June 2009 - Stop The Thyroid Madness Skip to content

Month: June 2009

Psoriasis, rosacea and hypothyroidism–did you know there’s a connection?

STTM red noses(This page was updated in 2015. Enjoy!)

A thyroid patient and mother of two just informed me that her daughter’s psoriasis on her body completely went away thanks to being on desiccated thyroid, and all that’s left is some on her head. And, her son’s psoriasis completely went away thanks to desiccated thyroid.

Connection? Pretty obvious, isn’t it. Here are three skin conditions that can be related to your thyroid issue:

Psoriasis

Psoriasis is an autoimmune skin disease that appears on the skin chronically due to an immune system going awry. It results in red scaly patches with a white dead-cell buildup. You can often see it hand-in-hand with Hashimotos.

Rosacea

Rosacea is another skin problem, though not autoimmune, that causes a redness of the skin, including the cheeks and nose, or the forehead and chin.

I personally had rosacea on my nose for years—my oh-so-romantic “clown nose”.  But just like the mother’s son and daughter with psoriasis, my rosacea eventually went away, as well, after I had started on desiccated thyroid and raised it high enough to remove my hypo symptoms—the latter which did not totally happen on Synthroid and got worse the longer I stay on.

Pretibial Myxoedema

Another condition called Pretibial Myxoedema, also called thyroid dermopath, can present itself with either hyperthyroidism like Graves or hypo. It often affects the feet with swelling, lumpiness or lesions, or you can have it on other places on your skin. It’s caused by excess hyaluronic acid.  It can also be associated with autoimmune thyroid disease.

Chronic skin disease is just another reason to be adequately treated with desiccated thyroid, or at the very least, add T3 to your T4—a much better option than being only on the latter.

Namaste Janie

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37 replies

The intrusion of reality about levothyroxine, Synthroid, T4 and depression

 

STTM Depression and T4-only(This post was updated to the present day and time. Enjoy!)

I’ve been perusing comments in response to the UK’s Royal College of Physicians blundering and dark-age-constructed Diagnosis and Treatment of Primary Hypothyroidism.  And though all comments are quite good and worth your read, I was struck by the comment titled May Reality Intrude? by a man named Charles.

Charles profound story about his wife’s depression

Charles explains that in 1999, his 67-year-old wife had RAI (radioactive iodine) and was then put on levothyroxine, a T4-only medication (aka Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, Oroxine, levothyroxine, et al).  And not long after, she complained of having depression.

He had an idea why after reading the New England Journal of Medicine about T3, and proceeded to buy her Armour off the internet.  For those reading this, Armour is one of several brands of Natural Desiccated Thyroid–the latter which contains all five hormones that a healthy thyroid produces: T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin.

Without her knowing, he switched medications. Lo and behold, he states “she promptly returned to her usual sunny disposition”. Her physician knew nothing of the switch either, and found nothing to be concerned about in her.

Charles then explained how, at age 74 in 2007, she was near death thanks to an ulcer bleed.  And to continue treating her hypothyroidism, the hospital gave her levothyroxine, aka T4-only, all over again.  Back came her depression and a feeling of wanting to go home and die.

So Charles brought her Armour to the hospital, and though her physical state was depressing enough, her sunny disposition returned.  And that happy spirit while still on Armour continues today after a full recovery.

And Charles pondered: If his wife had been in a NHS (National Health Service) hospital under the care of a so-called thyroid specialist of the NHS, would she have failed to obtain T3 in her treatment and instead, sent to a psychiatrist as if her depression had nothing to do with her levothyroxine treated hypothyroidism–the very treatment that the Royal College of Physicians has a dogmatic love affair with?

He then concludes: My wife’s depression was obvious. Since she is equipped with much the same assortment of body parts and associated physiology as others, is it not likely that many levothyroxine-treated patients suffer from less-noticeable depression?

Our experiences as thyroid patients agree with Charles!

Well Charles, most any thyroid patient who decides to respond to this will tell you unequivocally YES, YES, YES.  Because there’s no research, study or directive that is more profound and telling than the actual EXPERIENCE of patients all over the world with T4 treatment and depression…besides a slew of other side effects of continuing hypothyroidism on T4-only meds.

Why have so many experienced depression on T4-only?

Because we’ve learned repeatedly that the body is not meant to live for T4 alone, which is simply a storage hormone, not to live for conversion alone. T4 is meant to convert to the active hormone T3. Studies reveal that T3 influences the effect of the transmitters serotonin and catecholamine in the brain–both which effect mood. Without enough T3, an imbalance in serotonin seems to occur. So when one is forced to live for conversion alone, the body doesn’t appear to get enough of the powerful T3. Depression is just one of many side effects of a poor treatment with T4-only.

Go here to read several stories of patients whose depression went away with the right thyroid treatment.

* Did you have depression on a T4 med? Tell us about your experience in the Comments section of this post.

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65 replies

Tips on how to do desiccated thyroid sublingually

Though this was originally posted in 2009, it’s been updated to the present day and time!

The brand of Natural Desiccated Thyroid called Armour used to be easy to do sublingually, even if the official line was they didn’t make it that way. That means letting it dissolve under the tongue which can potentially make its way to the sublingual gland under the bottom of the mouth and more directly to the cells.

And patients liked that sublingual ability with Armour.  It allowed them to work around the problem of swallowing desiccated thyroid several hours from having swallowed iron, estrogen or calcium–all which can bind ‘some’ of the thyroid hormones in your stomach.

It also helped those with digestive issues, since some of it may be bypassing the stomach.

But with the first newly formulated Armour in 2009, it became difficult. The pill became harder with less dextrose and more cellulose.  It now fell into the ranks of all other desiccated thyroid pills, including Naturethroid and other good brands, as a more dense tablet.

Tips from patients on how to do sublingual

Even for those NDT brands which are made quite hard, below are tips from patients on how to continue doing  desiccated thyroid sublingually. Let your doc know, too.

1) Some are adding a tiny touch of the contents of a Pixie Stix under their tongue. It’s flavored sugar in a straw, and the sugar seems to help the tablet dissolve sublingually through tissues under the tongue.

2) If you are using sublingual B12 lozenges to treat low B12, try adding it under the tongue with your desiccated thyroid. The action of the sublingual lozenge seems to move over to the thyroid tablet, say some.

3) Swish warm water in your mouth before you place the tablet under your tongue.

4) Crunch up the desiccated thyroid tablet before any of the above and before placing it all under your tongue.

Can’t I just swallow my NDT?

Definitely. You’ll just have to make sure you don’t also have a stomach full of iron rich foods, calcium or estrogen. Generally, it’s best to take your tablet away from any of the former, such as a two hour difference at the minimum.

*Have more sublingual ideas or experiences? Share it in the Comments section.

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56 replies

Yes, Jessica Terry, it’s weird to have to self-diagnose, but thyroid patients have had to do the same thing!

Jessica Terry is an 18 year old student at Washington State high school in the Bay Area who had years of problems which doctors couldn’t figure out: vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and stomach pains.  Doctors said she had irritable bowel syndrome or colitis, and said her intestinal tissue was just fine according to slides.

Yet, she just knew that wasn’t correct.

So she took some of her own intestinal tissue to her Biomedical Problems class, and voila…she diagnosed her own problem:  granuloma, and specifically, Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of her intestines.

Sound familiar??

Yup, thyroid patients have had to do the exact same thing–self-diagnose– for almost ten years because of continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism which doctors have routinely dismissed, pooh-poohed or blamed on something else.  It’s all been a horrific, wide-reaching and damaging 50 year medical scandal by the medical establishment upon thyroid patients.

And why has this calamity occurred? Because doctors have always been hoodwinked by their medical school training, continuing education and Big-Pharma-financed-research in believing that T4-only thyroxine medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, Eltroxin, et. al. were from God Almighty, and the TSH lab test was just as holy.

And thanks to thyroid patients around the world who had the gall to use the internet and join patient groups, we figured out it’s all because those medications and labwork have not worked, and what has worked. Additionally, it was patients who discovered they had adrenal fatigue and/or low ferritin and how to treat it, and patients who have succeeded in beginning a wave of change around the world in the treatment and diagnosis of hypothyroidism (except for the UK, who has gone backwards to the dark ages).

You can read Jessica’s story first reported in the Sammamish Reporter,  and only recently reported to a wider audience in the Bay Area News newspaper. She also spoke to a CNN affiliate.

Thanks to Kem on NTH for informing me of this news.

P.S. Do ya think that any newspapers or major news outlets like CNN are going to finally get what a huge story thyroid patients have given them?? We’re still waiting……

*Want to be informed of Janie’s blog posts? Curious what’s on her mind? Just use the Notification link to the bottom left of the links.

4 replies

Thyroid Patients sending a big KISS to this British Doctor!

kiss2

I recently discovered a very humorous and appropo medical blog on the net, written by a United Kingdom General Practitioner who wisely stays incognito. His blog is called The Jobbing Doctor.

And his most recent and humorously brilliant post is titled Hairy legs are better than blood tests! He describes his occasional confusion when blood tests don’t agree with the patients symptoms.

Says the UK doc: “The textbooks teach that the level of circulating thyroid hormones (which are called T3 and T4) are inversely related to the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). If your T3 and T4 are low, your TSH will be high: this suggests an underactive thyroid gland. If the T3 and T4 are high and the TSH is low, then you have an overactive thyroid gland. That’s easy, huh!”

But his confusion sprang forth when a patient’s labs showed “a highish TSH, T4, and a normal T3.” Yet apparently her symptoms didn’t imply there was any problem, so he chose to do nothing as far as changing her treatment.

A month later at her next appointment, this patient expressed her approval that he didn’t change anything…because her leg hair and eyebrows were coming back.

And his conclusion?  “Pah! Who needs blood tests!”

Jobbing Doctor, you are discovering what thyroid patients have been learning over and over for years: it’s SYMPTOMS (or lack up) which need to pull the cart, NOT labwork. Sure, we love our labwork. They can give clues to areas where our bodies are screaming for help.  But they definitely do NOT tell the whole story.

Look at the ignoramus TSH lab test. Countless patients have walked into their doctors offices with clear and obvious hypothyroid symptoms–and desperate for a diagnosis–yet the ink spot on the office piece of paper called the TSH lab result proclaims they are “normal”. And that dubious “normal” diagnosis can go on for years before it rises high enough to reveal what was already there by SYMPTOMS.

Or, while on thyroid medication, patients will have a lamebrain “normal” TSH lab result, yet will continue to have their own brand and degree of continuing hypothyroid symptoms which the clueless doctor dismisses as an hysteric female interpretation, motherhood, stress, a need for psychological help….or just “something else”. Uh huh.

In fact, Jobber Doctor, patients have learned that when they are optimal (on desiccated thyroid), along with optimal ferritin and cortisol), they will generally have a free T3 in the upper part of the range, and a SUPPRESSED TSH, with no symptoms of hyperthyroidism.  That is general, and there can be some exceptions, but overall, it has spoken volumes to patients on how inadequate thyroid lab tests can be.  i.e. being in the “normal” range—anywhere in the normal range–can be mean squat.

Thanks for a great post,  UK Jobber Doc. And P.S.  Desiccated thyroid is an even better treatment than thyroxine. 🙂

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1 reply