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Question: What do most doctors & lemon cars have in common?

Answer: Most are duds.

On Monday, I had an enjoyable experience with an exception to the lemon cliche:  I was a guest on Dr. Steven F. Hotze’s radio program Health and Wellness Solutions, broadcast live from Houston, Texas.  You can listen to a recording of our conversation here on the lower right under the heading Dr. Hotze Radio in orange.

The commercials were like flies, zeroing in often and irritatingly. But we managed to briefly mention both Stop the Thyroid Madness as well as the Hotze Health & Wellness Center.

And two things struck me about our friendly chat: first, Hotze mentioned that he started prescribing natural desiccated thyroid in the 1990’s, far ahead of most doctors even today!  If only we knew.  And second, he made a quick mention of how disappointing most doctors are for patients, referring to the STTM page called Give Me A Break. If you haven’t seen it, or it’s been awhile, you will find it both hilarious and completely sad.

And it all made me ponder how in 2010, eight years after I personally found the life changing desiccated thyroid,  there are still so many family practitioners and Endocrinologists keeping thyroid patients sick all over the world, even if they mean well, even if they are good people, even if they do other diagnoses and treatments correctly.

So on one hand, it’s reality that progress is slow. But on the other hand, the thyroid treatment wall of ignorance is slowly tumbling down about better thyroid treatment thanks to patients who read about it and carry that information into their doctors offices.

So perhaps over time, the lemons who practice bad thyroid treatment will become less and less prominent in the name of enlightenment, wisdom and LISTENING to patients.

P.S. And by way, if you are lucky enough to have found one of those docs who prescribe desiccated thyroid, remember that NO doctor is all-knowing. YOU live in your own body, and can have your OWN wisdom and knowledge. So expect the relationship be a partnership. And if you can’t get that partnership, find a better doctor.

Want to read more about natural desiccated thyroid? Go here.   To read my own story, go here.

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I will be a guest on Dr. Hotze’s radio show next Monday around noon, Central time

It appears that the report several days ago by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation about natural desiccated thyroid was a disappointment to one who was interviewed. See the blog post below.

So I am glad to announce that Steven F. Hotze, M.D. and I will be doing a good program that does NOT need a totally misinformed Endocrinologist for the sake of “balance”!

I will be a guest on “Health & Wellness Solutions” radio program of Dr. Hotze on April 12th (NEXT MONDAY) to talk about hypothyroidism. The radio show airs Mon-Fri from 12-1pm CST on 700 AM KSEV-Houston, Texas and on the internet through www.DrHotze.com. Our part will start at 10:15 am Pacific, 11:15 am Mountain, 12:15 pm Central, and 1:15 pm Eastern.

You can also read his Press Release about this upcoming show.  Dr. Hotze runs the Hotze Health & Wellness Center in Houston, Texas–a practice which believes the primary criterion for diagnosis, and for evaluating the effects of treatment, is how a patient feels. 

So mark your calenders, set your cell phone alarms.  IF CANADA BROADCASTING CAN’T GET IT RIGHT, JANIE BOWTHORPE WILL!!!

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Guess who I’m going to be talking with next week on Talkshoe??

If you read my recent blog post about it (click on link below or just scroll down on the STTM blog), or if you saw NBC’s Today Show, you’ll know that Dr. Kent Holtorf correctly diagnosed a clearly-hypothyroid woman, Nurse Practitioner Eola Force, by not going just by the TSH, and changed her life. He was criticized by an Endocrinologist as having “no real scientific basis”  for what he does in his practice, and it was equivalent to the “laying on of hands”.  (chuckle)

//www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2010/01/28/endocrinologists-tsh-lab-test/

Well, it’s time to hear what Dr. Holtorf has to say!

Join us as I chat with him about this incident next WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17th at 6 pm Pacific, 7 pm Mountain, 8 pm Central, and 9 pm Eastern, right on your computer’s audio on STTM’s Talkshoe Call webpage (below). Call in to ask questions, too. MARK YOUR CALENDER! SET YOUR CELL PHONE ALARM! This is one introduction that I’m going to have fun with, don’t ya think??

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=62603&cmd=tc

***Note that we moved it to Wednesday nights. That should help with any dropped calls that were happening on busy Thursdays.

By the way,  Dr. Holtorf recently launched his new website, called The Non-Profit National Academy of Hypothyroidism in an attempt to reach doctors about appropriate diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism, which patients know does NOT include just the lousy TSH lab test.  Will doctors, and especially Endocrinologists, ever figure out this clear and easy truth?  Don’t we hope so.

Have something to say? Use the Comment function at the bottom of this blog post. If you are reading this via an email notification, just click on the title of this blog post to take you directly to the actual blog post.

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Endocrinologists and the looney tune TSH lab test

“It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” –Dr. Carl Sagan

You may have seen the segment on NBC’s Today Show this morning, January 29th, 2010, or you may have heard about it on the internet. But in case you didn’t, the Today Show had a rare short piece about hypothyroidism and diagnosis which presented a Nurse Practitioner, Eola Force, with clear symptoms of hypo, including extreme tiredness, feeling like she’s dying, huge weight gain, depression, and brain fog, to name a few.

Yet, she had a so-called “normal  “TSH” lab test. The explanation for her symptoms?? She’s FAT, HORMONAL and FEMALE, of course!

And because she is under the care of a wise and knowledgeable doctor named Dr. Kent Holtorf and his clinic, which uses additional tests besides the TSH, he diagnosed her clearly, put her on thyroid hormones, and changed her life.

And the response by Dr. Singer, an Endocrinologist? There is “no real scientific basis” for what Holtorf does in his practice, and it was equivalent to the “laying on of hands”.

Well my dear Dr. Singer sir, if hundreds of millions of patients all over the world waited on “science” to prove what they know by decades of miserable experience because of the TSH, we’d all still be sick as dogs. The mutually accepted delusion by the Endocrinology field about the TSH lab test has left millions of thyroid patients undiagnosed and undertreated for nearly 40 years of its existence.

Other than to potentially diagnose a pituitary problem, no, the TSH lab test is NOT the gold standard for thyroid screening anymore than reading tea leaves tells me what kind of day I’m going to have.

Read more about the TSH lab test here, or find even more detail in Chapter 3 in the book called TSH: THYROID STIMULATING HOOEY.

See much better labwork than simply the TSH here.  Find what your results mean here. And here‘s how to find a much better doctor.

P.S. Thyroid patient Lynn Dunning emailed me about talking about the craziness of current thyroid treatment at her work, and one of her colleagues put this up on the work website:
http://www.spunout.ie/health/Healthy-body/Thyroid-madness Good for Lynn and the SpunOut website!

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Erfa’s “Thyroid” has been our saving grace–here’s more info from Dr. Knafo and Erfa!

erfalogoThe year of 2009 will long be remembered for two nightmares straight out of Twilight Zone for thyroid patients: 1) Armour desiccated thyroid by Forest Labs was reformulated with patients globally reported a return of symptoms and new frustrating ones, and 2) shortages of all US-made natural desiccated thyroid like Armour, Naturethroid and Westhroid occurred, as well as no more generics thanks to the FDA.

Additionally, as I write this, Naturethroid and Westhroid by RLC Labs are still hard to get–making too slow a return on pharmacy shelves which may not improve until 2010. You can read details and a good summary about this on about.com.

But there’s been a silver lining to this situation: Canada’s “Thyroid” by Erfa.

Many patients made a switch to this desiccated thyroid product, using online pharmacy websites and their prescriptions from their doctors. And overall, the experience of patients with Erfa’s Thyroid has been extremely positive.

I had a wonderful chat this week with Dr. Henri Knafo, the Director of Medical Affairs at Erfa Canada Inc.  My first and most important question: Is there enough Thyroid for all your patient customers?? And I got an unequivocal “Yes” from Dr. Knafo.  He explained there are no concerns with running out and they have plenty in stock, now and in the future. He stated that if their stock gets low from sudden demand, they can easily get more and quickly.

I also asked: Is shipping timely? Definitely yes, Dr. Knafo stated. But he also qualified that Erfa is overloaded with orders. And though they are keeping up, your prescription order can take time to process. But, he stated “Be Patient. It will arrive!”

What is going on with the FDA and Erfa? He underscored that the FDA is cooperating completely, and they see a good future with the FDA.  They are completely tolerant, said Dr. Knafo, because they seem to understand the shortages. Erfa’s Thyroid is also completely approved and regulated by Health Canada. As far as the future and the FDA, Dr. Knafo strongly feels that once the FDA is reassured about desiccated thyroid, things will only get better for US patients with brands and availability. He feels that issues with the FDA are far more positive than many thyroid patients and leaders seem to get or want to see.

Do you see changes towards opinion of desiccated thyroid?  Definitely, yes. Dr. Knafo recently attended a European medical conference with over 50 specialists and he saw many doctors not satisfied with Synthroid and noticing the better treatment with desiccated thyroid. “It’s booming in Europe”, he underscored about Erfa and desiccated thyroid  “Even Endo’s are noticing”.  He also said that Belgium was experiencing a huge medical trend away from T4 and towards desiccated thyroid.

Why has the cost of Erfa’s Thyroid gone up even more than 50%?? His explanation was three-fold:  it was first a financial decision, since they have never made much of a profit on desiccated thyroid. Second, Health Canada requires a lot of expensive testing from Erfa on products. And third, since they buy their powdered desiccated thyroid from Europe, an increase in Euros meant they needed to increase the price.

Any final comments? Dr. Knafo clarified: Erfa has been making Thyroid for 30 years and not only will that continue, they will not change the formula. He thinks the sugar in Thyroid is what makes absorption so good, and that will continue as an ingredient just as it is.  Nothing will change! To see ingredients of Erfa’s Thyroid and other brands, go here.

You can read more about Erfa from my September 2nd post.   Thank you to Dr. Knafo for being so candid and informative!

See my post below about my mother, who lived her entire adult life undertreated on T4 with depression and electric shock treatment and had no internet to compare notes. If you have a relative from the past with a similar story, add the story to the Comments.

*HO HO HO! Have a STTM book sent to someone  you care about as a CHRISTMAS or HOLIDAY present. A card will be included, and the book will be in an envelope with a red bow!! Save money the more you buy!

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