Another question........

[Guest guest]

Sorry you will get fed up of me but I really need to get some advice and quickly.

My brother who had sever thyroid storm a few years ago and had his thyroid killed off with RAI, is now taking 300 mg synthetic Levothyroxine a day and he is still hypo-t. Putting on weight so fast he can hardly walk now.

He complains of feeling tired all the time, has constant headaches and loads of other symtptoms but his GP, (he doesn't live in my neck of the woods) says the blood test results are fine and he will have to persevere.

I have told him this isn't right but he wants someone else to back this up as well.

Apparently my own experiences of synthetic LevoT haven't been enough to convince him.

I will send him any replies you leave here so that he can see for himself it isn't just me being a nutter, (which is how he thinks of me).

Thanks all,

Luv Lynne x

[Guest guest]

Hi

Lynn

If

your brother has access to the Internet I would recommend that he joins us on

this forum - he will learn a lot, especially if he really does want to know why

the synthetic levothyroxine isn't working as it should for him. Tell him that

there are several conditions that go along with being hypothyroid that will

stop his levothyroxine from working. According to Dr Peatfield, some of these

conditions are:

1.

The thyroxine dose is too low.

Often this is the

case, and the doctor or consultant won’t increase it, since the blood

levels appear perfectly okay. Sometimes, though, the dose of thyroxine is

quite high – 200 mcg – 300 mcg – but you still don’t

feel well.

2.

Partial response to the single synthetic thyroxine

replacement.

Your thyroid produces

other hormones apart from thyroxine (which is a mainly inactive hormone

anyway). These are T3, T2, T1, and most of us need them all. Without them

our response is limited and synthetic thyroxine may not suit the system as well

as the natural thyroid hormones.

3.

Adrenal fatigue or exhaustion.

This is very commonly

met with indeed. The production of thyroxine (T4), its conversion to the

active hormone liothyronine (T3), and the receptor uptake (called

‘binding’) requires a normal amount of adrenal hormones, notably,

of course, cortisone. (Excess cortisone can shut production down,

however.) Go to our web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk , click on

]'Hypothyroidism' and then click on 'Associated Conditions' and read about the

adrenal/thyroid connection there.

4.

Failure of the 5 dei-iodinase enzyme.

This is what happens

if the adrenals are not responding properly, and provision of cortisone usually

switches it on again. But sometimes it doesn’t. If the

illness has been going on too long, the enzyme seems to fail. This

conversion failure (in explicably denied by many endocrinologists) means the

thyroxine builds up, unconverted. So it doesn’t work, and T4

toxicosis results. This makes you feel quite unwell, toxic, often with

palpitations and chest pain. (I refer to this further on.) If

provision of adrenal support doesn’t remedy the situation, the final

solution is the use of the thyroid hormone, already converted, T3.

5.

Receptor resistance.

Being hypothyroid for

some considerable time may mean the biochemical mechanisms which permit the

binding of T3 to the receptors is downgraded; the T3 just won’t go

in. With slow build up of T3, with full adrenal support and adequate

vitamins and minerals, the receptors do actually come on line again. But

this can be quite a slow process, and care has to be taken to build the dose up

gradually. It is recommended to get the 24 hour salivary adrenal profile done

through Genova Diagnostics which tests your cortisol and DHEA levels at four

specific times during the day. TPA-UK get discount for thyroid and adrenal

tests.

6.

Food allergies.

The most common food

allergy is allergy to gluten, the protein fraction of wheat. The antibody

generated by the body, by a process of molecular mimicry, cross reacts with the

thyroperoxidase enzyme, (which makes thyroxine) and shuts it down. So

allergy to bread can make you hypothyroid.

There may be other

food allergies with this kind of effect, but information on these is

scanty. Certainly allergic response to certain foods can affect adrenal

function and imperil thyroid production and uptake.

7.

Presence of systemic candidiasis.

This is where candida

albicans, a yeast, which causes skin infections almost anywhere in the body,

invades the lining of the lower part of the small intestine and the large

intestine. Here, the candida sets up residence in the warmth and the

dark, and demands to be fed. Loving sugars and starches, candida can make

you suffer frightful sweet cravings. (I wouldn’t be surprised if it

can synthesize a neurotransmitter, which causes such craving that you have

to have chocolate, on pain of death.)

Candida can produce

toxins which can cause very many symptoms of exhaustion, headache, general

illness, and which interfere with the uptake of thyroid and adrenal

treatment. Sometimes the levels – which we usually test for –

can be very high indeed, and make successful treatment difficult to achieve

until adequately treated. (More of this further on.)

8.

Hormone imbalances.

The whole of the

endocrine system is linked; each part of it needs the other parts to be

operating normally to work properly. An example of this we have seen

already, with cortisone. But another example is the operation of sex

hormones. The imbalance that occurs at the menopause with progesterone

running down, and a relative dominance of oestrogen is a further case in point

– oestrogen dominance downgrades production, transportation and uptake of

thyroid hormones. This is why hypothyroidism may first appear at the

menopause; the symptoms ascribed to this alone, which is then treated –

often with extra oestrogen, making the whole thing worse. Deficiency in

progesterone most especially needs to be dealt with, since it reverses

oestrogen dominance, improves many menopausal symptoms like sweats and mood

swings, and reverses osteoporosis. Happily natural progesterone cream is

easily obtained: when used it has the added benefit of helping to stabilise

adrenal function.

When

you have been quite unwell for a long time, all these problems have to be dealt

with; and since each may affect the other, it all has to be done rather

carefully.

He

should read the information in our FILES and in our web site - and if he

actually joined us on the forum, he would soon learn how many others there are

who are on both low and high doses of the synthetic mainly inactive hormone T4

that are still very unwell and who are getting their health back on natural

desiccated thyroid extract. Desiccated thyroid extract was the ONLY medication

for all sufferers of hypothyroidism for over 50 years before the synthetic

thyroxine was manufactured. There were never any problems and once patients

were taken off their thyroid extract and made to take the synthetic T4, a whole

bunch of problems came in. Those who started to suffer the symptoms of

hypothyroidism and had normal serum thyroid function tests were told they must

be suffering with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. This was the time

these 'new' illnesses were 'invented' because their doctors told them their

thyroid was perfectly normal because the blood tests showed it was (

Sufferers with CFS and FM often find their symptoms go when started on a T3

containing product.

Your

brother is one of several thousands of sufferers who believe that synthetic T4

should work for everybody. It doesn't. It is the active T3 that has to get into

every cell to make both the body and brain function. Tell him to read the

responses to the Royal College of Physicians. the4 British Thyroid Association

et al. latest guidance on the diagnosis and management of primary

hypothyroidism that are on our web site that have been written by medical

researchers, doctors, and even yours truly - he might get an idea why his

300mcgs levothyroxine isn't working and is very unlikely to work.

Luv

- Sheila

Sorry you will

get fed up of me but I really need to get some advice and quickly.

My brother who

had sever thyroid storm a few years ago and had his thyroid killed off with

RAI, is now taking 300 mg synthetic Levothyroxine a day and he is still

hypo-t. Putting on weight so fast he can hardly walk now.

He complains of

feeling tired all the time, has constant headaches and loads of other symtptoms

but his GP, (he doesn't live in my neck of the woods) says the blood test

results are fine and he will have to persevere.

I have told him

this isn't right but he wants someone else to back this up as well.

Apparently my

own experiences of synthetic LevoT haven't been enough to convince him.

I will send him

any replies you leave here so that he can see for himself it isn't just me

being a nutter, (which is how he thinks of me).

Thanks all,

Luv Lynne x

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