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Category: dr. john c. lowe

Who has the vision and courage of Dr. Lowe…and a message from Acella about delays

Each day, when I think about the passing of Dr. Lowe (which you can read about here), I reel in shock at this huge loss in our fight for better thyroid treatment and SANITY.

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.

 

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Deep sorrow and Condolences–Dr. John C. Lowe has passed on.

With great sorrow and condolences to all his family, I want to announce that Tammy Lowe, wife of John C. Lowe, has announced the passing of this beloved man and courageous champion for better thyroid care, Dr. John C. Lowe.

Please offer your condolences and praise of Dr. Lowe and all his accomplishments in the name of better thyroid care, by commenting on this blog. I will alert Tammy to it. If you are reading this via the Email Notification, click on then title of the post to put you back on the actual blog, and comment there.

A Special Tribute to my Husband,
Dr. John C. Lowe
1/22/1946- 1/9/2012
by Tammy Lowe

It is with deep sadness and a broken heart that I write this letter to inform you that Dr. John C. Lowe died suddenly January 9, 2012 due to complications following a head injury that he sustained on November 14, 2011.

I’ve spent the last few days searching for the right words to share this news and to honor the man that I have known and loved for the majority of my life, but the words seem so small and insubstantial to the man that he was. One only has to read the many pages of www.drlowe.com, www.thyroidscience.com, and www.thyroidscience.us to know that John’s passion and dedication to the field of thyroidology and fibromyalgia was his reason for getting up every day and spending countless hours boldly offering his strong opinions in the field. There were no vacations in our life together, no tee times on the golf course, no boating on the beautiful waters or walks on the sandy beaches in Florida where we live. His happiest moments were spent at the desk he loved, surrounded by his many wellread, tattered books, and typing the words that would eventually make their way to the websites for his readers to find them. They say a genius is someone of great intelligence and I do believe that John was a genius in his field. His greatest magnum opus, of course, was The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, the textbook that took him 10 years to write. Imagine the dedication to complete such a task.

In the final months since his head injury – John was able to accomplish several things despite impaired vision in his right eye and a broken collar bone. He proudly completed a forward to a book titled ‘Recovering with T3‘ by Paul Robinson and a forward for the book, The Hormone Zone, by Dr. John Robinson. He also conducted an interview for Dr. Mark Swanson that will soon be published. And finally, he was also working to complete his own book, ‘Safely Getting Well With Thyroid Hormone’ and was preparing to have it in print within a few weeks.

The website’s will remain as they are. His compassionate words will still be there. I will try to find the newsletter that he was working on and send it (incomplete or finished by my hand). The Thyro-gold will also continue to be available. John believed in it so strongly. I will try to find the clinical trial results and post them for the benefit of those who rely on the product. There are so many documents that he was writing that remain unfinished but I will do my best to sort through them and share them when I can.

What final words can I offer to you all at this sad time? For those of you who knew him personally, who spoke with him on the phone, who met him face-to-face, shook his hand or offered a hug in gratitude – you will join our daughter Michele and me in sorrow as we face this tragic loss together. For those of you who never had the privilege to know my husband personally, but read his writings, just know that he believed in his research and hoped that someday the TSH testing would be abandoned as the standard practice for thyroid health and that healthcare would return to the science-based treatment that it should be.

Remember the scientist that he was and continue to share his work with others who need it. Remember his voice for those
who felt they were never heard when they were in need of direction. Remember the extraordinary man that he was and help me maintain his everlasting presence.

92 replies

God bless an electrical engineer: why the TSH lab test needs to be suppressed!

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!”

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A guy’s story: scaring the hell out of him about being on HC cortisol!

FEAR

(This page has been updated to the present day and time. Enjoy!)

Several years ago, a large percentage of thyroid patients on yahoo groups like NTH were figuring out that they had adrenal fatigue, aka low cortisol, from years of adrenals working overtime due to the inadequate TSH lab test, or being on the lousy T4-only medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, Eltroxin, etc.

Not only does low cortisol keep desiccated thyroid from working well, it also causes all sorts of angst with paranoia, depression, anxiety, easy anger, sensitivity to light and/or sounds, reclusiveness, sleep issues and more.

First, patients discovered the importance of using the 24 hour adrenal saliva test rather than blood or urine. Blood cortisol measures both bound and unbound cortisol, and we noticed in some, it could cause levels to look high (when saliva proved it was low as did symptoms), or vice versa.

When low cortisol was confirmed via saliva testing and symptoms, the treatment was using cortisol, aka hydrocortisone, to give themselves back what their adrenals were no, to allow thyroid hormones to reach the cells. If saliva results showed only moderately low cortisol, adrenal cortex was used. The right amounts of cortisol was achieved via doing one’s Daily Average Temps.

And success was achieved!

When all other issues were discovered and treated, ranging from being on a better thyroid treatment, to bringing iron and B12 back up to optimal levels, to bringing high heavy metals down, to treating Lyme…on and on….patients were finally able to wean off, and be successful in their continued treatment with desiccated thyroid and/or T3! That success continues today!

But ignorance abounds in the medical profession

Yet in spite of clear success in the treatment of low cortisol with supplemental cortisol in the correct amount for each individual (which can range from 15 to 40 mg generally–men often need the higher end), as well as excellent books on the subject by Wilson, Peatfield, Jeffries and the STTM book, patients like RD below still encounter doctors who fill their minds with all sorts of fear and warnings:

I bought your book and later on I discovered your website which are both great. They are a superb source of information and support for thyroid and adrenal fatigue sufferers. Thank you so much!

Personally I got adrenal fatigue by a sustained lack of sleep for several years (crying babies).  I found a doctor who prescribed Hydrocortisone (17.5 mg/day, 5-5-5-2.5), Fludrocortisone, DHEA and Testosterone. Symptoms disappeared in about 2 weeks.

A first attempt to wean off after 6 months made some serious symptoms reappear very quickly, so I returned to the original dose.

It is very stressful that many established doctors (our family doctor, and my wife’s thyroid-endocrinologist) are scaring me like hell that I am taking HC. They are saying I am destroying my body and I will never succeed in weaning off HC.

My wife is a T4-only thyroid-patient with low-cortisol symptoms. She also has been scared about dessicated thyroid and HC. Reading your book I was however convinced she could benefit a lot from a better treatment…

Keep up the good work, as patients we are really left alone in the dark by our doctors…

And unfortunately, it’s true. Thyroid and adrenal patients are left in the dark by many doctors about either the adrenals issue so many of us face, or how to correctly treat it.

What you can do

Here’s where you can read more, and in turn, take this important information into your doctors offices:

Click on the graphic above to order an excellent saliva cortisol test.

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Dr.JohnCLowe

If you missed the excellent Part 2 with researcher Dr. John C. Lowe last Thursday evenings, you can listen to the recording, here.

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Thanks to Dr. Lowe for a very valuable call last night

Dr.JohnCLoweAnyone who listened to the Thyroid Patient Community Call last night will know that we were listening to a powerhouse of a man with an encyclopedia of valuable information: Dr. John C. Lowe.

He is the author of an exhaustive book on Fibromyalgia called The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, which explains how the proper diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism is a good choice in the treatment of fibro. He also owns drlowe.com and the research website Thyroid Science.

I already knew he was great. He’s listed in the Acknowledgements of the Stop the Thyroid Madness book as one of a handful of medical professionals who played a huge role in educating and empowering patients all these years. He, like the others, was a springboard for patients to move forward in gaining far better information about thyroid treatment and everything else we have have learned over the years!

And he has agreed to come back, since we had many more questions to ask him! I’ll announce that when we secure a date.

Below are some highlights from our talk with Dr. Lowe:

  1. The use of high dose B-vitamins is very important for the thyroid patient, and even more so when you are feeling better in your treatment. Thyroid increases the production of protein, which drives energy, and you’ll need the B’s to help this higher energy production.
  2. Sadly, it’s economics which dominant science and and researching, and it’s all for marketing purposes instead of the pursuit of truth and the real health of patients.
  3. What drives your medical investigations? To gain wealth, or to help patients?
  4. 75% of the time, if a doctor uses the TSH to either diagnose hypo or treat it, he will be wrong.
  5. In the 1980’s, the top of the TSH range was 7.5.
  6. Abbott Labs, the makers of Synthroid, gives one million dollars in an unrestricted educational grant to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist (AACE) i.e. no wonder Endocrinologists have a love affair with Synthroid, a medication like other brands which has left the vast majority of us undertreated. You can read more details from Lowe on this subject here.
  7. Isocort, an OTC treatment for low cortisol, is protected by the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
  8. HC, aka hydrocortisone, is water soluble. Isocort is fat soluble. People need bile so the lipase enzymes are able to work on it.
  9. There are no studies to compare Isocort to HC, and should be.
  10. If swallowing, take thyroid one hour before eating for best absorption. If meal will have a lot of fat, 3-4 hours before eating.
  11. Elderly people have less Hydrochloric Acid and do a worse job absorbing nutrients. (And so do undertreated hypo patients, reminded Diane) Betaine is a good supplement to help.
  12. Why it can be a bad idea to swallow thyroid with meals: we never know how many compounds are in the food that will bind it, like calcium and iron. T4 is the most badly absorbed.

To hear more, just click above and listen to the recorded call. Thank you for being you, Dr. John C. Lowe.

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icicles2BRRRRR. In the US and many other countries, we are having one of the coldest winters we’ve seen in a long time. And if you are out in it alot, you may need a tad more thyroid meds to keep yourself optimal.

1 reply