The Thyroid Gland

The big dividing line in healing philosophy between staid conventional colleagues and doctors
like myself, is that we believe the patient more than we believe laboratory tests. If there is a
conflict, we assume the patient is a more accurate monitor of disease than blood tests. I mean,
how crazy is it to state to a patient that, We have done all the tests and there is nothing wrong,
when the patient says she feels awful? (happens often)
Take the treatment and investigation of thyroid disease as an example. Doctors who don't think
for themselves, but rely solely on the blood tests, will ignore striking clinical symptoms such as
fatigue, depression, sensitivity to cold, weight-gain, dry skin, hair loss in a middle-aged or older
person, because the thyroid markers are "normal". Good holistic doctors will follow the
symptoms and treat the clinical condition, which clearly exists in this situation.
The fact is that up to 20% of the population is probably suffering from some degree of
hypothyroidism (low thyroid function), though in some territories it could be much higher. The
older you get, the more prone you are to the condition; it's part of natural aging. But it is still
pathological and it should be treated!
Low thyroid function can be associated with a huge range of medical pathologies. Doctors who
do not think of it as a primary cause of ill health are missing the real problem, time and again,
and saddling their patients with worthless treatments that are doomed to failure.
Hypothyroidism, as its called, or myxedema, can underpin conditions such as musculo-skeletal
pain, obesity, heart disease, fatigue, weight gain, slow speech, menstrual difficulties, food
allergies, emotional and behavioral disorders, auto-immune disease, loss of libido, infertility, low
sperm count, brittle nails, dry skin, raised cholesterol, depression, osteoporosis, anxiety-
tension even cancer! Need I go on?
When I say underpins, I mean: if the low thyroid condition is corrected, the other symptoms go
away; they dont need separate treatment.


Before and after treatment of myedema
So why arent doctors finding this condition reliably and frequently, if it really is very common?
Testing Difficulties
Part of the problem is that the tests are pretty crude and the disease has to become serious in
degree before anything shows up as altered blood levels. Also the usually quoted range is so
wide it is relatively meaningless and you could be 50% down on "average" and still said to be
within normal limits.
Doctors rely on measuring thyroid hormones in the blood, notably T4, T3 and the infamous TSH.
TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is now held to be the gold standard of thyroid function
testing. But it is almost USELESS clinically! A patient can be profoundly sub-thyroid, yet the
TSH lies within the normal range.
Instead of throwing out the TSH and finding a better test, doctors throw out the patients and say
the symptoms are meaningless, the test is infallible! Any doctor who attempts to treat a patient
for an obvious clinical sub-thyroid condition, when the TSH is normal, risks losing his or her
license. It has happened to colleagues and several good doctors have been destroyed in the altar
of phoney lab standards.
Its mind-boggling that so-called medical science has come to this degree of stupidity and
neglect.
But there is a better test; two, in fact.
Most accurate and longest-established is the basal metabolic rate test (BMR). It is cumbersome
and lengthy and requires the patient to completely rest in a controlled environment, while
temperature readings are taken, along with gaseous exchange rates from the lungs. BMR is very
reliable at diagnosing low thyroid function but most doctors are not familiar with it and would
never ask for the test.
Pity. The other test is nearly as reliable and much simpler
The Broda Barnes Temperature Test
This simple easy to self-administer test for thyroid function means taking regular daily
measurements of basal temperature - the so-called Broda Barnes test, named after the doctor who
first wrote about it.
Basal temperature means taking it while at absolute rest. In ordinary terms that means first thing
on waking, after the body has been lying still overnight. Core temperature drops to its lowest at
this point.
To measure your own basal temperature, use a clinical thermometer, keep it in your armpit,
before getting out of bed or any activity whatsoever, for at least five minutes. Record the results.
Generally, if it is running at 97.80 F or less, that is good presumptive evidence of low thyroid
function. If the temperature is taken by the rectal route, normal is almost a degree higher and so
below 97.80 F would be considered significantly low.
Allowance may need to be made for women who are ovulating, since the temperature naturally
rises about 0.5 of a degree at this time.
Mixed Pathology
Doctors such a Mark Starr MD, and his mentors Broda Barnes and Lawrence Sonkin, are firm in
the view that thyroid dysfunction is primary. Im not quite so sure. I think allergic overload can
lead to auto-immune dysfunction and antibody attacks on the thyroid: so-called Hashimotos
disease. Environmental chemical pollution and heavy metal toxicity complicated everything; that
too can lead to inflammatory thyroid disease. Adrenal exhaustion is almost par for the course,
once any of the other conditions are established and allergies get worse, once thyroid function is
compromised. Throw in widespread iodine deficiency, some other common nutritional
deficiencies, and the whole picture becomes very muddled and confusing.
I have seen hundreds of cases over the years and certainly found that thyroid issues come up,
over and over, and that correcting this first is often they key to correcting the allergy problems
and overload.
But then I am very aware of the work of my friend William Rea MD, one of my own mentors,
who has found that often a detox and chemical unburdening will correct thyroid dysfunction,
without needing to administer supplementary thyroid hormone.
So its a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation.
The best advice to anyone not in blazing good health, with abundant zest, is to explore the
thyroid avenue with a competent holistic doctor. At least take a series of basal temperature
readings. If these are low, definitely get help in correcting the situation.
But be aware that your practitioner will need to be skilled with thyroid management, mineral
supplements (especially magnesium, selenium and iodine), food allergies, chemical sensitivities,
heavy metal chelation, pre- and probiotics and adrenal exhaustion. If he or she shows signs of
having just one string to their bow, get someone else.
Meantime, here are some therapeutic avenues to consider:
Treatment
I my practice I use a several-fold approach. The simplest, if the signs are early enough and the
patient is otherwise vigorous, is homeopathic thyroid stimulant. I like a product called
Thyroidea compositum from HEEL, in Germany. It is one of the most powerful and useful non-
drug substances I have in my repertoire. Such is its impact on immunity I find myself prescribing
it often for my cancer patients seeking alternative remedies.
Note that the dysfunction can go back earlier, even to childhood diseases, and Tonsilla comp and
Engystol were also useful tools from the same supplier (bio-energetic testing required).
If a trial of this substance and dealing with related pathologies, such as food allergies and heavy
metals, appears ineffective, then supplementation with the hormone can be considered.
If clinical signs are clearly present and yet the lab work doesnt confirm the diagnosis, a
"therapeutic trial" of thyroid supplementation is in order. The patient becomes his or her own test
bed. If taking the hormone results in a rapid return to normal health, with renewed zest and loss
of weight encumbrance, is that itself not adequate evidence that the thyroid was indeed, in some
way, under-performing?
Synthetic vs. Natural Replacement
Best I found was using desiccated thyroid extract by Armour. Desiccated (dried) thyroid is a
thyroid hormone replacement drug, prepared from the thyroid gland from pigs -- also known as
"porcine thyroid." Other brand names include Nature-throid, and Westhroid.
Desiccated extract has been on the market and safely used for more than 100 years. When
synthetic thyroxine was introduced, there was a great deal of baloney and marketing hype about
how modern it was, compared to "old-fashioned" thyroid extractand many doctors switched
patients over to the synthetic medication. When the patient went into a steep decline as a result,
he or she was told, Its your age.
Better than T4, is T3, which is far more effective clinically. But really whole thyroid gland
extract is the only option: it works so well, I am sure there must be other unidentified natural
elements present, which make it clinically superior to other forms.
For strict vegans and those allergic to pork, we can use synthetic thyroid. Otherwise, steer clear.
Of course there is intense pressure from orthodox colleagues to relegate desiccated thyroid
extract to history. They would claim their opposition to the extract is science-based. However,
thats not true, because there are no proper studies that compare levothyroxine to desiccated
thyroid in terms of effectiveness at resolving patient symptoms; only comparisons at tinkering
with blood levels.
So despite orthodox claims to rely on science, the fact is, the science doesn't exist to bolster the
arguments that levothyroxine is clinically superior to desiccated thyroid in resolving symptoms.
Suppliers
Youll see Armour by Forest Labs, the oldest on the market, then Naturethroid and Westhroid
which came into the picture in the late 1930sby RLC Labs.
A new generic by Acella, NP Thyroid, hit the picture by late 2010 and is popular. There is
Thyroid-S or Thiroyd from Thailand with excellent results, and Erfas Thyroid from Canada.
Australia uses compounded desiccated thyroid powder and there are many compounding
(traditional) pharmacies around the world, which can help you.
It is always wise to start a patient on a smaller dose of desiccated thyroid than he or she will
ultimately need, such as 0.5 grain (60 mg). This will help the body get used to more normal
levels and in the process there may be other issues which can reveal themselves, such as sluggish
adrenals or low Ferritin/iron levels.
Go up by 0.5 grain every 2 3 weeks. At 3 grains, pause at that dose for a further 4 weeks, to
give the T4 time to build (which can take 4-6 weeks). Its unlikely indeed that anyone would
need more than 5 grains.
I cannot recommend you self-dose but in such a situation, 3.5 grains would be the maximum.
You can just swallow the grains or take them sublingually. When taking desiccated thyroid
extract, it is important to avoid iron, estrogen and calcium supplements at the same time, since
all bind the thyroid hormones to some degree.
Iron
However, we NEED iron, to make thyroid hormone work. Iron is involved in the secretion
pathways, such as the conversion of T4 to T3.
Insufficient iron levels alter and reduces the resultant T3, besides binding T3. I have already
explained that T3 is far better than T4.
Also, low iron levels can increase circulating concentrations of TSH. Thats bad: conventional
doctors go nuts when they see raised TSH. To them it means the patient is overdosing on thyroid
hormones (wrong), so they prognosticate heart attacks and osteoporosis. This may frighten the
patient away from the only real cure of their misery.