Re: Thyroid and adrenal issues

[Guest guest]

> My wife was prescribed synthroid for Hashimoto's

Dr. Kharrazian's book might well explain why that happened:

www.thyroidbook.com

Hashimoto's is not a thyroid disease but rather an autoimmune disease, and

should be treated as such (sometimes hormones are needed and sometimes they

make the patient worse, depending on the case).

Suze

[Guest guest]

Bill,

If you haven't read the Summer 2009 edition of " Wise Traditions " , I would

suggest doing so. Your story matches what's in this article:

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/metabolic-disorders/1658-low-metabol\

ic-energy-therapies.html

But there are several other article that are worth reading.

Perhaps Dr. Rind can treat you either in person or over the phone or recommend a

practitioner in your area that understands the complex relationships between

adrenal and thyroid function all complexities of thyroid hormones. Another

option is to become an expert yourself and then try to find a practitioner that

is willing to work with you.

Another article in the same issue, does a good job of explaining thyroid

hormones and nutrition and the widespread incompetence of conventional medicine

to manage them:

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-diseases/metabolic-disorders/1660-best-kept-s\

ecret.html

I also would make sure that in your search for health that you avoid potassium

iodide or any other inorganic forms of iodine. You might also want to consider

going gluten free as gluten appears to be a likely culprit in thyroid

dysfunction.

http://thehealthyskeptic.org/the-gluten-thyroid-connection

If you aren't a regular reader of Chris's blog, I would suggest you become one

as he has a lot of insight into thyroid health in general and several posts on

Hashimoto's in particular.

Good Luck,

>

> I am looking for advice on how to deal with some severe thyroid and adrenal

issues. We have had a hard time finding any doctor, whether conventional or

alternative, who will diagnose and treat thyroid and other endocrine

issues--give blood tests, understand interactions between different hormonal

issues, listen when you report side effects, etc. My wife was prescribed

synthroid for Hashimoto's and took it for about seven weeks before she got

really sick (vomiting, diarrhea, heart racing, insomnia, etc.) for six days. Her

GP told her that the dose was too small to be dangerous, a hospital emergency

room doctor told her she was just having panic attacks (for 6 days!), and the

endocrinologist that she went to said her thyroid levels were now fine and it

was up to her if she wanted to keep taking the medicine (she doesn't feel

cured).

>

> No one said anything about why she was very ill, but internet research

suggests she was having an adrenal crisis which can happen when adrenal

dysfunction is not treated first when synthroid is prescribed and can be fatal.

All the symptoms match, but getting any doctor to help figure this out has us

stumped. Presumably we need an endocrinologist or other MD who can prescribe

Synthroid or other medicines, but who knows (or cares) about some of these other

potential problems and how to handle it (unlike the ones we've seen so far).

There are some holistic doctors near us that are heavily booked for the

forseeable future and we have an alternative medicine-type chiropractor who

we've seen who once gave her organ extracts--Symplex F--that at the time

restored her periods (her hormone levels are not even premenopausal, yet she

stopped having periods).

>

> I guess I'm not sure how to juggle conventional and alternative doctors and

therapies here, nor what precisely we should do, beyond putting her back on

Symplex F and trying to quit Pop, which she started drinking to try to get

energy.

>

> Bill

>

[Guest guest]

,

We have been reading Chris's series on thyroid issues, but I didn't know about

these other links. Thanks.

Also, Suze and , thanks for the links. We'll check those out, too.

Bill

> >

> > I am looking for advice on how to deal with some severe thyroid and adrenal

issues. We have had a hard time finding any doctor, whether conventional or

alternative, who will diagnose and treat thyroid and other endocrine

issues--give blood tests, understand interactions between different hormonal

issues, listen when you report side effects, etc. My wife was prescribed

synthroid for Hashimoto's and took it for about seven weeks before she got

really sick (vomiting, diarrhea, heart racing, insomnia, etc.) for six days. Her

GP told her that the dose was too small to be dangerous, a hospital emergency

room doctor told her she was just having panic attacks (for 6 days!), and the

endocrinologist that she went to said her thyroid levels were now fine and it

was up to her if she wanted to keep taking the medicine (she doesn't feel

cured).

> >

> > No one said anything about why she was very ill, but internet research

suggests she was having an adrenal crisis which can happen when adrenal

dysfunction is not treated first when synthroid is prescribed and can be fatal.

All the symptoms match, but getting any doctor to help figure this out has us

stumped. Presumably we need an endocrinologist or other MD who can prescribe

Synthroid or other medicines, but who knows (or cares) about some of these other

potential problems and how to handle it (unlike the ones we've seen so far).

There are some holistic doctors near us that are heavily booked for the

forseeable future and we have an alternative medicine-type chiropractor who

we've seen who once gave her organ extracts--Symplex F--that at the time

restored her periods (her hormone levels are not even premenopausal, yet she

stopped having periods).

> >

> > I guess I'm not sure how to juggle conventional and alternative doctors and

therapies here, nor what precisely we should do, beyond putting her back on

Symplex F and trying to quit Pop, which she started drinking to try to get

energy.

> >

> > Bill

> >

>

[Guest guest]

Good to know.

What's your opinion of Dr. Kharrazian's work?

-

>

> : Re: Thyroid and adrenal issues

> >

> > ,

> > We have been reading Chris's series on thyroid issues, but I didn't know

> about

> > these other links. Thanks.

>

> Most or all of Chris' writings on thyroid come from Dr. Kharrazian's work.

>

> Suze

>

[Guest guest]

In all the reading I've been doing it seems that there are multiple possible

causes of hypothyroid.

Autoimmune disease is just one and could be linked to gluten. Most people don't

realize that the amount of gluten in wheat has increased 50x in the last 50

years from plant breeding/hybridization. So one solution may be a gluten free

diet.

Inorganic iodine appears to be a critical factor as well. Potassium iodine was

added to salt in the US so solve a fairly widespread problem of hypothyroidism

caused by iodine deficiency, but this appears to have simply replaced on cause

of hypothyroidism with another. So one solution may be elimination of inorganic

iodine and proper supplementation with organic iodine.

Caloric restriction also appears to be a major cause of hypothyroid. " Dieting "

has become quite popular and the body interprets caloric restriction as

starvation and lowers metabolism accordingly. Dr. Schwarzbein and Dr.

have both observed that something as simple as adequate caloric intake can have

a dramatic effect on metabolism. I've been very concerned as of late that a lot

of people are getting treated with hormones for hypothyroid when there is

nothing wrong with their thyroid. In fact it is functioning as it should and

down-regulating metabolism in response to caloric restriction. And using

hormones to up-regulate the metabolism when it should be down is likely causing

all kinds of problems.

Poor adrenal function can also cause hypothyroidism. Yet another topic which

many practitioners appear to be ignorant of.

My body temp has been quite low for some time and I don't want to try hormones

until I'm sure that diet won't fix my problem. I've been following Matt Stone's

protocol with some success, but he admits that some people take quite a long

time to see their body temps come back to normal.

I suspect that we are all too eager to get hormones when any of the above three

solutions may be completely effective. That said, I'm sure there are people that

have damaged/dysfunctional thyroids and no amount of dietary

change/supplementation can correct and hormone replacement is completely

appropriate.

I just wish more thyroid experts would talk about gluten, iodine and calorie

restriction before going for the hormones. I should read Dr. K's book as she

seems to at least recognize the role that gluten may play.

Cheers,

>

> > What's your opinion of Dr. Kharrazian's work?

>

> By the way, I'm working on a website now for a chiropractier/certified

> nutritionist who is trained by Dr. K and specializes in hypothyroidism and

> Hashimoto's. She does phone consults nationwide. I'll post a link to her

> site when it goes live. I think she's only one of a handful of Dr. K-trained

> practitoners who do phone consults, so they will be a great resource for

> folks who don't have local Dr.K-trained practitioners.

>

> Suze

>