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Washington spits in your face, anti-depressant problem, and the STTM book is now in German and Swedish!

The US Government is going to confiscate your meds sent from overseas!

Fall is in the US, but as you were enjoying your summer, it happened in a flash:  last July, President Obama signed into law the FDA Safety and Innovation Act (S. 3187). And that Act includes a section that might negatively affect your life as a thyroid patient if you are among those feel forced to get your life-saving natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) or related medications from overseas (because your doctor was too clueless to either prescribe NDT or give you enough thanks to the medical stupidity about the TSH lab test).

i.e. in Section 708, the US government now has the authority to destroy a package of personally imported drugs at their point of entry to the United States…even if you badly need them. And this potentially includes NDT like Erfa coming to us from safe, reputable Canadian online pharmacies by prescription! Or your T3-only from other places. Both the latter are unclear, but it’s a possibility.

And do you know why they state they are doing this?? For your “SAFETY”.  Janie’s eyes rolling here.  Can someone tell me how they know if a thyroid med from somewhere else is “unsafe” simply because it wasn’t made in the US?? Are US-made drugs SAFE??? Give me a break. Ask that of folks whose lives paid big prices because of side effects from our FDA-approved medications like Synthroid and many other NON-thyroid related drugs pushed upon us. It’s all a bunch of Big Pharma-influenced, greedy hooey, say thyroid patients.

Now as far as we know, this isn’t going to affect anything really soon. The US Secretary of Health and Human Services has up to two years to decide how to make the new law a reality. But it may happen far sooner than later in that time frame and I would count on it.

Says Lee Graczyk, RxRights Lead Organizer, “It’s critical for people to stand up and get organized to fight against this harmful regulation!”

Anti-depressant use and your adrenals: not a helpful connection for some

Sure, having depression is not fun and it’s understandable if you want to do something about it. My own mother had depression so bad thanks to her lifelong use of Synthroid that she used anti-depressants her entire adult life. This was long before we, as thyroid patients, discovered the strong connection between low T3 levels in the brain and depression (and a connection which all too many doctors miss!)

She also had an extremely “emotionally apathetic” personality, which I assumed was solely due to the electric shock treatment she had while in her early 40’s in an attempt to reverse the depression. But turns out her impassive and flat personality could have also been from the nasty side-effects of my mother’s long-term antidepressant use. i.e. while they made her “happy”, they also made her more dull, flat and detached. This has been reported by all-too-many patients

But now we are seeing the problems that anti-depressant use can cause for your adrenals. A study done in September 2011 titled Antidepressant use and salivary cortisol in depressive and anxiety disorders reveals that

  1. Tricyclics* flatten your cortisol awakening response
  2. SSRI users** had higher evening cortisol levels
  3. Most antidepressants are associated with distinct alterations of the HPA axis (hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal feedback loop)

*A common form of Tricyclics is Elavil (Amitriptyline).  **Common examples of SSRI antidepressant (Selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors or serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor) include Lexapro, Prozac, Celexa, Paxil, Zoloft, etc) 

The alternation of your HPA axis is a common finding when you peruse several research studies. And it’s even more obvious when thyroid patients with adrenal fatigue start using the T3 Circadian Method. i.e. it can take longer to get the right response from the T3. ***Please note that this is simply providing information in the name of being informed patients, not a recommendation to get off your antidepressant!  Talk to your doctor.

(Speaking of mood issues, a study was done showing cherries help with mood. Who would’ve guessed. You can read about it here.)

The revised Stop the Thyroid Madness book is now in German and Swedish! 

You can read about the translations here and I included an autobiography of each translator!  Please do not comment asking if a particular language is coming. I’ll announce them when the day comes.  If you know someone in Germany or Sweden who could badly use the patient-to-patient information in this book, go here.

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Gee golly bazooka: guess who started a conversation with me?

SumoWrestlersYesterday, I was meandering through a small biking/river runners store, exchanging a vest I got my son for Christmas that turned out to be too large, and looking intently for a replacement gift he’d like.

The only other shopper left—a tall, dark and handsome young man. And almost as quickly, he re-entered,  approached me, and asked if that was my car out there.

“My car?” I replied. “Yes, why?”

“I’m curious about the sticker you have on your back window,” he stated with a friendly but curious smile.

The sticker is of Calvin peeing on the word of a particular T4-only medication.  I give these away free if someone requests it with their current order of the STTM book.  And this was not the first time I’ve been asked about that attention-getting sticker.

So I proceeded to tell him that I’m a Thyroid Patient Activist, owner of Stop the Thyroid Madness, about the history of T4, how lousy many patients have reported doing on it for nearly 60 years with their own variety and intensity of lingering hypo symptoms, and how much better natural desiccated thyroid has been for patients all over the world.

I then innocently asked: “Are you on Synthroid?” I just knew I had one more victim of this treatment who needed enlightenment.

“Nope”,  he said with a confident and defiant air.  “I have until recently been a pharmaceutical rep with Abbott Labs.”

THWACK.   Standing before me stood a mighty well-trained Big Pharma champion for Synthroid who was going to reveal and defend his propaganda like a master. And that led to the most heated and piercing give-and-take I’ve ever experienced, right in front of the chagrined and wide-eyed sales person at the checkout desk. We were like sumo wrestlers butting our words against each other.

When I explained the slew of continuing symptoms reported by patients worldwide who have been on T4, and no matter how high they raised it…his response?  “Those symptoms can be the result of many issues other than hypothyroidism.”

I responded: “Well isn’t it odd that those who are hypo and on Synthroid, and who get on desiccated thyroid, find those symptoms completely removed.”

His reply?? “Heroin can do the same thing”.  Groan. I simply had to laugh at him. How many times have we heard the same kind of baloney.

He proceeded to tell me in great detail with each point he made that:

  1. He has worked with many patients and they do well on Synthroid (A rep has worked with many patients? And what in the world does “well” mean?)
  2. Clinical trials have proven that Synthroid works. (Ah! You mean those financed by Abbott Labs and which are contrary to the reported experience of millions of patients around the world? Those??)
  3. The TSH lab test gives proof about the efficacy of T4 (Funny how patients all over the world have proven by their continuing symptoms that the TSH lab test for the diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism belongs at the bottom of a trash heap)
  4. There are many differences in the efficacy of T4 brands to explain any issues in patients (Funny how not ONE brand of T4 has been exempt from leaving continuing symptoms according to the global rexperience of a huge body of patients) 
  5. Blaming T4 for the amount of adrenal fatigue that “supposedly” some T4-treated patients find themselves with is silly since there can be other reasons for it. (Another laugh on my part.  Clearly, when someone isn’t adequately treated on T4, something has to kick in to keep them going, and voila–it’s those trusty dusty adrenals which eventually just poop out thanks to T4 and the TSH.)

There were much more machine gun stances between us, but that would make this blog post far too long.

One truth we did agree on? That “some” patients do get benefit from using T4. He specifically referred to the elderly. And my quick response? Why accept “some” when patients all over the world report getting rid of that “some” with desiccated thyroid (and especially for certain ones who also treat their low cortisol, low ferritin, and other issues most likely related to an inferior treatment.)

Clearly, we were each deadlocked in our positions.  And he concluded, looking at the sales associate, that neither of us were wrong; we just represented two sides.

And I turned my head, looked him straight in the eye, and said:  Uhhh, no. YOU are completely and totally wrong.

P.S. After he left, the sales gal said she was totally in tune with what I was saying, and wrote down the name of this website. lol lol

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See the blog post below about favored Canadian pharmacies, plus many more comments by patients.

What the heck is going on with desiccated thyroid and current shortages? Read about it here.

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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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Oprah leaves her show behind in 2011, and also leaves millions of thyroid patients in the dust

opraharmsupThe news this morning about Oprah made me pause.

Yes, it’s being announced today that there will be no more Oprah Winfrey Show on CBS after Fall of next year.  She’s saying goodbye. And the rumor is that she will move her talk show to The Oprah Winfrey Network, which replaces the Discovery Health Channel. We’ll see when she formally announces it today on her show.

But the change sure does shine a bright spotlight on a colossal and complete failure by Oprah and The Oprah Winfrey Show for hundreds of millions of thyroid patients. Though she had her own bout with thyroid disease (and may still be dealing with it when you consider her weight issues), we all winced a year ago when she stated that a month long Hawaiian vacation and eating fresh foods with soy milk (a goitrogen) were a great way to treat her thyroid condition. Yikes.   We equally squirmed in our seats when Dr. Christiane Northrup made the comment that our thyroid problems were due to an “energy blockage in the throat region, the result of a lifetime of ‘swallowing’ words one is aching to say.” Double yikes.

And since then, we have watched nothing, zilch, zero from Oprah and The Opray Winfrey Show about a horrendous 55-year medical scandal of thyroid treatment that has negatively affected the lives of hundreds of millions of thyroid patients worldwide. T4-only meds like Synthroid, the darling medication of the medical community for hypothyroidism treatment, has left hundreds of millions sick.  The TSH lab test has equally sent us to hell.  Because we have been forced to live with continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism, we’ve endured much more testing and have been put on many other medications to bandaid our continuing symptoms. And a majority of us have had to deal with the additional burden of adrenal fatigue thanks to all the above.

It’s been hell, Oprah. But you never listened.  So for me personally, I could care less what you do now. You’ve let millions of us down.

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On a far better note:  Last night’s Thyroid Patient Community Call on Talkshoe was excellent. From thyroid/adrenal patient Valerie Taylor, who is absolutely one of the most knowledgeable patients in the world about adrenals and RT3, we gained good information how it raises its ugly head when you have high or low cortisol, low B12, low ferritin and other untreated issues, and how to treat it. You can go back to Talkshoe and listen to the broadcast, which was Episode 7.  See my blog post right below this. As far as future Talkshoe Community Calls: they will always be announced here first.

Below that, you’ll read how cellulose as a filler just may be a huge problem in natural desiccated thyroid meds. But we are also discovering that a good desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, even with its cellulose, can seem even worse if we have undiscovered and untreated issues like low B12, low Vit. A, low ferritin, low Vit. D and other conditions common with hypothyroidism.  Make sure you have tested for these.

*HO HO HO! Have a STTM book sent to someone  you care about as a CHRISTMAS or HOLIDAY present. All the work is done for you!

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