Treating Hypothyroid. Advice needed.

[cuebreeze]

I havent had a blood test yet but i think there is a high chance that im hypothyroid. Ive had all the syptoms basically since i started losing my hair 5 years ago but only recently starting reading about it. One symptom that is getting worse is thinning of my eye brows on the outer edges. They are starting to get really thin now.

Anyway, im after some advice on how i can treat this. Ive read that synthetic levothyroxine (T4) can be used daily to treat it but in some cases T3 would be better will a few more dosages daily.

I know i should probably get a blood test first but i read thyroid problems are often mis-diagnosed and considering i have EVERY sympton im pretty sure i have it.

Would i just order t4 online?

[Anxious1]

u need to realise T3 and T4 levels in blood have wide ranges, just like everything. i would bet my life ur doctor will tell u ur in range. not saying there isnt a problem, just saying the blood tests only show up extreme differences.

unless he tells u otherwise, id just try and get diet and exercise right, and maybe find a supplement that can balance hormones, without being toxic, or putting it further out of whack. i have no idea wat, but im sure immortal would know something. unless ur doctor tells u ur gonna die, id stay away from any prescription hormone products.

[zixcreator]

In my humble opinion you should start by going to your doctor and getting a T3, T4, and TSH level. If you have low thyroid this is the easiest thing in the world to treat with synthroid. The drug is clean too. Meaning no real side effects (in almost all cases) except problems associated with overdose (hyperthyroidism). However this won't happen if you get an occassional blood test to see what levels your at. Half the world is on that pill. My wife's on it, my dad etc.

[hapyman]

Cue, if you suspect you are slightly hypothyroid I suggest first trying to supplement with Iodine. The reason I suggest this is because a lot of people are borderline hypothyroid and currently there are no accurate tests that can depict this. There is a lot of good information over at IHs about using Iodine. The best form of action would be to supplement selenium and Iodine together because they work synergistically in the thyroid. Supplementing with hormones (like T3/T4) will not solve your problems. I suggest you read up on this too. Check out JDPs recent threads on hypothyroidism and Iodine.

Anyhow here is some extra info:

Having an optimal level of iodine will do a lot of good. Besides the thyroid which accounts for only 3% iodine stores, most of it goes into muscle and fat.

Sufficient iodine prevents excesses free radical damage. Probably the biggest risk of getting cancer is simply due to insufficient iodine.

Know anyone with a heart arrhythmia? Atrial Fibrillation is extremely common today, yet it would be virtually non-existence if iodine was adequate. Conventional medicine uses barbaric tactics such as a very toxic form of iodine called Amiordorone, or they'll resort to terrible procedures such as cardioversion and cardiac ablation.

Iodine prevents estrogen tendency to divide cells too much (excess proliferation), that is a major mechanism with cancer and hyperplastic tissue (think BPH/enlarged prostate) Most men over the age of 70 are going to have BPH--unless they have enough iodine. Prostate cancer is almost a certainty without iodine if you live long enough.

Iodine removes metals of various kinds. I don't have much to back this up, but this is a great link on iodine:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/1959949/IODIN ... thproblems

High dose iodine in my experience seems to give libido an extra kick.

It is fairly well established though that iodine helps get rid of excess fluoride and bromide. The former seems to be highly correlated with Alzheimer's.

Since most thyroid tests are not adequate, it's difficult to say if one has low thyroid or not with standard tests. Without reverse T3 (a prominent indicator of heavy metal intoxication), T4, T3 and Barnes Basal temperature besides TSH, it's not conclusive.

In other words, subclinical hypothyroid is very common.

Iodine improves blood sugar metabolism, and it may even reduce Testosterone to DHT conversion (but that is theory for now).

Check this excerpt taken from http://www.mbschachter.com/iodine.htm :

"Dr. Brownstein has found in using this test, that more than 90% of his patients are iodine insufficient. Once a person is iodine sufficient, the maintenance dose for an adult to maintain sufficiency is about 12.5 mg of iodine/iodide daily. The treatment dose when a person is iodine insufficient is generally between 12.5 mg and 50 mg daily. Preliminary research indicates that if a person is iodine insufficient, it takes about 3 months to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 50 mg of iodine and a year to become iodine sufficient while ingesting a dosage of 12.5 mg of iodine daily.

However, the patient needs to be monitored closely with awareness of possible side effects and detoxification reactions"

I suggest reading the whole article but here is a few paragraphs : INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SELENIUM AND IODINE

While we've seen that selenium deficiency will interfere with T4 to T3 conversion and lead to functional hypothyroidism (low T3 phenomenon), selenium plays another vital role in the thyroid as part of GPX. During the production of thyroid hormone, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is produced. H2O2 is important for the production of thyroid hormone, but excessive amounts lead to high production of thyroxin (T4) and also damage to the cells of the thyroid. GPX plays the extremely vital role of degrading H2O2 and thereby limiting hormone production and preventing damage to the thyroid cells. This seems to be the main way in which selenium protects the thyroid from sustaining damage which can lead ultimately to cancer.

Without selenium, the thyroid gland becomes damaged and it is through this mechanism that the main selenium and iodine interactions are found. An iodine deficiency will cause goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland produced by the body in an attempt to increase hormone production from limited amount of iodine. Selenium deficiency increases the weight of the thyroid in experimental animals, and a selenium deficiency combined with an iodine deficiency leads to a further increase in thyroidal weight (bigger goiter). In African countries like Zaire, there are areas where both iodine and selenium are very scarce in the soil (these deficiencies seem to run parallel in most areas). Consequently a high percentage of the people have goiters and hypothyroidism. An experimental attempt was made to correct the selenium deficiency and the result was that the hypothyroidism was made WORSE in the hypos and it produced hypothyroidism in some euthroid subjects. This was entirely unexpected and the experimenters issued a warning about supplementing with selenium (and not iodine) when both deficiencies exist concurrently.

The body has a compensatory mechanism to maintain T3 levels when iodine is deficient--it increases the production of the deiodinase Type I enzyme (DI-I). This is not a small increase, but has been shown in cattle to be an increase of 10-12 times. This increase in ID-I increases the conversion of the existing T4 to T3 to maintain T3 levels, but also increases the conversion of T3 to T2 (the degraded by-product of T3). Because of the iodine deficiency, T4 is not replenished and T3 ultimately decreases from the lack of sufficient T4 leading to a worsening of the hypothyroidism.

This result is made worse by another phenomenon which hasn't been thoroughly studied: a selenium deficiency causes an iodine deficiency to get worse. This may be a protective adaptation by the body to limit the damage caused to the thyroid when selenium is deficient and iodine is adequate. Let's examine this part of the interaction.

We've all heard that many doctors tell hypo patients, especially those with Hashimoto's thyroiditis, not to take iodine because it can aggravate their condition. The reason seems to be that selenium protects the thyroid gland from oxidative damage and this damage can increase significantly if iodine is supplemented. Taking iodine will increase thyroid hormone production and the production of H2O2 which damages the thyroidal cells. The lack of selenium prevents GPX from being able to protect the cells from this oxidative damage. While I doubt if most doctors realize why iodine should be restricted (it certainly seemed counter-intuitive to me at first), they have learned through experience that iodine can increase the thyroid damage in Hashimoto's. The information that selenium should be supplemented along with iodine is so new that most of them are unaware of it.

[zixcreator]

Cue, if you suspect you are slightly hypothyroid I suggest first trying to supplement with Iodine.

Hi Happyman!

In my opinion I don't think disregarding conventional medicine is really the most responsible way to proceed. He should first see a physician and get the appropriate lab work done.
Though testing OK does not completely eliminate the possibility of hypothyroidism, it still is information worth knowing. Suppose he does test out to be low....well then he has a baseline with which he can compare future treatment benefit.

[hapyman]

Yeah but low dose Iodine is so effective and safe that really everyone should be on it. It is an essential element that we can only get through diet, which frankly doesn't have much Iodine in it anymore. All breads used to be fortified with Iodine but since about 1940 they have moved to the cheaper and more toxic Bromide. Couple that with the fluoride in the drinking water and you have a majority of the population who is slightly hypothyroid. Fluoride and Bromide directly compete with Iodine except that the beneficial effects are not seen. This situation is easily remedied by supplementing Iodine and removing as many sources of Bromide and Fluoride from our diets. The only major downside is at low doses this transition can take over 12 months.

I guess I just don't understand spending money on lab tests when it is pretty evident what the course of action should be anyways. The doctor is just going to prescribe hormone replacement, which doesn't solve the problem and has the potential to be much more harmful than low doses of Iodine.

[zixcreator]

Does he have health insurance? Because a medical diagnosis of low thyroid would stregthen the compliance with treatment. If he simply starts treating the condition himself he will probably at some point stop treatment because he will assume he never really had the condition. Don't we all have a long list of supplements we used to take because we thought we had this problem or that and we are no longer taking them?

[hapyman]

True I guess it just depends on the person. I have been using Iodine for almost a year now and I feel completely different when I take it. I recently added selenium after seeing some research on it and the two together are even better. Unfortunately it takes a long while to rebuild the adrenals and thyroid.

[jdp710]

Hey cuebreeze,

To correct hypothyroid or Wilson's Temperature Syndrome, "personally", what I would do is supplement with Iodine/Iodide (e.g. Lugol's) with Selenium and Zinc. Selenium is especially important (100 mcg - 400 mcg) as Selenomethionine or Methylselenocysteine Make sure you take Selenium if you are taking Iodine ... especially high doses of Iodine!!! Very Important!

A small percentage of people can only tolerate a small dose of Iodine (e.g. Lugol's) and then you work your way up over a year or so. A small percentage of people may also need Vitamin C (e.g. ascorbic acid 3,000 mg). When supplementing with large doses of Iodine, you'll most likely want to do the Salt Water Protocol to reduce any detox symptoms from Bromine ... not to mention it reduces the pimples you'll get.

Salt Water Protocol = http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iprotocol.html

This right here is an awesome protocol.

If you're looking for more or still having a problem a year later you can also take http://www.iherb.com/Natural-Sources-Ra ... /6016?at=0

Also, besides Lugol's you may look into adding Nascent Iodine (e.g. magnascent) "as well."

hope this helps

[jdp710]

"TEST TWO:
This is called the Pupil test and primarily tests your levels of aldosterone, another adrenal hormone. You need to be in a darkened room with a mirror. From the side (not the front), shine a bright light like a flashlight or penlight towards your pupils and hold it for about a minute. Carefully observe the pupil. With healthy adrenals (and specifically, healthy levels of aldosterone), your pupils will constrict, and will stay small the entire time you shine the light from the side. In adrenal fatigue, the pupil will get small, but within 30 seconds, it will soon enlarge again or obviously flutter in it’s attempt to stay constricted. Why does this occur? Because adrenal insufficiency can also result in low aldosterone, which causes a lack of proper amounts of sodium and an abundance of potassium. This imbalance causes the sphincter muscles of your eye to be weak and to dilate in response to light. Click here to see a video of fluctuating pupils, and thanks to Lydia for providing this.
TEST THREE:
Let someone shine a bright light your way. Even the above pupil test could have revealed this. Do you find yourself very sensitive and uncomfortable with the bright light? That could be a sign of adrenal fatigue. And this can also be true if you have searing headaches along with the sensitivity.
TEST FOUR:
You can determine your thyroid and adrenal status by following Dr. Rind with a temperature graph. You simply take your temp 3 times a day, starting three hours after you wake up, and every three hours after that, to equal three temps. (If you have eaten or exercised right before it’s time to take your temp, wait 20 more minutes.) Then average them for that day. Do this for AT LEAST 5 days. If your averaged temp is fluctuating from day to day more than .2 to .3, you need adrenal support. If it is fluctuating but overall low, you need more adrenal support and thyroid. If it is fluctuating but averaging 98.6, you just need adrenal support. If it is steady but low, you need more thyroid and adrenals are likely fine. (We note that mercury thermometers are the most accurate.)"

[jdp710]

More info using Selenium, Zinc and Iodine for hypothyroid from peach_thru_unity http://curezone.com/forums/fm.asp?i=912938#i

-----------------------------------------------------

The thyroid gland synthesizes two major hormones, triiodothyronine
(T3), which is the main biologically active thyroid hormone, and thyroxine (T4),
which is the precursor of the former. Thyroid hormones promote cellular growth and
development.
(Cavalieri 1997 (http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B7)

The thyroid gland is morphologically organized in follicles. These contain
the colloid, surrounded by a single-layer epithelium. The shape of the
epithelial cells is strongly affected by thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). The
synthesis of T4 and T3 occurs within thyroglobulin at the cell-colloid
interphase.

Microvilli project from the surface of the follicle into the colloid, followed
by endocytosis of thyroglobulin, which is in turn hydrolyzed to release the
hormones and transferred through the basal membrane to the capillary.
(Greenspan 1994
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B18).


Several micronutrients are involved in thyroid hormone metabolism. Iodine is
crucial for the formation of the hormones at the thyroid gland.
(Clugston and Hetzel 1994
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B9).


Between 59 and 65% of total body iodine is contained in the thyroid hormones. Selenium and zinc also have important roles in thyroid metabolism. Selenium
participates in the extrathyroidal deiodination of T4 to the active form T3.
(Arthur et al. 1993
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B4)


Zinc, in addition to its participation in protein synthesis, is involved in T3 binding to its nuclear receptor.
(Miyamoto et al. 1991
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B27)


Iodine deficiency is among the three most common nutritional deficiencies
worldwide. (WHO/UNICEFF/ICCIDD, 1994).

Zinc deficiency is thought to be a prevalent condition in less affluent societies. (Gibson 1994
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B13,
Ruz 1995
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B33)


Selenium deficiency, although less prevalent than iodine and zinc deficiencies, has also been reported in some areas of the globe.
(Levander 1987
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B23)


Current evidence indicates that the simultaneous occurrence of nutritional
deficiencies of more than one of these micronutrients could be more common than
previously considered.
(Diplock
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B12,
Vanderpas et al. 1993
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B40).


These situations may have important implications regarding the form in which such deficiencies are expressed. For instance, combined deficiency of selenium and iodine has been suggested as a potential determining factor in the development of the myxedematous or nervous form of endemic cretinism.
(Goyens et al. 1987
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B15,

Vanderpas et al. 1990
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/129/1/174#B41)


Thus, there is a need to explore the effects of nutritional deficiencies of
iodine, selenium and zinc, either alone or in combination.