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Tag: anti-depressants

Has Armour gone back to its pre-reformulation? And 5-HTP is pretty remarkable…

Though this page was originally written in 2012 about Armour and 5-htp, it’s been updated to the present day and time. 

It’s only a handful of comments here or there in patient groups, and I’ve gotten two emails as well. But there are reports that recent bottles of Armour desiccated thyroid have pills which are performing just like they did before the unappreciated reformulation of 2009. i.e. they are softer again and can be done sublingually, and may be back to more dextrose and less cellulose.

Said one patient who contacted me via email: “It’s interesting what I read in the thyroid group the other day that her pills were back to being soft. But typical condescending Forest Labs who never said a word in 2009 to the most informed group of patients in the world, and haven’t communicated to us directly once again if it really has changed.”

So, if it’s true, there may be a phase of figuring out what you get: the hard ones that patients found HAVE to be chewed up to be the most effective, or the return of the softer ones which could be done sublingually. I’d be curious to know which pharmacies and in which city/state are giving out Armour tablets that are softer.

UPDATE: Forest Labs, the former makers of Armour, was bought out by Activas in 2014, then the price of Armour became the highest priced NDT around. And for many, it wasn’t working like it used to. But some still do well on it, paying the highest price. Learn from this page: http://stopthethyroidmadness.com/options-for-thyroid-treatment

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5-HTP can be miraculous against depression, plus can help troubled sleep patterns

When I went into full menopause, one issue I noticed was out-of-the-blue was afternoon depression, in spite of being optimal on Natural Desiccated Thyroid.  Bottomed-out female hormones can be problematic until I can correct them. And I found something that worked to completely remove the afternoon depression with the FIRST day of use: 5-HTP.  I was shocked.

Turns out that menopause can also mean low levels of serotonin–a brain transmitter that affects your mood positively. Your over-the-counter 5-HTP supplement (which comes from the seeds of the African plant Griffonia simplicifolia) is a precursor of trytophan, the amino acid responsible for making serotonin and melatonin. And lo and behold, what do many prescription anti-depressives, such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) meds, do?? They increase the bioavailability of serotonin! But why put up with the side-effects when 5-HTP is natural and has so few, I decided!!

How much? 100 mg did the trick for me, once a day. But others report needing 200 or 300 mg. I started on too much–had dizziness with starting on 200 mg. Found out the hard way that 100 mg was enough for the time being until I coud better treat my female hormonal issue. I’ve read where some only start on 50 mg.

For better sleep, studies have shown that 5-HTP outright will improve your sleep due to increasing melatonin. Research has reported a lengthening and deepening of their REM period of sleep–the deep sleep–and without increasing the amount of time they sleep. It also seems to smooth any ups and downs with sleeping.  Some research shows it can take several weeks, but I figure that can be individual.

There’s even anecdotal evidence that taking 5-HTP has helped drinkers avoid the bottle. i.e. if someone drinks to self-medicate against depression, 5-HTP could help.

There are definite cautions with 5-HTP! i.e. it’s NOT recommended to take it with anti-depressants or any seratonin-raising drug, as together one could raise their serotonin levels too high. A lot of different experiences with 5-HTP can be found here. As always, talk to your doctor about using it or not. It may be for only short-term use.

NOTE ABOUT DEPRESSION: For hypothyroid patients, especially those still stuck on T4-only like Synthroid, depression is pretty common due to inadequate levels of T3.  Once you get on Natural Desiccated Thyroid, as well as correct any potential low iron or low cortisol issues, you may find that depression is kicked to the wind!

As intellectually stated by Eric Fliers from the Department of Endocrinology in Amsterdam, “triiodothyronine (T3) is also capable of increasing serotonergic neurotransmission by desensitization of inhibitory 5-HT1a autoreceptors in the raphe nucleus, thus disinhibiting cortical and hippocampal serotonin release, and by increasing cortical 5-HT2 receptor sensitivity, further increasing 5-HT neurotransmission.”  

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Two newer pages on STTM as of 2012, and updated to today:

  1. Adaptogens:  read how certain plant and root substances can help you cope better with stress, here.
  2. Graves Disease: never thought I’d have a page on STTM about it, but enough patients have asked that it’s now here. Besides, since many Graves patients become hypothyroid, it’s good for them be included on a site that teaches what patients have learned about far better thyroid treatment, which is NOT T4-only.
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New to this website? Read about:
  1. Desiccated Natural Thyroid as the treatment with the best results
  2. Why T4-only meds like Synthroid aren’t doing the job for all too many
  3. How many thyroid patients fall into sluggish adrenal function aka adrenal fatigue
  4. How you can treat low cortisol without the use of HC
  5. What patients have learned
  6. Mistakes patients make in their treatment
And get the REVISED STTM BOOK for more details and ease of learning about what patients have learned.

 

 

62 replies

How LDN, Baking Soda and ALA cured her cancer–very remarkable story!

I meet many amazing individuals via the internet who have struggled with thyroid problems and clueless doctors. And my latest internet thyroid friend is Francie.

Francie  is the owner of an Multiple Schlerosis group that uses LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) in their treatment.  And besides having dealt with MS, she is a thyroid patient who had half her thyroid removed due to a cancer threat.  Afterwards, her doctors never suggested that her fatigue, feeling cold, and weight gain was anything except in her head while pushing SSRI anti-depressants on her. She asks “Why can we not keep it simple? Why do they think that we need powerful prescription drugs when a simple hormone can do wonders? “

But Francie’s story goes beyond her thyroid issue. She played a huge role in CURING HER UTERINE CANCER through the use of LDN, Baking Soda, and ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid). I was SO amazed that she gave me permission to post it here. Read this!

I have found three cheap, easy and safe suggestions to combat cancer: LDN, Baking Soda and ALA.

LDN is Low Dose Naltrexone. I originally started to use it for my Multiple Sclerosis and it honestly gave me my life back. I kept reading about others who were using it for cancers (and other auto-immune diseases, too, like Hashimotos), but that did not affect me, so paid little attention other than to note that the treatment adds Alpha Lipoic Acid, which is a very powerful antioxidant, among other things.

Then in September, I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Upon examination, it had apparently spread to the cervix, since that area was white and not good looking. Since I could not get an appointment for a couple of weeks (we have no insurance and the only option in this country was the University of Louisville teaching hospital) I decided to do all that I could to combat it during the wait.

I added the ALA (two 300mg capsules daily on an empty stomach) and along with that, infusions of baking soda in the uterus and then a soaked tampax next to the cervix. Within two weeks, the cervical lesions were gone.

Two weeks later, when I went to Mexico for surgery (I really did not need that uterus at age 62), the pathology showed that there was no evidence of cancer on the cervix or surrounding tissue. I attribute that to the constant sodium bicarbonate environment.

There was also no evidence of cancer in the adjacent lymph nodes or pelvic fluid. I attribute that to the LDN and ALA. It was obvious that the cancer predated my use of the LDN, which enormously improves the body’s own immune system, and there was no indication that it had metastasized outside the uterus. Inside the uterus is very hard for anything to penetrate as it is designed to be walled off from the body’s immune system, since it is made to hold what is recognized as a parasite to the host (baby in a mother.) So it is not surprising that the tumor was not killed in the uterus.

I also refused chemo and radiation. With the clean pathology, all of the Mexican doctors recommended that I take care of myself stay as healthy as possible. All of the US doctors recommended chemo at $10,000-15,000 per treatment. If they don’t recommend it and something happens, they can be sued. If they do recommend it and they kill you with it, they cannot be sued. That does not say much about my part in the equation.

There are excellent videos that explain these treatments. Doing a Google for “LDN ALA and cancer” will get lots of info. There is also a yahoo group called lowdosenaltrexone with more than 9000 members, including very knowledgeable doctors to help.

To do some research, one cannot do better than get Dr. Berkson’s book: “The Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough”. He has cured even pancreatic cancers and has the scientific research to prove it. You can see his speech on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqRwXEnPYKk

Like me, you probably want to really beat the bushes and use anything and everything that seems logical, makes sense and CAN DO NO HARM, especially when they are cheap as well. That is what baking soda, LDN and ALA all promise.

Not one of my US doctors suggested any of these, and yet there are people who know that they have cured or stopped the progression of horrible diseases with just these cheap and available products. Our American medical system is drug and money driven. We are sadly, not much healthier for it, in my opinion.

My best wishes to all,
Francie
http://LDN-for-MS.com

AND A FOLLOW-UP SHE MADE TO SOMEONE WHOSE GIRLFRIEND NOW HAS CERVICAL CANCER:

Changing the pH factor makes a huge difference in most living things on earth. We all live in a very narrow pH range.

For this reason, I am always shocked that people are willing to take expensive and life threatening drugs for toe nail fungus, like the one sold on TV for instance. Soaking the feet a couple of times per week in a vinegar solution (1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water) will kill it right away. It can take a year of soaking while the big toe nail grows back, but at least you are not taking powerful drugs in the whole body to affect a small area. Same thing with fingernail fungus. Just keep a pill bottle of diluted vinegar near where you work or sleep and dip the finger in each day or so.

So, it was no surprise that changing the pH factor might inhibit cancer. My main hesitation was the leap to believing that cancer is actually a fungus. I am not so sure that it is.  HOWEVER, I can imagine that fungus sets in with an unhealthy environment and I can also imagine that fast growing cells (cancer) would be more affected by a pH change than normal cells. So, I don’t have to even believe that cancer is fungus to give a change of pH a try. It is cheap and easy and the main question to me is, “why wouldn’t you?” We are talking your life. It is worth saving.

I think that cervical cancer and skin cancer would be the BEST ones to try and probably the most successful for exactly the same reason listed above. You are directly treating the affected area rather than having to change the whole body environment, like with brain or lung cancer.

The cervix is the opening to the uterus. So, if they said cervical cancer, then it is not the same as uterine cancer (I am hoping it is not both, as it was with me.)

If I were your girlfriend. I would douche with a sodium bicarbonate solution. In Mexico, it is sold in drug stores as bicarsol, which is a 5% sterile solution. This is what I had my doctors rinse the pelvic region out with before closing my incision from my hysterectomy.

I don’t think that you need sterile for douching. I used a much more concentrated solution, but after talking with a doctor that I trust, he feels that a VERY concentrated solution could burn the healthy tissue in such a delicate region, as opposed to on the skin, where I read that patients use a baking soda paste.  As a suggestion, I would dissolve a tablespoon full in a cup of water, which should give a nicely basic solution. After douching, do not rinse out the solution, but leave it with that high pH all day.

No matter what else the doctors recommend, you can still do this. My cancer was also in the uterus, so we did infusions of baking soda solution directly inside the uterus. We have medical backgrounds and were not intimidated by this, although I apologize to any who are offended by talking about private areas 🙂 . I don’t know if it helped there, as the tumor was already quite large and I only had a couple of weeks between diagnosis and the surgery to remove it.

I am personally opposed to chemo and radiation and was determined to not go that route. With my use of LDN and ALA (low dose naltrexone and alpha lipoic acid), I feel comfortable that I am doing more and living a healthier life than if I poisoned myself as recommended by western doctors. I believe that in future decades, we will look back on that practice with bafflement and horror, like we look back on bleeding people to cure the plague in the dark ages.

Don’t let your girlfriend be traumatized or intimidated by her doctors. I found the US doctors cavalier, haughty and offended that I had my own ideas and did not instantly treat them like gods. They were horrified that I would go to Mexico for surgery at 1/10th the price that they wanted to charge for the same thing. Not one of them offered something that I could do while waiting for them to wave their magic wands, as if they have any cure other than surgery, chemo and radiation. They did not mention healthy eating, pH factor or immune system improvement or anti-oxident supplementation. They were close minded and dogmatic.

Francie  http://LDN-for-MS.com

From Janie: please note that I am not posting this for you to take things into your hands, or to direct you against radiation or chemo. Each person, along with working with a trusted and good doctor, has to make their own decision. But I found it VERY impressive and worth educating you about.

You can read more about Low Dose Naltrexone here.

40 replies

10 reasons many thyroid patients are still frustrated, angry, and sick

 

Screen Shot 2015-06-12 at 1.21.49 PMUpdated in 2015:

It’s a continuing travesty, and you see it in patient groups.

i.e. many patients still find themselves sick and disabled, stumbling miserably from one uninformed doctor to another…in spite of the wonders of natural desiccated thyroid, the testimony of changed lives, the education of patients thanks to the STTM website & book, and a small but growing body of wise doctors who seem to be “getting it”,

So what’s the problem?? It lays with our doctors and the entire medical profession.

  1. Heavy-handed control over your medication:

    You go to pick up your prescription, and find your medication has been lowered by your doctor without your agreement or knowledge, as happened to Terry here (scroll down to find her post).

  2. Ignorance about adrenal insufficiency and treatment:

    You clearly have an adrenal problem, and one doctor dismisses its existence, another doctor poo-poos the saliva test, another doctor tells you cortisol supplementation is dangerous, another doctor thrusts all his herbal supplements at you, another doctor thinks that 5 or 10 mg cortisol is enough…and on and on and on.

  3. Thinking that falling in the range is optimal:

    If a lab result within those numerical boundaries, which are based on a set of people a laboratory picked to come up with the range, says I’m normal, WHY do I still have issues??

  4. Dismissing you:

    You are wise thanks to reading, researching and living in your own body, yet your doctor calls you a problematic patient on your charts, dismisses you, or gets angry.

  5. RT3 huh?

    You have strong suspicions that your Reverse T3 is too high thanks to low cortisol or low iron or Lyme or undiagnosed gluten issues, etc, yet this doctor refuses to test you, that doctor says an RT3 excess is rare.

  6. Look at me! Look at me!

    You make an appointment with that great doc who has a fabulous website/book and who shouts that he uses desiccated thyroid with a big smile…yet some or all of the above and below occurs with him/her or his “trained” associates.

  7. Continued worship of the TSH lab test:

    Too many doctors still think the TSH lab test is from God Almighty. So when you finally start to feel well on desiccated thyroid with a TSH at zero or below…WHAM…you must lower your meds because you are somehow “hyper” in spite of no symptoms to match whatsoever and improvement in our bone density and heart health.

  8. Pharmaceutical addicts:

    You mention your lingering hypothyroid symptoms, and you are bandaided with anti-depressants, anti-anxietal meds, statins, BP pills, pain tablets, acid reflux pills, calcium for your thinning bones…instead of understanding from your doctor that these are ALL side effects of poor thyroid treatment.

  9. The country you live in:

    The desperation of UK thyroid patients is deep thanks to a thyroid association and a College of Physicians which tightens the screws if a doctor dares to prescribe a life changing medication with T3 in it.  Or just as frustrating, having a government which forbids desiccated thyroid to arrive to you in the mail, or like Denmark, refuses to dispense it.

  10. Reformulations and Big Pharma apathy:

    In 2009, then Forest Labs turned one of the most popular and effective desiccated thyroid brand, Armour, into a pill with too much cellulose and too little sucrose, causing a massive return of symptoms in many.  RLC also reformulated their Naturethroid to some degree, and though some patients still do well on it, others did not anymore. Erfa made some kind of change in 2014 which they denied, yet certain patients all over the world reported new problems they had never had before. You are left wondering WHAT is going to happen next!!

And there are more reasons you might want to bring up in the Comments part of this post.

So you see, it’s no wonder so MANY patients feel forced to self-treat, yet they are also condemned for doing so.

All-in-all, we still have a way to go, baby, and especially with the doctors we try so hard to get help from…but can’t.

P.S. Are you brave? Walk into your doctor’s office with the STTM shirt. And here’s how to find a potentially better doc. 

 

28 replies

Thyroid Tidbit: FLUORIDE in our water is poison to our thyroids

waterrunning

Even 1 1/2 years ago, over 2000 professionals from a variety of disciplines called the US Congress to end Fluoridation of water, citing it’s toxicity and the deception of putting it in our water. You can read their call to action here.

The importance of this call lies in each of us with thyroid disease, since fluoride is a KNOWN inhibitor of our thyroid function.

As of Feb. 9th, 2009, the Courier Post Online of South Jersey has an excellent article on the problem of our extreme exposure to fluoride.  This article cites the following facts:

1) 53 US cities rejected fluoridation during our last November election
2) Ingested fluoride can damage kidney patients, bones, the thyroid gland, high water drinkers, and children’s teeth
3) Studies linking fluoride to cancer and lowered IQ are plausible.
4) In 2007, the British Medical Journal indicated that fluoridation never was proven safe or effective and may be unethical.
5) Health Canada says the government should cut the recommended amount in drinking water, encourage the use of low-fluoride toothpaste by children and have makers of infant formula reduce levels.

I personally made a point to stop using any toothpaste with Fluoride a few years ago.  I also supplement with iodine, since fluoride displaces iodine levels. Sadly, I still love iced tea, which contains fluoride.  But YOU can avoid more fluoride exposure by finding a way to get off anti-depressants and osteoporosis medications which contain fluoride, and that is especially possible when you are optimal with Armour desiccated thyroid in presence of strong adrenals or optimal cortisol supplementation.

5 replies

Dumb as boards; blind as bats

I use those phrases often. I can’t help it. Because it’s exactly what doctors are when it comes to thyroid treatment. It’s APPALLING.

Yesterday, I had the first of two book signings. It was announced in the paper, and I wasn’t sure what the turnout would be. I shouldn’t have wondered. It was a great turnout. People are GETTING IT that there is SOMETHING WRONG with their treatment. Around me stood several women, all still on T4 (Synthroid, Levoxyl, et al), and ALL suffering. All but one woman had weight problems. Several had rising cholesterol. Some admitted to being on anti-depressants. Some obviously had adrenal fatigue. And ALL were being told by their doctors that their thyroid treatment was now “normal”. Where can I go beat my head against the wall?????? They were eager to get the book and the knowledge it contained to change their lives!

So far, the book has been sent to Norway, Iceland, Belgium, UK, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, besides all over the US. The STTM website started the wheel to turn, and the book can only move it faster. And add it to other thyroid books which had begun to mention the truth (Broda Barnes being the first) as well as other groups and websites—we’ll eventually knock some SENSE and SIGHT in doctors, don’t you think?

The Stop the Thyroid Madness book, the bible of correct thyroid and adrenal treatment, by patients for patients, can be ordered here.

P.S. I live near one town which serves a population of nearly 35,000 people, and near another of over 4000 people, and there are plenty of doctors around here. Yet, there is not ONE doctor in this area that “gets it”. I sympathize with YOU if you are in the same boat.

5 replies