And now we have to ask: who will fill those shoes when it comes to the continuation of thyroidscience.org and the courageous message of Dr. Lowe?? Even the front page contains an important article  titled “TSH is Not the Answer,” a report Dr. Carol Rowsemitt and Dr. Thomas Najarian: Their explanation and verification  i.e. Dr. Lowe fought for what PATIENTS ALREADY KNOW TO BE TRUE about the lousy TSH lab test!

And Lowe announced that he was next coming out with an article concerning ” false statements of fact online about T3-containing thyroid products including Armour Thyroid” by The British Thyroid Association and UK Royal College of Physicians.  He continued: ” The scientific facts patently show the falsehood of the two organizations’ statements. Is this a failure of responsibility to study scientific issues before making public pronouncements on them? Or do the statements constitute science fraud?”    Unless it was already written, we might never see this article. But we all know the truth.

The loss of Dr. Lowe propels me to ask: Who do YOU see as a medical professional who has the following qualities:

• high intelligence
• an interest in true science rather than blindly following research with outcomes based on who paid for certain studies
• the courage to speak the truth, even if it goes against the grain of staid medical opinion
• compassion for thyroid patients and the willingness to listen to their experiences

Who, as a medical professional, can patients give a vote of confidence to as someone who can continue the legacy of Dr. Lowe?  Propose some names by commenting on this blog post below. (If you are reading this via the Email Notification, click on the title of this post, which will bring you directly to the blog post where you can leave a comment).

A MESSAGE FROM ELLEN GETTENBERG of ACELLA (THE MAKERS OF GENERIC DESICCATED THYROID CALLED N.P. THYROID)

Over the past several weeks, Acella has experienced production planning issues associated with NP Thyroid.  We sincerely apologize for this and want to inform our valued customers that we are putting measures in place now to prevent any further limited supply.  We anticipate improved availability by the end of January.  Please check back here on our website for further updates.  If you need additional information, please email us through the “Contact Us” page on NPThyroid.com.

Ellen Gettenberg
Director, Marketing| Acella Pharmaceuticals
9005 Westside Parkway | Alpharetta, GA 30009
www.acellapharma.com

WANT TO PAY IT FORWARD AS TO WHAT STTM HAS GIVEN YOU?

Out of my own savings last Fall, I paid for three months in hiring a publicist for the message of Stop the Thyroid Madness…i.e. through the end of December. My goal is to reach far more who may not understand WHY they have problems thanks to the lousy TSH lab test or T4-only meds like Synthroid, Levothyroxine, etc. And she has done a fabulous job in getting interviews and articles out there–you can see what she has done on the donation page mentioned below.

After December, patients donations completely paid for January. Now we are working on February, and nearly half way there. But this will end sooner than later if more donations don’t come in. Go here to read about it and Pay It Forward.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED YOU MAY NOT NEED HC TO HEAL YOUR ADRENALS? OR IF ON HC, YOU CAN DO THIS A LOT FASTER?

UK thyroid and adrenal patient Paul Robinson made a VERY interesting discovery–that he could heal his adrenals with his unique use of T3. Yup, and he SUCCEEDED. And it’s quite exciting news for adrenal fatigue patients.  Additionally, if you are on T3, his  T3 titration process alone is vastly superior to most other recommendations in the use of T3, and means you can use less!!

Take the time to find out for yourself!!  There’s a good summary of what he discovered in the new STTM Facebook Adrenals group (and please note this group is for PATIENTS ONLY, not medical professionals. And for approval to the group, you canNOT have a hidden info and friends. We have to be this way to keep out spammers, and to see that you are who you say you are).  You can also order his book from this Recommended books page on STTM. To order the patient-to-patient STTM book, go here.

HOW T3, DOSED A CERTAIN WAY, CAN REVERSE YOUR ADRENAL FATIGUE! 

UK’s Hashimoto’s patient Paul Robinson has been a successful T3-only treated patient for more than 13 years, especially because he never did well on either synthetic T4, nor on the combination of T4/ T3. And he learned so much that he compiled all the information on T3 dosing in his book called Recovering With T3: My Journey from Hypothyroidism to Good Health Using the T3 Thyroid Hormone.  You can order it here.

But what I especially find interesting is how he used T3 to cure his flagging adrenal function rather than HC (hydrocortisone).  And here is a short summary of key points, and you can read more by getting his book. He calls this The Circadian T3 Method.

1. Most of the day’s cortisol is made in the last four hours of sleep, which means your adrenals work their hardest during that time. And like any cell in your body which need T3 to function well, so do your adrenal cells…especially during the time they work the hardest.
2. With the above in mind, it made sense to Paul that if adrenals are struggling with low cortisol, they clearly need T3 in that early morning 4-hour window in order to function better. How did he do it?  He moved his first T3 dose to one hour before he would normally wake up, held it for a few weeks to see the results, went earlier another half hour, held it for a few weeks to see the effect…and so on. He obtained a lot of data to ascertain what was happening–urine cortisol, blood pressure, pulse, etc. He found that the time which gave his adrenals the biggest boost, and thus better function, was 3 1/2 hours before he normally wakes up.  But he feels that others might find that anywhere in the first three hours of that four hour window, and it’s important to move slowly within that area to find the right time for you based on data.
3. This protocol needs certain supplements, which include high potency B complex, B12, Vit. C, Vit. D and a good multi mineral. He goes into detail in his book.
4. This protocol would not work if someone has Addisons, Hypopituitary or Diabetes…and may not work if you have pre-Diabetes blood sugar issues. It’s blood sugar in the cells that reacts positively with T3.

There is much more detail than the above. And Paul makes it clear that this treatment for adrenal fatigue and proven low cortisol should only be done in your relationship with your doctor. So you will need his book to understand it all. We have also been discussing this protocol in the new STTM Facebook Adrenals group–created for friendly discussion of your experiences and anything you learn elsewhere.

SELENIUM, EVEN WITH HIGH RT3, IS A MINERAL YOU NEED!

Check out what thyroid patient Cheryl Alvey has put together about the key importance of selenium for thyroid patients: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/selenium

WHY THYROID PATIENTS NEED HEALTHY LIVER FUNCTION

Not only is your liver the largest organ in your body, it does an astonishing amount of work to keep you healthy. It helps maintain good blood sugar levels, metabolizes fats and proteins, helps eliminate toxins via the bile, stores important vitamins and minerals, and makes cholesterol–the pre-cursor for estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, DHEA, and aldosterone.

As for thyroid, your liver is is equally as important:

• promotes type 1 deiodination for the conversion of  T4 to T3
• helps with transport of T4 and T4 throughout your body

So what happens if your liver isn’t healthy?  Transportation is less optimal, and the deiodination type 1 will change to type 3, meaning T4 will convert to excess RT3! And guess what can make your liver unhealthy? Continued hypothyroidism, which happens to all too many who are on T4-only medications, or those left undiagnosed due to the TSH. Hypothyroidism is worsened with adrenal problems, and low iron.  And liver function can become unhealthy or stressed if you eat poorly  You can read more about all this here.

In the meantime, what can one do to promote better liver function? Milk thistle is one highly recommended way by many (use Milk Thistle supps from the seeds to avoid estrogenic affect). Also look into dandelion root /leaf, Sassafras, Burdock, Goldenseal and Yellow Doc root, Red Clover and Echinacea root. Ask someone knowledgeable at your local health food store.

I DID THE JUICING FAST

Yup, I watched the DVD “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead”, and it just resonated with me–both for my yearly weight loss diet which I do after Christmas (to take off the result of all those Christmas goodies), and the immense nutritional benefits.  So I got a new juicer (I chose the Masticating juicer because it gets out more juice-see those on Amazon), shopped for all the veggies and fruits I’d need to use, and began. As I write this, I am approaching my 12th day. Yes, I’ve lost weight–belly is smaller…so is face. But even better, I know I’ve done a wonderful thing for my body with all the nutrients one gets from the juicing of a variety of mostly veggies, and some key fruits.  I’ll probably finish soon, but will always do juicing for veggies a few times a week, because I simply can’t stand them otherwise. And juicing them is quite good if you add a juiced fruit like an apple.  Cheers!

PATIENT YOU-TUBE STTM VIDEOS

See thyroid patient Sam Aliyev’s latest YouTube video.  If you do one about the message of STTM, let me know and I’ll post about it.

Has STTM benefitted you?? Want to Pay It Forward? Go here.

IMPRESSIVE GOOD THYROID NEWS!  

After a grueling week by the United Kingdom’s General Medical Council (GMC) , it was decided that the UK’s most renowned thyroid practitioner, Dr. Gordon P. Skinner, should have all his restrictions lifted and his Fitness to Practice restored!

On November 11th, 2007, the GMC had decided that the beloved Dr Gordon Skinner was not fit to practice, simply because in 2005, he dared to listen to and dose by a patient’s clinically-presented thyroid symptoms rather than her TSH labwork–the latter which fell in the erroneous normal range.  Even more dastardly, felt the GMC, Skinner was going to treat the patient without a referral letter from her GP, and may have failed to contact the GP. Heaven Forbid!!

Says a recent statement from TPA-UK:

The GMC have agreed that Dr Skinner was not acting dangerously in initiating treatment with thyroid hormone replacement for those patients who had normal thyroid function tests but who suffered several symptoms and signs of hypothyroidism. They also agreed that for those patients who did not do well on levothyroxine-only therapy, the use of natural desiccated thyroid extract (i.e. Armour Thyroid) was a safe and effective thyroid hormone replacement that doctors could prescribe, even though it remains unlicensed. This is a precedent - and one that the British Thyroid Association are most definitely very unlikely to be happy with.

There’s something huge to learn from this!  It’s called PATIENT POWER, my thyroid friends, and what we must always practice in our fight to get far better treatment. Namely, what impressed the staff of the GMC was the sheer volume of the general public who attended the hearings in support of Dr. Skinner.  Additionally, there was a nicely bound volume of over 2000 patient citations in support of him.

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SURVIVING STRESSFUL EVENTS EVEN WITH ADRENAL FATIGUE

Having adrenal fatigue with its low cortisol can be a challenge, even while you are on Hydrocortisone for your treatment (HC). So thyroid and adrenal fatigue patient Robin had to learn the hard way how to do something very stressful and still survive, adrenally. After moving to a new house, she created these excellent tips for dealing with any stressful event and preventing an adrenal meltdown:

1. REST REST REST as much as you possibly can! Just sit and stop moving, give yourself permission to stop “doing” and just BE! Let others do the work.
2. Don’t be afraid to stress dose with your HC!  Remember that a healthy person’s adrenals can provide over 100mg per day when in very stressful circumstances! Of course this is not healthy long-term, but we do what we have to do to survive!
3. Remember that if you stress dose, you’ll need to start a tapering down by 2.5 mg, holding for several days, then taking off another 2.5, etc until you work back down to your “regular” daily dose–the one that gave you stable Daily Average Temps.
4. SALT! Drink lots of salt water (or juice–I prefer my salt in watered-down juice or other flavored drinks), salt your food heavily, and even eat lots of salty olives, if you like them! The adrenals thrive in salt, and this can also be important if your aldosterone levels are also sluggish.
5. Eat lots of protein and fat and try to keep the carbs as low as you can!
6. Give yourself permission to be a hermit for a while. People can wait for you to return their calls. Just enjoy some quiet and solitude for a while.

PAYING FORWARD WHAT STTM HAS GIVEN YOU!

Janie began a contract with a top-notch publicist to help get the word out to millions about the problems with T4-only, or for those remaining undiagnosed or undertreated due to the TSH lab test (similar to what Dr. Skinner above tried to avoid for one of his patients). She already has interviews scheduled and more gigs are coming.

But this contract won’t last long–it’s just too expensive for Janie alone. So your help is needed to reach more people, and soon.

Go here and read all about it.

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READING THIS VIA THE EMAIL NOTIFICATION?? If you want to comment on anything on a blog post, click on the title of this post, and you’ll be taken right to the actual post. Then scroll down for the Comment square.

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In the year 1847, a young Hungarian physician named Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis had a practice of Obstetrics which began to grow by leaps and bounds.  Even the Royalty of Hungary began to go to his practice. Why?  Because he had the best outcomes.

When he tried to show his collegues his techniques, they simply made fun of him. As his practice continued to flourish,  his peers brought him before the medical society and censured him for not adhering to the current practice guidelines. 

His crime? Washing his hands before delivering babies.  Physicians were offended to think they should wash their hands, and were especially incensed when he could offer no scientific explanation for his intuitive action.  Yet, this very simple antiseptic procedure meant that his OB patients did not contact puerpeal fever and die. Puerperal fever was common in mid-1800′s and often fatal.

The censureship did him in with depression and his practice ended when he was only 47 years old….not because he couldn’t practice,  but because he literally grieved himself to death watching so many women dying unnecessarily for the sake of  current practice guidelines.

It was not until the 1890′s that his methods were fully recognized,  even though Oliver Wendell Holmes of Boston, Mass. USA had confirmed the contagiousness of peurperal fever, and Louis Pasteur confirmed the theory about germs.

And today, established scientific and medical opinions continue the same ridiculous travesty. 

TSH levels have been set at 0.3-5.1 as normal. Therefore, if your physician screens for thyroid disease and you fall within that range, you are considered normal.  Yet, Gay, JC et. al.,  in the Arch Intern Med 2000: 160: 526-534,  showed that the TSH range was 0.45-2.5 for 95% of general population.

In the J Clin Endrocrino Metab Feb 2002 87:(2)489-499 “Serum TSH,T4, and Thyroid Antibodies”,  Hollowee JG et.al. found that a normal TSH was 0.05-3.0 and was different for Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks.The NHASANES lll study showed the normal TSH to be 0.3-2.5 (95% of normal reference subjects).

As a doctor, I wrote to my pathologist at the lab I use and asked why his lab had not changed the ‘normal’ values. I will give you his reply:

“I am aware of this idea to lower the reference range for TSH.  But there are mixed feelings about this in the medical community, especially with endocrinologists. If, for example,we lowered our reference range for TSH from its current 5.1 to 3.0,  we would go reporting about 7% of TSH results being too high to 30%. The last time I looked into this, which was about two years ago (note: this was written in June 24, 2005,  which puts the date of last looking in 2003), most endocrinologists that I spoke with were concerned that suddenly having many more patients would be considered “abnormal” and it would be difficult to manage. They felt it would be best to wait until the word spread in the general medical commmunity and literature so that most physicians would be prepared for the inevitable questions from patients and know how to deal with patients suddenly having high TSH’s. On an individual basis, we certainly could give a lower reference range for the TSH, but you should know that this is not the standard practice in the commnity at this time. It may become standard, but right now, it is not.

Thanks, and good luck,
xxx

So there is the problem. Even if TSH alone was used for screening,  the answer will be wrong. Many hypothyroid patients misdiagnosed as ‘normal’  are being done so because if the right change were made, the ‘medical establishment’ would be embarassed. This says to me that the ‘medical establishment’ does not care about the patient as much as they do themselves.

Recap: TSH levels were known to be wrong by 2000. Reconfirmed in 2006. Waited at least 5 years to make change and no change made. Something is wrong with the system. Review Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis story. Nothing has changed in approx. 160 years.

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From Janie:  ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!  And of course, informed thyroid patients also know another inane current practice guideline–the use of  Synthroid and other T4-only meds as the “gold standard” of thyroid treatment…in spite of the fact that a huge body of thyroid patients in internet groups ALL OVER THE WORLD report POOR outcomes when on T4-only meds, besides with the TSH, and do much better on natural desiccated thyroid, or even T3, and dosing by symptoms and the free T3.

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FIND THE ABOVE APPALLING??? FIGHT BACK!!!  A publicist has been hired to represent  Stop the Thyroid Madness in getting to the word out to millions who still linger on T4-only meds, or who are considered “normal” thanks to the lousy TSH lab test. But it can’t go on long without your help!! Read about it here.

And sadly, though thyroid patients can appreciate even getting a reply by the Editors of Good Housekeeping (which is certainly better than the dead silence thyroid patients got from Oprah Winfrey when they emailed numerous times about this horrific thyroid treatment scandal), we certainly are saddened by the continued poor understanding and false suppositions contained in the reply:

We have read your postings and letters with great interest and are moved by the depth of feeling that underlies them. It is obvious that many of you write out of frustration with your own unresolved symptoms, and we are sympathetic to your ongoing difficulties.

Good Housekeeping’s August 2011 article on thyroid disease describes one woman’s quest to understand her own ambiguous diagnosis. As described in the article, there is a great deal of controversy surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of low thyroid disorders — among mainstream physicians as well as those with a more complementary or integrative orientation. We recognize that much of the information on the Internet serves to support patients who haven’t been heard or understood by their own doctors — a terribly disheartening and frustrating experience for anyone. But it is often difficult to discern what’s been scientifically tested and proven versus what is still being explored. That is why this article, like all health articles in GH, drew on research and advice that is evidence-based; typically, such information comes from credentialed doctors working at leading medical and academic centers. A careful reader of our story will see that doctors we consulted acknowledged that low thyroid levels might be treated if a patient has other problems like infertility or depression or if she has Hashimoto antibodies and other factors.

It is our hope that better understanding of the disease will lead to more effective treatment for all. That’s really the goal and the motivation behind all of Good Housekeeping’s health coverage.

We thank you for your valuable feedback and encourage you to continue to send us your thoughts. You can reach us at ghletters@goodhousekeeping.com.

And here is my reply to the Editors of Good Housekeeping:

We, as thyroid patients around the world, do appreciate that you took the time to reply. We have been the recipients of dead silence all too often in our quest to inspire and educate the media about this near 60-year thyroid treatment problem. Thank you.

But there are incorrect observations and assumptions in your reply that need clarification and intelligent re-thinking:

1. This patient-to-patient movement is far more than ‘frustrations with our own unresolved symptoms’.  This is about  hundreds of millions of us worldwide who have been subjected to a brainwashed bias by medical professionals in the use of  T4-only medications and the TSH lab test (both which have left us with lingering hypothyroid symptoms and denied as such by our physicians).
2. What you refer to as “a great deal of controversy surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of low thyroid disorders”  is, in our experience and observation, only within the boundaries of a dogmatically-trained medical profession comprised of those who seem to have lost the art of paying attention to CLEAR symptoms of hypothyroidism with a so-called “normal” TSH lab test or with the use of the laughable “gold standard” of thyroid treatment–T4-only.
3. This is far more than what is “scientifically tested and proven.” Do you REALLY believe that all scientific testing is unbiased and correct??  Do you not understand that much science has been done quite badly, and the results are often in conjunction to whoever or whatever FUNDED the research? Instead, this is about real live and multiple patient experience and outcome–patient experience where lives are changed due to not going by the TSH but by symptoms; where labwork is used as the cart pulled by the horse of symptoms; where desiccated thyroid has been proven to be far more beneficial in the removal of our symptoms than thyroxine ever was or will be…and more. (And here is science that actually underscores our experience).
4. You state that the article “drew on research and advice that is evidence-based.”  And what about the evidence of millions of thyroid patients who have endured multiple and clear hypothyroid symptoms for years before the TSH lab test rose high enough to reveal their obvious hypothyroid state? What about all of us who have suffered for years in our own kind and degree while on T4-only meds like Synthroid, levothyroxine, etc? What about the irrefutable evidence of those whose lives have turned completely around thanks to desiccated thyroid and/or T3, especially after they treated the extreme side effects of being undiagnosed or undertreated all these years thanks to a clueless medical profession?
5. You refer to “credentialed doctors working at leading medical and academic centers” as your source of information: would it shock you to hear that MANY credentialed doctors are the very ones who have kept us completely sick for nearly sixty years??  Ask thyroid patients about all those doctors they saw over the years who were “credentialed”, and your eyes and ears will burn. And what about all the growing body of “credentialed doctors” who now have the courage to state that the TSH lab test is lousy (except for diagnosing hypopituitary), just as is T4-only treatment? They are many!
6. And finally, if your “goal and the motivation behind all of Good Housekeeping’s health coverage” is to find more effective treatment for all, do a follow-up article in an upcoming issue about the scandal of T4-only treatment, the poor use of the TSH lab test (which is measuring a pituitary hormone, not cellular levels of thyroid hormones), the experience of patients worldwide on T4, the experience of patients who lives made a complete turn-around thanks to desiccated thyroid or T3, the experience of patients with “credentialed doctors” who have been nothing more than condescending, ignorant, biased and dogmatically close-minded to our experience and wisdom in our own bodies!

Good Housekeeping do a PATIENT EXPERIENCE article!  Let your readers use their own wisdom about the “mass experience of patients worldwide” vs the “dogmatic, pharmaceutically-brainwashed “opinion” of a several misguided and credentialed medical professionals.”

And if you haven’t caught up with it all yet, here is a summary of the extremely sad misinformation and implications contained in an article of the latest issue in the Good Housekeeping magazine:

1. that the first step to diagnosing your potential hypothyroid problem is the use of the thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) lab test  (a test which informed patients worldwide exclaim has left them either undiagnosed for years or undertreated! http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/tsh-why-its-useless)
2. that your TSH may only point to hypothyroidism if it comes back at 10 or higher (Hogwash!! say informed thyroid patients, who have been hypothyroid with a TSH in the two’s! See above.)
3. that the only other tests you may need are the T4 and antibodies  (which informed patients have found is only PART of what you need, which needs to include the very important  free T3!  http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/recommended-labwork)
4. that it’s worthy to quote a Dr. Daniels who states ”There’s no compelling evidence that medication helps patients whose TSH is in the 5.0 to 10.0 range,”  (exactly the kind of doctor which nearly all informed thyroid patients state has kept them repeatly sick for years!  http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/give-me-a-break )
5. that if you have “other problems”, such as infertility or depression, your doctor might suggest medication (when, oh when, are doctors going to GET IT that depression and infertility are key symptoms of ongoing hypothyroidism!! http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/long-and-pathetic )
6. that T4 meds like Synthroid are T4 hormone are the go-to medication (and are the very medications which have kept patients sick, disabled, or with problematic hypothyroid symptoms  for  over 50 years! http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/t4-only-meds-dont-work )
7. that the “potency can vary” for desiccated thyroid…as if that’s a good reason to be concerned about its use  (potency is set in a predictable range and is made according to the strict guidance of  the United States Pharmacopeia , say the makers of desiccated thyroid, and desiccated thyroid has been changing lives ten fold for decades!  http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/natural-thyroid-101)
8. And last but not least…that you need to be on-guard about online patient information (yet wise and repeated “patient experience” has changed not only patient lives, but the way open-minded doctors are practicing in their own offices!! http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/things-we-have-learned 

All the above, appearing in what we all thought would be considered a long-standing good magazine, only underscores the irresponsibility and ignorance of the media about REAL LIFE!! Who wants to subscribe to any magazine, or listen in seriousness to any news program, talk show, or internet website that allows this kind of DARK AGES BALONEY on its pages??  I don’t.

P.S. One particularly personal tragedy is the author of this article, Susan Carlton. She is clearly hypothyroid, yet completely duped by the pharmaceutically-brainwashed medical field which clings blindly to a poor medication and inadequate labwork.  She is ALL OF US LOOKING AT OURSELVES all those years when we believed in the doctors we went to and emptied our pocketbooks to try and find out why we had depression, infertility, rising cholesterol and blood pressure, linger aches and pains, poor stamina and fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, anxiety…and so many more symptoms of undiagnosed or undertreated hypothyroidism. 

And sadly, how many of us also thought that actions similar to “drinking more java (for energy)”, or “honing crossword skills (for focus)” or attending a “spinning class”  (for our weight gain) was going to help us!  They didn’t help at all. They just sent us closer to adrenal dysfunction and disability.

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If you could speak to the author, Susan Carlton, in kindness and wisdom, what would you say to help her get past the brainwashing she is a victim to, as you were??

If you could speak to Good Housekeeping and all media like Oprah, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, FOX, what would you say about the repeated misinformation?

Anyone who has read my story of nearly 20 years of absolute misery on T4-only meds would think I’d be right in the thick of adrenal fatigue / HPA dysfunction and low cortisol.  Those were horrible, miserable, stressful, debilitating years.

Yet, I escaped it.

For awhile after I entered the thyroid patient activist field, I felt guilty. That was especially true as I saw how terribly people suffer with low cortisol.  But I also realized there was something potentially amazing to be discovered as to WHY I escaped it.

But years went by, and I have always been extremely busy as an activist: daily emails to take care of; constant updates to the website, keeping track of Yahoo and Facebook groups; thinking about and writing the blog; activities around the book, phone consultations, and so much more.  I have also fought to have an important private life.

So, it wasn’t until recently that I readdressed this question: why did I escape adrenal dysfunction? Was it genes which gave me strong adrenals?? That thought has drifted through my mind many times.  But I wasn’t sure. So recently, I took some time to really search my past to find answers. And something else really stood out.

Namely, because I had always been a fitness and health buff, I was big into supplements. Sure, I was unable to do hardly anything about fitness part of the equation–my T4-induced and crippling dysautonomia killed that.  But my belief in supplements never ended.   That was impressed into me by my mother who always stressed taking a vitamin pill as a child.  I also remember her putting my cigarette-smoking Dad on Vitamin C  in the 1970′s, having read it might delay his inevitable lung cancer. (It was too late.)

So when I became a young adult, married with little children, I learned even more about supplements, and took them. And one thing I remember always taking all those years as a young adult was high amounts of Vitamin C.  High amounts of Vitamin C!! That stood out to me.  And below are facts about Vitamin C and adrenals:

VITAMIN C and ADRENALS:

1. “Of all the vitamins and minerals involved in adrenal metabolism, vitamin-C is probably the most important. It is essential to the adrenal hormone cascade and manufacture of adrenal steroid hormones.  It acts as an antioxidant within the adrenal cortex.” ~ www.bluemountainrx.com/adrenal.htm
2. “While the adrenal glands need numerous nutrients to function normally, perhaps the most important of them all is vitamin C. The highest concentrations of vitamin C reside in the eyes, brain and adrenal glands. ~ http://www.adrenalfatiguefocus.org/adrenal-fatigue-and-vitamin-c.html
3. “Healthy adrenal function requires vitamin C, and some of the highest concentrations of vitamin C in the whole body are found in the adrenal glands.” ~ http://www.naturalnews.com/029842_vitamin_C_adrenals.html
4. “Vitamin C is utilized by the adrenal glands in the production of all of the adrenal hormones, most notably cortisol. When you are faced with a stressful situation, your vitamin C is rapidly used up in the production of cortisol and related stress-response hormones.” ~ http://www.adrenalfatiguerecovery.com/vitamin-c.html
5. “The adrenal gland is among the organs with the highest concentration of vitamin C in the body. Interestingly, both the adrenal cortex and the medulla accumulate such high levels of ascorbate. Ascorbic acid is a cofactor required both in catecholamine biosynthesis and in adrenal steroidogenesis.” ~ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15666839

There is much more on the net than the above, as well. And in fact, the important relationship between Vitamin C and your adrenals was proposed in 1951. This was huge, to me, as to why I may have escaped adrenal dysfunction. Even the use of B-vitamins and magnesium are important, tho I don’t remember what I was taking of those.

ANOTHER CLUE: I had a conversation with a gal recently. Like me, she suffered a long time, yet did not fall into adrenal fatique. I asked her why she felt she escaped it. She explained that she had worked for a naturopath for many years, and thus, took many supplements, including high dose Vitamin C. I was dumbfounded.

MY CONCLUSION: Whether I have found the irrefutable reason as to why I didn’t fall into adrenal fatigue and low cortisol may not be answered inconclusively. And who knows if some of us just have genetically strong adrenals.  But I lean to believe that my early use of high-dose Vitamin C all those miserable years may have been a huge factor, along with B-vitamins which can also be depleted. Today, I take a minimum of 2350 mg daily via my buffered C powder, and in water, and usually double that amount, as I like taking it before bedtime for the magnesium.  I am also a fanatic about adding squeezed lemon to my water or occasional fluoride-laden iced tea.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU: Adrenal patient experience has shown that once your adrenals or HPA function drops, as does your cortisol, the use of hydrocortisone is usually the best way to treat it.  See the adrenals page here.  And patients have learned in leaps and bounds on how to use HC with their open-minded doctors (…if they can even find a doctor who looks beyond his dogmatic training.  It’s not easy.)  But the use of high dose Vitamin C might not be something you want to ignore, whether you have to use HC or not:

1. “Sufferers of adrenal fatigue are hit particularly hard by vitamin C deficiency. The production of cortisol and other adrenal hormones, characteristically low in this disorder, is dependent on an ongoing supply of vitamin C. If this supply dwindles, so too does the secretion of adrenal hormones. This feeble response from the adrenal glands places the body under further stress, further increasing demand for the vitamin C. The importance of intervention with the appropriate amounts of this nutrient should not be overlooked.”   ~ http://www.adrenalfatiguefocus.org/adrenal-fatigue-and-vitamin-c.html
2. Have you heard of Scurvy? This is a progressive disease from the  deficiency of vitamin C that ultimately leads to death.  And Linus Pauling wrote in his 1979 book, Biomolecular Sciences,  that death from Scurvy is actually “adrenalcortical failure”. That is profound as to the importance of Vitamin C with YOUR adrenal health and/or recovery.
3. “In two separate studies about vitamin C supplementation (1,000–1,500 mg per day for one week), ultramarathon runners showed a 30 percent lower cortisol level in their blood when compared to runners receiving a placebo. In another study of healthy children undergoing treatment with synthetic corticosteroids, 1 gram (1,000 mg) of vitamin C, consumed three times a day for five days, resulted in significantly lower cortisol levels compared to healthy children given a placebo. In a study of lung-cancer patients, a dose of 2 grams of vitamin C, given daily for one week prior to surgery, was able to bring elevated cortisol levels (resulting from the surgery) back to normal ranges in a significantly shorter period of time compared to patients receiving a placebo. ~ http://cortisolconnection.com/ch8_3.php

What about you? If you escaped adrenal dysfunction while going through years of misery on T4-only meds, or being held hostage to the lousy TSH lab result, why do YOU think you escaped it?

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* IODINE: Finally, I have updated the iodine page on STTM–long overdue.  Thanks to VRP for pointing out that their links have changed.  You can read many different links about iodine, the controversies and more, and decide for yourself what is right for you.

* FINDING A  BETTER DOCTOR: Want to try to find a better doc that the vast majority of cows…oops, doctors? Go here.

* TALK TO OTHERS: Talking to other patients is what started me on new path years ago. You can too, here. Scroll down to view them all.

The transition was slightly trying, says Wendy. Her doc didn’t believe her that she shouldn’t be on a low dose for more than a couple weeks without upping it. So she  went hypo all over again. (See why here.)

But after successfully upping the dose, she will now shout that it’s been the BEST thing  in every way!  She tells folks that being on Synthroid was like having your hand amputated and replaced with a hook, while being on Armour was like have it replaced with a fully functional prosthetic.  Her skin is softer, hair is not shedding nearly as much, her mood has changed in a good way, memory has returned, fogginess has faded. She feels closer to her old self than she has in almost give years.

Now the bad news…

All this time, she only paid $15 for her Armour at the local Walgreen’s. But as of April 1st, it will be considered a Tier 3 drug under her insurance plan–United Healthcare.  Exclaims Wendy in outrage and sadness:  “This means that the natural drug I love, that has restored my in so many ways that the synthetic t4 only drugs never could, will now cost 85 bucks! Who can afford that?! ”

And here’s the awful irony: Synthroid, the worst medication ever thrust upon us in the treatment of hypothyroid, is Tier 2 (i.e. costs less), and generic T4-only is Tier 1 (costs even less).  i.e. if you are under this insurance, you have to pay big bucks to feel a thousand times better.  She has no clue why this is happening, but warns that it might start to happen across the board for others as well!

Here’s what happened: most insurance companies classify drugs under Tiers.  Tier 1 is generally generics.  And since the Acella “generic” brand of desiccated thyroid entered the market last November, her insurance company decided Armour is now a brand name, thus under Tier 3 and now $85 for Wendy. Seems a bit greedy when it could have risen to Tier 2….

But here is potentially good news for some of you. There is a bill to stop the Tier expense. You can read about it here. Unfortunately, tho, it “will not impact self-funded health plans which cover about half of all employees with health insurance. Federal legislation is needed to change that.”

Does your health insurance cover your desiccated thyroid?

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Canadian Pharmacy price updates for Erfa: See the latest prices here.

How medical journals affect the prescription practice of your doctor: An interesting article on this found here. And here’s an article about how the author of a medical article fails to state his association with the pharmaceutical of the product he is writing about–one more conflict of interest and influence on your doctor!

Ridiculous! Basing “normal” for Hashimotos patients by the TSH, a pituitary hormone, NOT a thyroid hormone: Read it here and weep.

Vit. D can help you stay sharp: So many benefits from optimizing your Vit D, and here’s one with your brain.

Need to talk to others? See all your alternatives here.

A GOOD REPORT ON THIS OVER-THE-COUNTER THYROID SUPPORT

A gal recently used the Contact Me form on STTM to ask if I’d ever compiled patient experiences on ThyroGold–a nonprescription, over the counter, desiccated thyroid formulated by Dr. John C. Lowe and made from the thyroids of New Zealand cows who are pasture-fed. I said no–haven’t heard yet from anyone on it long enough.

But just thirty minutes later, here comes an email from a gal who has been on it four months, feels very good with many noted improvements. She is so thankful, and stated STTM gave her the confidence to feel she could work with ThyroGold. And lo and behold, her TSH-worshipping, Synthroid-prescribing doctor is watching her progress, and pleased.

COCONUT OIL AND ALZHEIMERS

Many a thyroid patient have heard of the benefits of coconut oil, especially as a food product which can stimulate your metabolism.

But a Dr. Mary Newport discovered in 2008 that just 4 teaspoons a day of virgin coconut oil just might have the right ingredients–medium-chain triglycerides which produces ketones by the live–to stop the onset or even reverse some of the damage caused by Alzheimer’s.  She witnessed this in her own husband. You should read her story here, and more on the Coconut Ketones website here.  Since my mother, and her father, both got Alzheimers by the time they were eighty, this especially interests me!

In fact, coconut oil just night have the same successful results with Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease), drug-resistant epilepsy, brittle type I diabetes, and type II (insulin-resistant) diabetes. WHOA!!

Says Dr. Newport:

Our cells can use ketone bodies as an alternative fuel when glucose is not available. Brain cells, specifically neurons, are very limited, more limited than other cells, in what kinds of fuel they can use to function and to stay alive. Normally, they require glucose (sugar), but they can also use ketone bodies. Humans do not normally have ketone bodies circulating and available to the brain unless they have been starving for a couple of days or longer, or are consuming a ketogenic (very low carbohydrate) diet, such as Atkins. In Alzheimer’s disease, the neurons in certain areas of the brain are unable to take in glucose due to insulin resistance and slowly die off, a process that appears to happen one or more decades before the symptoms become apparent. If these cells had access to ketone bodies, they could potentially stay alive and continue to function.

P.S. Did you see the “one or more decades before symptoms become apparent”? That means we need to be on coconut oil daily NOW,

ARE ENDOCRINOLOGISTS FROM ANOTHER PLANET?

A patient on STTM’s Facebook page recently reported that since her HMO would only allow her to see an Endocrinologist, off she went to the appointment.

And what does her new Endo tell her? Ready? That her TSH was fine, low T3 & T4 meant nothing, and there is NO evidence that Adrenal Fatigue is real (in spite of the fact that when she tries to raise her Armour, her heart goes wacky–a sure sign of low cortisol). She concluded that there is “nothing like being lectured on things when you know more than they do.” She felt forced to keep her mouth shut by his reactions if she did try to teach him something, and just resigned to “agreeing with everything he said and left”.

And her summary of that Endo escapade? “My dose of Armour is right, makes no difference I’m fatigued, had to quit my job, leg swelling so bad I can hardly get around. None of that mattered. ONLY the TSH test.”

And unfortunately, her comment about knowing more than the doctor is very, very common now thanks to STTM and patient groups. All we can hope for are those doctors who are humble and open-minded to what we now KNOW to be true!

TWO OF THE MOST IMPORTANT CHAPTERS IN THE STTM BOOK

Chapters 3 and 11

REMEMBER ME MENTIONING THE GAL WHO PUT THE STTM BUMPER STICKER ON HER HUSBAND’S CAR?

Well, he got followed into the Barber Shop this time by a male nurse! So now, he wants something to hand out to these folks who keep approaching him. haha. So she has made copies of the STTM FLYERS and he’ll have them in the car from now on. This is reaching people…one by one!

As a hypothyroid patient, think you are fine drinking that purely fine mineral water from a plastic bottle? Think that fluoride and chlorine are the only substances we need to worry about when it comes to our thyroid health?? Think again.

Thyroid patient Amy McMullen, who has contributed before on STTM’s blog as a GUEST POSTER (Confessions of a Undercover Thyroid Advocate) and has a passion about human rights, has written another important article below which should be of keen interest to all of you.

BPA—A POWERFUL ENDOCRINE DISRUPTER THAT AFFECTS YOUR THYROID

Perhaps you have read recently about how the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) is found to be prevalent in our food and water. As a hypothyroid patient, I was surprised to see that not all articles about this harmful substance adequately describe the connection between thyroid function and BPA. This is an oversight that should be addressed since hypothyroidism is estimated to affect over ten million people in the US and this number is growing. It makes perfect sense to look to environmental toxins as a likely culprit in this serious health epidemic.

BPA is a synthetic estrogen and an endocrine disrupter that causes multiple health problems. There are over 200 studies linking it to breast cancer, obesity, attention deficit disorder, early puberty in girls, genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike, polycystic ovary disease and infertility in women and prostate cancer in men. Studies indicate that up to 92% of Americans have BPA in their urine. Also BPA doesn’t leave the body quickly; fasting adults still had BPA levels in their bodies after 24 hours.

BPA comes from many plastic sources. It’s used as a hardener in plastic manufacturing. Many tin cans have plastic linings that contain BPA including soup and tomatoes, and it’s also in plastic water bottles, some infant formulas and canned juices. BPA is also found in PVC water supply piping.

How does BPA relate to thyroid disease? According to a several good studies, BPA is a thyroid receptor antagonist. This means that BPA will interfere with the binding of the thyroid hormone T3 with cell receptor sites. This will cause hypothyroidism, not only with people with under-functioning thyroids but also for those who are currently taking medications for hypothyroidism or even those who have normally functioning thyroids. BPA was found to accumulate in many organs when injected into rats including the lung, kidneys, thyroid, stomach, heart, spleen, testes, liver, and brain. In this way, BPA has the potential to interfere with thyroid hormones in each organ that has accumulated the substance. A study also indicates that the levels of BPA that are considered safe (upper limit of emission is set to 2.5 ppm [µg/liter], which is more than 90 µM) are high enough to inhibit thyroid hormone receptors. Yet another study shows that BPA appears to accumulate in rat fetuses in significantly high levels and disrupts thyroid function in baby rats.

There’s also evidence that BPA may influence the metabolism of endogenous steroids, which may be a factor in adrenal fatigue and its treatment, as well as and its treatment, as well as dysautonomia stemming from adrenal problems. Many with hypothyroidism also suffer from co-morbid adrenal fatigue and BPA may be a contributing factor in this.

What this means for everyone, but especially for thyroid patients, is every effort should be made to remove BPA from food and water supplies. For those who are not able to get properly optimized on their thyroid meds or who are finding they are suffering from hypothyroid symptoms despite normal levels of TSH, free T3 and free T4, consider BPA as a possible source of the problem.

Steps you can take to minimize you exposure include:

• Avoid all canned foods with plastic liners and avoid bottled water. Buy your canned tomatoes in glass jars, not metal cans or stick to using fresh ingredients. Most other canned foods use BPA as well, especially green beans (Here is a list of BPA-free canned foods).
• Drink water out of glass or stainless steel containers (and make sure there’s no plastic liner or lids that have BPA) or BPA-free plastic. Low density polyethylene bike bottles contain BPA.
• Do not microwave foods in plastics or use plastic wraps when microwaving. Avoid polycarbonate (“PC” or #7 and #3) plastic food containers altogether.
• Since most municipal water piping is PVC and some houses have it as water supply lines, consider installing a reverse osmosis system for your drinking water. This will also remove fluoride and chlorine (other thyroid disrupters) and many other harmful substances from drinking water.

Most importantly we need to make our voices heard that BPA is not an acceptable substance and that its use in our food and water supply must cease. Recently Senator Feinstein introduced a ban on BPA to the Food Safety Modernization Act but this was modified to remove the ban due to pressure by industry groups. Senator Feinstein still has an effort underway to ban BPA from child drink bottles and toys and several states have enacted such bans but this does not go far enough.

Contact your representatives today and let them know that a national ban on BPA must be enacted. If they don’t listen then I suggest you make yourself heard at the ballot box this November.

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• Have you cut down on your exposure to Fluoride? Buy non-fluoridated toothpaste as a first step.
• Cut down on more chemicals by using baking soda under your arms rather than commercially-made underarm deodorants. Note that the baking soda may at first cause redness, but it will go away within days and is a great way to kill odors.
• Have a pounding heartrate that you can’t explain? You may be making too much RT3.
• Check out typical Questions and Answers about thyroid treatment and related issues.
• Want to write a GUEST BLOG POST on STTM? Go here.