Dr. Clark's Brain Based Blog

Low Thyroid Brain Fog, Short Term Memory Problems and Hair Loss Eliminated

mail@doctordavidclark.com (Dr. David Clark) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:20:48 PST

Corey, - a patient of Dr. David Clark, DC- shares her success with these Low Thyroid Symptoms:

Brain Fog
Short Term Memory Problems
Hair Loss

THE PLACE FOR ANSWERS™
Dr. David Clark, DC
Functional Neurologist
Diplomate College of Clinical Nutrition
Functional Endocrinology
Board Certified Chiropractic Neurologist
Vestibular Rehab Specialist
214-341-3737

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Are Iodine Supplements Safe for Low Thyroid?

mail@doctordavidclark.com (Dr. David Clark) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 19:32:10 PST

Dr. David Clark, DC - Center for Low Thyroid Solutions Dallas, TX - educates women with low thyroid on the potential dangers of iodine supplements.

Are iodine supplements safe for low thyroid? Listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you.

Iodine is important for thyroid hormone metabolism. You must have iodine to make T4 and T3. T4 (inactive) is converted into T3, the active form of thyroid hormone.

There is one....ONE kind of hypothyroidism in which iodine works very well...

...and that's called Primary Hypothyroidism. (There are about 24 different ways that thyroid hormone chemistry can go wrong).

In Primary Hypothyroidism, the thyroid gland is not excreting and not manufacturing sufficient T4. This is the type of hypothyroidism that responds very well to drugs such as Synthroid^®, Levothyroxine^®, and Armour^®.

But---Primary Hypothyroidism not the most common cause of hypothyroid. The most common cause of hypothyroid in America (and the world), is called Hashimoto's Autoimmune Thyroiditis.

In Hashimoto's, your immune system is attacking and trying to kill your thyroid gland. Specifically, your immune system targets:

1. Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) -an enzyme used to make T4 and T3.

2. Thyroglobulin (TGB) -a protein used to make T4 and T3.

Here's where we talk about two issues with Iodine...

Issue #1 with Iodine:

Iodine stimulates the manufacture of TPO inside the thyroid gland.If you are already attacking TPO (have Hashimoto's) then increasing levels of TPO is like throwing wood on the fire.

Issue #2 with Iodine:

If you don't have Hashimoto's, taking Iodine can cause Hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis. Iodine triggers Hashimoto's. This is without a doubt, there's no question. There's a ton of research studies on this topic that prove that iodine is a trigger for Hashimoto's.

How do they know? In many countries around the world they've given people prophylactic iodine, meaning, "Hey, we think our citizens in this area don't have enough iodine in their blood. Their TSH levels look weird, they have goiters. Let's give them all iodine and correct that."

In almost 100% of the cases, when they give iodine, they also give all of those people Hashimoto's.

That is a horrible thing to do to someone because once you have one autoimmune attack, the chances are you're going get another one. In Hashimoto's, the autoimmune attack can move very quickly into the parietal cells of the stomach, casing pernicious anemia....into the pancreas causing blood sugar problem...and intp the cerebellum, causing dizziness, vertigo, balance problems.

So please read this next part very closely...

There's thousands of people on Yahoo! Groups and chat groups saying, "I've treated my hypothyroidism with iodine, therefore iodine is good for low thyroid symptoms."

No, Iodine is not. You must to get tested first to make sure you do not have Hashimoto's. A very simple test to do. You get what's called a TPO antibody test and you get a TGB antibody test.

If either one or both of those antibody tests come back positive, DO NOT TAKE IODINE. It's very simple.

When a person has Hashimoto's and they take iodine, their symptoms get worse. I've lost count how many times I've read this in a patient's history.

I get called a murderer and all kinds of whacko things when I talk about iodine, but it's true.

I'm not telling you that iodine doesn't work on some people because clearly, it does. It works on those people that have Primary Hypothyroidism, but that's not the most common kind of Hypothyroidism.

Do yourself a favor and be safe. If you've got classic low thyroid symptoms like

fatigue
unexplained weight gain
constipation
dry skin, brittle nails
sluggish mental speed
brain fog
infertility.

Don't try to supplement yourself, which is the same as medicating yourself. Find someone that understands these things I'm talking about. Find someone who understands a functional perspective, a functional way of looking at hypothyroidism. Hopefully will be a good detective and will find out what is actually causing those low thyroid symptoms (because maybe they're not even low thyroid symptoms. They might be adrenal gland symptoms or brain symptoms.)

That person is going to have to do some tests. There's over 24 different ways your thyroid hormones can go wrong and iodine only really helps one of those Yes, probably 20 of those are fairly rare, but the most common is Hashimoto's.

In the scientific journals Iodine + Hashimoto's has been called "an explosive mix".

I've seen too many people get into trouble over the last four years trying to self supplement and using iodine. Women come in and I find out they've taken iodine and felt awfula and smartly stopped it. Or, worse they've never really recovered from it.

This is serious business were talking about here. You can make yourself worse.

Iodine is not safe for low thyroid symptoms until you find out if you've got Hashimoto's or not...and it might not even be safe then because iodine can trigger Hashimoto's.

Watch on YouTube

Download Video

Download mp3

Listen to this Post using the Player Below

Are-Iodine-Supplements-Safe-for-Low-Thyroid

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182

Why Isn't My Doctor Doing Anything About The Autoimmune Part of My Low Thyroid Problem?

mail@doctordavidclark.com (Dr. David Clark) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:26:33 PST

Dr. David Clark, DC - Center for Low Thyroid Solutions Dallas, TX -explains the 3 surprising reasons why your doctor isn't doing anything for the autoimmune part of Hashimoto's.

Every day I get asked the question, "Why isn't my doctor doing anything about the autoimmune part of my low thyroid problem?" There are three reasons why your doctor isn't doing anything about it...

Your doctor may not know that you have autoimmune problem. If they have not tested you for Hashimoto's, then they don't know you have an autoimmune thyroid problem.

What you have to understand is if that even if your doctors knows for sure that you've got Hashimoto's autoimmune hypothyroidism--- the only treatment your doctor has for you replacement thyroid hormones. They don't have any other tool to offer you.

The more sinister reason--your doctor doesn't really understand Hashimoto's in the first place. They haven't read an scientific article about Hashimoto's in years. They're out of touch with current science. (The current record for admitted out-of-touchness by my patients former doctors is TEN years.)

I see a lot of people in my practice that have Hashimoto's, which is an autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland. And most of these people have already been taking thyroid hormones for a year or two years or three years, but they still feel bad.

They still have:

constipation
depression
hair loss
brittle nails
dry skin
severe fatigue
sleep problems (not enough, insomnia).
low libido
infertility.

The reason why they still have theses low thyroid symptoms?

When you have Hashimoto's and all you do is give the person replacement thyroid hormones like Synthroid^®, Levoxyl^® or Armour^® -- it does very little for what's actually happening in Hashimoto's.

In Hashimoto's your immune system is destroying your thyroid gland. The replacement hormones don't stop that.

It's the same as if I were to come home and my house is on fire, but the firefighters give me a key to a hotel room...but NEVER try to put out the fire. What are we going to do to put out the fire? Ignore it. Let it burn and hope everything works out OK?

To me, that's asinine. I'm shocked that more physicians aren't trying to do something more.

You can't tell me that all these doctors don't know something's not working when their patients are coming back every six months saying, "I still feel awful." I mean what are the doctors doing? In their mind, what are they thinking?

Well, I'll tell you what they might be thinking.

A lot of doctors think your nuts.
A lot of them think you're not complying.
A lot of them think you're overeating etc.

I've come to the conclusion that a lot of the doctors that treat these women suffering with Hashimoto's think that you go home and eat ice cream & bonbons while sipping a milkshake. And that's why you're still gaining weight.

Seriously, I think that's what some of them think. But I don't understand why they don't try to do something about it.

If your the doctor, I just don't understand how someone can show up to your office and say, "I still feel bad."

And you say, "Well, time to give you more of the same thing I already gave you that didn't work."

That just doesn't make any sense to me. But that's what a lot of these doctors are doing; and I think it's because they don't understand Hashimoto's. They don't understand that it's an autoimmune condition.

A lot of doctors have stopped reading. When they got their diploma and they got their degree, they stopped reading medical journals. They certainly stopped reading about anything that has to do with natural management or non-drug methods. They're not reading any of that.

It just saddens me.

I see hundreds of these people – thousands of these people that are taking thyroid medication just like they're supposed to. Their labs are normal, but they still have low thyroid symptoms while they're taking that medication. And it's because the medication not helping their underlying problem.

Many times, when I'm here in my office talking to people, I get really angry at what doctors are telling people....

"That can't have anything to do with it,"

"Gluten can't have anything to do with your Hashimoto. There's nothing you can do for this, you just have to live with it."

Trash that doctors spit out as a defense mechanism. But they're really not getting you better in the process.

And that's why your doctor's not doing anything about the autoimmune part of your thyroid problem. They either

A. Don't know you've got it, so then you've got to get tested for it.

B. Even if you did get tested for it, they're the hammer and you're the nail.

They only have one tool and their hammer is thyroid replacement hormones. Most of them don't have any training in what to do with autoimmunity. They have no idea about what modulates it, what makes it better. And they're terrified, terrified that they're ignorance is going to be exposed. Most of these people are just terrified that you're gonna ask them some question that they don't know the answer to, which is why they say, "Oh, you can't do that." They're gonna poo-poo things they don't understand.

If you've found a doctor that can tell you, "Look, I don't know about that, It's not my field." That I can accept. It's the doctors that act like they do know what they're talking about but really have no basis for their opinion... that infuriates me.

There is help. You have to find a doctor who understands all these things I'm just telling you.

Someone who understands and has been trained on how to functionally deal with this autoimmune problem and get it calmed down and get your immune system under control.

If you don't get the right help, that autoimmune problem can expand into more tissues, more organs, and cause more problems that are ten times worse than the awful thyroid symptoms you're suffering right now.

Watch on YouTube

Download Video

Download mp3

Listen to this Post using the Player Below

Why-Isn't-My-Doctor-Doing-Anything-About-The-Autoimmune-Part-of-My-Low-Thyroid-Problem

URL: http://www.doctordavidclark.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DrDavidClark
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dallas-TX/Dr-David-Clark-Functional-Neurologist/92451382182