Thyroid Power: 10 Steps to Total Health

Last week, I read Thyroid Power: Ten Steps to Total Health. It was written by Richard L. Shames, M.D. and Karilee Halo Shames, R.N., PH.D. The book cover says:

The amazing program to help millions conquer fatigue, depression, overweight, and other chronic conditions.

If you have thyroid disease, you're likely familiar with many of those eh?

Some of the notes I made from my reading:

• Allergy is a common energy drain. There are allergy blood tests that you can take to determine if you have an allergy problem.
• We've all heard about the increased risk of osteoporosis with the wrong dosage of thyroid medication. I've heard it several times myself. It seems to be a great scare tactic doctors use when they don't want to deviate from the standard treatments. This books tells of research done that says that appropriate doses of thyroid medications is not harmful to bones and that the author thinks that you have a greater risk of osteoporosis by being undiagnosed or undertreated for hypothyroidism. The books states: "It is a medical fact that untreated low thyroid is a cause of osteoporosis."
• If you are considering estrogen therapy, you should read page 119 of this book and see what you think, talk to your doctor.

According to this book, here are some of their supplement recommendations:

• Vitamin A for low thyroid sufferers of 10,000-20,000 international units (IU). This is a supplement that can be toxic in high dosages so don't use more than what is recommended for you.
• Vitamin C for antioxidant properties (like Vitamin A). 1,000 milligrams a day is recommended.
• Vitamin E as an antioxidant in doses no larger than 400 US per day unless you are menopausal and having hot flashes (then it talks of increasing dosages...talk to your doctor).
• Adjust intake of B-complex to approx. 50 milligrams/day. B6 shouuld be about 100 milligrams a day.
• Bioflavonoids work with B vitamins and often are in fruits and vegetables. Can be very helpful for inflammation due to autoimmune thyroiditis (me). Recommendations in the book are 250-500 milligrams of quercetin and 100-150 milligrams phgnogenol.
• Minerals: This book says minerals are even more important than vitamins. Copper, zinc, selenium, chromium, manganese, calcium, magnesium. You can get these minerals with sea vegetables too.
• Ashwagandha is said to have a stimulatory effect on both T3 and T4 in laboratory animals. Also recommended is milk thistle of 300 milligrams daily.

Fluoride:

Read the information on fluoride in this book. You might find it enlightening. It talks of fluoride's possible thyroid-lowering effect. There have been studies suspecting fluoride for cancer as well. Perhaps putting 100% confidence in our governmental agencies isn't such a good idea. Read this too. To see a video about this, click here.

The authors of this book also have a web site.

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The Cortisol Connection Diet

I recently finished reading The Cortisol Connection Diet: The Breakthrough Program to Control Stress and Lose Weight. It was written by Ph.D. Shawn Talbott.

I read it because I am concerned about cortisol levels and adrenal function. I'm concerned about the high level of stress I was in for years and if that caused or contributed to my current health problems today. It's the first book I've read on this topic (so far). I plan to read more.

The different chapters are:

1. Eating for Quality and Quantity
2. Cortisol Control
3. Blood-Sugar Control
4. Thermogenesis
5. General Metabolic Support
6. Putting It All Together

I made note of some things that I wanted to remember for myself:

• Chromium: essential trace mineral for glucose metabolism, insulin regulation, and appetite control. For overweight people, the book recommends 200-400 mcg per day. I haven't looked it up with other sources yet to see if that is in line with other recommendations.
• Vanadium: another trace mineral for normal insulin function. I've never heard of vanadium! The book says safe levels are 10-100 mcg/day. Never having heard of this, I am going to need to research it more. You have to be careful because some sources of this have it at possible toxic levels (body building supplements).
• Banaba Leaf: Again, never heard of this. The book says it is a medicinal plant and uses of it are for diabetes and hyperglycemia. Will have to research this more.
• We have all heard this many times but we should drink lots of water! The book says it is needed for proper fat burning, maintaining muscle mass, and boosting metabolism. It says if you are dehydrated, it can boost cortisol levels and reduce your metabolic rate.
• When looking for an antioxidant, look for one that includes Vitamin C, Vitamin E, thiols, carotenoids, and flavonoids.
• Green tea: We've seen the green tea diets out there. The book talks about how green tea catechins "improve several metabolic aspects". The book recommends 200-750 mg of green tea extract standardized for polyphenols/catechins.

Now onto some thyroid support information:

• Stress hormones (cortisol) can inhibit conversion of T4 to T3.
• The book recommends the following nutritional supplements to support healthy functions: iodine and bladderwack.
• To improve conversion of T4 to T3: selenium and zinc, Vitamin E

Those were some of the notes I made from the book.

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Iodine, Adrenals, & Stress

I've been busy doing a lot of research on adrenal support and the use of Iodine in helping with goiter and nodules. Of course, it's nothing my doctor (any of them) have told me about because they are all about synthetic medications and nothing else. It's something I am seriously researching.

In addition to that, I worry about the effect of constant stress on my thyroid and adrenals (cortisol) in years past when we lived a very stressful life. Stress is a hard monster to tame. You can say relax, light some WoodWick Candles, and let your stress go but it's really not that easy for me because my brain doesn't shut down. It goes over and over what is bothering me. After many years of that, does stress affect your health? I think so.

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Doc still wants to stick needles in my neck!

I contacted my endocrinologist back about some of the lab results they'd sent me. My T3 was at the low end of normal and so was my cortisol. I asked that he prescribe me something with T3 in it (either Naturethroid or Cytomel) to bring my T3 level up (to still be within the "norm" range though) and for some adrenal support for my cortisol (again, still keeping the levels within "normal" but to raise it a little).

I got the response I expected...don't want to do that because it might have long-term consequences (why would it if I kept them within "normal" range?) and he wants me to schedule a biopsy (because the one in June wasn't bad enough). I'm so tired of this stuff. Like I want to have people in medical scrubs sticking needles in my neck again? Why do something so invasive AGAIN when there are other things that can be tried first (like Iodine) to shrink the nodules? Why choose to biopsy and remove the thyroid (which the endo is talking about doing) when there are other avenues less invasive that could be tried first? It might not work. I know that, but I want to try!

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Thyroid Supplements

I was at a health food store today looking at what they offered in the way of thyroid support and came across these:

Of course, I paid a lot more than the price shown here since I bought it at a health food store, but I was wondering if anybody else has heard or tried these?

Here's what the site says:

Indications
Naturally Supports Healthy Thyroid and Glandular Activity.

Ingredients
Vitamin B6: 2 mg (pyridoxine HCI), Folate: 400 mcg (folic acid), Vitamin B12: 60 mcg (methylcobalamin), Iodine: 225 mcg (Irish Moss and kelp), Zinc: 25 mg (L-Optizinc® - Zinc L-Methionine Complex), Selenium: 50 mcg (l-selenomethionine and Yeast Free), Copper: 1 mg (copper amino acid chelate), L-Tyrosine: 1 g (free- form), Irish Moss: 200 mg (Chondius Crispus) (Thallus), Guggul: 75 mg Standardized Extract (Commiphora mukul) (Resinous Sap) - min. 10% Guggulsterones, Kelp: 60 mg Whole Plant

Directions
As a dietary supplement, take two vegetarian capsules two times daily, on an empty stomach or just before meals.


I haven't tried them yet. I'm wondering if I should run it by my endocrinologist first (who basically doesn't believe in any other thyroid treatment but synthetic and was talking about taking out my thyroid before he'd even examined me for the first time). Doesn't sound like I want to run it by him, huh? Maybe take a half or a quarter of a dose to start and see how I feel.

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