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Jennifer Livingston: this goes even deeper than bullying. You are on the wrong thyroid medication!

Jennifer Livingston, a mother of three adorable daughters, is a morning anchor at WKBT-TV in La Cross, Wisconsin and a very pretty one at that. And she received an email from a male viewer which stated that her excess weight was not a good role model for young girls. Jennifer’s supportive husband Mike Thompson, who is an evening anchor on the same station and strongly supports his wife, posted the critical email on his Facebook page:

“It’s unusual that I see your morning show, but I did so for a very short time today. I was surprised indeed to witness that your physical condition hasn’t improved for many years. Surely you don’t consider yourself a suitable example for this community’s young people, girls in particular. Obesity is one of the worst choices a person can make and one of the most dangerous habits to maintain. I leave you this note hoping that you’ll reconsider your responsibility as a local public personality to present and promote a healthy lifestyle.”

Livingston followed this up with a bold four-minute rebuttal to the personal attack, emphasizing the cruelty of judging someone based on their exterior, especially considering she is very aware of her weight problem, and has worked hard to deal with it for years. She also referred to the bullying nature of the note. With October being National Anti-Bullying Month, this incidence hit a chord.

Jennifer’s famous brother, actor Ron Livingston, also expressed support for his sister.

BUT JENNIFER, YOUR STORY GOES EVEN FARTHER AND DEEPER THAN YOU KNOW, AND YOU COULD CHANGE MANY LIVES OF YOUR LISTENERS AND BEYOND. YOU MAY BE A VICTIM OF A 50-YEAR THYROID TREATMENT SCANDAL!

You mentioned being on a thyroid medication, and you may be a victim of the same 50+ year thyroid treatment scandal that millions of overweight women have been part of : 1) the use of the TSH lab test, which can be “normal” for years even though the patient has clear hypothyroidism, or 2) the use of Synthroid or any other T4-only medication to treat the hypothyroid condition, which leaves patients with their own degree and kind of continuing hypothyroidism.  And weight gain, plus difficulty losing it, is a common symptom of continued hypothyroidism for all too many  

Neither the TSH lab test or T4-only meds like Synthroid work well, exclaim frustrated, or sick, or overweight, or angry patients all over the world!

Additionally, the longer patients stay on this lousy medication, the higher the risk of having low levels of Vitamin D, Iron, B12 and other important nutrients. More than 50% of T4-only treated patients fall into adrenal fatigue, aka low cortisol, due to the failure to get enough T3, the active thyroid hormone, into the cells of their adrenals. i.e. T4 is a storage hormone meant to convert to T3, but the body is not meant to live for conversion alone!  T4 is only one of FIVE hormones secreted by the thyroid.

And it gets worse….

Many folks replied to the WKTB article about this incident. And one person stated in their post:  “…..GIVE UP A FEW BURGERS AND CUT THE CHEESE. START MOVING JENNIFER!”

Jennifer, do you know how MANY thyroid patients with a weight problem have heard this well-meaning but terrible refrain from friends, loved ones, strangers and even some clueless doctors?? Oh sure, we know that eating healthy is important. Many already eat healthy! But continued hypothyroidism keeps our bodies like that of a snail. It affects our body temperatures (it stays much lower), how our muscles work and our blood circulates (true fatigue here), how we digest food (food tends to stay in our stomach longer), and how we eliminate waste (we tend to be constipated or slow eliminators). When we try to exercise, we end up in bed from the excess fatigue of continued hypothyroidism.

 It’s not a pretty picture, Jennifer….and it’s just as bad as bullying for millions!

Learn from other thyroid patients: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/things-we-have-learned

Here’s my story:  //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/my-story

Here are others stories: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/stories-of-others

Here are the crazy things we have to listen to from our doctors: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/give-me-a-break

Here’s why Synthroid doesn’t work for all too many: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/t4-only-meds-dont-work

Here’s why the TSH lab test sucks: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/tsh-why-its-useless

Here are symptoms which went away with Natural Desiccated Thyroid: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/long-and-pathetic

Here are many good thyroid patient groups: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/talk-to-others

HELP US STOP THE THYROID MADNESS, JENNIFER, OF WHICH YOU MAY BE ONE MORE VICTIM! 

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.

Has Armour gone back to its pre-reformulation? And 5-HTP is pretty remarkable…

Though this page was originally written in 2012 about Armour and 5-htp, it’s been updated to the present day and time. 

It’s only a handful of comments here or there in patient groups, and I’ve gotten two emails as well. But there are reports that recent bottles of Armour desiccated thyroid have pills which are performing just like they did before the unappreciated reformulation of 2009. i.e. they are softer again and can be done sublingually, and may be back to more dextrose and less cellulose.

Said one patient who contacted me via email: “It’s interesting what I read in the thyroid group the other day that her pills were back to being soft. But typical condescending Forest Labs who never said a word in 2009 to the most informed group of patients in the world, and haven’t communicated to us directly once again if it really has changed.”

So, if it’s true, there may be a phase of figuring out what you get: the hard ones that patients found HAVE to be chewed up to be the most effective, or the return of the softer ones which could be done sublingually. I’d be curious to know which pharmacies and in which city/state are giving out Armour tablets that are softer.

UPDATE: Forest Labs, the former makers of Armour, was bought out by Activas in 2014, then the price of Armour became the highest priced NDT around. And for many, it wasn’t working like it used to. But some still do well on it, paying the highest price. Learn from this page: http://stopthethyroidmadness.com/options-for-thyroid-treatment

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5-HTP can be miraculous against depression, plus can help troubled sleep patterns

When I went into full menopause, one issue I noticed was out-of-the-blue was afternoon depression, in spite of being optimal on Natural Desiccated Thyroid.  Bottomed-out female hormones can be problematic until I can correct them. And I found something that worked to completely remove the afternoon depression with the FIRST day of use: 5-HTP.  I was shocked.

Turns out that menopause can also mean low levels of serotonin–a brain transmitter that affects your mood positively. Your over-the-counter 5-HTP supplement (which comes from the seeds of the African plant Griffonia simplicifolia) is a precursor of trytophan, the amino acid responsible for making serotonin and melatonin. And lo and behold, what do many prescription anti-depressives, such as Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) meds, do?? They increase the bioavailability of serotonin! But why put up with the side-effects when 5-HTP is natural and has so few, I decided!!

How much? 100 mg did the trick for me, once a day. But others report needing 200 or 300 mg. I started on too much–had dizziness with starting on 200 mg. Found out the hard way that 100 mg was enough for the time being until I coud better treat my female hormonal issue. I’ve read where some only start on 50 mg.

For better sleep, studies have shown that 5-HTP outright will improve your sleep due to increasing melatonin. Research has reported a lengthening and deepening of their REM period of sleep–the deep sleep–and without increasing the amount of time they sleep. It also seems to smooth any ups and downs with sleeping.  Some research shows it can take several weeks, but I figure that can be individual.

There’s even anecdotal evidence that taking 5-HTP has helped drinkers avoid the bottle. i.e. if someone drinks to self-medicate against depression, 5-HTP could help.

There are definite cautions with 5-HTP! i.e. it’s NOT recommended to take it with anti-depressants or any seratonin-raising drug, as together one could raise their serotonin levels too high. A lot of different experiences with 5-HTP can be found here. As always, talk to your doctor about using it or not. It may be for only short-term use.

NOTE ABOUT DEPRESSION: For hypothyroid patients, especially those still stuck on T4-only like Synthroid, depression is pretty common due to inadequate levels of T3.  Once you get on Natural Desiccated Thyroid, as well as correct any potential low iron or low cortisol issues, you may find that depression is kicked to the wind!

As intellectually stated by Eric Fliers from the Department of Endocrinology in Amsterdam, “triiodothyronine (T3) is also capable of increasing serotonergic neurotransmission by desensitization of inhibitory 5-HT1a autoreceptors in the raphe nucleus, thus disinhibiting cortical and hippocampal serotonin release, and by increasing cortical 5-HT2 receptor sensitivity, further increasing 5-HT neurotransmission.”  

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Two newer pages on STTM as of 2012, and updated to today:

  1. Adaptogens:  read how certain plant and root substances can help you cope better with stress, here.
  2. Graves Disease: never thought I’d have a page on STTM about it, but enough patients have asked that it’s now here. Besides, since many Graves patients become hypothyroid, it’s good for them be included on a site that teaches what patients have learned about far better thyroid treatment, which is NOT T4-only.
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New to this website? Read about:
  1. Desiccated Natural Thyroid as the treatment with the best results
  2. Why T4-only meds like Synthroid aren’t doing the job for all too many
  3. How many thyroid patients fall into sluggish adrenal function aka adrenal fatigue
  4. How you can treat low cortisol without the use of HC
  5. What patients have learned
  6. Mistakes patients make in their treatment
And get the REVISED STTM BOOK for more details and ease of learning about what patients have learned.

 

 

Why I insist we need to fire most of our doctors! i.e. mainstream medicine is keeping us sick!

The following is a Guest Blog Post by thyroid patient N.P who is active on the main Stop the Thyroid Madness (STTM) Facebook group. 

Hi. My name is N.P. In March of 2012, I started a post on the main STTM Facebook group page with the topic “How many doctors have you fired?”.  It not only ended up with over 1000 replies, but most were from exasperated and emotional patients about their terrible experiences with doctors. I even had a few who thought it didn’t belong on Janie’s site. I’m thrilled to be known for that, actually.  Anything to entertain.  Now…if you want my practical editorial of why my post has gone over the 1,000 comment mark, read on.

After 9 long years of a “wrong diagnosis” followed by wrong treatment strategies and all-too-many doctors, it took a psychiatrist to diagnose my Hashimoto’s condition.  After going gluten-free to manage the Hashimoto’s disease, the same psychiatrist was the one who suggested I had Celiac Disease as well.  What is wrong with this picture?  Why did nine years of doctors never do their jobs???  Why did they let me suffer so?

I went through the various stages of emotion over the years, from being frustrated by mainstream medicine’s poor understanding of my health, to the annoyance of not having answers, to the embarrassment of never having good explanations for my friends and loved ones. And when the only way I got answers was through Amazon, STTM/Janie Bowthorpe, Facebook and my psychiatrist, I had finally reached this familiar stage:   cynicism.  There’s not much left after that except for throwing in some humor.  That’s why I started the post.

I sensed when I started the post that I was representative of many.  Clearly, the post struck a nerve with a lot of patients and has been a great outlet for people needing to get their horror stories and frustrations off their chests.  For those who are feeling desperate, as I have and still sometimes do, there’s always a place for you on my post.

“Yeah, It’s all wrong man…we shouldn’t even be up here!” 

The post was originally meant to give people a humorous way to vent their frustrations over the outrageously inept thyroid care that they’ve received.  I quickly saw the fun in having it morph into a vehicle to ridicule all doctors who’ve told their thyroid patients “Your labs are normal.” Yes, I have an ax to grind with mainstream medicine and feel my post is fair game.

Mainstream medicine brought it on themselves by the way they’ve conducted themselves.  It’s much like the airlines have done the same with seats that force your knees up to your chin and allow the bald head in the seat in front of you to be in your face.  They think it is OK but it is NOT OK.  The many posts about the experiences of patients with doctors, and being stranger than fiction, proves my point.

In addition, I felt I was representative of many people who’ve gone through what I did over 9 years and just needed a place to vent and release their years of frustration through a little bit of humor.   Can you believe that a doctor with 20+ years of education and training on how to heal people, and who literally holds the patient’s life in their hands, would rely solely on a lab report?   Then, they send the patient on their way by saying “there’s nothing else to do — it must be in your head.”   They call themselves professionals?   For shame.  They deserve to be ridiculed.

I’m shocked by the frightening,  life-altering treatment recommendations from doctors who’ve stopped trying to heal when they say,  “Your labs are normal.”  If you haven’t read my latest summary, here’s a few.  Incompetent doctors have recommended hysterectomies, ECT , surgeries and one patient was told she should check into an in-patient psych facility.  The frighteningly outrageous part of this is that these doctors, who lull us into complacency because of their titles and stature in society are in a place in our lives where they can HARM US!!!  And they have harmed many.  I certainly feel harmed.

And the Band Plays on……………………..

What I always knew, but would never consciously admit until I started the post, was that the “only in America” pop culture bafoonery we read about in the newspaper also existed in the medical profession. The most intelligent people can also be the most dumb.  A doctor tells a patient that “your bones are probably dissolving” or that Natural Desiccated Thyroid was “made by a meat company that went out of business 10 – 15 years ago” or that “since a cause of the depression can’t be found , you might as well get a hysterectomy.”   Crazier than fiction.

So, the profession that is supposed to heal us is keeping us sick.  Rather than letting one of  the most basic laws of humanity (which is  to help others) to passionately drive them  to use their training and common sense to solve our problems, they would rather dismiss any other proposed treatment strategies that might work and let us stay miserable until someone in an ivory tower tells them to do otherwise.

You’d think I’d be done after the statement above, but it gets worse.

Not only is mainstream medicine keeping us sick, but many doctors are insulting us as they do so.  For example, the complexities of thyroid problems and its related conditions cause many patients to gain weight.   What do many doctors do?  They blame the victim.  “It’s your fault you are fat “  is what they mean when they tell you to go to Weight Watchers or to start eating spinach (It’s true, a doc actually said that to a patient).   They are thinking that the patient is not educated in how to eat right or just doesn’t have the motivation.   I’m one who has heard a variation of this before. Outrageous.   The one person you would expect some empathy and compassion from does more harm and their attitude keeps us sick.

Some of you have decided to do something constructive with the problem, and through different initiatives, are demanding of the institutions that oversee thyroid treatment better care.  I applaud you for that.  Me, I’m the one who will keep insisting on firing doctors until we get well, get their attention, or both.

Fire a bad doctor for me.  Add it to my post on the main STTM Facebook page!

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*To read Janie’s 20-year agony thanks to uninformed doctors, read the detailed Introduction in the revised STTM book.

* See a collection of what many misguided doctors have said to patients over the years.

P.S. And thank you to the growing body of doctors who are LISTENING to ten years of patient experience as outlined on the STTM website and with more detail in the STTM book, all which underscores that

  1. The TSH lab test should ONLY be used to discern pituitary function (NOT to diagnose or treat by)
  2. There are far better labs that need attention.
  3. It’s “where” a lab result falls that counts, not the fact that it comes within a so-called normal range
  4. Natural Desiccated Thyroid changes lives.
  5. Sluggish adrenal function is very real and needs the right treatment.
  6. The patient-to-patient Stop the Thyroid Madness book needs to be in every doctor’s office for reference. Patients really DO know what they are talking about.

Who has the vision and courage of Dr. Lowe…and a message from Acella about delays

Each day, when I think about the passing of Dr. Lowe (which you can read about here), I reel in shock at this huge loss in our fight for better thyroid treatment and SANITY.

And now we have to ask: who will fill those shoes when it comes to the continuation of thyroidscience.org and the courageous message of Dr. Lowe?? Even the front page contains an important article  titled “TSH is Not the Answer,” a report Dr. Carol Rowsemitt and Dr. Thomas Najarian: Their explanation and verification  i.e. Dr. Lowe fought for what PATIENTS ALREADY KNOW TO BE TRUE about the lousy TSH lab test!

And Lowe announced that he was next coming out with an article concerning ” false statements of fact online about T3-containing thyroid products including Armour Thyroid” by The British Thyroid Association and UK Royal College of Physicians.  He continued: ” The scientific facts patently show the falsehood of the two organizations’ statements. Is this a failure of responsibility to study scientific issues before making public pronouncements on them? Or do the statements constitute science fraud?”    Unless it was already written, we might never see this article. But we all know the truth.

The loss of Dr. Lowe propels me to ask: Who do YOU see as a medical professional who has the following qualities:

  • high intelligence
  • an interest in true science rather than blindly following research with outcomes based on who paid for certain studies
  • the courage to speak the truth, even if it goes against the grain of staid medical opinion
  • compassion for thyroid patients and the willingness to listen to their experiences

Who, as a medical professional, can patients give a vote of confidence to as someone who can continue the legacy of Dr. Lowe?  Propose some names by commenting on this blog post below. (If you are reading this via the Email Notification, click on the title of this post, which will bring you directly to the blog post where you can leave a comment).

A MESSAGE FROM ELLEN GETTENBERG of ACELLA (THE MAKERS OF GENERIC DESICCATED THYROID CALLED N.P. THYROID)

Over the past several weeks, Acella has experienced production planning issues associated with NP Thyroid.  We sincerely apologize for this and want to inform our valued customers that we are putting measures in place now to prevent any further limited supply.  We anticipate improved availability by the end of January.  Please check back here on our website for further updates.  If you need additional information, please email us through the “Contact Us” page on NPThyroid.com.

Ellen Gettenberg
Director, Marketing| Acella Pharmaceuticals
9005 Westside Parkway | Alpharetta, GA 30009
www.acellapharma.com

WANT TO PAY IT FORWARD AS TO WHAT STTM HAS GIVEN YOU?

Out of my own savings last Fall, I paid for three months in hiring a publicist for the message of Stop the Thyroid Madness…i.e. through the end of December. My goal is to reach far more who may not understand WHY they have problems thanks to the lousy TSH lab test or T4-only meds like Synthroid, Levothyroxine, etc. And she has done a fabulous job in getting interviews and articles out there–you can see what she has done on the donation page mentioned below.

After December, patients donations completely paid for January. Now we are working on February, and nearly half way there. But this will end sooner than later if more donations don’t come in. Go here to read about it and Pay It Forward.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED YOU MAY NOT NEED HC TO HEAL YOUR ADRENALS? OR IF ON HC, YOU CAN DO THIS A LOT FASTER?

UK thyroid and adrenal patient Paul Robinson made a VERY interesting discovery–that he could heal his adrenals with his unique use of T3. Yup, and he SUCCEEDED. And it’s quite exciting news for adrenal fatigue patients.  Additionally, if you are on T3, his  T3 titration process alone is vastly superior to most other recommendations in the use of T3, and means you can use less!!

Take the time to find out for yourself!!  There’s a good summary of what he discovered in the new STTM Facebook Adrenals group (and please note this group is for PATIENTS ONLY, not medical professionals. And for approval to the group, you canNOT have a hidden info and friends. We have to be this way to keep out spammers, and to see that you are who you say you are).  You can also order his book from this Recommended books page on STTM. To order the patient-to-patient STTM book, go here.