thyroid tags

Thyroid tidbit #1 COCONUT OIL: Thyroid patients continue to report that the daily use of Coconut Oil (extra virgin is good) caused an increase in metabolism and even weight loss in  somewho wanted the latter. How much daily? It varies from 2-4 T. but be careful, as too much can cause diarrhea. 

Thyroid tidbit #2 GRASS FED DESICCATED THYROID: Are you worried what the pigs were eating before the thyroids became desiccated?? If so, try Dr. Lowe’s Thyro-Gold, which is actually from cow who are pasture-fed. Then report back to STTM on the Contact Me page and tell us how it works for you as a treatment, or not work. I will compile information and report it here.

Thyroid tidbit #3 ALZHEIMERS DISEASE: Improving your thyroid function just may lessen your chance of getting dementia. But research has also found a Leptin connection: http://www.webmd.com/alzheimers/news/20091215/more-leptin-may-mean-less-alzheimers

Thyroid tidbit #4: ASHWAGANDHA: If you have sluggish adrenals and are on cortisol, adding the herb Ashwagandha can be an excellent and natural additional support for your adrenals. Even without adrenal fatigue, it’s also good in the face of excess emotional stress, and is an anti-inflammatory.

Thyroid tidbit #5 REVERSE T3–IS YOURS TOO HIGH? The body naturally converts T4 to RT3 as a way to clear out excess T4. But you can also make too much when your ferritin is too low, your adrenals are stressed, B12 is low, in the presence of diabetes, and other chronic issues. High levels of RT3 can cause a pounding heartrate, continued hypo, and just a feeling that you aren’t feeling great yet. To learn more, go here.

Thyroid tidbit #6 BI-POLAR: Have you been diagnosed with bi-polar disease? If so, you might want to do the right tests for hypothyroidism, since there can be a strong connection between the two, and you can either be undiagnosed thanks to the wrong test, or undertreated thanks to Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin or other T4-only medications. Read more here plus more detail in the STTM book.

Thyroid tidbit #7 GREEN POWDER and CHOCOLATE: Don’t like green veggies but want to be healthy? Look into the different varieties of “Green Powder” that you can stir into your favorite juice or water. Read the labels, tho, and avoid those with soy. Like chocolate?? They now make CHOCOLATE FLAVORED GREEN SUPERGREEN POWDERS and I am a huge fan. Just google what is all in caps before this.

Thyroid tidbit #8 YOUR GRANDMA: Thyroid function will naturally go downward in the elderly.That’s why grandma starts wearing that purple sweater in weather you are sweating in.  But putting those over 65 on T4-only thyroxine is not the answer, as a recent study showed.  That’s why YOU AND I are lucky to be on desiccated thyroid with its direct T3, or even those of you who are on T3 only.

Thyroid tidbit #9 EGGS ARE A BIT SCARY RIGHT NOW: Not necessarily for thyroid folks only, but you should be aware that with the recent recall of huge amounts of eggs in the US, there are reports of a four-fold increase in Salmonella Enteritidis infections since May 2010 because of eggs and health officials fear the worst may be yet to come. Why? Because the same eggs have been used in other products. Scroll down this page to see list of recalled eggs. P.S. if you get salmonella and are on cortisol for adrenal fatigue, you should discuss with your doctor about using OTC cortisol cream, since you may not be able to hold down the pills. 1/4 tsp equals 10 mg cortisol.

Thyroid tidbit #10 FLU SHOTS vs. VITAMIN D: Just when you are making progress treating your hypothyroidism and/or adrenal fatigue comes the season for the flu. And if you google the same same title of this tidbit, you’ll see numerous articles about the efficacy of taking Vit. D rather than the flu shots.  How much? General recommendation are 1000 IU’s daily at the minimum. Others point to more. Do your research.

Tonight was a beautiful night to do my aerobic walking. It had poured this afternoon for 30 minutes, so the early evening air was slightly cool and very clean.

And on the last leg of my journey, I stopped and said to Carlin as she was walking out of her front door “Where you have been lately? I haven’t seen you out walking with your husband.”

Carlin and her husband Clint are probably in their late 70′s–both vibrant individuals and frequent walkers in the same area.

“Well”, she said wistfully as she glanced down the street I had just walked, “I have to go in Monday for a Pacemaker.”

Turns out she has fibrillations and other heart issues, and even walking from her bedroom to her living room can exhaust her.  I told her how well my mother-in-law has done with her pacemaker. She told me she’d be in the hospital for at least 3-4 days for the surgery and observation.

And as we were chatting over the low white fence, I couldn’t help but notice the scar on her neck–the same scar my own mother had from the removal of her thyroid years ago.  And the rest of Carlin’s story, and the reality of her story, made me want to punch the nearest electrical pole in disgust.

Carlin’s thyroid was removed over 40 years ago.  She remembers being on “2 grains of something”–clearly it was desiccated thyroid. And she says she felt really good. But she wasn’t on it long, as her doctor removed it and put her levothyroxine over 30 years ago. You know, that “new and modern” T4-only CRAP which doctors fell for like the blind following the blind beginning in the 1960′s until today. (The story behind the introduction of T4 onto patients in the early 1960′s is in Chapter One of the STTM book)

So I knew. Her heart troubles could be one of the many side effects of the inferior treatment of T4-only medications (which also include Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, Oroxine…all of them). My own mother suffered the same fate while on Synthroid her entire life. And patients chat about this all the time on thyroid groups–heart issues while on T4.

I started probing. She has had issues with high blood pressure. Another typical side effect of the crap T4-only medication, and which is removed with desiccated thyroid. She has had issues with depression–another typical side effect of the crap T4-only medication, and which is removed with desiccated thyroid. She talked bitterly about the slew of medications she’s had to be on for years to counter all her problems, and which had given her bad side effects.

And the next worse thing she told me? She had acid reflux so bad a few years ago that they did surgery on her stomach. She had surgery for a condition which is VERY common with thyroid patients who are on T4 meds–low stomach acid from a lower metabolism, which causes acid reflux. i.e. a symptom of continued hypothyroidism which is CORRECTED when on desiccated thyroid.

It was hard to contain myself. Here was this vibrant, life-loving, intelligent woman who has been on T4-only for over 30 years and has endured health problems, surgeries, side effects from all sorts of money-grubbing pharmaceutical pills, and now, has to go in Monday for a pacemaker. And in all probability, most of what she has gone though could have been prevented if some doctor had been WISE enough to keep this woman on desiccated thyroid.

I am livid and sick to my stomach.

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• Are you chewing up your Armour or Naturethroid? It will make the treatment far better, as it will release the desiccated thyroid from the excess cellulose.  If you are on compounded, you need to tell the pharmacist to stop using cellulose as a filler. On Erfa? You can do it sublingually.
• If you are reading this right on STTM’s blog, and would like to be notified of each blog post, just sign up to the left and under the links.
• Have you done labs and found yourself with high RT3? Get off Selenium for the time being, as it can help convert T4 to the RT3 along with the other reasons you make too much.
• Want to spread the word about far better treatment? T-shirts and bumper stickers are here.

I received in an email from Sue in Australia.

Sue’s son has complex difficulties with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis, an inflammation disease that can occur throughout your body. From the disease, says Sue, he was fairly emaciated, which is common with Sarcoidosis (emaciated means he was basically “skin and bones”).

He was also born without a thyroid. So he’s been on compounded natural desiccated thyroid–the way thyroid is made in Australia–and of course, the filler has been cellulose.

When she read from STTM (see here) about the problems with cellulose and the way it binds the desiccated thyroid–making the compounded thyroid less effective–she approached a biomedical doctor to have the filler changed to acidophillus as suggested. He instead suggested glycine powder. Glycine is a non-essential amino acid and neurotransmitter which helps with digestion, central nervous system health, besides create muscle tissue and convert glucose into energy.

And, says Sue, “the immediate reaction was startling as my son who had been suffering from emaciation for years with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis put on over a kilo in much needed weight in the space of little more than a week.” In fact, she now wonders if much of his problems has been related to his lack of thyroid, and the cellulose filler making the medication less effective, all along!

Says Sue, “His case is a complex one, having been born without a thyroid gland, but the removal of cellulose ( or the addition of glycine or both) have certainly heralded some exciting changes”.

She also added, “There must be more to this than meets the eye. I did have to reduce his thyroid extract dose as I’m assuming that the binding effect of the cellulose meant he was on a higher dose than necessary to get a reasonable result and/or perhaps glycine enhances absorbtion. I’m sorry there are still quite a few questions to be answered and the results of a  blood test in a few weeks time will be interesting. I’ll keep you updated.”

Bottom line: adding cellulose as a filler with desiccated thyroid has been a disaster, as patients discovered after both Armour by Forest Labs and Naturethroid by RLC Labs were reformulated in 2009 and early 2010, respectively.

If you are on either Armour or Naturethroid, make sure you CHEW THE TABLETS UP thoroughly to release the desiccated thyroid from the binding cellulose. You can also choose to use a mortar and pestle to pulverize the tablets, and add a touch of honey or sugar, which helps with digestion.

If you are on compounded desiccated thyroid, ask the pharmacist to change the filler to acidophilus. Or ask about Glycine (or L-Glycine) to see if it is good for your particular situation.

All good alternatives for thyroid treatment are found here.

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Thank you!! A hearty thank you goes to those who have contributed to the hosting fees for STTM–a patient-to-patient educational site! I can’t do it alone, so you are VERY appreciated. And if you would like to contribute to the hosting fees (which I do not get: the host server does), go here.  Stop the Thyroid Madness is YOUR site.

The large size STTM t-shirts are now gone. If you can wear an X-large or XX-large and want to spread the word to others, go here. And the bumper stickers REALLY catch attention!! I am stopped in parking lots because of mine. YOU could change someone’s life!

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies:  It’s common for thyroid patients to be low in iron/ferritin, Vit. D, magnesium, potassium and more. Have you checked your levels lately?

I always know that when I get an email from Dr. John C. Lowe, it’s going to contain excellent information. And he didn’t let me down.

Dr. Lowe is Editor-in-Chief of Thyroid Science, an “open-access journal for truth in thyroid science and and thyroid clinical practice”.  And in the recent issue, there is a remarkable and precise TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) hypothesis by none other than a brilliant UK  electrical and electronics engineer, Mr. Peter Warmingham.  In fact, his hypothesis about the TSH lab result when treating one’s hypothyroidism exactly corresponds to the successful experience of thyroid patients all over the world.

To quote Dr. Lowe in his introduction about Warmingham’s paper (FYI: “exogenous” refers to the thyroid hormone you give yourself;  ”endogenous” refers to what happens naturally in your body):

Mr. Warmingham’s hypothesis is straightforward: When a hypothyroid patient (whose circulating pool of thyroid hormone is too low) begins taking exogenous thyroid hormone, a negative feedback system reduces the pituitary gland’s output of TSH. This decreases the thyroid gland’s output of endogenous thyroid hormone, and despite the patient’s exogenous thyroid hormone’s contribution to his or her total circulating thyroid pool, that pool does not increase—not until the TSH is suppressed and the thyroid gland is contributing no more thyroid hormone to the total circulating pool. At that point, adding more exogenous thyroid hormone will finally increase the circulating pool of thyroid hormone. The increase must occur for thyroid hormone therapy to be effective. The patient’s suppressed TSH, then, does not indicate that the patient is over-treated with thyroid hormone; instead, it indicates that the patient’s low total thyroid hormone pool will finally rise to potentially adequate levels.

In other words, when your doctor says no to an increase in your desiccated thyroid simply because your TSH lab result is, or would become, below the so-called normal range (and in the presence of continuing symptoms or a low temperature), he will usually end up keeping you hypothyroid! i.e. making an ink spot on a piece of paper more important than clinical presentation is just one reason why the current thyroid patient revolution represented by Stop the Thyroid Madness exists!

You can read Warmington’s entire paper here on Dr. Lowe’s site. For further information on the fallacy of the TSH lab test, go here or read Chapter 4, aka Thyroid Stimulating Hooey, in your copy of the STTM book for more detail.

P.S. Dr. Lowe is probably right on when he says he expects criticism to flow for the fact that Warmington is not an Endocrinologist and “how in the world can anybody but an Endo make a logical hypothesis about the TSH lab test”. Read more on Lowe’s thoughts about this here.   But enlightened thyroid patients around the world are collectively shouting “GOD BLESS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER!”

I recently got an email from a sweet thyroid friend and advocate, Bev, aka Thyro-butterfly, whom I’ve known for several years. And Bev has had two relapsing and unnerving bouts with a condition that’s not common but under-diagnosed: Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy. She stated “I think everyone who has Hashi’s should know that this exists because the symptoms are so similar to severe neurological problems. And the treatment, though not cureable, is relatively easy to do….” Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy (HE), a rare neuroendocrine disorder which was termed and recognized just 44 years ago in 1966, has a strong connection to the autoimmune thyroid disease called Hashimotos, or Thyroiditis. i.e.  just as antibodies attack your thyroid, there are rare cases where it can attack and destroy your brain cells. Having a high thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibodies lab result  is common with Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy. Those with HE can share many symptoms, or can have unique symptoms from each other. Symptoms include:

• tremors (most common symptom)
• language difficulty, whether speaking, writing or read (also common)
• confusion
• limited attention span or concentration
• poor memory and retention
• dementia diagnosis
• disorientation
• restlessness
• seizures
• convulsions
• symptoms similar to a stroke
• tremors
• muscle jerking
• poor coordination (walking, fingers, hands, etc)
• partial right-sided paralysis
• headaches
• fatigue
• sleep problems
• psychosis
• coma

Luckily, treatment is fairly straightforward and dramatic against symptoms: steroid use, which is why it’s also termed “steroid-responsive encephalopathy associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (SREAT)”. Says Elaine Moore in her article  titled Hashimotos encephalopathy: A Treatable Form of Dementia,  “Patients with SREAT show a good response to corticosteroids such as prednisone and related immunosuppressants because of the ability of these medications to reduce thyroid antibody production and reduce inflammation. Researchers in India report a case of SREAT that did not respond to corticosteroids but showed a very favorable response to plasma exchange, a technique used to remove circulating antibodies.” Doses of steroid can vary from individual to individual, but some do well on 4-6 mg cortisol for a few days. Others may need more.  Remission is the norm for most. You’ll have to watch for relapses. Since misdiagnosis is common, it’s important to talk to your doctor about this potential disorder, testing, and treatment if you have Hashi’s and symptoms similar to any of the above. Thanks to Bev for bringing this issue back up. ******************************** Have you signed up to be notified of these blog posts? To do so, go to the left and below the links right on the Stop the Thyroid Madness blog.