stop the thyroid madness Archives - Page 2 of 21

There’s a dynamo Thyroid Patient Advocate you should know about!

I’ve been doing this a long time.

And early on in my activism, I became acquainted with someone else who was fighting for better hypothyroid diagnosis and treatment. And she was a bulldog! She chose NOT toÂ “walk the fence”… instead speaking the bold truth about the scandal of the current popular thyroid diagnosis, as well as treatment with thyroxine for all too many. She has numerous times over the years written the governing bodies in the United Kingdom as to the problem, including with her communication “hundreds of references” to available research and studies to back up the issue.

Her name is Sheila Turner, and she’s the founder of Thyroid Patient Advocacy in the UK (TPA-UK).

And Sheila is a HERO!

Others who work with TPA-UK

What I have loved about Sheila’s website and work are all those who are associated with it. They are:

– Barry Durrant-Peatfield, (UK) MB BS LRCP MRCSÂ who serves as Patron and medical advisor
– Malcolm Maclean MD (UAE)â€‹, a ScotÂ practitioner who has rejected the idea that being “normal” in labwork means a patient couldn’t possibly have a thyroid problem. Dr. Maclean also wrote a brilliant STTM Guest Blog post about the effects of high doses of iodine
– Kent Holtorf, MD, the medical director of the Holtorf Medical Group and non-profit National Academy of Hypothyroidism.
– Gina Honeyman, DC, owner of the Center for Metabolic Health, LLC and co-author of a fabulously detailed book titled “Your Guide to Metabolic Health.”Â
– Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, Â a board certified internist and Medical Director of the national Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers and Chronicity.

Sheila’s latest concern and confrontation: PossibleÂ removal of Liothyronine (T3) from the NHS Prescription list

Just one more example of Sheila’s persistent and unflagging fight for better treatment, she has stood up in immediateÂ defiance about the possible removal of T3 medication from the publicly-funded National Health Service (NHS) Prescription List–a potential removal as recommended by the NHS-funded program calledÂ PrescQIPP. (Only the second middle link on their website is working for me to view the Drop list.)

PrescQIPP is recommending the following: Â

They do NOT recommend the prescribing of liothyronine or T3-containing products for the treatment of primary hypothyroidism
They do recommend prescribing of thyroid hormones in line with Royal College of Physicians guidanceÂ (which means thyroxine, T4-only, monotherapy).

The rationale of the above ridiculous comments? Are you ready??

– T3 has a short half-life

– Steady-state levels cannot be maintained

– No robust evidence i.e. has not been shown to be more beneficial that levothyroxine with respect to cognitive function, social functioning and well-being

– Inconsistent with normal physiology

– Insufficient clinical evidence of effectiveness and cost effectiveness to support the use of liothyronine (either alone or in combination) for the treatment of hypothyroidism.Â

To the contrary,Â the evidence of consistently-reportedÂ therapeutic efficacy of T3-containing medications by a huge and growing body of thyroid patients worldwideÂ is clearly important and worth consideration if the medical profession has even one intelligent and open-minded cell in their brains.

EVEN WORSE, their recommendations show how to move patients off their T3 and onto T4-only.

And in Sheila Turner’s latest newsletter, she states with her typical and dynamic activism:

The information about liothyronine by PrescQIPP is both mis-leading, and some of it is downright incorrect.Â I am in the process of writing a response to PrescQIPP asking them to remove the hormone liothyronine from the ‘Drop’ list with immediate effect and I will give all the reasons they need to do this.Â If such organisations as the BTA, NICE, NHS UKMi (Q56.6) and PrescQIPP learnt how the different thyroid hormones work, there would be no controversy and if L-T4 left patients with continuing symptoms, the active thyroid hormone T3 would be given automatically and without complaint.Â I intend to ensure they know how thyroid hormones work.

Bottom line, Sheila Turner is a strong friend of thyroid patients who is persistent in her quest to drive in the TRUTH aboutÂ what appears to be a backwards and dark ages medical system in the United Kingdom about how a thyroid works, about diagnosis, and about successful treatment protocols. And what SheilaÂ might achieve in the UK will only help the rest of us!

You are a hero, Sheila!

– CHECK OUT THE LATEST VIDEO, which includes patients in the UK, and which underscores the FALLACY of T4-only, thyroxine treatment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n0NfAUyOKo

– Have you Liked the Stop the Thyroid Madness Facebook page? It’s full of daily inspiration and information based on solid patient experiences and wisdom!

– TPA-UK forum:Â http://www.tpauk.com/forum/

The Scandal: Thyroid Patients are Speaking Out, Wall Street Journal, and a new video!

The pushÂ continues, fellow thyroid patients. Â And it’s getting louder and more widespread.

This week, Wall Street Journal columnist Melinda Beck, who writes a weekly health column, hit an important gong with her wonderful attention-getting article titled “Doctors Hear Patients’ Calls for New Approaches to Hypothyroidism.” Â

“Doctors and patients have been at each other’s throats for decades over how to treat a little gland in the neck–and patients may be gaining ground.” ~Melinda Beck

Beck underscored the sad reality that doctors have been relying “on a single form of treatment for hypothyroidism”, aka T4-only like Levothyroxine or Synthroid. Â And it’s been travesty.

Why T4-only as a sole treatmentÂ is a scandal

As I explained in detail in the revised Stop the Thyroid Madness (STTM) book, a healthy thyroid produces five hormones: T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin, with T4 being the storage hormone, and T3 being the powerhouse of all the thyroid hormones. In that healthy thyroid, T4 will convert to T3, but the gland also produces “direct” T3.Â That is an important distinction.

Yet this “single form of treatment” with simply a storage hormone, which was thrust upon thyroid patients by 1960 (see Chapter 1 in the revised STTM book for excellent historical details), has forced us all to live for conversion alone…and hundreds of millions of us over the past five decades have a paid a hefty price. There are simply too many reasons whyÂ the conversion of T4 to T3 can be impaired, ranging from genetic factors, to diet, to stress, to illness, to age.

That is exactly what compelled me, in 2002, to start what is now the largest active thyroid group still on Yahoo, and later, the largest “system of thyroid groups” on Facebook, called the FTPO (For Thyroid Patients Only) groups–the only system of patient groups endorsed by Stop the Thyroid Madness.

How patients are dismissed

In addition to quoting a few doctors, Beck interviewed thyroid patient/advocate Mary Shomon, who stated “It’s so much easier to tell a woman to get up off the couch or hand her a prescription for antidepressants.” Also interviewed was thyroid patient/advocate Dana Trentini, who feels her second pregnancy ended in miscarriage due to only being dosed by the TSH, which in her case was left high–another hefty problem in the treatment of thyroid patients.

Major kudos toÂ Antonio Bianco, president of the American Thyroid Association

When the American Thyroid Association (ATA) has been the height of disappointment for informed thyroid patients with it’s strong emphasis on “synthetic thyroxine” as well as its poor details about NDT, it was extremely refreshing to see him quoted as stating:Â “I credit this to patients pushing doctors and saying, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t feel fine’.” followed by Beck’s words that Bianco ‘has refocused the research to search for answers for such patients’. You give us a light of hope, Dr. Bianco.

SevenÂ areas that patients beseech their practitioners to beÂ wiser about…

1. Levothyroxine, Synthroid and all other T4-only medications

They have failed far too many of us. It’s not about exercising more, eating less, seeing a therapistÂ or putting us on a myriad of other medications to treat conditions which are actually the results of that failure. Learn from us.

2. Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT)

What has been vividly changing lives is Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT),Â not T4-only medications. NDT has been around since the 1890’s–it worked then and it works now.Â Learn from us.

And to the contrary, NDT’s T4 to T3 ratio of 80/20 (as compared to the human ratio of 93/7) has not been a problem for the vast majority. Instead, problems are usually “revealed” on NDT due to a cortisol issue and/or low iron–both common problems that arise with patients who have been put on T4-only, or who have been left undiagnosed.

3. The TSH lab test

The TSH lab test is and has been as much a failure for thyroid patients as has T4-only. To be held hostage to a “pituitary hormone” hasÂ been a complete **nightmare** for thyroid patients. Even one of your own esteemed colleagues, Jeffrey Dach MD, as well as many others, know the travesty of the TSH as explained in chapter 4 of the practitioner-written book Stop the Thyroid Madness II. Â Learn from us.

4. Lab tests that count, and how to read them

It’s the free T3 and free T4 lab tests which have been superior for either diagnosis or dosing, not the TSH. And a key observation noted by informed thyroid patients isÂ “where” a result falls in the so-called “normal” range that has meaning. ManyÂ key lab testsÂ have helped us in our journey towards feeling wonderful again. Learn from us.Â

5. Symptoms that go along with hypothyroidism

To the contrary, there are clear symptoms that go along with the right lab tests to reveal hypothyroidism. Depression is overtly common in an undiagnosed or poorly treated hypothyroid state, as is afternoon fatigue, poor stamina, dry skin, hair loss, rising cholesterol, rising blood pressure, painful joints, and/or others. How do we know as informed patients? Because they go away when optimally treated on Natural Desiccated Thyroid. Learn from us.Â

6. T3 added to T4

Adding T3 to T4 has proven to also be far superior to T4-only, and to the contrary, it has NOT been “difficult to sustain therapeutic levels” if practitioners will simply learn from their patients how to use T3-only with T4. The same goes for the even more superior Natural Desiccated Thyroid. Learn from us.

7.Â Listening to your patients instead of dismissing them

Finally and most importantly, though we appreciate the intense medical training that all our doctors have received, it’s time to consider that we, as informed patients, might have something valuable for our doctors or practitioners to consider and open their minds to. It’s not just about clinical trials. It’sÂ time to RESPECT AND LISTEN TO YOUR PATIENTS, THEIR EXPERIENCES, CLINICAL PRESENTATION, AND THEIR OWN INNATE WISDOM.Â Learn from us.Â

ANNOUNCING: A new powerful YouTube video in honor of thyroid patients worldwide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n0NfAUyOKo Â Please share this video to your blogs, private Facebook pages, groups, Twitter, email. Join the PUSH!

– Head on over the Stop the Thyroid Madness Facebook page and Like it for daily inspiration and information!

April 12th 2016 43 replies

Oh Jolly. Guess What the Endocrine Society Has Spouted This Time?

“A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.” Â ~Saul Bellow

And here we go again.

On April 1st, 2016 (which is April Fools Day–how appropriate), out comes an article in theÂ Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism which presents the latest updated position statement of the Endocrine Society, titledÂ Compounded Bioidentical Hormones in Endocrinology Practice: An Endocrine Society Scientific Statement.

In other words, their lastÂ position statement on certain compounded medications came out in 2006, and this one trumps that one. And the implication is towards “increased regulatory oversight of all bioidentical hormones.”

Sounds innocuous enough, right? Certainly they are trying to be protective of us, right?

First, in case you don’t know much about the Endocrine Society, it’s existence began a century ago and is today the oldestÂ “largest global membership organization representing professionals from the intriguing field of endocrinology.” Members come from 110 countries representing approximately 28,000 members, with 40 percent of them located outside the United States. They include scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students. And you’d think that a society with such a vast array of members from 110 countries might have some innate wisdom, right?

Gulp.

The first gist of the article is first about compounded sex hormones…and here’s myÂ summary of their position:

There is no other rationale for compounding your sex hormones other than having an allergy or intolerance.
Compounded hormones are risky.
Compounded hormones are dangerous.
Compounding Pharmacists, who are licensed professionals, are thus dangerous if their product is dangerous.
Reported successful patient experiences (and their improved lab results) with compounded sex hormones has no validity; only “randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials” have validity.
Because there are no FDA-approved testosterone preparations for women, it should be completely avoided…so I guess the opposite logic applies?? i.e. that one should embrace FDA-approved medications like statins or the antibiotic Cipro with all their numerous side effects in all-too-many??
Synthetic estrogenÂ and synthetic progesterone is the way to go.
Big Pharma products are the way to go.
Give all your money back to Big Pharma

If you have a subscription to Medscape, here’s a good summary of what the Endocrine Society statedÂ about compounded sex hormones, including DHEA, but I think my summary above says it all.

But here’s where it really gets nauseating for informed thyroid patients

Says the same Endocrine Society, as outlined in the Medscape article above (instead of my interpretation):

Levothyroxine (LT4) is bioidentical and a highly effective and safe therapy and is the treatment of choice for hypothyroidism. The complex tissue-specific deiodinase system converts T4 to T3 and supplies the proper amount of T3 to each of the body’s tissues according to its requirements.
Clinicians should evaluate patients with persistent symptoms (despite adequate LT4 therapy) for other causes of their symptoms and encourage patients to engage in healthy lifestyle measures.
Some of these patients may benefit from combination LT4/LT3 therapy, desiccated thyroid hormone, or compounded thyroid hormone, as long as symptoms and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) (free T4) are monitored carefully.

Oh really??

To the contrary, millions of thyroid patients from the past 50+ years have noted and/or reported on the following while on T4-only:

Unresolved or accumulating problems like depression, adrenal stress, anxiety, easy weight gain, difficulty losing weight, easy fatigue, poor stamina, easy sickness/slow recovery, joint pain, painful feet, hair loss, dry skin, rising cholesterol, rising blood pressure, heart problems, kidney problems, other mental health issues, and hundreds more as reported here.
A poor conversion of T4 to T3 due to a myriad of real biological and normal life events which can negatively affect thatÂ deiodinase conversion ofÂ T4 to T3, such as aging, the normal stress of life circumstances, inflammation, low iron, and just plain bad genetics, to name a few. The body is not meant to live for conversion alone!
Lousy outcomes fromÂ being held hostage to the dubious “normal TSH lab range”Â are rampant. The TSH is a pituitary hormone and can never discern if all our tissues and organs are getting enough thyroid hormone from conversion alone.

So all of you who are esteemed members of the Endocrine Society, we as informed thyroid patients who live in our own bodies and have our own intelligence and wisdom, Â challenge you to consider the following questions:

Can you reallyÂ call T4-only “effective and safe” in light of the myriad of continued hypothyroid symptoms that patients have noted or reported for 50+ years while on Synthroid, levothyroxine, Tirosent or any other brand of T4-only…sooner or later?
In light of the fact that T4-only results in numerous organic and tissue problems like depression, a low metabolism, joint pain, high blood pressure, rising cholesterol and so much more…does it really meet the body tissues requirements?
If T4-only meets all the body’s tissue requirements, why does nature cause a healthy thyroid to give not just T4, but also direct T3 and calcitonin?
If all those continued and persistent hypothyroid symptoms on Levothyroxine are due to “other causes” or “unhealthy lifestyle choices”, why in the world do these same individuals see them all go away when they get on Natural Desiccated Thyroid and find their optimal dose (which has nothing to do with the TSH)??
Why is it that when patients are held hostage to the dubious TSH range, they continue to have clear and/or rising hypothyroid symptoms?

– Have you Liked the Stop the Thyroid Madness Facebook page? It gives you daily inspiration and informative information based on years of thyroid patient experiences and wisdom as record on the Mothership of Thyroid Patient Experiences: STTM!

– You can comment to the Endocrine Society as to their views right on their own Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EndocrineSociety/

– Check out this video by Hugh Melnick MD about the superiority of NDT over synthetic T4:Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muorjvQ4DUE

– Share this blog post below. Let’s spread the word about this!

April 5th 2016 50 replies

Read what this Eye Doctor Observed in His T4-only Treated Patients!

The following Guest Blog Post has been written Matt Dixon, OD who currently practices optometry in Perry, Georgia.

And not only did Dr. Dixon find himself with hypothyroidism, he made quite an interesting observation: 90%Â of hisÂ patients currently taking levothyroxine still have symptoms!

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So how did an optometrist (eye doctor) become passionate and obsessive about spreading the news about what Janie calls the “Madness”?

My personal journey

I don’t quite fit the typical patient profile for a hypothyroid patient.Â I’m not female, no weight issues.Â I’ve always been very active.Â Yet when the symptoms started, I was clueless about where they came from or that they all could even be related.Â

All eye docs are trained to recognize thyroid eye disease, but truthfully, we focus on end-stage symptoms of Grave’s disease and the ophthalmopathy that often comes with it.Â And theÂ typical optometrist does not encounter this very often.Â I had no clue that in my own practice, hypothyroidism was one of the most common conditions I see.Â

I suppose my first symptoms were body aches and pains.Â I had always experienced annoying back issues and I presumed that deterioration was setting in as I became older (40’s).Â I’ve also always been cold-natured.Â And byÂ 2010,Â I noticed that I was struggling to make it through the work day. So by the end of the day, I was exhausted.Â In fact, I was no longer exercising, but found myself buried on the couch as soon as I came home, not getting up until I forced myself to climb into bed.Â Once I made it to bed, I couldn’t fall asleep and became addicted to Ambien.Â When the alarm clock woke me up the next morning, my wife had to literally pull me out of bed.Â If I ever forced myself to jog, I felt as if I was carrying a 25 lb. backpack.Â I also began to struggle with unexplainable stress and anxiety. Â

But what finally prompted me to seek answers was in fact eye-related.Â I was driving my kids home one night and the road in front of me actually moved suddenly from left to right.Â I hit the brakes and feared for our safety!Â My 17 year old son took the wheel and we made it home.

The madness for me began

My physician at the time is a well-liked internist in my community.Â I made an appointment for a checkup complete with blood work.Â I had some issues that I was concerned about, but neither the assistant nor doctor reviewed my symptoms.Â

I went back in a week and promptly received a prescription for Synthroid for hypothyroidism.Â With little discussion about the disease, I headed to the pharmacy.Â After a couple of weeks I began to improve.Â But I wanted to know more.Â I found the vast list of hypothyroid symptoms online and could not believe how many I was experiencing.Â I read enough to know that elimination of symptoms was the best way to dose the medication and focusing on TSH only would lead to under-treatment.Â

More importantly, if my doctor did not know any of my symptoms, how could he know when I was adequately treated?Â It was time for a new doctor.

Why do MD’s undertreat hypothyroidism?

My new doctor, unlike the previous one mentioned above, did review my symptoms and pledged to increase Synthroid until my TSH was reduced to around 1.Â I made sure they were paying attention to how I was feeling.Â Yes,Â I improved tremendously and found my happy place on brand name Synthroid.Â ButÂ I did move over to natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) and was even happier.Â As I adjusted to the new medication and found the correct dosage, I was able to get through the day with full energy and better mental focus.Â Most days I am symptom free.

In my area, I have yet to find more than a handful of docs who use NDT with any frequency.Â In my patient population, I rarely encounter a patient on NDTÂ unless I have coached them to find a way to get the prescription.Â (Optometrists are licensed to prescribe oral medications but only for eye conditions)Â

Synthroid is the number one prescribed drug in America!

This is no accident and it will not be easy to battle the industry that achieved this coveted ranking.Â Doctors clearly have been trained to use synthetic T4-only meds as the treatment of choice, having been convinced that it is highly effective.Â Trying to change this at the medical school level will likely never happen.Â Attempts to enlighten physicians who are convinced that levothyroxine treatment and normalizing TSH levels is the best care will rarely lead to change.Â In fact, general practitioners and internal medicine docs will continue to get it wrong as long as endocrinologists and the American Thyroid Association (ATA) promote Synthroid religiously.Â Those who have seen the light, thanks to educators like Janie Bowthrope, will laugh (then cry) when they read the preview from the ATA’s published pocket guidelines http://eguideline.guidelinecentral.com/i/521958-ata-hypothyroidism-pocket-card How could these smart folks be so misinformed and allow patients to suffer?

What can one eye doctor do?

I’ve decided to review residual symptoms with every patient who comes into my office taking any form of hypothyroid medication.Â The majority of them have never reviewed such a list!Â Occasionally, a patient will not circle a “single symptom”, but moreÂ often patients will have “several” symptoms.Â I offer a 3-page summary of how hypothyroidism can be properly treated and, of course, I have them google STTM.Â After counseling over 100 of these patients (with only one complaint), many have returned to say thank you.Â Sadly, most patients get the push back from their MD and will remain on T4-only meds.Â I’ve also learned that if a physician has not studied the use of natural desiccated thyroid and is only committed to normalizing TSH, even the patients who convert to NDT may still suffer due to ineffective dosing.

I treat many patients with dry eye syndrome, which is very common and sometimes costly to treat.Â I am convinced that treating dry eye syndrome in a patient who is undertreated for hypothyroidism is like trying to change a flat tire on a car that is still moving.Â Every eye doctor should take an interest in this disease even if for this reason alone!

What can a patient do?

Refuse to tolerate inadequate treatments.Â Be passionate about your own health.Â Recognize that very good doctors with good intentions have been misinformed and may be facing tremendous pressure in our rapidly changing healthcare system.Â They do not quickly change deeply held beliefs when it comes to recommended treatments.

Study Janie’s recommendations.Â Make an effort to help your physician understand. Â //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/doctors-need-to-rethink/Â When seeking a new doctor, nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant or osteopath, ask questions before you make an appointment.Â And do not assume that a board-certified endocrinologist is any more enlightened about this disease.

Final thoughts

My best analogy in attempting to drive home the importance of optimal treatment of hypothyroidism in my patients is to show them their vision as it would appear through a half-strength pair of glasses.Â I ask them if they would be happy to see like this.Â I ask them how quickly they would find a new eye doctor who prescribes full-strength glasses.Â They get it.Â I’m passionate about this disease and the patients who are literally suffering and feel uninvited to shout “I feel like crap!” to a doctor who won’t listen.Â Together, we will make a difference.

Matt Dixon, OD

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Dr. Dixon has practiced in Perry and Warner Robins, GA for over 25 years.Â He provides comprehensive eye care and frequently counsels patients regarding wellness.Â He has written numerous articles on eye disease and the business of optometry.

He is married to Jenna and has 3 children and 2 dogs.Â He is an aspiring songwriter and has recorded 2 albums.Â Thanks to NDT, he is quickly becoming a CrossFit addict.Â www.drmattdixon.com

February 20th 2016 164 replies

LYME SUCKS!! In Loving Memory of Paige Adams, FNP, B-C

(Paige Adams died Sunday night/early Monday morning, due to her Lyme disease. And if you didn’t know her, I want you to.

In honor of Paige Adams, the Lyme Warrior….)

When I was contacting certain medical practitioners in 2014 to be in the STTM II book, one that I knew I wanted in there was Paige Adams.

PaigeÂ wasÂ a Nurse Practitioner with a fabulous reputation among patients as owner of The Center for Proactive Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

And Paige herself was a fighter! She had problems for many years and successfully treated her hormone imbalances like PCOS and infertility, Crohn’s disease, severe adrenal fatigue and Hashimoto’s disease. Perhaps that is why she specialized in treating difficult cases at her clinic…

And oh was Paige a fun and extremely loving individual, as so many others know! In our many email correspondences, she wouldÂ start her message with things like “Hey Lovely Lady!” or “Hey Gorgeous!” or “Hi Ladybug!”. Or she would end her emails with “Much Love n Blessings”. Â She always made me chuckle with her exuberant, sweet and loving personality.

Paige strongly supported this thyroid patient movement for better health care as well as our power in being informed patients and our best advocates. Her chapter happened to be about Reverse T3 in the Stop the Thyroid Madness II book, titled “Moving Forward with Reverse T3: The Causes and Health Implications”. And she wanted me to include all sorts of wonderful and cute graphics in the chapter, which you will see in Chapter 11. You can discern her dynamic personality in the way she wrote that chapter.

She concluded her wonderful chapter with the following words of wisdom:

The best best advice I can give to my patients is this:

– Eat clean (preferable gluten-free)
– Drink plenty of filter spring water
– Exercise to tolerance
– Find time to enjoy life and to laugh. I mean laugh a LOT!
– Get your face in the sun for even a few minutes every single day
– Keep your [internal] gutters and downspouts clean
– Get your caboose in bed for plenty of uninterrupted sleep every night

Paige also knew about the importance of B12, supported the use of Low Dose Naltrexone, understood personally about the MTHFR mutation, was concerned about the connection between certain viruses and cancer, was interested in genomics, supported the use of Natural Desiccated Thyroid in the treatment of hypothyroidism, and had an special interest in autism in children, many of whom she treated.

One of several treatments that Paige loved was the Myer’s Cocktail–an intravenous nutrient mixture that could contain high doses of the B vitamins as well asÂ magnesium, vitamin C and sometimes calcium.

Paige was an “avid and outspoken animal lover”, too, which she never hesitated to talk about in her Facebook posts. Paige also loved the Alabama Crimson Tide.

And Paige had Lyme disease

For those who don’t know, and in simple terms, Lyme isÂ aÂ tick born infection via a bacteria of what is called the Borrelia type.Â It is estimated to affect 300,000 people a year in the United States and 65,000 people a year in EuropeÂ¹, even though many more individuals get bitten by a tick without getting Lyme. Â The good news about the biteÂ is that if it’s attached for less than 36-48 hours, there is less risk you’ll get Lyme.Â² Â But it happens.

If someone does get Lyme, the signs and symptoms of theÂ disease vary and usually appear in stages.Â³Â ManyÂ will get a bullseye rash on the skin within the next week or more: some do not. Others will get flu-like symptoms, ranging from achiness to fever to fatigue. Over time, which can take months to years and especially if untreated, individuals can develop viral infections, inflammation, aches and pains, shakiness and/or neurological issues…to name a few. Lyme is nasty.

Paige, unfortunately, had activeÂ Neuropsychiatric Lyme Disease, which she explained to me in theÂ Fall of 2015 and was fighting it all withÂ IV antibiotics and a great amount ofÂ oral medications. Â Also known as Lyme neuroborreliosis, it’s the neurologic involvement of either the peripheral or central nervous system.

Bottom line, Paige wasÂ one sick lady and fought like a champion. Her dear mother confirmed that she lost her battle with Lyme during the night. There will be no service, but as soon as her mother announces it, there will be a way to make donations, which I will include as a comment to this post.

Lyme disease and you

Do know that each person’s case of Lyme is individual with many variables, both in outcomes and treatment protocols. Many do quite well after treatment. For more information…

– A video to watch about Lyme:Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OdP8Jndnyk

– And another video by Dr. Horowitz about the co-infections that can go with Lyme:Â https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9a-2Nb2sbk

-Â – Here’s an interesting page where the results of this gal’s survey questions were tabulated about Lyme treatments:Â http://willtherebecake.org/2015/11/11/success-rates-of-various-lyme-treatment-options-a-personal-study/Â The rest of the website is excellent.

More sites:

http://ilads.org/

http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org/

http://whatislyme.com/where-to-start-lyme-info-for-newbies/

http://www.tiredoflyme.com/http://www.betterhealthguy.com/blog

Groups:

– This group is for women only and focuses on abx:Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/243181499182129?ref=bookmarks
– This one is all about various herbal protocols like cowden, buhner, white Â Â Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/263709223729311?ref=bookmarks
– This one follows dr. Klinghardt:Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/712530532196662?ref=bookmarks
– LDI:Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/828673227222144?ref=bookmarks
– Another Cowden group:Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/1547743332142929?ref=bookmarks
– Cannabis for Lyme:Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/1506598772889860?ref=bookmarks
– Lyme and mold (mainly follows dr. Shoemaker):Â https://m.facebook.com/groups/1485904731739075?ref=bookmarks

Dear Paige, you will be missed by so many people! Thank you for touching all our lives with your sweet spirit, highly positive outlook, loving attitude, tireless efforts to help others in your practice and passions…and your wonderful contribution to the STTM II book! And we all send our deepest condolences to yourÂ mother and the rest of yourÂ family and closest friends.