RE: Low Minerals and Vitamins and the Thyroid Connection

[Guest guest]

I think all that means is that whatever T4 you are taking will not be doing you

much good so long as the anaemia remains unaddressed.

I don't think it means that you need to take some other thyroid treatment

because the same thing would be true whether you were taking thyroxine, natural

dessicated hormone or T3.

Miriam

> The last sentence before the References says;

> " Additionally, T4 should not be considered adequate thyroid replacement if

iron deficiency is present... "

[Guest guest]

Hello

There is not one

specific reason why thyroid hormone cannot be fully utilised at the cellular

level - there are several, and we have to go through each one of the

possibilities if thyroid hormone isn't working as it should by way of a process

of elimination until we find the culprit.

The main condition

responsible for stopping thyroid hormone from working is, quite simply, a

patient’s thyroxine dose is too low because the doctor or consultant

refuses to increase it, because the serum thyroid function test results appear

OK. Sometimes, the thyroxine dose is too high, yet patients still don't feel

well. They continue to suffer. Some reasons for this:

·

They

may be suffering with low adrenal reserve. The production of T4, its conversion

to T3, and the receptor uptake requires a normal amount of adrenal hormones,

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

however.) 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 for a long time, the

enzyme seems to fail. This conversion failure (inexplicably denied by

many endocrinologists) means the thyroxine builds up, unconverted. So it

doesn’t work, and T4 toxicosis results. This makes the patient feel quite

unwell, toxic, often with palpitations and chest pain. If provision of adrenal

support doesn’t remedy the situation, the final solution is the use of

the active thyroid hormone, already converted, T3 - either synthetic or

natural.

·

They

may be suffering with systemic candidiasis. This is where candida albicans,

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 terrible

sweet cravings. 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, and make successful treatment difficult to

achieve until adequately treated.

·

They

may have receptor resistance which could be a culprit. Being hypothyroid

for some considerable time may mean the biochemical mechanisms which permit the

binding of T3 (the ACTIVE3 thyroid hormone) to the receptors, is downgraded -

so the T3 won’t go in. With slow build up of T3, with full adrenal

support and adequate vitamins and minerals, the receptors do come on line

again. But this can be quite a slow process, and care has to be taken to

build the dose up gradually.

·

And

then there are 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.

·

Then

we have 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.

·

Then,

and I think this is what you are referring to,  there are SPECIFIC nutrients

that MUST be tested to see whether any of these are low in the reference range,

and these are - iron, transferring saturation%, ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin

D3, magnesium, folate, copper and zinc. If any of these are low in the range,

thyroid hormone is unable to get into the cells where it has to do it's work,

so symptoms will persist. Below I have listed some references to the

research/studies that show the association between low levels of any of these

and low thyroid and you could copy these off and show the GP if /she is not

aware of any connection.

Low

iron/ferritin:

Iron deficiency is shown to significantly reduce T4 to T3 conversion, increase

reverse T3 levels, and block the thermogenic (metabolism boosting) properties

of thyroid hormone (1-4). Thus, iron deficiency, as indicated by an iron

saturation below 25 or a ferritin below 70, will result in diminished

intracellular T3 levels. Additionally, T4 should not be considered adequate

thyroid replacement if iron deficiency is present (1-4)).

1.

Dillman E, Gale C, Green W, et al. Hypothermia in iron

deficiency due to altered triiodithyroidine metabolism. Regulatory, Integrative

and Comparative Physiology 1980;239(5):377-R381.

2.

SM, PE, Lukaski HC. In vitro hepatic

thyroid hormone deiodination in iron-deficient rats: effect of dietary fat.

Life Sci 1993;53(8):603-9.

3.

Zimmermann MB, Köhrle J. The Impact of Iron and Selenium

Deficiencies on Iodine and Thyroid Metabolism: Biochemistry and Relevance to

Public Health. Thyroid 2002;12(10): 867-78.

4.

Beard J, tobin B, Green W. Evidence for Thyroid Hormone

Deficiency in Iron-Deficient Anemic Rats. J. Nutr. 1989;119:772-778.

Low vitamin B12: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18655403

Low vitamin D3: http://www.eje-online.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/3/329

and http://www.goodhormonehealth.com/VitaminD.pdf

Low magnesium:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC292768/pdf/jcinvest00264-0105.pdf

Low folate: http://www.clinchem.org/cgi/content/full/47/9/1738

and http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/thy.1999.9.1163

Low  copper http://www.ithyroid.com/copper.htm

http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/copper_toxicity_syndrome.htm

http://www.ithyroid.com/copper.htm

http://www.rjpbcs.com/pdf/2011_2(2)/68.pdf

http://ajplegacy.physiology.org/content/171/3/652.extract

Low zinc:http://www.istanbul.edu.tr/ffdbiyo/current4/07%20Iham%20AM%C4%B0R.pdf

and http://articles.webraydian.com/article1648-Role_of_Zinc_and_Copper_in_Effective_Thyroid_Function.html

Ferritin levels for women need to be between 9[00 and 130

for women

Vitamin B12 needs to be at the top of the range.

D3 levels need to be above 50.

As Dr Peatfield says " 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.

The above problems must be eliminated if thyroid hormone

isn't working for you.

Luv - Sheila xx

The above document is in " our files " .

Can I please ask the person who wrote it (or someone who knows!) a question?

The last sentence before the References says;

" Additionally, T4 should not be considered adequate thyroid replacement if

iron deficiency is present... "

I have tried to read the references with no joy in answering the following

question.

What should one have in addition to T4 if one has an iron deficiency?

Please can someone help to give us a way forward?

Kind regards

PeteD

On behalf of a long suffering wife.

[Guest guest]

There is not one specific reason why thyroid hormone cannot be fullyutilised at the cellular level - there are several, and we have to gothrough each one of the possibilities if thyroid hormone isn't working as itshould by way of a process of elimination until we find the culprit. Don't forget also amalgam fillings in your teeth give off mercury vapours. Any heavy metal including mercury and excess iron, will prevent the thyroid hormone from converting too. Flouridation in the water and flouride in your toothpaste is another way of preventing your body utilising the thyroid hormone properly and indeed depresses the thyroid gland function also.

Soy foods are known to cause problems with thyroid gland function and take up of thyroid hormone at the cellular level.

High Oestrogen levels can have a similar effect. Imbalance of sex hormones is both caused by thyroid dysfunction and also causes the same. and so on and so forth.

[Guest guest]

Many thanks to Miriam and all the others who answered my query.It is so helpful to be able to get a different slant on things.Peace of mind is a great thing, thanks again.The long road continues......PeteD