(Monday April 5th Postscript to my blog post below: One of the patients interviewed by this reporter states the following: The report left the impression that we (desiccated thyroid users) are a teeny little group on the fringes of medicine, rather than a ground swell of well researched patients trying to improve our health (and every aspect of our lives) with rational, common sense alternatives. We are still voices crying in the wilderness, and ignored by the mainstream medical professionals. C’est la vie.)
Finally.
After years of near-complete silence by the mass media about the profound 60-year medical scandal of T4-only treatment like Synthroid, as well as lives changed due to natural desiccated thyroid, we have some progress.
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by health reporter Pauline Dakin of CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Radio. She was preparing a report on thyroid treatment and desiccated thyroid, asking for names of Canadian patients and doctors who might speak of their own experiences. Among others, I got her in touch with Canadian thyroid patient Theresa Roberts, who has reminded me of this report.
And, Pauline Dakin’s report on desiccated thyroid will be presented TODAY, Easter Sunday, on CBC Radio One on “The World This Weekend” at 6:00 pm Eastern Time (5 pm Central, 4 pm Mountain and 3 pm Pacific). It’s a comprehensive 1/2 hour news program that airs nationally on weekend evenings and takes an in-depth look at current issues.
And even if you aren’t in Canada, you can listen to this program on CBC Radio One live at http://www.cbc.ca/worldthisweekend/ , or you can download the podcast (which may require free subscription).
HIGH FIVE to Pauline Dakin and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The 60-year use of T4-only medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin and other brands has NOT worked for hundreds of millions worldwide, resulting in each patient’s amount and degree of lingering symptoms of hypothyroidism as well as the added misery of adrenal fatigue.
We have also been bandaided with anti-depressants, statins, pain meds, high blood pressure meds and more, all the while being told by our clueless doctors that we are schizophrenically ‘”normal” because the also-lousy TSH test says so.
Or, like my own mother, we have been subjected to Electric Shock Therapy because of depression caused by T4 meds and their inadequate treatment. You can read about my mother here.
Stop the Thyroid Madness™!
P.S. Sign up for the “newsletter notification” of this blog–see right below the links to the left. Or you can use your RSS feed page.
Important notes: All the information on this website is copyrighted. STTM is an information-only site based on what many patients worldwide have reported in their treatment and wisdom over the years. This is not to be taken as personal medical advice, nor to replace a relationship with your doctor. By reading this information-only website, you take full responsibility for what you choose to do with this website's information or outcomes. See the Disclaimer and Terms of Use.
Write a new comment below
7 Responses to “Pauline Dakin of CBC Radio in Canada is going to do a report TODAY on desiccated thyroid!”
Karen G
Here is the petition I recently started. It seems things still have not changed that much. http://www.change.org/en-CA/petitions/educate-doctors-worldwide-about-thyroid-illness (especially for Canadians)
Seth Levinson
Hi,
I have tried in vain to find the podcast of Paula Dakin’s CBC report. Can you help me?
thanks
Michele
It is astonishing…this should have been a front page story long ago…there are powers that be…or at least big money twisted into years of misinformation that have made this happen…I posted my encouragement above in the middle of cooking Easter supper as my gift to anyone who needed hope at this time.
I am taking dessicated thyroid now…and have added in Essential Therapeutics Adrenal Cortex found online…seems
to help too. I don’t do any testing (maybe the benifit of not having an endchrinologist)…just take the amount that makes me feel better. I am possibly not the same as other people…but don’t want to be silent if I can give anyone some hope. I’m not 100 percent better yet…but as sick as I was…any inprovement…is worthwhile…praying for wisdom for the rest.
Thank you again to all who have helped to fight this fight…don’t give up!
Theresa Roberts
Janie, I had high hopes that we’d get something ground breaking, but it was not meant to be. The report left the impression that we (desiccated thyroid users) are a teeny little group on the fringes of medicine, rather than a ground swell of well researched patients trying to improve our health (and every aspect of our lives) with rational, common sense alternatives. We are still voices crying in the wilderness, and ignored by the mainstream medical professionals. C’est la vie.
Theresa Roberts
The report is a start, but I guess I’m a little disappointed that the endocrinologist from Dalhousie University made negative comments about the stability, efficacy and safety of desiccated thyroid without being informed of the well documented problems Synthroid has had with batch to batch stability over the years. In a comparison of batch to batch stability and consistency of ingredients, he may be surprised to find that the synthetic is in fact, inferior. The other important factor which was left out was the importance of raising the dosage gradually to a level which would eliminate symptoms (and probably suppress tsh to a level below 1.0, without any symptoms of hyperthyroid). Also we cannot forget the importance of adequate ferriton levels and healthy adrenals (which are often compromised by prolonged periods of hypothyroidism) when beginning any thyroid hormone replacement (just check Erfa’s and Synthroid’s websites for patients’ and doctors’ information and you will find warnings of the importance of adequate adrenal function). Doctors who say they have tried it on some of their patients with little success have probably not monitored the patients’ ferriton levels or adrenal function (just try convincing doctors that saliva cortisol testing is far superior to their favorite methods of assessing adrenal function, and you open a whole other can of worms!), and they have very probably prescribed too low a dosage.
Maybe the endocrinologist’s comments were included in the interest of balanced reporting, but when you have the experiences of patients who are benefiting from desiccated thyroid, why must we take the word of someone with really no experience using or prescribing, and no INTEREST in using or prescribing it? Who decides that this doctor’s opinion is the last word on the issue? The patients who would benefit from this old fashioned, but extremely sensible treatment are not in the minority. How many people (mainly women, and herein may lie the problem) do we know who are hypothyroid, take Synthroid (only enough to catch the very limit of the “normal” tsh level), and then they go on to tell us of their other illnesses like allergies, depression, joint pain, fibromyalgia,etc. and yet they still continue to exhibit classic symptoms of hypothyroidism? Then they are told their thyroid is normal, it’s all in their heads, here take a prescription for more drugs to treat all these other disorders. As long as the makers of synthetic (read: patentable) drugs are allowed to infuence the curricula of our medical schools and press our doctors and pharmacists to only consider their drugs as viable treatments, this situation will continue. I had great hopes that this report would be different than the reports we get on American television, but sadly it’s kind of more of the same.
I am a thyroid patient in Canada, who has been dealing with the effects of Graves Disease and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis for over 20 years. My doctor was not interested enough to even find out what diseases I had, didn’t think it was important enough. Thankfully the internet came along, because this website and others like it emboldened me to ask for a referral to a specialist. First I got an internist who didn’t care about thyroid disease, then finally an endocrinologist, and that was frustrating too, because he wasn’t interested much in thyroid, being more of a diabetes specialist. At least he finally gave me desiccated thyroid, and it’s been an ongoing battle, but I finally take 8 x 30mg tablets/day, divided into 4 doses about 4-5 hours apart. I’m doing much better than I ever did on Synthyroid (I just returned from a tropical vacation with my husband, something that would have been too daunting before desiccated thyroid). My tsh is at 0.03 – 0.04 (see the post below about lower tsh levels being safer than previously believed). I am 50 and have the bone density of a 20 year old. I joined Curves and get there 2 – 3 times/week, not possible before desiccated thyroid). I am awaiting results of a 4-point cortisol saliva test to see if more improvement might occur as a result of addressing possible adrenal insufficiency. That’s another battle, but it’s my body, and I will no longer let others decide what’s best for it without at least researching my options.
(From Janie: You know, I’m saddened if the report thinks that the false opinion of the Endocrinologist is “balanced reporting”. That’s like saying if a program is done on the importance of drinking water, there should also be someone on there who says drinking water is bad for one’s health. i.e. there’s no balance whatsoever. There’s just a truth and a wacko statement.)
Chanel
This is so encouraging! Thanks for sharing, Janie, & Happy Easter, too! 😀
Michele
Thank you to all who are fighting this valient fight!!
My story would put people to speechless disbelief as well…and I want to thank you all for searching, sharing and keeping living! which for some may be no small thing. The FB thyroid posts have helped me
search again for answers that are helping! Helped me realize that though I had been put back on thyroid…the Armour medication had been changed! And when my Naturethroid did not seem to be helping either…I mustered
the courage to beg my doctor to try Dessicated Thyroid for me…he knew I have been endangered for the last two years by a resistant respitory infection…and complied…and I am getting quite a bit better…and trusting for the rest! What many doctors probably don’t realize…is that you can be so sick…you are too weak to be your own advocate…and yet most likely you are! Thank you all…don’t give up…don’t give up…don’t give up!!
Your fight is inspiring others…