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Yes, Jessica Terry, it’s weird to have to self-diagnose, but thyroid patients have had to do the same thing!

Jessica Terry is an 18 year old student at Washington State high school in the Bay Area who had years of problems which doctors couldn’t figure out: vomiting, diarrhea, weight loss and stomach pains.  Doctors said she had irritable bowel syndrome or colitis, and said her intestinal tissue was just fine according to slides.

Yet, she just knew that wasn’t correct.

So she took some of her own intestinal tissue to her Biomedical Problems class, and voila…she diagnosed her own problem:  granuloma, and specifically, Crohn’s disease, an inflammation of her intestines.

Sound familiar??

Yup, thyroid patients have had to do the exact same thing–self-diagnose– for almost ten years because of continuing symptoms of hypothyroidism which doctors have routinely dismissed, pooh-poohed or blamed on something else.  It’s all been a horrific, wide-reaching and damaging 50 year medical scandal by the medical establishment upon thyroid patients.

And why has this calamity occurred? Because doctors have always been hoodwinked by their medical school training, continuing education and Big-Pharma-financed-research in believing that T4-only thyroxine medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothyroxine, Eltroxin, et. al. were from God Almighty, and the TSH lab test was just as holy.

And thanks to thyroid patients around the world who had the gall to use the internet and join patient groups, we figured out it’s all because those medications and labwork have not worked, and what has worked. Additionally, it was patients who discovered they had adrenal fatigue and/or low ferritin and how to treat it, and patients who have succeeded in beginning a wave of change around the world in the treatment and diagnosis of hypothyroidism (except for the UK, who has gone backwards to the dark ages).

You can read Jessica’s story first reported in the Sammamish Reporter,  and only recently reported to a wider audience in the Bay Area News newspaper. She also spoke to a CNN affiliate.

Thanks to Kem on NTH for informing me of this news.

P.S. Do ya think that any newspapers or major news outlets like CNN are going to finally get what a huge story thyroid patients have given them?? We’re still waiting……

*Want to be informed of Janie’s blog posts? Curious what’s on her mind? Just use the Notification link to the bottom left of the links.

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Thyroid Patients sending a big KISS to this British Doctor!

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I recently discovered a very humorous and appropo medical blog on the net, written by a United Kingdom General Practitioner who wisely stays incognito. His blog is called The Jobbing Doctor.

And his most recent and humorously brilliant post is titled Hairy legs are better than blood tests! He describes his occasional confusion when blood tests don’t agree with the patients symptoms.

Says the UK doc: “The textbooks teach that the level of circulating thyroid hormones (which are called T3 and T4) are inversely related to the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). If your T3 and T4 are low, your TSH will be high: this suggests an underactive thyroid gland. If the T3 and T4 are high and the TSH is low, then you have an overactive thyroid gland. That’s easy, huh!”

But his confusion sprang forth when a patient’s labs showed “a highish TSH, T4, and a normal T3.” Yet apparently her symptoms didn’t imply there was any problem, so he chose to do nothing as far as changing her treatment.

A month later at her next appointment, this patient expressed her approval that he didn’t change anything…because her leg hair and eyebrows were coming back.

And his conclusion?  “Pah! Who needs blood tests!”

Jobbing Doctor, you are discovering what thyroid patients have been learning over and over for years: it’s SYMPTOMS (or lack up) which need to pull the cart, NOT labwork. Sure, we love our labwork. They can give clues to areas where our bodies are screaming for help.  But they definitely do NOT tell the whole story.

Look at the ignoramus TSH lab test. Countless patients have walked into their doctors offices with clear and obvious hypothyroid symptoms–and desperate for a diagnosis–yet the ink spot on the office piece of paper called the TSH lab result proclaims they are “normal”. And that dubious “normal” diagnosis can go on for years before it rises high enough to reveal what was already there by SYMPTOMS.

Or, while on thyroid medication, patients will have a lamebrain “normal” TSH lab result, yet will continue to have their own brand and degree of continuing hypothyroid symptoms which the clueless doctor dismisses as an hysteric female interpretation, motherhood, stress, a need for psychological help….or just “something else”. Uh huh.

In fact, Jobber Doctor, patients have learned that when they are optimal (on desiccated thyroid), along with optimal ferritin and cortisol), they will generally have a free T3 in the upper part of the range, and a SUPPRESSED TSH, with no symptoms of hyperthyroidism.  That is general, and there can be some exceptions, but overall, it has spoken volumes to patients on how inadequate thyroid lab tests can be.  i.e. being in the “normal” range—anywhere in the normal range–can be mean squat.

Thanks for a great post,  UK Jobber Doc. And P.S.  Desiccated thyroid is an even better treatment than thyroxine. 🙂

*Want to be informed of these blog posts? Curious what’s on my mind? Just use the Notifications at the bottom left of the links.

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The irony of the Oprah debacle for thyroid patients

opraharmsupI’ve been sitting back silently, reading all the backlash that started with Newsweek’s Best Life or Risky Advice May 30th article, a critical analysis of Oprah’s multiple program topics of Wish Away Cancer! Get A Lunchtime Face-Lift! Eradicate Autism! Turn Back The Clock! Thin Your Thighs! Cure Menopause! Harness Positive Energy! Erase Wrinkles! Banish Obesity! Live Your Best Life Ever!

And granted, some of the criticism seems justified.

Even thyroid patients winced and squirmed when Oprah stated that a month long Hawaiian vacation and eating fresh foods with soy milk were a great way to treat her thyroid condition.  Uh huh.   Patients equally gagged at her support of Dr. Christiane Northrup who made the the nutty insensitive 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.”

But the ensuing array of blog posts and articles following in the footsteps of the Newsweek criticism of Oprah has presented quite an irony for thyroid patients whose lives have been changed thanks to natural desiccated thyroid. Adjectives and/or descriptions of Oprah in these blogs and articles have included:

* dangerous

* peddling alternative treatments that are ineffective

* failing to present scientific evidence

* failing to listen to bona fide, medical school trained,  medical professionals

* being too gullible about the so-called wisdom and knowledge of certain patients (ala Suzanne Somers)

* failing to give more attention to science-based, status quo, mainstream medicine

Any of the above sound familiar? Yup, it sure does.

How many times have thyroid patients been told that desiccated thyroid like Armour or Naturethroid was dangerous, or raising it by symptoms rather than the TSH was dangerous. Or it’s dangerous to use because you’ll get heart problems and osteroporosis. Yet thyroid patients on desiccated thyroid have their lives CHANGED, with stronger hearts and increased bone density.

How many patients have had their doctors tell them that desiccated was ineffective as an alternative out-dated product, yet these same patients started to LIVE again with relief from old symptoms from this ineffective “alternative” medication that grandma once used.

How many articles by medical professionals are there who claim that there’s no scientific evidence to prove that desiccated thyroid is effective, in spite of CLEAR observation and reports of a huge and growing body of thyroid patients and certain doctors around the world about relief from depression, lowered cholesterol, better blood pressure, weight maintenance, hair regrowth, better stamina, less sickness and a myriad of other improvements!

How many bona fide, medical school trained,  medical professionals told us ad nauseum that our symptoms were not thyroid related (when they were), that we are “normal” because the TSH lab test says so (when we were far from it), that desiccated thyroid is outdated, unreliable, ineffective, and a ten ton load of other ridiculous comments from bona fide, medical school trained,  medical professionals.

How many doctors have told patients that they should NOT listen to other patients on the internet or Stop the Thyroid Madness because patients can’t possibly have any wisdom or know what they are talking about. Yet, lo and behold, it’s been patients and what they have learned who have started a wide-reaching revolution for better thyroid treatment that works, and a growing body of doctors are listening!

And how many times has science-based, status quo, mainstream medicine completely ruined the lives of thyroid patients because many doctors are too lazy to dare question or think outside the pharmaceutical, medical school box.

Yup, Oprah has made some blunders, gaffes and misjudgments as outlined in the Newsweek article.  She has gushed too quickly when Northrup opens her mouth or Oz walks in with his surgical garb.  But isn’t it a bit ironic that some of the criticism by others towards Oprah are the same blunders, gaffes and misjudgments which most any thyroid patient has heard about their use of desiccated thyroid, and which has all been COMPLETELY wrong.

Bottom line, for every mistake and misjudgment Oprah has made–and CLEARLY she has done so in her understanding of thyroid treatment—she just might be opening the doors to medical truth, somewhere, somehow, between it all.

Janie

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UK celebrities with thyroid cancer or disease

clareblading1Thyroid problems have become rampant.

And it’s not just in the US with individuals like Oprah, fitness guru Jillian Michaels, Sex and the City’s Kim Cattrall, George and Barbara Bush, Kelly Osbourne and others.  A recent article in the Daily Mail-UK highlights the saga of  Clare Balding, the BBC TV sports presenter in the UK whose thyroid was gladly removed due to a malignant tumor.

Even the gal who wrote the well-written article about Clare, Pippa Jolly, reports having gone through the same removal 13 years previous due to an extreme case of Hashimotos and a nodule pressing against her trachea.

But within the informative and hopeful tone of the article are a few Rodney Dangerfield thuds of the continuing SCANDAL and idiocy of a particular thyroid treatment which even the most innocent of article writers can be fooled.

Thud #1: The very first sentence of the article says: Some good news for Clare Balding, the BBC TV sports presenter, is that her recent operation to remove her cancerous thyroid gland – a thyroidectomy – should be the end of the matter.

End of the matter? Only if she had been put on desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, et al. Because it appears she’s on the delightfully enchanting synthetic “thyroxine“, the darling of most UK doctors and which serves to leave almost everyone with their own brand and intensity of continuing hypothyroid symptoms.  You can listen to my audio here about T4.

Thud #2: Diagnostic rates are on the increase, says Professor Monson, as thyroid tests are now done routinely at GP surgeries. ‘As a result there is a higher detection rate and the disease can be tackled earlier and if necessary followed up by surgery.

Right. Those increasing diagnostic rates, some which are based on the lousy TSH lab test, are overridingly catching someone’s hypothyroid state years after it started, which leaves a certain percentage with the misery of adrenal insufficiency and host of other problems from being undiagnosed so long.  And if one is treated after surgery based on the same holy TSH, you will only continue to have your brand of continuing symptoms. You can listen to my audio on the TSH here.

Thud #3: If the thyroid is removed or not functioning properly, thyroxine will need to be taken in drug form for life.

You and millions of others have been hoodwinked into thinking it’s thyroxine you will need the rest of your life, aka Eltroxine, Synthroid, or levothyroxine,  et al.  But those T4 meds force you to depend on conversion alone, a process not well done in many, and you miss out on what natural desiccated thyroid would be giving you as a much wiser treatment–exactly what your own thyroid gives: direct T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. Or even at the VERY least, giving yourself synthetic T4 with synthetic T3.

Thud #4: Now I have to have my hormone levels checked every three months and make sure I take my medication, but otherwise I feel fine.

I completely believe Pippa when she says she feels fine. But I want to warn her:  some CAN feel fine on a T4-only medication, but eventually and especially as she ages,  she’s going to have to watch out for those pesky little demons of being on an inferior, inadequate medication, which can include rising cholesterol, chronic low-grade depression, rising high blood pressure, or a host of other symptoms which are individual to each person on thyroxine.

Here’s hoping Clare and Pippa join the growing body of patients all over the world whose lives are being changed thanks to natural desiccated thyroid.

*Want to be informed of these blog posts? Curious what I’m ranting about now? Use the Notifications on the lower left of the links.

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UK’s Royal College of Physicians continues to be deaf, blind and royally dumb.

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Funny how things work. I had been wondering what the heck was going on with thyroid patients in the UK after the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) came out with their February 6th guideline stating that 1) thyroxine was the only medication needed for hypothyroidism, 2) “natural” medications were dangerous and 3) the only labs needed are the TSH and T4.

All the above goes totally against the life-changing experience of a growing body of patients.

Equally a part of this B-grade horror movie is the stand taken by the British Thyroid Association (BTA).  Read it. And UK-TPA thyroid patient advocate Sheila Turner began to go through her own hell when her Armour was taken away, which you can read about in the February 20th blog post here.

And suddenly, I get an email from Sheila, informing me that the RCP stand is as bad as it was three months ago for her and other thyroid patients.

Sheila states: This is absolutely unbelievable that out of the hundreds of references we sent to the Royal College of Physicians to show their guideline to be flawed, they have taken no account of one single one of them. They are publishing their previous guidance without one since change. The world has gone mad.

Dear Sheila, Further to my email of 6 April, the comments and materials received by the College have been reviewed. This position statement or guidance (not a guideline) was produced on behalf of the Royal College of Physicians, in particular its Patient and Carer Network and the Joint Specialty Committee for Endocrinology and Diabetes; the Association for Clinical Biochemistry; the Society for Endocrinology; the British Thyroid Association; the British Thyroid Foundation Patient Support Group and the British Society of Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes and is endorsed by The Royal College of General Practitioners. The President has asked me to let you know that this review has not resulted in any changes to that statement.  It should be noted that it is about the treatment of primary hypothyroidism and does not preclude other treatments for exceptional cases by specialist endocrinologists who can make clear to patients any associated risks. References supporting the statement are listed below. Yours sincerely, Catharine Perry Administrator -   Diagnosis and treatment of primary hypothyroidism. BMJ 2009;338:b725 -   Vaidya B, Pearce S. A Clinical Review of the management of hypothyroidism in adults. BMJ 2008;337:a801. This contains references for 35 articles and states that Armour thyroid is of no proved additional benefit to levothyroxine. – The Lancet Volume 363, Issue 9411, Pages 793 – 803, 6 March 2004.  This covers the history, epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism and is written by Caroline GP Roberts and Paul Ladenson of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.  This review, which references 164 clinical articles, states that the treatment of choice for hypothyroidism is levothyroxine sodium (thyroxine) and does not refer to Armour thyroid. -  Baloch Z, Carayon P, Conte-Devolx B, et al. Laboratory medicine practice guidelines. Laboratory support for the diagnosis and monitoring of thyroid disease.Thyroid 2003;13:3-126. -  Association of Clinical Biochemists BTA, British Thyroid Foundation. UK Guidelines for the use of thyroid function tests. http://acb.org.uk/docs/tftguidelinefinal.pdf -  Surks MI. Ortiz E, Daniels GH, et al. Subclinical thyroid disease: scientific review and guidelines for diagnosis and management. 2004;291:228-238.

And as your peruse the six references above which they use to defend their tunnel-visioned, moronic position, you realize that you, your words, and your positive-outcome experience on desiccated thyroid, as well as the use of far better labs, is about as important within the UK’s latest medical pronouncement as is dirt on the bottom of a rusted bucket in the middle of an empty field in nowhere. Yup.

Or as Harold Shipman stated about the RCP’s guidelines: What a brilliant wheeze.

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See below on the potential importance of potassium in your health and well-being. And on the May 7th post about the party being over with Forest Pharmaceuticals, comments continue to come in about experiences with the “new” Armour.

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