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Depression? High blood pressure? Weight gain? Need a nap? On a T4-only med like Synthroid? TEN RESULTS YOU NEED TO KNOW!

(This page was updated in 2015. Enjoy!)

STTM Thyroid Awareness MonthJanuary is THYROID AWARENESS MONTH, but no matter what month you are in, it pays to be an informed patient!

A healthy thyroid, or the right treatment, will create the following TEN RESULTS: 

 

1) Bodily warmth

Because the active thyroid hormone T3 stimulates your metabolism is the right way, patients find themselves getting close to or at 98.6 F/ 37 C in the afternoons, plus warmer hands and feet.

2) Better mood

The right thyroid hormones increase neurotransmitter responsiveness in your brain (like serotonin), meaning it’s your natural anti-depressive…and depression is kicked to the wind.

3) The ability to concentrate 

Just as they are anti-depressive, thyroid hormones promote better thought processing in your brain.

4) A healthy heart and blood pressure 

Thyroid hormones play a strong role in the health of your cardiovascular system

5) Softer skin and better hair

The right thyroid hormones keep you moister, so you don’t have problems with dry hands, dry hair, eyebrow loss, hair thinning….etc.

6) Better weight maintenance

Your metabolism stays at a point where it’s easier to maintain your goal weight with healthy eating habits and exercise.

7) The ability to avoid naps 

The right metabolism from the right thyroid hormones (after a good night’s sleep) keeps you awake and feeling fabulous even in the afternoons.

8) Healthy cholesterol 

Thyroid hormones appear to have both an indirect and direct relationship to healthy cholesterol levels.

9) Easier and more regular bowel movements

Because of the extra moisture that the right amount of thyroid hormones give you, bowel movements are better, and constipation and hard stools belong to someone else.

10) A stronger immune system

Thyroid hormones play a direct role in the strength of your body’s ability to withstand infections and disease, or at the least, fight them quicker and more stronger if you do get sick.

So my friends, if anything above seems off to you, there are important things you need to do:

  1. Find a doctor who will do the Free T3 and Free T4, NOT just the TSH. Just using the TSH lab test has kept many folks UNdiagnosed, or UNDERtreated. 
  2. Learn how to read those lab results here. Lab results have NOTHING do with just “falling in the range”.
  3. Look into natural desiccated thyroid (NDT). It gives you all FIVE thyroid hormones, not just one left to depend upon like T4-only (aka Synthroid, Tirosent, Levothyroxine, Eltroxine, etc).
  4. Find out about all problems associated with being left undiagnosed due to the TSH and undertreated due to T4-only meds, such as non-optimal levels of iron, high or low cortisol, low B12, depression and mental health issues, low Vitamin D and other problems. Any of these can also contribute to problems with the above ten results.
  5. Order the revised STTM book. This is a compilation of successful patient experience and wisdom to help you achieve the above ten results. Learn from patients! Right now, it’s in ENGLISH, GERMAN, SPANISH AND SWEDISH.

**The above graphic was lovingly created by thyroid patient Marivia Gonzalez of Panama.

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* ADD A BLUE THYROID AWARENESS RIBBON to your Facebook profile pic here. It will end up on the lower right….

* Did you know there’s a STTM II book? Every chapter is written by medical practitioners! A great followup to the revised STTM book! 

* Join the STTM Facebook page to get daily tips and inspiration!

 

31 replies

As a hypothyroid patient, you might want to think twice about drinking water out of plastic bottles

(This page has been updated to the present. Enjoy!)

As a hypothyroid patient, do you think you are fine drinking that purely fine mineral water from a plastic bottle?

Think that fluoride and chlorine are the only substances we need to worry about when it comes to our thyroid health?? Think again.

Thyroid patient Amy McMullen, who has contributed before on STTM’s blog as a GUEST POSTER (Confessions of a Undercover Thyroid Advocate) and has a passion about human rights, has written another important article below which should be of keen interest to all of you.

BPA–A POWERFUL ENDOCRINE DISRUPTER THAT AFFECTS YOUR THYROID

Perhaps you have read recently about how the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA) is found to be prevalent in our food and water. As a hypothyroid patient, I was surprised to see that not all articles about this harmful substance adequately describe the connection between thyroid function and BPA. This is an oversight that should be addressed since hypothyroidism is estimated to affect over ten million people in the US and this number is growing. It makes perfect sense to look to environmental toxins as a likely culprit in this serious health epidemic.

BPA is a synthetic estrogen and an endocrine disrupter that causes multiple health problems.

There are over 200 studies linking it to breast cancer, obesity, attention deficit disorder, early puberty in girls, genital abnormalities in boys and girls alike, polycystic ovary disease and infertility in women and prostate cancer in men. Studies indicate that up to 92% of Americans have BPA in their urine. Also BPA doesn’t leave the body quickly; fasting adults still had BPA levels in their bodies after 24 hours.

BPA comes from many plastic sources. It’s used as a hardener in plastic manufacturing. Many tin cans have plastic linings that contain BPA including soup and tomatoes, and it’s also in plastic water bottles, some infant formulas and canned juices. BPA is also found in PVC water supply piping.

How does BPA relate to thyroid disease?

According to a several good studies, BPA is a thyroid receptor antagonist. This means that BPA will interfere with the binding of the thyroid hormone T3 with cell receptor sites. This will cause hypothyroidism, not only with people with under-functioning thyroids but also for those who are currently taking medications for hypothyroidism or even those who have normally functioning thyroids. BPA was found to accumulate in many organs when injected into rats including the lung, kidneys, thyroid, stomach, heart, spleen, testes, liver, and brain. In this way, BPA has the potential to interfere with thyroid hormones in each organ that has accumulated the substance. A study also indicates that the levels of BPA that are considered safe (upper limit of emission is set to 2.5 ppm [µg/liter], which is more than 90 µM) are high enough to inhibit thyroid hormone receptors. Yet another study shows that BPA appears to accumulate in rat fetuses in significantly high levels and disrupts thyroid function in baby rats.

There’s also evidence that BPA may influence the metabolism of endogenous steroids, which may be a factor in adrenal fatigue and its treatment, as well as and its treatment, as well as dysautonomia stemming from adrenal problems. Many with hypothyroidism also suffer from co-morbid adrenal fatigue and BPA may be a contributing factor in this.

What this means for everyone, but especially for thyroid patients, is every effort should be made to remove BPA from food and water supplies.

For those who are not able to get properly optimized on their thyroid meds or who are finding they are suffering from hypothyroid symptoms despite normal levels of TSH, free T3 and free T4, consider BPA as a possible source of the problem.

Steps you can take to minimize you exposure include:

  • Avoid all canned foods with plastic liners and avoid bottled water. Buy your canned tomatoes in glass jars, not metal cans or stick to using fresh ingredients. Most other canned foods use BPA as well, especially green beans (Here is a list of BPA-free canned foods).
  • Drink water out of glass or stainless steel containers (and make sure there’s no plastic liner or lids that have BPA) or BPA-free plastic. Low density polyethylene bike bottles contain BPA.
  • Do not microwave foods in plastics or use plastic wraps when microwaving. Avoid polycarbonate (“PC” or #7 and #3) plastic food containers altogether.
  • Since most municipal water piping is PVC and some houses have it as water supply lines, consider installing a reverse osmosis system for your drinking water. This will also remove fluoride and chlorine (other thyroid disrupters) and many other harmful substances from drinking water.

Most importantly we need to make our voices heard that BPA is not an acceptable substance and that its use in our food and water supply must cease. Recently Senator Feinstein introduced a ban on BPA to the Food Safety Modernization Act but this was modified to remove the ban due to pressure by industry groups. Senator Feinstein still has an effort underway to ban BPA from child drink bottles and toys and several states have enacted such bans but this does not go far enough.

Contact your representatives today and let them know that a national ban on BPA must be enacted. If they don’t listen then I suggest you make yourself heard at the ballot box this November.

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  • Have you cut down on your exposure to Fluoride? Buy non-fluoridated toothpaste as a first step.
  • Cut down on more chemicals by using baking soda under your arms rather than commercially-made underarm deodorants. Note that the baking soda may at first cause redness, but it will go away within days and is a great way to kill odors.
  • Have a pounding heartrate that you can’t explain? You may be making too much RT3 or have an adrenal issue.
  • Check out typical Questions and Answers about thyroid treatment and related issues.
  • Want to write a GUEST BLOG POST on STTM? Go here.
  • Join the STTM Facebook page for daily tips and inspiration. 
9 replies

The shackling and gagging of Dr. Sarah Myhill of the UK

(4-30: Paula has informed me that you can download Dr. Myhill’s complete website to your computer via this zip file: www.drmyhill.co.uk.zip – Windows Live )

Today, it has been announced by the GMC (General Medical Council) of the UK that Dr. Sarah Myhill is now straitjacketed. She is forbidden to prescribe medications, is bound by other medical practice restrictions (see the details on the Support Dr. Myhill Facebook page), and most egregiously, has been ordered to remove parts of her website (thanks to Lethal Lee for pointing this out), some of which you will not see two weeks after I have posted this.

Why remove parts of her website? Because by daring to educate the public, especially if that education goes against “standard medical practice”, it seems to be deemed “harmful”. In other words, you as a patient are not allowed to discover, or are too “vulnerable to get it,  that there just might be a TOTALLY different story to the medical practice you are subjected to.

For example, here is part of a page on Dr. Myhill’s website which is completely correct, informative, and wise, and I want to see her words stay sharp and viewable, especially for thyroid patients. It fits our experience. The page is titled “Test results and what they mean”. If you want to be informed, read all the below.

http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Category:Test_results_and_what_they_mean

Only too often people come to me with tests results which have not been properly interpreted. The reasons why this happens are as follows:

  • Test results are flagged up and considered to be abnormal if they are outside the reference range, but one’s individual normal range is not the same as the population reference range. This is a particular problem in the interpretation of thyroid tests.
  • Reference ranges for tests change. Reference ranges are based on random bloods from the population. The trouble is anyone following a Western lifestyle is not evolutionarily correct and many not normal! So labs change their reference ranges to adjust for this. So, for example, the normal range of a gamma GT used to be up to 36, it is now up to 70. This enzyme is induced by alcohol and prescription drugs and because so many people drink alcohol it is considered normal to run a high gamma GT! The lab I use has a normal reference range for thyroid hormone T4 of 12-22pmol/l but some labs give ranges of 5.6-17pmol/l!
  • Tests are often incomplete. So someone with a thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) within reference range will be told they have no thyroid problem, when in fact one also needs a free T4 and a free T3 together with a clinical history to assess if there is a thyroid problem.
  • Drug companies influence normal ranges. The normal range for cholesterol has come down steadily since statins have been such big money earners for Big Pharma.
  • Incorrect breakdown of test results. Many people are prescribed statins on the basis of a single cholesterol level. This is faulty for many reas ons – firstly one needs a breakdown of good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol to get the ratio. If the ratio is not favourable then this is likely to be a symptom of arterial disease. Cholesterol lowering drugs are often irrelevant. See Cholesterol – the common causes of raised levels
  • Results close to the limits of normal may be abnormal for that person. For example, a high normal bilirubin may mean Gilbert’s syndrome – this means someone is a poor detoxifier. A high mean corpuscular volume (MCV) could point to hypothyroidism, B12 or folic acid deficiency.
  • Normal tests do not mean no pathology. A normal ECG at rest does not mean there is no heart disease, yet many people are told this is the case.
  • Tests may ask the wrong question. So many people come to me with severe fatigue syndromes having been told nothing is wrong because all the tests are normal! But ask the right question and do Mitochondrial Function Profile and you find gross abnormalities with respect to energy supply at the cellular level.
  • Tests for poisonings are particularly misleading. For years doctors have promoted levels of cholinesterase as a good test for organophosphate poisoning. It is a rotten test and misses the majority of cases! Much better would be Fat biopsy for pesticides or Volatile Organic Compounds

GOOD FOR YOU, Dr. Sarah Myhill!

I and many other thyroid patients, struggling to fight the inane thyroid treatment protocols, have a strong feeling that though this progressive doctor may be restricted as a physician, we’re going to hear a lot more good information from the courageous and wise Sarah Myhill.

21 replies

Confessions of an Undercover Thyroid Advocate

The following guest blog post is written by Amy McMullen, who had undiagnosed & symptomatic hypothyroidism for 20 years due to the sole use of the TSH, resulting in multiple health problems. She is now treating per the guidelines on STTM including T3 for thyroid hormone resistance, adrenal support, and desiccated thyroid.

I found her story below as an undercover advocate fascinating,  and think Amy is caring and committed,  in spite of severe restrictions! Bless you, Amy.

I spend an inordinate amount of time these days contributing to a well-known online thyroid disorders forum I’ll call “Thyroid Health Forum” (not its real name).

It’s a tricky forum with draconian rules: they don’t allow you to post any links to resources, talk about where you get your online labs done, include quotes from studies, or post any names of thyroid advocates. You can’t use a username you’ve used on any other forums and you can’t mention using their personal messaging system.

I’ve received a few “infractions” from the ever-vigilant board “administrators” and “moderators” (never could color inside the lines, I guess) and have been warned to never, under any circumstances, use the words “Stop the Thyroid Madness” or any references to this website or book in my posts.

At more than one point I was ready to walk away and just give up on it.  How can you share your experiences when there were so many rules that seemed designed to inhibit a free flow of information, to the point of not being allowed to mention the title of a good book by name or type in the word Google?

But I would read the following posts submitted by desperate people and this would keep me coming back to try, somehow, to help:

  • “Hi, my doctor says my labs are all normal but I’ve got so many symptoms, I can hardly function…”
  • “My doctor says that free T3 and free T4 testing is not useful, that my TSH is normal and that unless my TSH is high he won’t order any antibody tests…”
  • “My doctor says that my TSH is too low and wants me to cut back on my thyroid hormones, but I know I will start feeling bad if I do this… Help!”
  • “I am taking Synthroid but I feel terrible and my hair is falling out and now my doc wants me to take an antidepressant…”

You see, I was in this very same boat for far too many years. About 20 years back I started noticing symptoms:  fatigue, depression, menstrual irregularities, and dizzy spells. I went to see my doc who did the usual TSH test and when it came back “normal”, prescribed antidepressants. The antidepressants did help, but my menstrual problems intensified and other symptoms increased until I finally underwent a hysterectomy for dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Shortly thereafter, I collapsed with heart irregularities and autonomic nervous system dysfunction in the fall of 2006.

I went to over 10 different specialists spending thousands of dollars for medical bills with no real answers–just a lot of shrugged shoulders and a fibromyalgia diagnosis.

It wasn’t until my mother was hospitalized and routine blood testing came back with a TSH of over 6 that I looked again at my own thyroid. My TSH was never above 3. I had one free T4 test done following my initial collapse but, again, all tests were flagged “normal” and thyroid was passed over once again.

But a search about TSH lab ranges led me to Mary Shomon’s About.com articles, and while she seemed to be stuck on the idea that 3 was an acceptable number for the top of range for TSH, based entirely on the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommendations, I finally found the Stop the Thyroid Madness site and learned otherwise.

It was here that I learned about other testing like free T3, free T4, thyroid antibodies, vitamin and ferritin levels and, very importantly, that the TSH should be the LAST test done for diagnosing hypothyroidism instead of the ONLY test. I finally caught on to how the medical establishment has failed miserably to adequately diagnose and treat hypothyroidism. I felt both incredibly empowered and very, very angry.

I quickly delved into the thyroid forums to share what I’d learned and to learn from others. The first forum I found was the aforementioned  “Thyroid Health Forum”, and since this is one of the best-known, it is where many of the newbies, like me, find themselves. There were both natural and synthetic hormone proponents on the board and the advice ranged from very good to quite bad. I soon found there were better forums like Realthyroidhelp and the natural thyroid hormone Yahoo groups that had really smart people who were happy to share resources and information that was truly useful. I spent a lot of time on these and learned a great deal.

But for some reason I couldn’t seem to leave the “Thyroid Health Forum”. The people who stumbled on there seemed so lost and I felt compelled to impart what I had learned to them. I would offer alternatives to the synthetics and explain why natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) was a superior treatment option and, more importantly, that they did have an option for their treatment, despite what their doctor told them. I’d relay what I had learned from other boards about access to NDT during the shortages.

When I figured out I had adrenal fatigue and later thyroid hormone resistance as a result of being undiagnosed for so long, I started relaying information about these issues to the many who were having difficulties getting optimized on their hormone replacement therapy. I found it to be both rewarding and enormously educating for myself as I would spend time researching questions that were asked about supplements, lab tests, and studies. I was not allowed to post links so had to summarize things I had learned and this taught me even more. The main messages I pushed were (and are):  get the right labs done, learn how to interpret them correctly, be your own advocate, know your treatment options, and don’t implicitly trust doctors.

I will continue to contribute what I’ve learned to the “Thyroid Health Forum”. So far I’ve managed to fly under the radar and play, however grudgingly, by their rules. I figure if I can get just one or two people to question the present thyroid clinical guidelines, as written by our friends at big pharma, I’ll be more than satisfied. I actually believe that by getting good information out there to as many sufferers as possible, we may create a groundswell of people who will no longer accept being dismissed as depressed complainers by their healthcare providers. And this is one more way we can help enact real change to the currently abysmal medical practice of thyroid diagnosis and treatment. Well worth it in my book!

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Latest news from RLC: Shipments of Naturethroid are beginning Monday, January 4th and the first two weeks with backorders going out ASAP.  Medco should have some by the end of January. Their Patient Information Line: Naturethroid/Westhroid: 877-600-4752

Thyroid  patient guest posts can be read about here: /writing-a-guest-blog-post-on-sttm/

Want to honor someone who has helped you?? See the blog post below and thank someone.

NOTE: if you were receiving email notifications about these posts,  the company doing them is out of business. Instead, use an RSS Feed.

9 replies

Doctors still have a long way to go a.k.a. Those symptoms might just be the thyroid!

Just as I was finishing up the post below about a short summary on the Endocrinology Today website, I saw a link at the bottom of the page that interested me.  It took me to a blog post on the same site from December 10th titled “Why can’t it be my thyroid?”.

And a slew of thyroid patients around the world, as well as a growing body of doctors,  would completely disagree with this post.

Namely, a DO explains the problem of patients arriving in doctors offices with “innumerable possible symptoms of hypothyroidism” including “fatigue, cold intolerance, decreased energy, weight gain, depression, hair loss, low libido, menstrual irregularity and others.”

Yet, he bemoans, these patients have a “normal TSH” which is “well within the normal laboratory reference range.” He also refers to their normal free T3 and free T4, and states there is no history to suggest pituitary dysfunction or that the TSH is unreliable.”

He then proceeds to pat himself on the back because he 1) will treat some patients with a high-normal TSH and other clinical features,  2) he will treat to a low-normal TSH of less than 2.0, but like the good-boy-doctor, “still within the normal laboratory reference range” and 3) he will not induce iatrogenic hyperthyroidism, even if symptoms persist. (yikes)

“Iatrogenic hyperthyroidism”??  Since “iatrogenesis” refers to harmful medical procedures, he’s probably referring to a TSH below the range, which in his mind, equates to hyperthyroidism.

***Then comes the observation that has made many thyroid patients shiver, since so many doctors have said it: because he feels that adding T3 to T4 has more negative results than positive, he explains to his patients “that there may be causes of their symptoms besides the thyroid.”

THUD.

So here is my 6-point response to any doctor who might share these beliefs:

1) There’s hardly a thyroid patient around who hasn’t had a so-called “normal” TSH in spite of clear and obvious hypothyroidism.  The TSH lab test frequently lags behind what is reality in the body, and has been doing so since it’s creation in the early 1970’s (see Chapter 4 in the Stop the Thyroid Madness book for history).

2) Having a “normal” free T3 and free T4 means nothing. It’s “where” the result falls in that range that means something. i.e. patients all around the world are noticing that having a free T3 mid-range or lower in the presence of hypothyroid symptoms is usually a BINGO lab result pointing to hypothyroidism.

3) Exactly because doctors tend to dismiss clear hypothyroid symptoms as “something else” thanks to a lousy TSH reference range, a burgeoning number of thyroid patients are falling into adrenal fatigue with its low cortisol, which serves to mess them up even more.

4) A huge body of thyroid patients who are on desiccated thyroid hormones (aka Armour, Naturethroid, etc), and who finally have a complete removal of symptoms with a normal temperature and heartrate, also have a suppressed TSH lab result, and not one iota of “iatrogenic hyperthyroidism.”

5) When it appears that adding T3 to T4 is having negative effects, the problem is most likely adrenal fatigue that needs correction, and/or low ferritin, NOT deciding that the symptoms must be from another cause or T3 doesn’t work.

6) “Fatigue, cold intolerance, decreased energy, weight gain, depression, hair loss, low libido, menstrual irregularity and others” may be shared in other conditions, but you are most likely missing CLEAR symptoms of hypothyroidism, both in the undiagnosed patient with a so-called normal TSH, or with a patient treated with the lousy thyroxine, which leaves most everyone with continuing hypothyroid symptoms.

“I’m sorry. It IS your thyroid” is exactly what patients need to hear.