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Year: 2008

Puff. Puff. Puff. If you are a cigarette smoker & hypothyroid, you might want to read this!

Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 11.01.08 AM(Though this post was originally written in 2008, it has been updated to the present day and time! Enjoy!)

Who, as a smoker, hasn’t heard how deleterious tobacco smoking is for your health. Not only will you acquire health problems directly related to smoking, but your life is shortened by 10-15 years average according to statistics. My own father died at age 63 directly related to his smoking i.e he got emphysema, then lung cancer. (Update: Discovered from doing my own genetics that I have inherited a mutation which can cause me not to break down Nicotine well. This may explain why my Dad died so young from smoking!)

But in spite of strong reasons to quit, most smokers will tell you it’s NOT easy. Why? Because the nicotine in tobacco is the addictive bogeyman. Nicotine stimulates those pleasure centers in your brain, besides being a substance which “gets you going” by releasing both blood sugar and adrenaline. The American Heart Association states that “Nicotine addiction has historically been one of the hardest addictions to break.”

But for hypothyroid patients, tobacco smoking presents another whammy.

Namely, smoking may be stressing your adrenals over and over. And with adrenal problems being a common side effect of treating hypothyroidism with T4 meds like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, et al, as well as being dosed by the lousy TSH, you’ve got a third reason to fall into adrenal issues if you are a smoker.

Additionally, another factor in the difficulty of quitting is that cortisol decreases when you try to quit.

A 2006 research report found that the lowered cortisol after quitting is associated with smoking relapse and with reports of increased withdrawal severity and distress. So, when you already have adrenal stress, and you quit smoking–a double whammy against being successful.

Does being a smoker affect the TSH lab test?

Yes, in such a way that smoking will lower your TSH, which can hide the fact that you can be undiagnosed hypothyroid, or undertreated. See an interesting research study on smoking and your TSH here.

What’s the solution?

If you don’t have adrenal fatigue and want to quit, it may be wise to have a good adrenal support on hand, such as adrenal cortex or any quality OTC adrenal product at your health food store. If you DO have adrenal fatigue, staying away from cigs may require adding additional cortisol to your daily amount. Chapters 5 and 6 in the STTM book have good information to help you with cortisol support. Also be prepared that by quitting, your hypothyroid state may be revealed, or may get worse.

Are you a smoker with hypo? Don’t hesitate to respond to this post with your experience. We learn from each other!

READ DEBORAH’S STORY ABOUT HER ATTEMPT to STOP SMOKING.

JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

 

 

 

 

 

 

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91 replies

Iodine–thyroid patients figure things out again!

Iodine

(Though this post was originally written in 2008, it has been updated to the current date and time. Enjoy!)

The topic of iodine supplementation for your overall health has been growing the past few years among thyroid patients, especially in light that many of us may be low in iodine, that thyroid hormones are composed of iodine, or just the fact that iodine has anti-cancer qualities.

I became interested in the topic after reading Dr. David Derry’s book Breast Cancer and Iodine. I’ve also seen the testimony of several women with Fibrocystic Breast Disease who saw it disappear once they started iodine supplementation. Impressive! And it’s true for me!

And since thyroid hormones are primarily composed of iodine, thyroid patients are listening to and questioning the use of iodine supplementation.

But thyroid patient Mike Lawson came up with some very interesting facts this week about iodine in desiccated thyroid–just one more reason to consider using WP Thyroid, Naturethroid, Westhroid or other desiccated thyroid products! He figured out the below:

T3 = C15H12I3NO4 = molar mass of 650.9776
T4 = C15H11I4NO4 = molar mass of 776.87

Iodine has a molar mass of 126.90

Iodine content of T3 = (3 * 126.9)/650.9776. T3 is 59.725 % iodine.
Iodine content of T4 = (4 * 126.9)/776.87. T4 is 65.339 % iodine.

NDT has 38 mcg T4 & 9 mcg T3.
.65339 * 38 mcg = 24.828 mcg iodine
.59725 * 9 mcg = 5.37525mcg iodine

So, each grain of NDT has 30.20325 mcg iodine. In other words, each grain of NDT has 1/5 the RDA of iodine (150 mcg).

Very interesting facts, Mike! Sure, most thyroid patients feel they need more than what desiccated thyroid offers. But it’s a good start when so many individuals feel their own iodine levels are too low and need help, especially those who have had to deal with thyroid or breast cancer, or have a family history of it.

Want to read more??

– Check out Dr. Maclean’s STTM Guest Blog post with excellent information concerning high doses of iodine supplementation: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2016/01/14/iodine-effects-at-different-doses/

– And this information is important concerning companion nutrients you would want to already be on when you start iodine supplementation: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2013/12/29/companion-nutrients-the-key-to-iodine-protocol/

– Here is a compilation of good information concerning iodine: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/iodine12345/

– Facebook has two iodine groups worth exploring: https://www.facebook.com/groups/iodine4health/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/IodineWorkshop/

JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

Have you Liked the STTM Facebook page? Head on over for daily inspiration and tips!

Get the STTM books here: http://laughinggrapepublishing.com

48 replies

My mouth fell open when she told me! “THE” Broda Barnes?? Really??

dr-broda-barnesThough the below blog post was originally written in 2008, it has been updated to the current date and time as far as links and some info, and is just as enjoyable today. 

I called Rhea on the phone today.

Rhea is my 90 year old mother-in-law’s hair dresser. And Rhea is the ONLY one in her salon doing hair–a one woman show, even though she might be balancing two customer’s at the same time i.e. one women would be getting her gray hair dried while the other women was getting her grayer tresses rolled.

And as conversations go in beauty salons, it always turns to personal topics (which can range from one’s marital happiness to whether Mrytle’s boobs are real or expanded.) But earlier today, says my mother-in-law, the topic in the salon was about Rhea’s hypothyroidism as well as her daughter’s.

And, said my mother-in-law, she mentioned the  STTM book written by her daughter-in-law, me, and handed her a copy. Long story short…Rhea wants me to call her.

So I did.

The phone conversation went into the fact that she used to be on Armour, but then listened to a local doctor several years later who switched her to Synthroid–“a far more stable medication”. (not). Since she switched, she says she’s felt terrible for years, and has recently returned to Armour, and with the vast information in the book, understood now how she needed to raise.

And then came the shocker: THE DOCTOR WHO PUT HER ON ARMOUR WAS BRODA BARNES.

My eyes got as big as fiesta dinner plates and I exclaimed “THE Broda Barnes??”

“Yes,” she replied. “I saw him in Loveland, Colorado and he was a darling man.” She proceeded to tell me that when doctors entered the room back then, you stood. And she remembers his wife being there, and being just as sweet as he. She recalled him saying that when he was in medical school, he was disappointed when the professor assigned him to study the thyroid gland. “Such a little puny gland”, he thought. “But today, 50 years later, I still have so much to learn about that little gland.”

For those who don’t know the name of Broda Barnes, he was the father of the desiccated thyroid movement and an authority on the thyroid. Even back then, he knew of the superiority of natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) treatment and prescribed it for all his patients in the 1950’s and afteward. He also wrote the classic Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness. His book and legacy kept the idea of desiccated thyroid alive all these years later when we, as patients, were paying attention again after years of the lousy Synthroid.

Dr. Barnes is also the reason we know that our morning temperature, before getting out of bed, should be 97.8 – 98.2 if we are NOT hypothyroid. If less, we are hypothyroid. He used a mercury thermometer and so do we, or at the least, a liquid thermometer.

Rhea is now up to 4 grains of NDT and feeling much better, and may have to go a little higher before she’s optimal. Thank you, Rhea, for giving me and anyone reading this a little peek into the wonderful Dr. Broda Barnes.

**Want to understand why Dr. Barnes was so committed to prescribing Natural Desiccated Thyroid? Start right here.

** Learn more from the revised STTM book, and now book II: //www.laughinggrapepublishing.com

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Addressing folks who do well on T4 aka Synthyroid, Levoxyl, etc.

I received a reply to a post below that I was unable to approve because it mentioned someone by name. And the reply was not particularly friendly, and definitely not accurate. lol. But the reply brought up some good issues, which I have no problem addressing.

Namely, can I agree that there are some people who do well on T4-only treatment such as Synthroid or Levoxyl?? I can…sorta. I have a friend whose husband is one of those seemingly lucky individuals on T4, with no thyroid, who leads a fairly active and happy life. Considering how lousy I did, he amazes me. But I did notice something else about him: he has high and rising cholesterol and is on statins. That’s a classic symptom of a poor treatment and continuing hypothyroid, even if he does have much better energy that I ever did.

And by observing him, and knowing a few others who subjectively feel they do well on T4, I came to the following conclusion: though some may do better than others on T4, I have yet to find anyone on T4 who doesn’t have some kind of side-effect of a poor treatment, whether they are treating it with statins, treating it with antidepressants, or not treating it at all & denying it. Sure, some may do better than others, but the proof is in the pudding if you look deep enough. And, at the very least, I’m just plain suspicious that ANYONE on T4, even doing subjectively well, is going to have symptoms of a poor treatment creep up on them as they age. The body was not designed to live on conversion alone.

Can I agree that some people just canNOT tolerate desiccated thyroid like Armour and need to be on T4? Initially, that may be. The gal that wrote me stated she felt a lot better on T4, and that no matter what she did, she couldn’t tolerate Armour. I believe her. If Armour was that miserable, she should be on T4 for the time being, or even better, a synthetic T4/T3 combination. But I also believe that even if she feels she did everything to a “t” and still couldn’t tolerate it, there was more for her to learn that she didn’t get the first time around when it came to her adrenal fatigue treatment. I see it too many times. And perhaps, over time, it will become more clear.

Do some proponents of desiccated thyroid go overboard in their fervor? I don’t doubt it one bit. We’re human. And we hope you are forgiving. But once you get past however you view are communication shortcoming, do know that our fervor is based on the fact that a huge volume of individuals are having lives changed due to desiccated thyroid (and/or treatment of low ferritin, and/or treatment of adrenal fatigue). And it’s too widespread and global not to have fervor, besides common sense that a treatment that gives us back what our own thyroids would be giving us is just plain remarkable.

So, do know that if you are on T4, and feel well, I’m behind you. It’s your life, not mine, and I believe you. But neither can I stop my belief and too many observations that if you are truly hypothyroid and need treatment, desiccated thyroid is a superior choice, now or later, whether you are lucky enough to have escaped adrenal fatigue, or whether you have a challenging case of adrenal fatigue that can be adequately treated!

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Celebrities with hypothyroidism–where are you?

I often wonder how many celebrities MUST have hypothyroidism, yet we don’t know it. Tonite, I just found out that Jillian Michaels, the tough and muscular fitness buff on the TV show Biggest Loser, has hypothyroidism.

And you’re left to wonder: is she, and are others, on Armour, Naturethroid, Westhroid?? Have they found out about the superior treatment of desiccated thyroid over a T4-only treatment with Synthroid, Levoxyl, et al?

Other celebrities with hypo include Kim Alexis, Linda Ronstadt, Kim Cattrall, Kelly Osbourne, Oprah Winfrey and others. We can only hope that one day, someone will figure out that desiccated thyroid is a superior treatment, and help us spread the word. So far, Oprah has let us down. Maybe…maybe…someone with the ability to spread the word will step up to the plate. 🙂

p.s. Prefer a book to a website? STTM is now in book form, with even more information than you can find on this site, and waiting to be in your hands.

7 replies