From Janie, at Stop The Thyroid Madness

[Guest guest]

Sue’s remarkable and shocking story about cellulose

as a filler in our thyroid meds

Posted: 04 Aug 2010 04:16 PM

PDT

I received in an email from Sue in Australia.

Sue’s son has complex

difficulties with a diagnosis of sarcoidosis,

an inflammation disease that can occur throughout your body. From the disease,

says Sue, he was fairly emaciated, which is common with Sarcoidosis (emaciated

means he was basically “skin and bones”).

He was also born without a thyroid.

So he’s been on compounded natural desiccated thyroid–the

way thyroid is made in Australia–and of course, the filler has been

cellulose.

When she read from STTM (see here) about the

problems with cellulose and the way it binds the desiccated

thyroid–making the compounded thyroid less effective–she approached

a biomedical doctor to have the filler changed to acidophillus as suggested. He

instead suggested glycine powder. Glycine is a non-essential amino acid and

neurotransmitter which helps with digestion, central nervous system

health, besides create muscle tissue and convert glucose into energy.

And, says Sue, “the immediate reaction was

startling as my son who had been suffering from emaciation for years with a

diagnosis of sarcoidosis put on over a kilo in much needed weight in the space

of little more than a week.” In fact, she now wonders if much

of his problems has been related to his lack of thyroid, and the cellulose

filler making the medication less effective, all along!

Says Sue, “His case is

a complex one, having been born without a thyroid gland, but the removal of

cellulose ( or the addition of glycine or both) have certainly heralded some

exciting changes”.

She also added, “There must be more to this than

meets the eye. I did have to reduce his thyroid extract dose as I’m

assuming that the binding effect of the cellulose meant he was on a higher dose

than necessary to get a reasonable result and/or perhaps glycine enhances

absorbtion. I’m sorry there are still quite a few questions to be

answered and the results of a blood test in a few weeks time will be

interesting. I’ll keep you updated.”

Bottom line: adding cellulose as a

filler with desiccated thyroid has been a disaster, as patients discovered

after both Armour by Forest Labs and Naturethroid by RLC Labs

were reformulated in 2009 and early 2010, respectively.

If you are on either Armour or

Naturethroid, make sure you CHEW THE TABLETS UP thoroughly to release the

desiccated thyroid from the binding cellulose. You can also choose to use a

mortar and pestle to pulverize the tablets, and add a touch of honey or sugar,

which helps with digestion.

If you are on compounded desiccated

thyroid, ask the pharmacist to change the filler to acidophilus. Or ask about Glycine (or L-Glycine)

to see if it is good for your particular situation.

All good alternatives for thyroid treatment are found here.