Interesting Info. from unusual source

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

This will seem a bit unusual to be posting on a list for Graves in humans.

But I happened to be looking something up in a holistic book for my cat (she's

been having treatment for roundworms since Dec.) and while I was at it I

looked up hyperthyroid just out of curiousity. The book is " The New Natural

Cat "

by Anitra Frazier. This is kinda my bible when it comes to helping my pets

along with conventional medicine. I've had such goooood results using her ideas

in the past. Well anyways, couple of things here.

First on testing for hyperthryoid in cats (when you read this you'll see that

cats at least get all the proper tests, unlike us humans):

" Because many of the symptoms--skinniness, oily coat, copious drinking and

urination --can be signs of other diseases (kidney disease and diabetes), the

veternarian will want to do complete blood tests that will reflect liver

function and kidney function and pancreatic function as well as an extra test,

called

a T3 and T4 test, for the thyroid. "

Now this book was written in 1981...maybe before FT3 and FT4 were available

but it was already standard practice for Vets to do workups on cats when

determining hyperthyroid conditions. And yet, us humans still sometimes have to

fight for proper tests like emails here recently have stated.

Another thing...I am curious what she says about Vitamin E deficiency and

other things as being possible causes of hyperthyroidism. (tho not the iodine

information cause it conflicts with what I've read on the list and this book is

older but some of this other stuff...) Heres what she wrote:

" As with most physical problems, the cause is attributable to a combination

of things. If there is insufficient iodine in the diet, the thyroid may become

enlarged and overactive to compensate for the deficiency. Sometimes vitamin

E is needed before the body can absorb iodine, a vitamin E deficiency can

sometimes provoke the same response. If there is not enough iodine in the food,

the thyroid will absorb any radioactive iodine that is present in the

enviroment and this will do further damage. Liver damage can also produce

symptoms of

hyperthyroidism because the liver supplies an enzyme that deactivates excess

thyroxin. If that liver enzyme is absent or underproduced, too much thyroxin

will remain in the blood. "

I thought that was interesting. And I always remember hearing years ago from

a Vet that the cat is the closest of all the animals to us which is why they

used cats when developing drugs/procedures for humans. Not that I like that

or that he neccessarily did either but the point was about how similar our

bodies are and what works on them works on us.

Comments anyone? Cause I'm thinking of starting back on Vitamin E slowly.

Pat