Desiccated Thyroid in Older Medical Books

This is an ongoing listing of entries from older medical books and research concerning the use of Thyroid Extract (aka Desiccated Thyroid, or Natural Thyroid Hormones).

HAVE AN OLD MEDICAL BOOK LAYING AROUND THAT MENTIONS NDT?? If you would like to contribute an entry from an older health book, please send using the Contact Me form below, and include title, author, date, publishers, and page numbers of entries. Your entry will be very appreciated!

P.S. If you copy and paste anything from the below, please be professionally courteous and add where you found the below, i.e. on this page on STTM.

1) 1951 The New Modern Medical Counselor: A Practical Guide to Health

by Hubert O. Swartout, MD, DNB, Dr.PH, Review and Herald Publishing Association

Chapter 30 DISEASES OF THE DUCTLESS GLANDS, then the subheading called MYXEDEMA, and the sub area titled “WHAT SHOULD BE DONE” pg. 507

“Take thyroid extract under a physicians supervision.” Then in the last paragraph, pg. 508:
“Some convenient preparation made from the whole thyroid gland substance is the rational remedy for myxedema. It brings about remarkable improvement. The patient feels better, thinks more clearly, and looks better. There is likely to be considerable reduction in excess weight. Nevertheless, the remedy must be taken with care, especially during the first few weeks of treatment, for too sudden an acceleration of the body processes may throw too great a burden upon the weakened organs, particularly the heart. The return to normal conditions should be brought about by gradual increases in the dosage and should be spread over a period of at least several months.”

2) 1953 Physicians Desk Reference to Pharmaceutical Specialties and Biologics

1954, Eighth Edition, Copyright 1953 by Medical Economics, Inc., Rutherford, New Jersey. (thanks to Mary32 for submitting this entry)

page 417, under “Thyroid U.S.P” Dosage: “1/10 to 5 GRAINS DAILY, AS REQUIRED BY THE CLINICAL CONDITION OF THE PATIENT. Uses: “Useful in patients who are on long term therapy with ACTH or cortisone to offset any thyroid depression.”

Under “Thyroid U.S.P.”: “Required daily quantity may be given in a single dose (preferably in the morning), instead of several times a day.” (from Janie–we have found the multi-dosing to be better and less stress on the adrenals)

3) 1940-41 G.P. Ethical Specialty Products

–a catalog produced by G.P. Pty Ltd., Manufacturers of Standardized Biological and Pharmaceutical Products. Laboratories and Head Office: 65 Macquarie Street, Sydney, Australia.

One of their products, called G.P. Thyroid (Standardized), is listed on pages 38-39. Composition: A specially prepared extract of selected whole thyroid gland, containing 0.1 per cent of iodine in combination. Indications: Myxoedema and other thyroid deficiency disorders; obesity; oedema. Properties: Increases basal metabolism and stimulates diuresis. G.P. THYROID is chemically assayed and each batch, before issue, is BIOLOGICALLY STANDARDIZED BY THE OBSERVATION OF CHANGES IN THE METABOLIC RATE OF MYXOEDEMATOUS PATIENTS OVER A PERIOD OF AT LEAST ONE MONTH.
Dosage and Administration: 1 or more, according to the amount of fresh substance the physician desires to prescribe. N.B. Each 1 gr. fresh of G.P. THYROID is equivalent in total iodine content to 3/10 gr Thyroideum Siccum B.P. 1932. Original Packages: Bottles of 100 tablets in the following strengths: 1/4 grain fresh gland, 1/2 grain fresh gland, 1 grain fresh gland, 1 1/2 grain fresh gland, 2 grain fresh gland, 2 1/2 grain fresh gland, 5 grain fresh gland.

There was also a tablet combining Thyroideum Siccum with Desiccated Ovarian Substance from “fresh whole ovaries”. The indications for this were menstrual and menopausal disorders; disorders arising from insufficiency of ovarian secretion, particularly when there is a tendency towards obesity. It was described as “potent ovarian substance, therapeutically intensified by the synergistic action of thyroid gland”.

G.P. Ethical Specialty Products were obtainable through all chemists in Australia, and also in Rangoon (Burma), Colombo (Ceylon), Hong Kong (China), Bangkok (Siam)and many cities in India, Java, Malaya and New Zealand, as well as London. Or direct from the Manufacturers. (thanks to Val for this contribution)

4) 1909/1935 A System of Clinical Medicine (for Students and Practitioners)

by Thomas Dixon Savill. Printed in Great Britain by Butler and Tanner, Ltd.

Page 239: For cretinism aka when an infant is born with hypothyroidism, Thyroid extract, beginning with 1/2 grain doses, causes a rapid and remarkable change. The skin become soft, the general conformation normal, and if the treatment has not been too long delayed, the mind assumes its natural vigour. For full blown hypothyroidism, called Complete Myxodema, The treatment is started with thyroid extract in very small doses–1/8 to 1/4 grain three times daily, and the dose is increased until the go and the basal metabolism becomes normal.

5) 1906 A Manual of Metria Medica and Pharmacology (for students, druggists, pharmacists, and physicians)

by Lea Brothers & Co. Philadelphia and New York.

Page 663: Explains the making of Sheep Thyroid desiccated powder: Remove external fat and connective tissue from thyroid glands taken from sheep immediately after killing; cut glands across, rejecting any with cysts or are hypertrophied, or otherwise abnormal; mince finely with healthy glands, dry at 32 -to 38 degrees C. (90-100 degrees F), powder dried product, remove all fat by treating with petroleum benzin, dry residue. It is a yellowish, amorphous powder, slight peculiar odor, containing the active ingredients of the thyroid tissue, partially soluble in water, 1 part equals 5 parts of fresh glands, ash p.c. …plus more details.

6) 1911 Textbook of Medicine

(for students and professionals) by Dr Adolf v. Strumpell, D.Appleton and Co. New York and London

Page 566: Horsley, Bircher and others hereupon made the first experiments in the treatment of myxeodema in man with extract of thyroid gland (sheep, calves, etc.) At first subcutaneous injections of thyroid extract were usually employed, but it was found that the internal administration of the substance of the gland or any extract thereof had an equally favorable influence. There are already very many positive observations which show that all symptoms of myxeodema in man may be made to disappear completely in the course of a few months by the continued internal administration of the thyroid gland. The most convenient and certain form of administration is in tablets.

7) 1932 The Practitioners Library of Medicine and Surgery

D.Appleton-Century and Co. New York and London

Page 1020: It has been proposed to treat mxyedematous patients with 2 grains of desiccated thyroid daily, by mouth, until the metabolic rate is normal, and then to determine the amount required as a regimin to maintain the correct level. (Thanks to Melissa for #4-7)

OLDER MEDICAL RESEARCH STUDIES (not books)

1) 1957 THE RELATION OF THYROID GLAND ACTIVITY TO THE INCIDENCE OF DENTAL CARIES IN THE RAT

–research by David Bixler, PhD and Joseph C. Muhler DDS, PhD. Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind. J DENT RES 1957; 36; 880 Also found here: http://jdr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/36/6/880.pdf

Summary of this study: “Previous experiments have shown that the ingestion of a cariogenic diet (from Janie: a high-carb diet which will cause dental cavities) containing desiccated thyroid will significantly reduce the incidence of dental caries in the rat. In this experiment the importance of the amount of food consumed daily by rats on such a regime was considered. Under ad libitum feeding conditions, desiccated thyroid added to a cariogenic diet significantly reduced the dental caries incidence when compared to a control group receiving the same diet without thyroid. When control animals receiving a nonthyroid-containing cariogenic diet were pair-fed with animals receiving the same diet to which desiccated thyroid had been added, the thyroid-fed animals again demonstrated a significant decrease in caries incidence. These results indicate that differences in food consumption which may result between experimental groups is not an important factor in explaining the anticariogenic action of desiccated thyroid.

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