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Having lower TSH levels when taking thyroxine not unsafe, says recent research

(Though this post was first written in 2010, it still works for today and is very pertinent!)

I am amazed.

The Society for Endocrinology in the UK reported that taking higher doses of thyroxine (which will lower the TSH lab result) may be safer than has been purported for decades.

And how low a TSH lab result did they find to be safe? As low as 0.04-0.4, the research found. It’s still safe enough to not cause an increased risk of  “heart disease, abnormal heartbeat patterns and bone fractures”, aka HYPERthyroid symptoms.

And those of us worldwide who know about the superiority of having T3 in our treatment (like a working natural desiccated thyroid, T4 with T3, or even just T3-only), can also use these research results in our fight to be on enough with TSH-obsessed doctors. They tend to view research as the end-all to the truth rather than solid clinical presentation, sadly.

Because when we have enough T3 to feel fabulous again with all symptoms removed (in the presence of good cortisol levels, adequate iron levels, B12 and digestive issues), our TSH lab result is always low, aka suppressed, and without one iota of hyper symptoms.

Patients have experientially known this truth about the lousy TSH lab test, without research, for years!

P.S. You WILL feel good most of the time with a midrange free T3, but it eventually backfires. We have to get that free T3 optimal. <—Read the latter.

But here’s what’s missing from their research:

  1. Those “safe, low levels” of an ink spot on a piece of paper do not mean the 16,426 patients they followed will be without numerous issues related to being on a storage hormone alone.  i.e. the body is not meant to live for conversion alone! A healthy thyroid will convert T4 to the active T3, but it will also provide direct T3 in addition to the T2, T1 and calcitonin…none of which a T4-only med provides directly.
  2. Additionally, the TSH lab test only reveals the action of a pituitary messenger hormone called the Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH).  The lab test does NOT measure whether your tissue is receiving enough thyroid hormone, which is why so many patients on T4 end up with depression, rising cholesterol, high blood pressure, low B12, low iron, and many symptoms, as well as adrenal fatigue thanks to the inadequate treatment of T4.
  3. Raising T4 often encourages an excess production of Reverse T3 over time, which will block cell receptors and increase the very symptoms the researcher state is avoided, as well as far more hypothyroid symptoms.

On the positive side

This is just one more research study that ends up being on our side!  i.e. it fits our experiences. I have also included mention of this study on the following page on STTM, where I keep a ongoing list of research which supports what patients already know by their experience and clinical presentation:  www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/medical-research/

35 replies

100 things to do with your bottle of Synthroid…

Well, I just can’t let this go by the wayside, says I with a cheesy grin.

When I did the lighthearted post, two posts below his one, about a woman who got filthy rich thanks to her old stock with Abbott Labs (the makers of Synthroid),  it got a humorous and creative comment from “Elizabeth”:

I have found a couple of uses for a bottle of Synthroid:

A. Doorstop
B. Prop for DSL modem (so it won’t overheat)

However, I do not recommend it to be taken internally. Ever.

hahahaha.  You get a blue ribbon for that gem, Mz. Elizabeth.  And I think Elizabeth’s creatively-funny reply deserves expansion and a party of fun-lovin’ contributors. So now it’s your turn, fine reader of the STTM blog,  to list your own innovative and hilarious ideas for that bottle of a T4-only medication.  Just use the Comment below this post and let ‘er rip.

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Below this post you’ll see information on the current failure of McCain’s cockeyed anti-supplement bill, which if it had passed, would have negatively affected every single thyroid patient out there who is trying to undo the damage done by T4 meds and/or the inane TSH lab test.  So though we all won right now with this failure, you betcha we’re going to have to keep our eyes and ears open for the money-grubbing Big Pharma to influence someone else about supplements.

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It ain’t for sissies: getting older and hypothyroidism (plus FDA says it did NOT tell pharms to stop desiccated thyroid)

Yup, we’re all heading in the same direction—being just a tad older every single year and getting that first mailing from AARP.  Yup.

And getting older increases the incidence of thyroid disease.

Even worse, those who acquire it at an older age are probably going to go through the same bunk and bull those younger have gone through–having depression, rising cholesterol, osteoporosis or ostepenia, weight gain, easy fatigue, couch potato syndrome, dry skin and hair, plus more—-all classic symptoms of undiagnosed or undertreated hypothyroidism.

But older folks are told it’s all just part of aging so here’s your latest tablet for your handy-dandy Wal Mart pill box.

I recently found a great blog by Pam whose Feb. 23rd, 2010 post is titled Older Women and Low Thyroid. She turned 65 in 2009 (and she looks a lot younger) and writes how she found herself with hypothyroid at a later age as well.  And Pam is WAY ahead of the game in her knowledge. She understands that most older folks are put on Synthroid (which can be a lousy way to treat hypothyroidism for many), that getting older means conversion from T4 to T3 can be more difficult,  that being on desiccated thyroid or T3-only just might be the better treatment, and you can get adrenal fatigue at an older age as well (thanks to poor treatment with T4, the TSH lab test, or being underdosed even on desiccated thyroid).

You can read Pam’s post here, as well as about the phone call from her friend who is 50 lbs overweight, has brain fog, is out of work, has no energy…and voila–is on Synthroid so it can’t POSSIBLY be her thyroid. Sad. In fact, what has happened to Pam’s friend is what I keep stating to those who feel they are just doing peachy on T4: watch out, because as you age, the truth about T4 will reveal itself!

Pam, I love your blog posts, and I’m going to hope to see more of those in the “venerable age range” be just as wise as you are!!

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FDA HAS MADE A STATEMENT ABOUT NATURAL DESICCATED THYROID: Just before I was going to plop into my bed for the evening, I checked my notifications to discover that right on the FDA website and their 2010 Drug Shortages page (3rd column up from bottom), it states: Forest reports manufacturing issues involving the raw material and RLC reports increased demand. FDA has not ordered Forest or RLC to remove these thyroid (desiccated) tablets from the market. BINGO. I’ve been waiting for this for months, because though websites and groups were formed last year as if we needed to “rescue” desiccated thyroid from being banned, I couldn’t join the fearful rally of a few because my gut was telling me something quite different.  And a few others, I discovered, had the same feeling.  And hooray! Our guts were right on!

Does this mean the FDA “gets it” about desiccated thyroid? Maybe, or maybe not. Yes, their timing WAS awful last year with Time Caps Labs, right when we were starting a shortage. And there does appear to be some kind of future requirement “proving” the safety and efficacy of dess. thyroid–two things we ALREADY KNOW from 110 years of safe and effective use. Duhhh on the FDA. But it’s FAR more hopeful now, and realistic, and will hopefully promote more reasonable thinking from now on.

Onward and upward, folks.

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Naturethroid is coming back in pharmacies all over the US! See the blog post below or here for information about  the “new” Naturethroid.

(If you are reading this via the Newsletter email notification, just click on the title of this blog post to come directly to the site where you can Comment).

5 replies

Guess who I’m going to be talking with next week on Talkshoe??

If you read my recent blog post about it (click on link below or just scroll down on the STTM blog), or if you saw NBC’s Today Show, you’ll know that Dr. Kent Holtorf correctly diagnosed a clearly-hypothyroid woman, Nurse Practitioner Eola Force, by not going just by the TSH, and changed her life. He was criticized by an Endocrinologist as having “no real scientific basis”  for what he does in his practice, and it was equivalent to the “laying on of hands”.  (chuckle)

//www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/2010/01/28/endocrinologists-tsh-lab-test/

Well, it’s time to hear what Dr. Holtorf has to say!

Join us as I chat with him about this incident next WEDNESDAY, FEB. 17th at 6 pm Pacific, 7 pm Mountain, 8 pm Central, and 9 pm Eastern, right on your computer’s audio on STTM’s Talkshoe Call webpage (below). Call in to ask questions, too. MARK YOUR CALENDER! SET YOUR CELL PHONE ALARM! This is one introduction that I’m going to have fun with, don’t ya think??

http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/talkCast.jsp?masterId=62603&cmd=tc

***Note that we moved it to Wednesday nights. That should help with any dropped calls that were happening on busy Thursdays.

By the way,  Dr. Holtorf recently launched his new website, called The Non-Profit National Academy of Hypothyroidism in an attempt to reach doctors about appropriate diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism, which patients know does NOT include just the lousy TSH lab test.  Will doctors, and especially Endocrinologists, ever figure out this clear and easy truth?  Don’t we hope so.

Have something to say? Use the Comment function at the bottom of this blog post. If you are reading this via an email notification, just click on the title of this blog post to take you directly to the actual blog post.

7 replies

Endocrinologists and the looney tune TSH lab test

“It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.” –Dr. Carl Sagan

You may have seen the segment on NBC’s Today Show this morning, January 29th, 2010, or you may have heard about it on the internet. But in case you didn’t, the Today Show had a rare short piece about hypothyroidism and diagnosis which presented a Nurse Practitioner, Eola Force, with clear symptoms of hypo, including extreme tiredness, feeling like she’s dying, huge weight gain, depression, and brain fog, to name a few.

Yet, she had a so-called “normal  “TSH” lab test. The explanation for her symptoms?? She’s FAT, HORMONAL and FEMALE, of course!

And because she is under the care of a wise and knowledgeable doctor named Dr. Kent Holtorf and his clinic, which uses additional tests besides the TSH, he diagnosed her clearly, put her on thyroid hormones, and changed her life.

And the response by Dr. Singer, an Endocrinologist? There is “no real scientific basis” for what Holtorf does in his practice, and it was equivalent to the “laying on of hands”.

Well my dear Dr. Singer sir, if hundreds of millions of patients all over the world waited on “science” to prove what they know by decades of miserable experience because of the TSH, we’d all still be sick as dogs. The mutually accepted delusion by the Endocrinology field about the TSH lab test has left millions of thyroid patients undiagnosed and undertreated for nearly 40 years of its existence.

Other than to potentially diagnose a pituitary problem, no, the TSH lab test is NOT the gold standard for thyroid screening anymore than reading tea leaves tells me what kind of day I’m going to have.

Read more about the TSH lab test here, or find even more detail in Chapter 3 in the book called TSH: THYROID STIMULATING HOOEY.

See much better labwork than simply the TSH here.  Find what your results mean here. And here‘s how to find a much better doctor.

P.S. Thyroid patient Lynn Dunning emailed me about talking about the craziness of current thyroid treatment at her work, and one of her colleagues put this up on the work website:
http://www.spunout.ie/health/Healthy-body/Thyroid-madness Good for Lynn and the SpunOut website!

22 replies