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Have you switched from one desiccated thyroid to another? Let’s share.

“A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents
and making them see the light, but rather because it opponents eventually die,
and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it” ~ Max Planck

NOTE: Though this post was originally written in 2011, it has been updated to the current date and time.

Screen Shot 2015-11-26 at 10.55.40 PMHOW DIFFERENT BRANDS OF DESICCATED WORK FOR SOME, NOT FOR OTHERS

Granted, we note from patient reports that all brands work based on individual reports of any brand.

But some patients, for a variety of reasons, feel they do well on some NDT’s, but not on others. It’s very individual. This may be due to the fillers in any product.

Or, there are some like me who had to switch from one desiccated thyroid brand to another, not because of fillers, but changes in the product.  I, for example, was on the pre-reformulated Armour from 2002 to 2009, and successfully treated.

Then came 2009 when patients were reporting Armour not working as well anymore. It had been reformulated–the cellulose raised and the sucrose decreased.  I just let my old Armour run out, and I started on Erfa Thyroid from Canada. And it was an easy and successful switch for me.

But even some batches of Erfa seemed to go bad in 2014, so I then moved over to NP Thyroid, which has been great to this day.

So I am an example of the way that all three did work for me, and simply had to change due to reported problems in the way Armour, or Erfa, was made.

What if any switch doesn’t result in good results?

For many, the NDT they have switched to works just as well, as happened to me. But for some, a switch has not been smooth. One brand seemed to serve them well, while another brand caused them to tank.

What causes the switch problems?

For many, it could be the adrenals. On one product, they may have felt fine, yet due to an underlying adrenal issue they hadn’t caught, a different brand with that “something different” may have been the umpff that revealed their adrenal problem.

For others, the issues on the new brand could be from a sensitivity to one or more of the fillers. You can read about all fillers in each brand here.

And for still others, there is a mystery of why one didn’t work and another did.

What has been your experience? What did you switch from and to? Armour? Naturethroid? Erfa? Compounded? Thyroid-S? Let’s share.

If I need to switch, how do I do it?

It’s pretty much an even switch. i.e. if I was doing well on 3 grains on one brand, I go on 3 grains of the other.

But if I wasn’t doing well on a brand, it’s important to ask one self four things:

  1. Did I raise the current brand high enough? It’s common for hypothyroid symptoms to return on lower non-optimal doses. How to raise is explained here.
  2. Do I have an issue with a filler?? They can be looked at here.
  3. Do I have optimal levels of iron? Because if your iron levels aren’t “optimal”, it can cause problems when raising NDT. Optimal has nothing to do with normal. See this page.
  4. Do I have an adrenal problem being revealed due to NDT? 

JanieSignature SEIZE THE WISDOM

  • Join the STTM STTM Facebook page for daily tips and inspiration on thyroid issues. 
  • Have you ever heard of the gal who calls herself nonstickpam? I’ve known Pam for many years, and she has spent most of that time giving helpful advice on low carb eating and how to maintain your weight while dealing with thyroid and/or adrenal issues. Recently, she wrote an article for STTM about this very issue: //www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/hypothyroid-and-weight-issues/

 

How LDN, Baking Soda and ALA cured her cancer–very remarkable story!

I meet many amazing individuals via the internet who have struggled with thyroid problems and clueless doctors. And my latest internet thyroid friend is Francie.

Francie  is the owner of an Multiple Schlerosis group that uses LDN (Low Dose Naltrexone) in their treatment.  And besides having dealt with MS, she is a thyroid patient who had half her thyroid removed due to a cancer threat.  Afterwards, her doctors never suggested that her fatigue, feeling cold, and weight gain was anything except in her head while pushing SSRI anti-depressants on her. She asks “Why can we not keep it simple? Why do they think that we need powerful prescription drugs when a simple hormone can do wonders? “

But Francie’s story goes beyond her thyroid issue. She played a huge role in CURING HER UTERINE CANCER through the use of LDN, Baking Soda, and ALA (Alpha Lipoic Acid). I was SO amazed that she gave me permission to post it here. Read this!

I have found three cheap, easy and safe suggestions to combat cancer: LDN, Baking Soda and ALA.

LDN is Low Dose Naltrexone. I originally started to use it for my Multiple Sclerosis and it honestly gave me my life back. I kept reading about others who were using it for cancers (and other auto-immune diseases, too, like Hashimotos), but that did not affect me, so paid little attention other than to note that the treatment adds Alpha Lipoic Acid, which is a very powerful antioxidant, among other things.

Then in September, I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Upon examination, it had apparently spread to the cervix, since that area was white and not good looking. Since I could not get an appointment for a couple of weeks (we have no insurance and the only option in this country was the University of Louisville teaching hospital) I decided to do all that I could to combat it during the wait.

I added the ALA (two 300mg capsules daily on an empty stomach) and along with that, infusions of baking soda in the uterus and then a soaked tampax next to the cervix. Within two weeks, the cervical lesions were gone.

Two weeks later, when I went to Mexico for surgery (I really did not need that uterus at age 62), the pathology showed that there was no evidence of cancer on the cervix or surrounding tissue. I attribute that to the constant sodium bicarbonate environment.

There was also no evidence of cancer in the adjacent lymph nodes or pelvic fluid. I attribute that to the LDN and ALA. It was obvious that the cancer predated my use of the LDN, which enormously improves the body’s own immune system, and there was no indication that it had metastasized outside the uterus. Inside the uterus is very hard for anything to penetrate as it is designed to be walled off from the body’s immune system, since it is made to hold what is recognized as a parasite to the host (baby in a mother.) So it is not surprising that the tumor was not killed in the uterus.

I also refused chemo and radiation. With the clean pathology, all of the Mexican doctors recommended that I take care of myself stay as healthy as possible. All of the US doctors recommended chemo at $10,000-15,000 per treatment. If they don’t recommend it and something happens, they can be sued. If they do recommend it and they kill you with it, they cannot be sued. That does not say much about my part in the equation.

There are excellent videos that explain these treatments. Doing a Google for “LDN ALA and cancer” will get lots of info. There is also a yahoo group called lowdosenaltrexone with more than 9000 members, including very knowledgeable doctors to help.

To do some research, one cannot do better than get Dr. Berkson’s book: “The Alpha Lipoic Acid Breakthrough”. He has cured even pancreatic cancers and has the scientific research to prove it. You can see his speech on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqRwXEnPYKk

Like me, you probably want to really beat the bushes and use anything and everything that seems logical, makes sense and CAN DO NO HARM, especially when they are cheap as well. That is what baking soda, LDN and ALA all promise.

Not one of my US doctors suggested any of these, and yet there are people who know that they have cured or stopped the progression of horrible diseases with just these cheap and available products. Our American medical system is drug and money driven. We are sadly, not much healthier for it, in my opinion.

My best wishes to all,
Francie
http://LDN-for-MS.com

AND A FOLLOW-UP SHE MADE TO SOMEONE WHOSE GIRLFRIEND NOW HAS CERVICAL CANCER:

Changing the pH factor makes a huge difference in most living things on earth. We all live in a very narrow pH range.

For this reason, I am always shocked that people are willing to take expensive and life threatening drugs for toe nail fungus, like the one sold on TV for instance. Soaking the feet a couple of times per week in a vinegar solution (1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water) will kill it right away. It can take a year of soaking while the big toe nail grows back, but at least you are not taking powerful drugs in the whole body to affect a small area. Same thing with fingernail fungus. Just keep a pill bottle of diluted vinegar near where you work or sleep and dip the finger in each day or so.

So, it was no surprise that changing the pH factor might inhibit cancer. My main hesitation was the leap to believing that cancer is actually a fungus. I am not so sure that it is.  HOWEVER, I can imagine that fungus sets in with an unhealthy environment and I can also imagine that fast growing cells (cancer) would be more affected by a pH change than normal cells. So, I don’t have to even believe that cancer is fungus to give a change of pH a try. It is cheap and easy and the main question to me is, “why wouldn’t you?” We are talking your life. It is worth saving.

I think that cervical cancer and skin cancer would be the BEST ones to try and probably the most successful for exactly the same reason listed above. You are directly treating the affected area rather than having to change the whole body environment, like with brain or lung cancer.

The cervix is the opening to the uterus. So, if they said cervical cancer, then it is not the same as uterine cancer (I am hoping it is not both, as it was with me.)

If I were your girlfriend. I would douche with a sodium bicarbonate solution. In Mexico, it is sold in drug stores as bicarsol, which is a 5% sterile solution. This is what I had my doctors rinse the pelvic region out with before closing my incision from my hysterectomy.

I don’t think that you need sterile for douching. I used a much more concentrated solution, but after talking with a doctor that I trust, he feels that a VERY concentrated solution could burn the healthy tissue in such a delicate region, as opposed to on the skin, where I read that patients use a baking soda paste.  As a suggestion, I would dissolve a tablespoon full in a cup of water, which should give a nicely basic solution. After douching, do not rinse out the solution, but leave it with that high pH all day.

No matter what else the doctors recommend, you can still do this. My cancer was also in the uterus, so we did infusions of baking soda solution directly inside the uterus. We have medical backgrounds and were not intimidated by this, although I apologize to any who are offended by talking about private areas 🙂 . I don’t know if it helped there, as the tumor was already quite large and I only had a couple of weeks between diagnosis and the surgery to remove it.

I am personally opposed to chemo and radiation and was determined to not go that route. With my use of LDN and ALA (low dose naltrexone and alpha lipoic acid), I feel comfortable that I am doing more and living a healthier life than if I poisoned myself as recommended by western doctors. I believe that in future decades, we will look back on that practice with bafflement and horror, like we look back on bleeding people to cure the plague in the dark ages.

Don’t let your girlfriend be traumatized or intimidated by her doctors. I found the US doctors cavalier, haughty and offended that I had my own ideas and did not instantly treat them like gods. They were horrified that I would go to Mexico for surgery at 1/10th the price that they wanted to charge for the same thing. Not one of them offered something that I could do while waiting for them to wave their magic wands, as if they have any cure other than surgery, chemo and radiation. They did not mention healthy eating, pH factor or immune system improvement or anti-oxident supplementation. They were close minded and dogmatic.

Francie  http://LDN-for-MS.com

From Janie: please note that I am not posting this for you to take things into your hands, or to direct you against radiation or chemo. Each person, along with working with a trusted and good doctor, has to make their own decision. But I found it VERY impressive and worth educating you about.

You can read more about Low Dose Naltrexone here.

Janie and Jimmy of The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show

I had a fun interview by the vivacious and interesting Jimmy Moore of the Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Show. If you haven’t yet heard it, you can listen to Jimmy and I by clicking right here.

Jimmy Moore is a living success story about the benefits of a low carb diet–losing 180+ pounds in 2004 and regaining his health and vitality.  As I do about far better thyroid treatment,  Jimmy has been on a one-man mission to tell the whole world what livin’ la vida low-carb can do for them.

Eating low carb can be a very important strategy for those with hypothyroidism, especially while on desiccated thyroid and seeking to reverse the damage of being on T4 meds like Synthroid, et al.

And for those of you with adrenal fatigue, following Jimmy’s low carb life style can be very beneficial when you need to be on cortisol, which can cause weight gain for some, but is an important treatment for your low cortisol situation.

Have a great day!

Survey on patient experience on the NEW Armour–not a pretty picture

It’s been about a year since Armour desiccated thyroid, a very popular prescription natural thyroid product on the market for decades, was reformulated. Forest Labs stated there were two changes: the raising of cellulose, and the lowering of sucrose.

Why did they do this? It could be strongly related to the fact that in late 2007 through 2008, patients who used the 3 grain tablets reported they were suddenly and entirely ineffective. So, many of us surmise that Forest was attempting to “improve” (cough) their product.

Says one of those patients:  I had switched to the 3 grain tablet months before to save money and I used my pill cutter to cut it in half.  Then around November, my work pants were getting tight and I would come home tired, achy and weak. It didn’t take me long to figure out that Armour in the 3 grain was now like a sugar pill!

In the meantime, Forest brought out the newly formulated Armour, & patients who finished their old batch started the new batch. And since then, it appears a large body of patients have run as fast as they could to Naturethroid, or compounded, or T4/T3 or Erfa. The reason: a return of former hypo symptoms on the “new” Armour.

I have completed an informal survey with 24 individuals responding, and asked the following questions. After each question, I give a summary of the answers.

  1. How long of doing well occurred on the newly reformulated Armour before you started to notice that you weren’t doing well?
  2. Most answers are in the area of 2-3 months, with three saying a month, one 4 months, and three stating a few weeks. And comparing this to comments we’ve been seeing for the past year on patient groups, it’s common to feel good at first, but to crash within that 2-3 months.

  3. What clued you in that you weren’t doing well on the new Armour?
  4. The answers are all over the map: fatigue and exhaustion, hair loss, brain fog, weight gain, sleeping problems, constipation, achiness, depression, hormonal problems, moodiness, dry skin/elbows/thumbs and cracking skin, flaking fingernails, heart irregularity, forgetfulness. Five report skin breakouts similar to poison ivy.  Fatigue and hair loss were the most common answers.

  5. Did you try raising it? What were the results?
  6. The majority tried raising it, and results were: no results; barely made any difference: more energy but skin was a mess. The majority said nothing happened. Two doubled it with no significant results.  Two developed fast heart rate with no improvements elsewhere. One had to lower it because of a very low TSH. One stated she raised it to get her labs back up to where they were before…with little improvements.  And one said it made her too hot to continue raising it.

  7. Did you try adding T3 to it? What were the results?
  8. All said no. One said she tested here RT3 ratio and it was 11, which is bad.  One stated she asked her doctor for T3; he said no. I’d sure like to find someone who did add T3 who could tell us the results.

  9. Did you do anything else to try and make the reformulated Armour work, and did it help?
  10. All reported nothing helped enough.  Many stated their doctors tested for other problems, ranging from heavy metals, low iodine, B12–the latter helped one gal’s tingling. One stated her doc put her on Aprotocol for the digestive tract which helped the constipation but nothing else changed. One added compounded desiccated thyroid to her Armour—it didn’t help. One gal tried Thyro-care, which helped. But she and two others report getting a poison-ivy like skin rash on the new Armour.

Currently, we see newly diagnosed patients put on the new Armour, and veterans can’t help but wonder what will happen to them.

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On my April 17th blog post, read 10 reasons thyroid patients are still frustrated, angry and sick. That is followed by the April 19th blog post Should thyroid patients avoid self-treatment at all costs, with an interesting and strong Guest Post by Sheila Turner of TPA-UK and a good followup to the former 10 reasons post.

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Suffering on Synthroid: imagine how horrific it was before the internet

Elizabeth Alexander 1959(Though this post was originally written in 2009, it has been updated to the current day and time and still applies!)

I think back about my mother.

At age twenty-one in 1939, she had most of her thyroid removed due to Graves disease and hyperthyroidism. Because a small part remained, hyper set in once again by 1960 complete with bugged eyes.

So Radioactive Iodine I-131 was the next step to once-and-for-all annihilate the thyroid and hyperthyroid symptoms.  Not long after, as her thyroid hormone levels fell, she was one of the early victims of the “new and modern” T4-only medication called Synthroid.

And all hell broke loose.

Depression enveloped her everyday life—one of her worst lingering symptoms of hypothyroidism due to the shoddy treatment of a T4-only med. I remember her moods, her frequent anger and lack of patience, and her constant counseling appointments.

Why all the counseling appointments? You can imagine that the doctor had no clue that her problems was being on Synthroid with nothing more than T4-only. No direct T3….something which a brain needs.

The last resort–Electric Shock Treatment

By 1963, and right before President Kennedy was shot, she submitted herself to Electric Shock Treatment in a futile effort to control her depression.  What a crock.  She was never again the bright and quick-witted woman I remembered as a younger child. Her brain was fried and she had a new dull flat reaction to life.

And for the rest of her life, she lived on her antidepressant/anti-anxiety med Elavil and had daily constant naps, weight gain, rising cholesterol, dry hair, heart surgery, stiff joints, brain fog and inability to stand on her feet long–her own manifestation of lingering symptoms while on the lousy thyroxine.  Additionally, her long-term use of antidepressants made her emotions completely flat…..

And she did the T4-only horror show…all…by…herself. No internet,  no patient groups and forums, no Stop the Thyroid Madness website, blog or book,  no good doc, no thyroid Facebook or Twitter groups, no other good thyroid books or websites. Nada. I came along as a Thyroid Patient Activist too late for my mother, who died in 2003.

It makes me shudder thinking of that lonely hell.

But then again, it’s not just in the far past: it happened to her only daughter, me, for nearly 20 years. Complete lonely hell of my own with intense and disabling Dysautonomia (an overreaction of my autonomic nervous system) induced by my continued hypo state while on Synthroid and later Levoxyl.

And today, because the mass media or any media personality refuses to speak the truth of the 55 year scandal of T4-only meds like Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, Eltroxin, Oroxine, or the cuckoo’s nest of the TSH lab test and range, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of individuals still suffer. How stupid can they get.

This is a scandal that has effected a huge mass of individuals globally, past and present,  including those today who STILL linger with undiagnosed hypothyroidism thanks to the worthless TSH lab test or lingering hypo on the lousy T4-only medications. And all the above when we, as patients, have learned a far better way to treat our thyroid problems

Did you have relatives like my own Mom (who died in 2003) who lived the T4-only scandal alone?  Use the Comment form to tell us about them.  Have YOU suffered from a T4 med? Report it to the FDA here.