use the drop down menu to click on a news pro­gram
*To con­tact Fox News, go here.
*To con­tact CNN, go here.
*The top 20 Women’s maga­zi­nes are here.

Want to add more emails or web­site URL’s for con­tact? Just add a com­ment to this post below. 

**Patients are repor­ting that the STTM book is even bet­ter than the web­site! Yeehaw! To order your copy, go to the publishing web­site here. There are also options to order one for your doc­tor, and one for Oprah!

A friend of mine, Kerry, recently con­fes­sed to me and a few friends that it was time to find a new doc­tor. Her nor­mal one had been a disap­point­ment for her far too many times. Time to move on. 

And how she is moving on TOTALLY impres­ses me, and I think all of you rea­ding this should con­si­der this posi­ti­vely asser­tive and self-advocating strategy. 

First, she scou­red through her list of doc­tors on her insu­rance plan, and found one that loo­ked pro­mi­sing. She called and spoke to his nurse on the phone. She then told us the follo­wing: I explai­ned that I use Armour and refuse to change meds; I am VERY invol­ved in my health; I watch my Frees care­fully and don’t rely on the TSH at all since the feed­back loop is inte­rrup­ted by meds..etc. With that said, the nurse sta­ted she would check with the doctor.

In other words, my friend Kerry refu­sed to do what all of us have done most of our lives – approach the doc­tor pas­si­vely. She clearly out­li­ned who she is, where her inte­lli­gence is about her body, and that she expects a part­nership, not a demi-god, one-sided dic­ta­torship of what is right and what isn’t right for her health care. 

She also sta­ted that if this doc­tor didn’t come through, her next stra­tegy was to write a let­ter about her health needs and how she wants to be very invol­ved in her treat­ment, then fax it to every avai­la­ble doc­tor on her insu­rance list in her area and see if she gets someone calling. 

MAJOR, HAND-CLAPPING BRAVO, Kerry!! 

THAT, friends, is the way each and every thy­roid patient should approach their health care: can­did as to your beliefs about your treat­ment, and what you want from the doc­tor. And even­tually, your asser­tive approach will pro­duce a doc­tor who is going to be a gem for you! Remem­ber: it’s YOUR body and YOU live in it. 

p.s. Without an insu­rance plan? Pull out the Yellow pages! And don’t hesi­tate to use parts of this Dear Doc­tor tem­plate let­ter to help you flesh out and com­pose your words or letter. 

***WANT TO MAKE A FASHION STATEMENT ABOUT YOUR THYROID TREATMENT? Go HERE for a thy­roid advo­cacy t-shirt. I dare you to wear it to your doc­tors appoint­ment. (But if you don’t, wear it everywhere else. It does attract questions.) 

For 2008, as a hypothy­roid patient: I will: 

1) expect that the rela­tionship with my doc­tor will be a TEAM approach to my health care: not just his medi­cal school/continuing education/experience, but also my own impor­tant know­ledge and wis­dom that I have gai­ned (from rea­ding sites like this), plus my sub­jec­tive expe­rience on my medi­ca­tion. My doc­tor does not live in my body or expe­rience my symp­toms; I do. 

2) take the time to find a bet­ter doc­tor if my doc­tor refu­ses to res­pect the know­ledge I have gai­ned from rea­ding sites like this, and/or will not lis­ten to my sub­jec­tive expe­rience in my own body! 

3) make my symp­toms far more impor­tant than ink spots on a piece of paper called lab results, and will not pas­si­vely allow a doc­tor to treat me ONLY accor­ding to those lab results.

4) give myself impor­tant sup­ple­ments, inc­lu­ding, but not limi­ted to: sele­nium and zinc (helps con­ver­sion of T4 to T3), other mine­rals which may inc­lude mag­ne­sium, etc., plenty of B-vitamins (which are nee­ded as I improve my thy­roid func­tion, besi­des sup­por­ting my adre­nals), Vita­min C (also sup­ports my adre­nals) and more that I feel are sui­ted for my needs.

5) be open to the fact that if Armour or other desic­ca­ted thy­roid pro­ducts don’t seem to be wor­king, I am making one of seve­ral mis­ta­kes in my use of it, and will iden­tify my mis­ta­kes and correct them. 

Do you have others as a thy­roid patient? Just res­pond to this post. 

.…if you will take the time to read here of what thou­sands of patients have found out about the medi­ca­tion you will PROBABLY be put on, and about the lab you will PROBABLY be dosed by. 

For those who haven’t heard, Oprah announ­ced on Sep­tem­ber 10^th during her Good Mor­ning Ame­rica inter­view that she “blew her thy­roid out”. Now that also sounds sus­pi­ciously like she also has adre­nal fati­gue, but time will tell.

And Oprah will now join the club of an esti­ma­ted “billions” world­wide with thy­roid disease. But even worse, she may also be joi­ning the club of those who for nearly 50 years, have been put on the lousy T4-only medi­ca­tions (Synth­roid, Levoxyl, Levothy­ro­xine and others) and who have been terro­ri­zed with the TSH lab and it’s dubious and pathe­tic “nor­mal” range.

Yes Oprah, begin­ning in the 1960’s, doc­tors star­ting put­ting ALL of us on T4-only meds, and in the early 1970’s, dosing by the TSH lab. And NEITHER have wor­ked. Sure, some will state they felt bet­ter. But many will tell you that NOTHING chan­ged. And ALL, to one degree or another, have been left with a variety of hypothy­roid symp­toms while doc­tors have been proc­lai­ming that those VERY symp­toms had nothing to do with hypothy­roid since we were now “ade­qua­tely” treated.

But we have NEVER been “ade­qua­tely” trea­ted, Oprah. Doc­tors became cattle in the chu­tes of their pharmaceutically-financed medi­cal schools, blindly belie­ving that T4-only meds were wor­king and that the man-made TSH was the gold stan­dard of diag­no­sis and dosing…and igno­ring cli­ni­cal pre­sen­ta­tions which sho­wed the opposite. 

And when we still com­plai­ned of symp­toms, we have been put on anti-depressants, sta­tins, anti-anxiety meds, and a variety of other pills to ban­daid our con­ti­nuing hypo symp­toms.

And we finally fought back Oprah. For the last 7+ years, patients like myself found out that there has always been a MUCH bet­ter treat­ment (desic­ca­ted thy­roid), MUCH bet­ter labs (free T3 and free T4) and much bet­ter dosing stra­tegy (by symp­tom eli­mi­na­tion). Our lives have become far bet­ter because of what we have lear­ned.

This web­site repre­sents the know­ledge of a large and cons­tantly gro­wing body of patients world­wide, and some wise doc­tors, which goes totally COUNTER to nearly 50 LOUSY years of piti­ful thy­roid treatment. 

You, Oprah, are a megaphone of influence. And if you can take the time to read this web­site, you might play a huge role in hel­ping to change MILLIONS of lives. Because right now, the vast majo­rity of the medi­cal com­mu­nity does NOT get this, and is con­ti­nuing to keep patients SICK and TIRED and/or with con­ti­nuing hypothy­roid symp­toms of some kind. And YOU are going to be one, with your own con­ti­nuing list of symp­toms, if you don’t con­si­der what thy­roid patients are trying to tell you by nearly 50 years of LIVING it.