Thyroid Solutions: Enough is Enough

Throid Problems and Diet Solutions

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 22:24:00 +0000

One of the ways to improve the function of your thyroid is to change your diet program. The combination of plastics, pesticides and food refinement that has become common place in our diets is a leading culprit in today's rising rates of thyroid disorders.

More than counting calories, diet and nutrition plans are becoming ever more important in our sick society. Home cooked meals from scratch is something only seen on reruns. Food that is prepared fast and loaded with taste enhancers is now breakfast, lunch, dinner and everything in between.

A simple and affordable solution to this can be found at the Fat Loss For Idiots site. More than a weight loss diet, you will find tons of thyroid friendly advice here.

Give it a shot. I think you'll really enjoy the results.

Why Does Winter Make My Thyroid Problems Worse?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:17:00 +0000

If common sense rules, then would it not make sense to gain a couple extra pounds of fat for insulation for the winter months? So why are people looking to blame the cold air on their thyroid problems?

Is there even any truth behind this kind of thinking?

There is some evidence that people with thyroid problems will suffer more as their thyroid gland is asked to perform in overdrive. Since your thyroid controls your metabolism, it plays a role in keeping you warm in colder climates. Some of these people already have either a weak gland, or a breakdown in the conversion and utilization of the hormone to a usable form. With this extra load, more problems may spring up.

Could it be that people with thyroid problems should all move to Florida to avoid the weight gain, hair loss, nerve damage, aches and pains? Problem solved, right?

This would be one way of changing their environment to help aide their thyroid in healing. But we should really look at that solution a little different than just an ends to a means, such as:

Since we acknowledge that we can make changes in our environment to make changes to our health of our thyroid, then we should look to make other/better changes
We can treat our thyroid with things beyond drugs and surgery
We can use our body as a barometer as to how well or poor things we are doing affect our thyroid health

Now we can develop a strategy that allows us to take preventative measures, eliminate all things that are harmful for our thyroid and form habits that are thyroid friendly.

Hypothyroidism: Is It Possible or Probable? Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:44:00 +0000

Time to finish up this segment, but first a quick recap.

It all starts with your doctor's ability to pull out useful information from research and textbooks to know what to look for to make a confident diagnosis of hypothyroidism. They can add to their level of confidence by performing a good history, a full exam and necessary testing. This will give you and your doctors clues to what might be causing it, what to do about it and how to see if things are getting better.

OK, example time.

While there are many different presentations that a person with hypothyroidism can show, we are going to keep it simple here. 3 women all come in with fatigue, stubborn weight loss, painful joints, signs of thinning hair, normal TSH levels and were told that their thyroid was not the problem (as indicated by their lab work). They were given pain meds and told to eat less and exercise more.

All 3 women go for a second opinion, which they get after a good history and full exam were performed.

Woman #1. Her problems started after she gave birth to her first child. She is a long time soy milk drinker, eats microwaved dinners for lunch at work, long time birth control user, irregular menstrual cycles, and states that her breast are tender to the touch.

She might need some hormonal testing. It is "probable" that her issues are stemming from an estrogen imbalance, so steps in reducing any excess exogenous estrogen intake and making sure that her elimination system is working as needed would be a great place to start.

Woman #2. She says that her problems have been a gradual progression. She is a type A personality, gets stressed at work and home and only has time for a coffee for breakfast. She took her last doctor's advice and eats 1200 calorie diet and jogs for 1 hour 5 times per week. She did loose weight according to the scale, but she feels that her belly fat has actually increased.

She might need some testing for stress hormones. These can really limit the ability of the thyroid to produce hormone, as well as for that hormone to be utilized. She would need to make some major life changes (including the diet and exercise program) to better manage levels of stress.

Woman #3. She claims to drink tap water, use fluoride toothpaste, only really eats salads and salmon to try to loose the weight and has dental fillings.

She might need to get testing for heavy metals. These also can disrupt the thyroid and thyroid hormone. Getting rid of the fillings, eliminating outside sources of toxins and ramping her body's detoxification system would be a good start here.

All 3 woman have very different stories, but the same symptoms. While non of them are textbook hypothyroidism, all are suffering from direct and indirect influences causing what should fall under the blanket diagnosis of hypothyroidism (but you can call it whatever you want). Wouldn't it make sense to address those problem areas that are affecting the thyroid? Most treatment programs are geared towards just the thyroid. If you ask me if I think that would work, I would say it is possible, not probable.

To treat every person with the diagnosis of hypothyroidism the same would be a mistake. To rule out thyroid problems because of normal TSH lab test would be a mistake as well. By truly understanding what is going on with the individual, you are truly working from probability instead of possibility.

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Hypothyroidism: Is It Possible or Probable? Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 20:58:00 +0000

Let's pick up where we left off last time. We were looking at how a doctor decides to make a diagnosis of hypothyroidism by gathering information from research articles. This happens despite the fact that doctors are not very qualified to analyze the quality of the study from which they are gathering the information. Just as many people take a blind leap of faith in their doctor, your doctor is a taking a blind leap of faith in the research team that performed and published the study.

So how can you feel comfortable that a doctor can make a diagnosis with a high confidence of probability? By following some very fundamental rules of making a diagnosis:

The human body is a closed, contiguous system. Everything has some effect on everything else. Though an easier route to take, you should not look at individual parts of the whole (concentrating on a "problem thyroid gland" instead of looking at how the thyroid gland is affected by other parts, as well it affects other parts).
A single physical exam finding, lab test, symptom, etc. means nothing on its own. Gathering all the pertinent information will develop a better picture of what is truly going on in the person (making a diagnosis on a low TSH without correlating it with other findings is diagnosing from possibility, not probability).
Most people don't follow the textbook. Doctor's study disease processes (pathology) and are looking for a certain presentation that a person with a certain disease "should" have. This is rarely the case. Most people have only portions of what they "should" have according to their diagnosis, along with some extra findings that don't exactly fit the mold.

If your doctor always keeps these things in mind, s/he will turn over more rocks to uncover significant findings, relate it back to the entire person and piece them together to come up with the answer to the most important question of them all..."So what's your story?"

Once your doctor knows "your story," they can make their diagnosis from a standpoint of probabilities.

One final note: I said last post that I was going to making things more clear, while I kind of rambled on without giving an example. I promise to be behave and make it all a little more simple in Part 3.

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Hypothyroidism: Is It Possible or Probable? Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:20:00 +0000

So, you think you have hypothyroidism? You feel sluggish, you can't drop that body fat, your joints ache, your hair is thinning and you're depressed and anxious. You almost hope that you have a thyroid problem so you can get a quick fix.

You cruise by your trusted doctor to see what s/he thinks...could it "possibly" be hypothyroidism? A better question would be is it "probable" that you have hypothyroidism.

Before hearing the verdict, it is best to know how your doctor thinks so you know how to interpret their interpretation of their physical, history and lab testing.

Doctors think in terms of possibilities and probabilities and they get their numbers to make certain calls from research articles (and their own experience). If an article claims that 80% of the subjects demonstrated X if Y happened, that gives doctors a pretty good sign to tell someone that it is probable that X is there because Y happened (as long it was a well performed study, with a significant amount of participants, variables controlled, replicated several times in other research studies and the authors had no financial gain to have an outcome one way or the other...so see if a drug company is paying for the study or not).

If the study had less than 50% of the participants demonstrating X if Y happened, then the doctor will say that there is a possibility that you have X because Y happened.

So how good are doctors at statistics? The studies done on how good a doctor is at understanding the statistics of a research paper shows that they score very, very poor. But aren't research papers the very place where doctors learn when to make a correct diagnosis?

Oops.

While the general public might not know this, drug companies certainly do. They have been known to stop research that does not have favorable outcomes for them, as well as play games with the numbers to make it look better than it really is. Do you think the doctor would read the 20 pages of statistical data or the 2 paragraph conclusion at the end that has whatever the author wants to pull out of the numbers as s/he wants? This is called trolling, since the author goes trolling through the numbers to pick out what they want.

So how can you and your doctor do better than just guessing? By collecting and comparing all the pertinent information and making a good clinical judgment. This means not just running labs and relying on them as the end all be all. Doctors should get a full history, perform a full exam, and then order test to help fill in the blanks. You should be documenting changes that you noticed before, during and after treatment to relay back to the doctor.

This way any judgments that are going to be made on possibilities and/or probabilities will be compared to other pertinent findings, making them more accurate.

In Part 2 of Hypothyroidism: Is It Possible or Probable, I will clear this up a little better.

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If You Want to Lose Weight, Don't Be a One Trick Pony

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:12:00 +0000

So many lunges, crunches and the better half of your day on that treadmill. You ask your doctor, you ask your trainer, you ask anyone that will listen..."Why can't I lose the weight?" Everyone seems to have an opinion, but most of them revolve around the same premises. Workout harder/longer and eat less?

Maybe you've tried that and it didn't work. Maybe running marathons daily on an empty stomach doesn't fit with your goal of losing weight in a healthy way.

When it comes to your body, there is no one solution for any problem. So to say the best way to lose weight is to _________, you are really underestimating the complexity of human physiology.

The people that I have helped reach their health goal (in this case losing body fat), understand that there are many different ways to achieve their goal. When it comes to the human body, doing more variables is better than doing more of one single thing.

Your thyroid gland (your metabolic regulator) is a perfect example of this. Your thyroid gland responds differently to different stimuli, and can influence the way other parts of your work.

Here's an example. You are trying to stay healthy and get your goal of 100 ounces of water per day (I am happy so far). To meet this goal, you fill up a large plastic bottle and make sure it is done by the end of the day. You have to leave it in your car during the day because of work, so it gets a little heated up. You don't care about drinking some hot water if it will help you lose weight.

While you are doing this one thing right (drinking plenty of water), you are not doing everything right.

First problem: If you are filling up straight out of the tap, you are getting more than just water. 2 sides that come with your watery meal is chloride and fluoride (both halogens). In your body, these similar structures compete with other similar structures (like iodide) to bind with other structures. Iodine/iodide are important part of the formations and utilization of thyroid hormone, or the hormone responsible for your metabolism. You would be better served if you either drank spring water, or had some sort of filtration device.

Second problem: The plastic bottle that you are using can leech off chemicals that are very similar in chemical makeup of estrogen. Estrogens and their stunt doubles are fat soluble, and can build up in large amounts if you are storing excess fat. The more there is in the body by either taking in too much, storing too much, or not eliminating enough, the more likely that they will bind to thyroid hormones (because estrogens increases thyroid binding globulins, or TBGs) at a level that slowly catches up to you and causes problems. Definitely get your bottle out of the car, since heat really leeches off those estrogen mimickers. Better yet, use a glass bottle. Problem solved.

In order to get the best results, you should have a complete strategy that really emphasizes a lot of the little things. You will see your efforts go much further than killing yourself by doing one or 2 things (which may even hurt you in the long run).

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Hypothyroid Problems: Is There Something in the Air

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:17:00 +0000

Do you know anyone that works in the OR? If you do, they can tell you about how useful X-ray is to the surgeon to be able to locate structures of the body. They may also tell you about the lead shielding that they have to wear. It consist of a body apron that goes from your shoulders to your knees and a thyroid shield to protect your thyroid. Too much exposure can cause harm to the organs under the shields.

Imagine trying to figure out that X-ray exposure was bad for you. It's not visible light. If you can't see it, it must not be there, right? That's like dropping your food on the floor, examining it for any visible gunk and eating it if it passes your visual inspection.

So what if there was something else in the air that is bad for you? Do you think it would take a little time to figure out? And when we did figure it out, do you think it would take some time before people accept it and start taking it serious? I do.

We are now pumping so many waves into the air these days that there is actually some problems creeping up. Everyone has a cell phone. More and more places have wireless Internet. These invisible waves are now flooding our friendly skies.

So what does this have to do with your thyroid problems? There is evidence that these waves are causing problems with cells within the human body. There is poor cell signaling, poor detoxification and overall mayhem. The thyroid gland is so dependant on feedback from other parts of your body that it may actually be mimicking a problem with the gland itself.

Treating the thyroid may give some short term relief, but not long term solutions. Adjusting yourself in your environment is going to be your only hope for real success.

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Hypothyroidism: I Blame It On My Glandular Disorder

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Remember what your 4th grade teacher told you about assuming things? You make an.... well, you remember.

Many people with hypothyroidism are treated by assuming that their thyroid gland is not working good enough, that is why the are overweight, losing hair, losing their memory, in pain and/or depressed. The solution is to give a little exrta hormone to help out that lazy gland.

Many people with hypothyroidism have that exact problem. Many more do not. Almost all are treated the same.

There are those that have a perfectly good thyroid gland, it's just not being stimulated to release enough hormone.

There are those that are releasing enough thyroid hormone, but the hormone isn't getting used very efficiently.

There are those that don't have enough nutritional substrate to make enough thyroid hormone.

There are those that have some sort of thyroid autoimmune disorder that can be triggered from something in the environment causing problems to the gland.

And then there are those that have a mixture of the above.

The people that are getting the best results aren't assuming, they are getting to the bottom of their problem and taking action.

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Hypothyroidism: Cause or Effect?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:07:00 +0000

The way health care is set up today, a doctor is of the mindset to find what disease is causing the person to be sick and treat the illness. You target in on the area that explains the problems and treat that. You are no longer Mr. and Mrs. Smith, you are a diabetic, a cancer patient, or a patient with a thyroid disorder.

Alternative practitioners have a slightly different viewpoint. They address the whole person as opposed to parts of the whole. This doctor feels that you can't have a problem in a single area without affecting other areas. They try to treat the person to bring them up to the optimal level of health so that their body can adjust to take care of the problem.

In a person with hypothyroidism, the most popular way to treat the problem is by giving more thyroid hormone. Many people feel better, while some may even get worse.

The flaw in this way of treatment is that it assumes that the problem lies in the thyroid's ability to produce its own thyroid hormone. It ignores the tons of literature that has demonstrated many other causes that has made a person have hypothyroidism. Missing the cause can lead to less than desirable results.

One other point to consider is the hypothryoidism a cause or effect. Most people know that people that have hypothyroidism often times struggle with weight loss. This is usually a sign that helps make the diagnosis. It should also be known that a person that is not active and gains a larger portion of body fat will often times decrease their thyroid production through multiple causes.

What about the cause and effect of taking thyroid hormone medication when your thyroid is functioning as it should? Might this have a negative effect on your thyroid? Might this have a negative effect on other body parts?

There are many that find great relief with medications, and I am not saying to get off them. My point would be to make changes in your life that will help your body help itself. Who knows, you might get to the point that you no longer need medication.

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My Armour Thyroid Medication Isn't Working...Try, Try Again?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:57:00 +0000

A question was posted to me if I had ever heard of symptoms of depression getting worse when a trial of Armour Thyroid medication was began. The answer is a resounding YES.

When treating hypothyroid problems, it is very important to make sure to cross all your t's and dot your i's. Before any treatment program is begun, you need to make sure you have measured the appropriate labs and test (meaning thyroid panels and others that indirectly affect the thyroid and thyroid hormone that seem to be playing a role in the case), history and a symptom survey.

If changes in labs and symptoms are favorable, then you are probably on the right trail. If things make no change or get worse, this also tells you valuable information as well.

How about an example:

You come in with normal thyroid labs, low core body temperature, depression, fatigue, unexplained weight gain and chronic pain all over. You begin taking a mix of Armour Thyroid and Synthroid and things get worse.

There are a couple ways of interpreting this pattern:

It's not a thyroid problem.
You made need to tweak the amount of thyroid hormone, the % of T3 and the % of T4 in the prescription, and/or change the medication to a different type
It may not be a problem with lack of thyroid production by your body. It could either be a problem with converting enough thyroid hormone to its useful form, excess thyroid binding structures in your body (binding to already made thyroid hormone, making it useless in the body) or poor binding of thyroid hormone to its receptors.

Going back to a detailed labs, exam, history and presentation, you can piece things together better.

In this example, the normal thyroid panel may lead you to believe that maybe thyroid production is normal. Maybe giving exogenous thyroid hormone isn't the place to start.

A lowered body temperature with depression, fatigue, weight gain and pain still points to a hypothyroid problem, so don't jump ship yet.

This leaves you looking at the third interpretation as your most likely cause. This is where most people are losing their battles. If you fail to look at this as a problem of physiology (how well or poorly your body works) and not just pathology (the body isn't working because of disease), your rate of success will usually be less than optimal.

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Beyond Radiation Treatment For Thyroid Cancer.

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 20:52:00 +0000

Radiation treatment for thyroid cancer can leave a person with little to no thyroid hormone production. Living the rest of their life on external intake of synthetic thyroid hormone, natural thyroid hormone or a mix of the 2 is a necessary course of a action.

Thyroid cancer can have the appearance of either hyperthyroid or hypothyroid, depending on the location, extent of damage and type of cancerous cells are present.

While medicine is currently at the state where knowing what type of cancer it is doesn't change the treatment much (cut it out or radiate it), big changes are not too far off.

In Europe there are labs that currently will look at blood and cells in a different manner. They will apply certain medications, vitamins, minerals, etc. to the cancer cell and see how well it destroys the cancer.

What does this mean? Well, we know that grape seed extract and quercetin are both excellent nutrients used for their anti-cancer properties. But what we don't really know is what is a good dose, what will it work well with, and how well will they work...and here is the most important part...for that person!!!

Doctors often treat patients by what has good results in subjects in studies. Studies are great guides, but do not correlate perfectly for you, the unique individual.

This type of lab work is a couple of years off before it will start to gain more popularity. Think of the possibilities though. The right meds, the right supplements and the right diet, all at the right dose to give you the very best chance of beating any cancer (including thyroid cancer).

But what can you do to make sure that you are in as much control of your health as possible today?

Do things that have been proven to increase the sensitivity of the thyroid hormone receptors to the thyroid hormone itself. Specific nutritional supplements, dietary foods and lifestyle changes can all make your body more efficient at using thyroid hormones.
Eliminate those things that have been proven to block the use of thyroid hormone on the thyroid hormone receptors. The world is filled with natural and synthetic stressors that can cause changes in the thyroid hormone receptor's ability to bind to thyroid hormone.
Make sure that your medication protocol has either natural T3 (best alternative) or synthetic T3 in the mix. I would rather see a natural product like armour thyroid be used, since it is about 20% T3. Armour thyroid may also have other contents not yet understood that help with thyroid hormone function. Your doctor may want to mix the natural with synthetic thyroid hormone so that T3 is at a level more like it would be found in the body (some find great improvements with T3 levels at 2% and T4 at 98% of the thyroid hormone levels).
Make anticancer changes in your life. While there are as any theories as to what causes cancer as their are doctors studying the issue, it is well excepted by almost all that you can live a life that promotes or prevents your chances of having cancer.

Stay healthy and keep your ears open. Big changes to the way we fight thyroid cancer and all other types of cancer is not too far off.

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Normal TSH and Elevated TSH Means Absolutely Nothing

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 14:03:00 +0000

You read that title right...normal TSH and elevated TSH means absolutely nothing. Well, maybe I should put an * at the end of the title. That might be a little more appropriate.

TSH is a lab test that is used by many doctors to see if a person has a thyroid condition. An elevated TSH is suppose to mean that this person is not making enough thyroid hormone, while a normal TSH is suppose to mean that this person's thyroid is functioning as it should. This is not always the case.

Many doctor's use this lab test to make a diagnosis, one way or the other. All other factors are seen as insignificant and get ignored.

This is not the way to figure out if you have a thyroid condition. If it were, you could go and get the lab work done yourself and completely skip the middleman.

Your doctor was trained in how to figure out what is going on with you by collecting all the pertinent information and narrowing it down to the best fit by disproving all the other conditions. Reading a lab report that says normal TSH or elevated TSH is only one little step in this process.

An elevated TSH or normal TSH is only one piece of the puzzle and means absolutely nothing... on it's own. Have your doctor correlate this with family and personal history, past and present signs and symptoms and other pertinent diagnostic labs. You are paying him/her to correctly help you with your health, so make sure that it happens.

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Top 10 Things To Consider When Treating Hormonal Problems.

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 12:39:00 +0000

Has your doctor ever admitted that regulating hormone levels is a very tricky thing to do?

Here is a list of 10 things to consider when you are dealing with treatment of high or low hormone levels:

Lab test may show what the hormone levels are in the blood or saliva, but it does not show how much is actually being used.
The creation of hormones is a multi-step process that requires many different substrates (which we get from our diets) in order to assemble and convert the hormone into its active form.
Hormone levels are dependant on the environmental stresses placed on them for creating, converting and utilizing the hormone so that the body may properly respond (healthy living vs not so healthy living).
Certain hormones act different depending on the levels of other hormones.
Taking exogenous hormones (meds) can influence your body's natural production of the hormone.
Taking exogenous hormones can influence the levels of other hormones.
The majority of hormonal problems did not happen overnight. They are a problem of lifestyle choices, thereby responding to changes in lifestyle.
Hormonal problems are not always easily identified, yet can cause a wide array of problems.
Hormonal problems usually require multiple changes in one's life in order to make significant improvements, since multiple triggers of hormonal problems can usually be identified.
Hormones have their say in both the nervous system and endocrine system, making these multitaskers very influential in our overall health.

Hormonal problems are classically treated by simply giving more hormones. I hope that this list has identified some problems in that way of thinking.

Changes in hormonal levels and utilization of the hormones can be addressed in ways that are directly and indirectly targeted at that hormone...which often has very impressive results.

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Thyroid Problems Require Treatment Beyond More Thyroid Hormone

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 20:37:00 +0000

Let's pretend that you get to play doctor for a day. What do you think people would say is the reason for visiting you?

Some common problems are weight gain, pain, depression, fatigue, hair loss, numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, weakness, memory loss, pregnancy issues, estrogen problems, testosterone problems, high cholesterol, etc. Many of the people will come in with a couple from the above list.

Wouldn't it be great if there was one cause to all these problems? One cause, one solution.

This is the part where you are expecting the doctor who writes a blog on thyroid problems to blame all of life's woes on the thyroid. Well I'm not.

Even problems that can seem to be screaming "thyroid problems" do not end up as thyroid being the main culprit.

The way the thyroid actually works is a series of intricate steps of checks and balances that is set up in such a way to ensure that your body is functioning at a high level through very efficient means. Efficiency is absolutely necessary for survival.

If there is a breakdown in any one of these steps, if there are strong environmental influences that overloads or under stimulates one portion, if certain pathological influences dominate specific areas, or if there is some inherent genetic defect, you will have thyroid problems.

What's the point to all of this?

Thyroid problems are currently being treated by a trickle down effect. Give thyroid hormone and let it make changes on the body.

How did the thyroid problems even come to be? Shouldn't we want to get rid of anything that is causing problems on the thyroid. Maybe giving more thyroid hormone would not even be necessary if you took away the offender.

OK. Done rambling. Here is one last metaphor that will hopefully wrap things up:

If your head hurts, you can take aspirin. You could also stop banging your head on the wall.

If you have thyroid problems, you can take synthetic medications. You could also prevent thyroid problems by hunting down the offender itself.

Let's stop banging our heads against the wall and start correcting the problem.

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Hypothyroid Problems: A New Year, A New Approach

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:34:00 +0000

How many people do you know that make a New Years Resolution to lose weight, get healthier and get happier? Whatever that number was, there is a good chance that a similar amount of people have failed to reach those goals.

Many people with hypothyroid problems struggle with these goals. Many more people that are either pre-hypothyroid or undiagnosed hypothyroid struggle as well.

Look good, feel good and be healthy. Why is that such a tall order? What are we doing wrong?

I propose the following solution...not the solution to your hypothyroid problems (way too many factors for one post), but the solution to how you go about addressing your hypothyroid problems: take a history lesson.

100 years ago, if someone had hypothyroid problems, it was as obvious as looking at their neck. Gross iodine deficiency was the main cause of thyroid problems (while subtle iodine deficiency is one of the leading causes of subclinical hypothyroidism today) and caused goiters. Thyroid cancers, congenital malformations and neck trauma still existed, but not nearly as prominent as iodine deficiency.

Iodine deficiency and hypothyroid problems are still a problems of today, but there are new problems that have helped propel hypothyroid problems to all new levels. Toxicity, allergens, chronic stress, nutrient depleted food, sedentary lifestyles, hormone mimicry, synthetic medications, compromised detoxification and distressed immune systems are all modern day problems at significantly high levels.

These are all things that are from our environment that are either new to our planet, or at much greater levels than ever before.

If we make the right changes, add what's needed, take out what's killing us and develop healthier habits, we can address hypothyroid problems for what they really are: symptoms of poor lifestyle. In case I didn't make that clear, most thyroid problems are symptoms, not the core problem.

Addressing symptoms can sometimes mask the problems, do nothing at all or even make matters worse.

Addressing the problems is a much better approach to addressing hypothyroid problems. In the past, that solution was to give more iodine to the iodine deficient person. Today the problem can stem from multiple causes, all of which need to be addressed.

So here is the take some point: your thyroid will only work when it is healthy enough to do so. Make health your priority instead of being free of disease.

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Low Thyroid Conditions and Bacterial Overgrowth: The Chicken or the Egg?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:47:00 +0000

Constipation, bloating, flatulence and stomach aches are all symptoms of thyroid conditions. Low thyroid conditions are thought to bring on these symptoms (which is true in some cases). I think we should look at this occurrence a little different.

If we see low thyroid conditions as stemming from low thyroid itself, the easy answer would to be give more thyroid hormone. Case closed, see you in 3 months for more blood work. Right?

But what if the stomach problems were causing the low thyroid conditions?

Well, a recent study (Lauritano et al., 2007) demonstrated that bacterial overgrowth was present in over 50% of their subjects compared to 5% of the group without thyroid conditions. Their low thyroid conditions improved when the bacterial overgrowth was addressed as opposed to the thyroid gland or thyroid hormones.

This would point to the possibility that addressing other problematic areas (in this case the bacterial overgrowth) besides the thyroid or thyroid hormones can lead to successful treatment in those with low thyroid conditions.

The study went on to say that though there was positive changes noted by the subjects, the lab work did not significantly change. Please check out this post I wrote about how normal TSH does not mean you are not low thyroid functionally.

But didn't I also say that the low thyroid can cause bacterial overgrowth too? That would mean that bacterial overgrowth can cause low thyroid conditions and vica versa.

Sorry. Thyroid conditions are not cut and dry (like you didn't already know that, right?).

So I hope this post has you scratching your head a little. Maybe even pondering questions like: what is the cause of my low thyroid condition (like bacterial overgrowth), is my thyroid condition causing other problems (like bacterial overgrowth) or are my symptoms from low thyroid or from another condition or both?

Keep asking yourself these types of questions and you will become that much closer to solving your low thyroid condition.

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Thyroid Conditions From an Alternative Perspective

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:23:00 +0000

There is a lot of information out on the web and in books dealing with thyroid conditions. Most of the publications available are from a medical perspective.

The diagnosis is made by finding and naming blatant pathology. The course of action is usually aggressive medication or surgery.

Here is a link to one thyroid blog that I have been impressed with that goes into detail from this perspective. This thyroid blog is run from a medical endocrinologist and gives very detailed descriptions of cases he has seen and how he handled it.

While this is the right course of action for some, others would benefit from more natural means.

This thyroid blog is dedicated to those with pathology that are looking to help themselves with alternative treatment for thyroid conditions, as well as those that don't have pathology, but rather interruption of normal physiology (the way the body should work).

Alternative treatment for thyroid conditions are very safe and effective. It would be a hard argument for anyone to say that lifestyle does not influence your thyroid condition. Some find alternative treatments sufficient to control their thyroid conditions, while others need to make the changes to work as a powerful adjunct to medical intervention.

I hope that this thyroid blog and other related material will help better equip you with the knowledge to implement alternative treatment for thyroid conditions to make changes in your life for the better.

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Did Santa Bring Me Hypothyroidism This Year?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 23:07:00 +0000

Have you ever heard the holiday story of low thyroid hormone? The story is slightly different depending on who is telling it, but it goes something like this:

You intentionally did not stuff yourself this holiday season, yet you still gained weight.

You can afford to buy all your holiday gifts because of a great bonus, yet you still feel depressed.

You rub Ben Gay all over your hands and knees, but your joint still hurt.

As you scratch your head and wonder why, your body is screaming out to you for some much needed attention. If your body language could speak, it would be saying "I have low thyroid hormone...HELP!"

But why is low thyroid hormone commonly a holiday treat?

Unless you are living somewhere near the equator, it gets cold during the holiday seasons. Your body responds by doing what it needs to stay warm.

One way your body accomplishes this is by cranking up your metabolism. Thyroid hormone is what revs up your body's engine.

If you are one of millions that is gradually developing hypothyroidism, symptoms of low thyroid hormone may not pop up till a time when it is really needed, like winter.

Your body sees 2 options, either freeze to death or use more thyroid hormone to increase your body temperature. If you are already at low levels of thyroid hormone, other areas that use thyroid hormone may begin to suffer.

You may have had low thyroid problems for quite some time, but it is only now being fully recognized. You too can then tell of your story about why you feel fat, fatigued, depressed with achy joints all winter long, or tell them how you used to feel like that till you addressed your hypothyroidism.

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Underactive Thyroid: How Many Symptoms of Thyroid Problems Do You Have?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:11:00 +0000

While an underactive thyroid is not known to end your life, it is known make your life seem slow. Thyroid hormone gives every cell in your body that extra little umph when needed. When you have low thyroid hormone, that lack of extra umph makes those cells under perform.

Symptoms of thyroid problems can be seen from head to toe. Some people with low thyroid hormone have cold feet as a symptom, while others with an underactive thyroid have thin, straw-like hair.

So here is a short version of my checklist to see if you have symptoms of thyroid problems:

Always feeling cold, or may need extra cloths to stay warm
Thinning hair, balding or straw-like hair
Aching in muscles and joints that had no physical trauma to explain it
Eating a reasonable amount of calories, but still gain weight or can't lose weight
Feelings of depression or anxiety
Mental sluggishness or brain fog
Chronic problems with infection, like a sinus infection, vaginal infection or ear infection
Muscle weakness, especially in the back, hips and shoulders
Feeling fatigued, tired or exhausted even without doing physical exercise
Soreness in throat or neck
Constipation or decreased bowel function
Infertility, miscarriages and low libido or sex drive
High cholesterol, heart flutters or low or high blood pressure
Poor digestion or heart burn
Increase in water weight or water retention
History of some other autoimmune disorder
Family history of thyroid problems
Family history of autoimmune disorders

If you have 3 or more of the above, you may be one of the millions who suffer from an underactive thyroid.

If you continue reading pages in this thyroid blog, you will see that symptoms of thyroid problems are just as or even more important in diagnosing low thyroid hormone than thyroid lab analysis. Check out this post on how testing thyroid hormone levels can be very inaccurate.

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Underactive Thyroid and Depression - Missing This Diagnosis is Just Sad

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 22:54:00 +0000

It is well established that an underactive thyroid can cause depression. In a 1993 study entitled Subclinical hypothyroidism: a modifiable risk factor for depression?, the authors reported a significantly higher lifetime frequency of depression if subclinical hypothyroidism is present compared to those without subclinical hypothyroidism (56% compared to 20%).

In a previous post about how a low thyroid can make you feel depressed, I wrote about possible causes of the depression.

So if it is so well understood that an underactive thyroid can cause depression, why are so many doctors missing it and so many people not sticking up for themselves when they know something is not right?

First, it is not always easy to pinpoint an underactive thyroid. While there is usually some other clues that point to an underactive thyroid (family history, stubborn weight gain, thinning hair, etc.), it is not always the case.

Second, very dated information still is erroneously used. For instance, a doctor that excludes an underactive thyroid as a diagnosis because they do not live in the goiter belt will miss tons of underactive thyroid problems in his/her office.

Third, many rely on lab test as gospel. These lab test mean very little when they are interpreted without comparing the results to the individual (as this study on subclinical hypothyroidism demonstrated).

Lastly, depression is easy for a doctor. "Take these and come back in 3 months." No need to dig further or spend much time with the patient. It's an easy buck.

In cases of depression, an underactive thyroid should be considered till proven otherwise. Missing this diagnosis is just...well sad.

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Hypothyroidism and Water Weight...What's the Link?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:30:00 +0000

In my last post about hypothyroidism and water weight, I showed how retaining water can cause health problems. I think that those looking to really understand what is going on with their hypothyroidism want to know "Why?"

In a lot of cases, if you know "Why," then you know how to manage it.

So here we go...

First, people with hypothyroidism have problems polymerizing certain tissue structures into usable glycoproteins.

Translation: Your body makes different types of connective tissue by combining short strands into longer ones. People with hypothyroidism have problems doing this. You end up with more of these smaller strands that aren't linked together.

Theses smaller strands have a greater cumulative hydrophilic (water loving) charge, so they attract more water.

End result is an increase water weight.

Secondly, some people with hypothyroidism have problems with both allergens and toxic metals (which can be the actual reason for the hypothyroidism). These pollutant can really cause havoc in multiple areas in the body, including the thyroid.

Your body can handle a small amount of these toxins, but struggles when the amount gets past its breaking point. Your body needs to do something to defend against these toxins.

Your body's solution to pollution is dilution.

Let's say you had very tart lemonade, what would you do? Add water.

Your body does the same thing, by adding water (retaining water) to try to lower the effects of the toxins (it dilutes it).

End result is an increase in water weight.

So there are 2 reasons for retaining water in people with hypothyroidism. One cause of water weight is due to a shift in elcertochemical charge, and the other is a defense mechanism of the body.

(And yes, both can happen in the same person)

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Retaining Water? Learn Why So Many Can't Drop The Water Weight.

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:55:00 +0000

Have you noticed that some people just look puffy? They have puffy eyes, their ankles look swollen, their skin looks stretched...these people are just retaining water, known as water weight.

How does water weight cause problems in those with hypothyroidism?

Cells need to maintain a certain amount of water in order to function. As a matter of fact, cells need enough water inside in order to survive.

Retaining water means that the water is not in the cells where it should be. Something has caused the water to be sucked out of the cell and it's now outside the cell (in the extracellular matrix).

Retaining water weight is a very common occurrence in hypothyroidism. Here are a couple of things you may have noticed due to it:

You retain more water, looking puffy or swollen all over

You may have some numbness and tingling in your hands and feet as the swollen tissue puts pressure on nerves

You have lowered blood pressure, since the water is sucked out from your blood and causes low blood volume

You are always cold, since you have a low blood volume

You are anemic despite supplementing with iron. This can happen because retaining water creates a lower blood volume, as well as the fact that hypothyroidism causes a lower production of red blood cells due to lower body temperature.

You are more prone to Alzheimer's disease and stroke, since you have poor blood supply to the brain.

Just like thinning hair, cold hands and stubborn weight loss, water weight is a sign of hypothyroidism.

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Graves' Disease Caused by a Tummy Ache?

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:19:00 +0000

If you are like most people (and even most doctors), you may have a hard time wrapping your mind around the fact that a problem in your gut can cause a problem in your thyroid (which is way up in your neck). There is strong evidence that proves that this just might be the underlying issue in many cases of Graves' disease.

Graves thyroiditis, also known as Graves' disease, is an autoimmune disorder that attacks the thyroid gland. While there can be acute attacks of thyroiditis, Graves' disease is usually a more slow acting autoimmune disorder.

There is evidence that a specific strand of pathogen (though there can be many different kinds not as well documented) called Yersinia enterocolitica that has been shown to cause Graves thyroiditis.

A common medical treatment for Graves thyroiditis is radiation or surgical removal of the thyroid gland. The thought is that if you remove the overactive thyroid gland, then you remove the problem. This line of thinking ignores the fact that there is still the underlying problem of the Yersinia enterocolitica.

If the treatment was aimed in addressing the pathogen Yersinia enterocolitica instead of the thyroid, you may have been able to forgo the ablating of the thyroid gland.

So how did Yersinia enterocolitica even get into the bloodstream to cause Graves' disease?

Most likely in cases of dysbiosis (or overgrowth of unhealthy bugs within your gut lining), there is an overgrowth of Yersinia enterocolitica within the gut. When this pathogen is allowed to flourish in the gut lining, changes to the gut lining may enable Yersinia enterocolitica to pass through when it should not.

Once Yersinia enterocolitica is in the bloodstream, your immune system recognizes it, tags it is a foreign invader, and then attacks it.

It is believed that the protein makeup of Yersinia enterocolitica is similar to that of the protein structures on the thyroid. What happens is your immune system gets "tag happy" and tags your thyroid gland as well. Now your body cannot decipher a difference between Yersinia enterocolitica and your thyroid gland. You now have what is known as an autoimmune disease.

There are many natural treatments that will help rid the body of Yersinia enterocolitica overgrowth, such as: probiotics, oil of oregano, tree tea oil, garlic, olive oil, aloe, glutamine, high fiber diet, exclusion of trans fats, avoidance of chronic use of antibiotics, etc.

So I hope that now you can see how treating a tummy ache can prevent an autoimmune disease and save you from cutting out or destroying a gland essential to life.

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How Having Hypothyroidism Actually Skews Thyroid Lab Testing: Part I

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:51:00 +0000

If you ask the majority of people who were diagnosed with hypothyroidism how they got their diagnosis, I bet their answer will be "because I had a high TSH."

Many more people are being misdiagnosed as not having hypothyroidism because of a "normal" TSH. They are being missed and aren't getting the help they need.

Using TSH testing by itself is a very flawed way of thinking. I've posted before on some of the problems with TSH testing...here's one more.

Hypothyroidism causes a person to make more mucin, which in turn holds onto water. It gets this water from sucking it out of areas that normally need it (like inside of every cell in the body). This is why people with hypothyroidism have a "swollen" look to them. They are retaining water.

So what does this have to do with TSH testing?

Well, one of the structures that swells is the pituitary gland. This is the gland that actually produces TSH to stimulate the thyroid to make thyroid hormones.

When the pituitary swells, it actually blunts the production of TSH.

So when a doctor goes to look at the results of the blood work, the blunted TSH production now falls lower and into the "normal" range. It is the symptoms of hypothyroidism (water retention) that is causing the labs to tell your doctor that according to this test, you do not have hypothyroidism.

Ironic, isn't it?

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How Having Hypothyroidism Actually Skews Thyroid Lab Testing: Part II

noreply@blogger.com (DrJoe) — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 04:25:00 +0000

In a previous post, I talked about how hypothyroidism causes you to hold onto water and can give you a false reading of thyroid hormone levels. Your doctor could look at these skewed levels on the thyroid lab testing and misdiagnose you as falling into normal ranges in the thyroid hormone levels.

To continue that conversation, we are going to look at another portion of the thyroid panel that doctors often look at that give a false presentation: T4 and T3.

T4 and T3 lab test shows how much T4 and T3 are present in the blood at that instant in time. It does this by looking at the amount of T4 and T3 per volume of blood. Since hypothyroidism causes you to retain water by causing an increased production in mucin, water is sucked out of the blood and into the extracellular matrix.

Now there is a lowered blood volume, but still the same amount of T4 and T3 in the blood stream. This gives you a false reading of the thyroid hormone levels by making the T4 and T3 value seem more elevated than what is actually the case. This might even push the numbers into the normal range, making your doctor believe that everything is normal.

This is one more example that demonstrates the point that thyroid hormone levels through lab analysis need to be interpreted by comparing the results to the additional testing (like for sex hormones, adrenal stress test, nutrient levels, etc), family history, symptoms and physical presentation. This is the only way that the lab results gives any pertinent information.

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