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Deep sorrow and Condolences–Dr. John C. Lowe has passed on.

With great sorrow and condolences to all his family, I want to announce that Tammy Lowe, wife of John C. Lowe, has announced the passing of this beloved man and courageous champion for better thyroid care, Dr. John C. Lowe.

Please offer your condolences and praise of Dr. Lowe and all his accomplishments in the name of better thyroid care, by commenting on this blog. I will alert Tammy to it. If you are reading this via the Email Notification, click on then title of the post to put you back on the actual blog, and comment there.

A Special Tribute to my Husband,
Dr. John C. Lowe
1/22/1946- 1/9/2012
by Tammy Lowe

It is with deep sadness and a broken heart that I write this letter to inform you that Dr. John C. Lowe died suddenly January 9, 2012 due to complications following a head injury that he sustained on November 14, 2011.

I’ve spent the last few days searching for the right words to share this news and to honor the man that I have known and loved for the majority of my life, but the words seem so small and insubstantial to the man that he was. One only has to read the many pages of www.drlowe.com, www.thyroidscience.com, and www.thyroidscience.us to know that John’s passion and dedication to the field of thyroidology and fibromyalgia was his reason for getting up every day and spending countless hours boldly offering his strong opinions in the field. There were no vacations in our life together, no tee times on the golf course, no boating on the beautiful waters or walks on the sandy beaches in Florida where we live. His happiest moments were spent at the desk he loved, surrounded by his many wellread, tattered books, and typing the words that would eventually make their way to the websites for his readers to find them. They say a genius is someone of great intelligence and I do believe that John was a genius in his field. His greatest magnum opus, of course, was The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, the textbook that took him 10 years to write. Imagine the dedication to complete such a task.

In the final months since his head injury – John was able to accomplish several things despite impaired vision in his right eye and a broken collar bone. He proudly completed a forward to a book titled ‘Recovering with T3‘ by Paul Robinson and a forward for the book, The Hormone Zone, by Dr. John Robinson. He also conducted an interview for Dr. Mark Swanson that will soon be published. And finally, he was also working to complete his own book, ‘Safely Getting Well With Thyroid Hormone’ and was preparing to have it in print within a few weeks.

The website’s will remain as they are. His compassionate words will still be there. I will try to find the newsletter that he was working on and send it (incomplete or finished by my hand). The Thyro-gold will also continue to be available. John believed in it so strongly. I will try to find the clinical trial results and post them for the benefit of those who rely on the product. There are so many documents that he was writing that remain unfinished but I will do my best to sort through them and share them when I can.

What final words can I offer to you all at this sad time? For those of you who knew him personally, who spoke with him on the phone, who met him face-to-face, shook his hand or offered a hug in gratitude – you will join our daughter Michele and me in sorrow as we face this tragic loss together. For those of you who never had the privilege to know my husband personally, but read his writings, just know that he believed in his research and hoped that someday the TSH testing would be abandoned as the standard practice for thyroid health and that healthcare would return to the science-based treatment that it should be.

Remember the scientist that he was and continue to share his work with others who need it. Remember his voice for those
who felt they were never heard when they were in need of direction. Remember the extraordinary man that he was and help me maintain his everlasting presence.

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Thanks to Dr. Lowe for a very valuable call last night

Dr.JohnCLoweAnyone who listened to the Thyroid Patient Community Call last night will know that we were listening to a powerhouse of a man with an encyclopedia of valuable information: Dr. John C. Lowe.

He is the author of an exhaustive book on Fibromyalgia called The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia, which explains how the proper diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism is a good choice in the treatment of fibro. He also owns drlowe.com and the research website Thyroid Science.

I already knew he was great. He’s listed in the Acknowledgements of the Stop the Thyroid Madness book as one of a handful of medical professionals who played a huge role in educating and empowering patients all these years.  He, like the others, was a springboard for patients to move forward in gaining far better information about thyroid treatment and everything else we have have learned over the years!

And he has agreed to come back, since we had many more questions to ask him! I’ll announce that when we secure a date.

Below are some highlights from our talk with Dr. Lowe:

  1. The use of high dose B-vitamins is very important for the thyroid patient, and even more so when you are feeling better in your treatment. Thyroid increases the production of protein, which drives energy, and you’ll need the B’s to help this higher energy production.
  2. Sadly, it’s economics which dominant science and and researching, and it’s all for marketing purposes instead of the pursuit of truth and the real health of patients.
  3. What drives your medical investigations? To gain wealth, or to help patients?
  4. 75% of the time, if a doctor uses the TSH to either diagnose hypo or treat it, he will be wrong.
  5. In the 1980’s, the top of the TSH range was 7.5.
  6. Abbott Labs, the makers of Synthroid, gives one million dollars in an unrestricted educational grant to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologist (AACE) i.e. no wonder Endocrinologists have a love affair with Synthroid, a medication like other brands which has left the vast majority of us undertreated. You can read more details from Lowe on this subject here.
  7. Isocort, an OTC treatment for low cortisol, is protected by the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act.
  8. HC, aka hydrocortisone, is water soluble. Isocort is fat soluble. People need bile so the lipase enzymes are able to work on it.
  9. There are no studies to compare Isocort to HC, and should be.
  10. If swallowing, take thyroid one hour before eating for best absorption. If meal will have a lot of fat, 3-4 hours before eating.
  11. Elderly people have less Hydrochloric Acid and do a worse job absorbing nutrients. (And so do undertreated hypo patients, reminded Diane)  Betaine is a good supplement to help.
  12. Why it can be a bad idea to swallow thyroid with meals: we never know how many compounds are in the food that will bind it, like calcium and iron.  T4 is the most badly absorbed.

To hear more, just click above and listen to the recorded call. Thank you for being you, Dr. John C. Lowe.

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icicles2BRRRRR. In the US and many other countries,  we are having one of the coldest winters we’ve seen in a long time. And if you are out in it alot, you may need a tad more thyroid meds to keep yourself optimal.

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