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What is going on with the Texas Medical Board?? Potentially worrisome.

This 2008 blog post was updated in 2015 here: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2015/07/28/medical-boards-and-the-tsh-how-they-fail-thyroid-patients-worldwide/   Enjoy!!

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I was informed today that a very popular and well-liked doctor in Texas, who treats many hypothyroid patients, was disciplined recently.  And for what?  Under the column titled NONTHERAPEUTIC PRESCRIBING, it states:  The action was based on Dr. Launius’ prescribing Adipex, Adderal and Armour Thyroid to patients when such medications were not indicated. www.tmb.state.tx.us/news/press/2008/101608a.php

Adipex and Adderol are both central nervous system stimulants, and I can’t comment one way or the other. But the mention of Armour thyroid as “not indicated” is potentially worrisome, especially with similar disciplinary actions brought upon well-liked and wise doctors like Peatfield and Skinner of the UK, Derry of Canada, and  Springer in the US–all who dared to make obvious symptoms more important than ink spots on a piece of paper.

Take Kymm, a 45 year old woman.  She has manifested hypothyroid symptoms for 15 years since the birth of her daughter.  Yet during those entire 15 years, her TSH lab result has been completely “normal”…i.e. hypothyroidism has never been “indicated” based on the typical and widespread gold standard of diagnosis: the TSH.  But she has never, ever been normal with 15 years of easy weight gain, chronic depression, thinning hair, rising cholesterol, and other clear hypothyroid symptoms. And she has in fact started on Armour…and is soaring.

Kymm is not an oddity.  Thyroid patients on internet groups report going years with a normal TSH, no diagnosis, yet clear symptoms which are ignored by their TSH-obsessed doctors.   So their doctors may have avoided disciplinary action, but did they truly practise the art and science of healing??

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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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The tortoise and the hare: the STTM movement is the tortoise, but we’re winning!!

Hardly a person hasn’t heard Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the all-too-confident hare, running their I’ll-prove-to-you-who’s-boss race. The hare was FAST and certain to win the run. But the ever-so-committed tortoise, even if slow, slower and slowest…was steady…and won the race.

Until recently, I thought our thrust and determination to change the Big Pharma, zombie-doctoring medical system in the treatment of hypothyroid would be like the hare. We’d get the attention of the mass media through our great determination, shout the message of a FAR better thyroid treatment, and create huge change.

But I think I was wrong. Change has occurred, but we have been doing it like the tortoise…slow and steady.

Slowly but steadily, we are seeing more and more doctors starting to “get it”, even if they still have a way to go. Slowly but steadily, folks are finding out why they have less stamina than others, or depression, or rising cholesterol, or fibromyalgia, or thinning hair in the face of the dogged “normal” diagnosis…all due to an inadequate medication called T4, aka Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, et. al. and a lousy lab called the TSH.

Slowly but steadily, folks are finding out about desiccated thyroid to treat their hypothyroid, and cortisol to treat their adrenal fatigue.

Even the STTM book has been like the tortoise. Literary agents didn’t get it, nor did huge publishing companies. I finally stopped counting, but I bet I had over 200 rejections. They all thought it was simply “another” thyroid book. So the fruition of the STTM book came out of true sweat and tears, and a lot of cuss words as I squirmed through my frustrations. Yet, the STTM book–a PATIENT-TO-PATIENT book of which I was only the messenger, is not only a steady seller like the tortoise was steady, but sales keep growing every month, reviews are excellent, and lives ARE changing. How can you criticize a message, whether the STTM site or the book, that is based on the positive and critical experience of thousands of patients around the world!!

Change IS happening! Like the tortoise, we’re winning the race and creating change, bit by bit, whether it’s via STTM, various internet thyroid groups, other good books, or just word of mouth. We’re all a part of it. But we can’t be complacent, because it’s truly obvious by blogs and websites I read that there’s still a huge body of hypothyroid patients still suffering on T4 who need to find out what WE have found out. But it will happen, bit by bit. 🙂

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The walking SILENT SUCKERS of Synthroid, Levoxyl & Levothyroxine treatment

It would make an incredible horror movie. The plot: stunningly convince at least hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide that what has always been obvious, isn’t. That leaves only look green because of alien filters in your eyes. That ripe apples fall because water pulls them down. That fire doesn’t really burn your skin; it’s just your imagination.

And about hundred more schizophrenic ying yangs. Because if those in authority say so, it must be so.

But the horror movie is a reality, and I see it EVERY TIME I come into contact with people and the subject of my thyroid advocacy comes up.

Like today. A couple saw my book and struck up a conversation. She was on Synthroid; he was on Levoxyl. They had each been on their T4-only treatment for 12 and 14 years respectively, felt their hypo was perfectly treated, believed their doctors…and were now dealing with other problems: his rising cholesterol, her depression, his fatigue, and her weight gain. BUT OF COURSE, THOSE HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR T4-ONLY TREATED HYPOTHYROID AND SOME OF IT IS THEIR OWN FAULT…leaves aren’t really green, water makes ripe apples fall, and fire doesn’t really burn.

It just struck me. And it’s struck me before. There’s just a LOT of SILENT SUCKERS walking around. I was one; my mother was one; and there are obviously millions out there, still walking around trying to live with the side effects of a treatment that their doctors say are NOT caused by their thyroid.

Sad.

(Has your cholesterol and other lipids improved since you switched to Armour and raised without using the TSH? Your story of success is welcome on the blog post below!)

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My cholesterol is 167…thanks to my more optimal thyroid treatment

STTM cholesterol is good

(This post was updated to the present day and time. Enjoy!)

I was lucky.

My cholesterol hadn’t started to raise yet when I was on Synthroid and later Levoxy for nearly 20 years. But the risk was strong that it was going to, because all-too-many on a T4-only medication report having a climbing cholesterol number, sooner or later, along with potential heart problems and/or elevated CRP (C-reactived protein–a measure of one’s inflammation levels). Yes, it’s individual, but it’s common.

And what do their doctors do next if any of the above occur? Put them on statins with all the lovely side effects: muscle aches & pains, memory loss, and peripheral neuropathy.

My mother is the classic example.

We have absolutely no heart problems in our family history that I know of. Yet, here was my mother who, in her 60’s, was suddenly in the hospital having a balloon procedure on her heart, called an Angioplasty, done to open up a clogged artery to her heart. Huh??

And years later….

It was only years later, when I become a thyroid patient activist, that I could look back and see why that happened to her. She had been on a T4-only medication for the majority of her adult life, aka Synthroid!

Today, as patients are switching to natural desiccated thyroid like Armour, Naturethroid and WP Thyroid and/or others, and as they are allowed by their informed doctors to raise NOT according to the TSH but by the complete elimination of symptoms as well as the free T3 and free T4…VOILA…. their once-high cholesterol….FALLS!!

But guess what else falls? Your CRP if it’s also caused by the rising cholesterol.

CRP stands for C-Reactive Protein, and it becomes elevated in response to certain forms of inflammation. With that elevation comes the heightened risk of heart attacks and strokes. And guess what: continued hypothyroid (as found with T4-only treatment) can result in an increased CRP level, we’ve noted before.

On an optimal amount of desiccated thyroid, which for me was 4 grains for years (3 1/2 grains after menopause), my CRP is 0.9. Ideal is less than one. Bingo.

***Have a story to share about your improved lipid or CRP levels since you became optimal on Natural Desiccated Thyroid? Let us know. Even adding T3 to your T4 is a huge step, thyroid friends!

JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

  • Proof in research! Check out this study done in 2007–the higher the TSH, the worse your lipids. Ironically, even a TSH IN RANGE does this, according to the experience of MILLIONS of patients!! Thanks Nita for bringing this to my attention!
  • Have you Liked the STTM Facebook page? It gives you daily inspiration and information!

 

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