You may have read this: wish he was my doc - Dr. Derry (CANADA)

[Guest guest]

After reading this, no-one will want to leave iodine off their list of

medical supplies for their survival kits.

MEDICINE March 18, 2002 Issue. Full Text.

An embattled doctor fights to prove that many fatal diseases are often

easily cured

by Candis McLean

A B.C. doctor's new treatment for breast cancer is being promoted in a

Web site that was opened in February. The organization behind the Web

site, www.bites-medical.org, is the Breast Iodine Thyroid Effectiveness

Society, incorporated in October to promote research and debate on the

little-known connection between breast cancer, iodine and thyroid.

The group is made up primarily of patients of , B.C., physician

Derry, 63, author of the 2001 book, Breast Cancer and Iodine

[Trafford Publishing 1- or sales@t...] In it, he

points out that breast-cancer mortality rates are unchanged since

records were first kept in the 1920s; today, one in eight Canadian women

can expect to develop breast cancer during her lifetime. Dr. Derry's

radical new thesis suggests a specific dose of the old-fashioned

antiseptic, iodine, prevents many diseases, including breast, prostate,

ovarian and colon cancer.

" I propose that...iodine and thyroid hormone act as a team to provide a

constant surveillance against abnormal cell development, chemicals that

are carcinogenic, and the spread of cancer cells within the body, "

writes Dr. Derry, who, in addition to holding an M.D., has a PhD in

neurochemistry and is a former University of Toronto Medical Research

Council Scholar.

" Cancer grows so slowly when using iodine and thyroid hormone therapy

that the cancer will not affect the lives of the patients who have it.

The treatment is non-invasive, inexpensive and safe. "

Dr. Derry also credits iodine with several other roles in the body:

a.. It protects against abnormal growth of bacteria in the stomach.

b.. It detoxifies chemicals, food poisoning, snake venom, etc.

c.. It coats incoming allergic proteins to make them non-allergic, and

probably defuses autoimmune disease mechanisms in the same way.

The problem, according to Dr. Derry, is the low dietary intake of iodine

in the Canadian diet, particularly with iodized salt intake being

generally reduced since the 1950s, depriving people of " the most

important element in the human diet. " What little iodine is consumed, is

captured first by the " master gland, " the thyroid, to produce thyroid

hormone, leaving little or none for other functions such as fighting

cancer. " I believe that if the iodine intake of the nations were raised

to levels above the saturation point of the thyroid, " Dr. Derry writes,

" there would be a precipitous drop in the cancer rate of the nation to

levels similar to those of Japan. There, he observes, rates of breast,

prostate and thyroid cancer are among the lowest in the world, and

iodine intake is the highest due to consumption of seaweed. " " These

levels of five to 10 mg. of iodine daily can be easily reached with

Lugol's [iodine] solution, " he explains, " one drop per day. " Dr. Derry

recommends the drop of iodine each day be taken in a glass of juice to

cover the mild taste.

One who champions the treatment is 62-year-old RN ie Staples of

. Diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago, she had a lump

surgically removed, followed by radiation therapy. Dr. Derry then placed

her on natural thyroid hormone plus iodine: 10 drops per day. " I used to

have cystic lumps of the worst kind, known to turn to cancer at over 10

times the normal rate; now I have no lumps at all. None. I'm very

healthy and have known many others who have had good results with the

iodine treatment. " Her opinion of Dr. Derry? " He colours outside the

lines--an original thinker. He didn't just one day decide he was going

to do this; he's done a lot of research. And he cares about his

patients. After working all day, he goes home and answers patients'

e-mails half the night. "

Outside the lines indeed. The pioneering physician is now the target of

an investigation by the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons which,

in November, temporarily removed his licence to prescribe thyroid

medication. If that condition becomes permanent, and he cannot go on

exploring thyroid, the general practitioner, with 60% of his practice

thyroid-related, says he might simply retire. " It would be too boring; I

like to fix people, " he explains.

Dr. Derry argues that his practice is not revolutionary; he is merely

returning to the traditional practice used between 1892 and 1973, before

a " hoax " hit. A huge shipment of the " dirt-cheap " natural desiccated

thyroid made from pigs' thyroids was found to be mysteriously lacking in

thyroid.

As a result of this scandal, patients got sick, and the use of

dessicated thyroid was largely discontinued in favour of the new,

man-made chemical

Suspicions about Synthroid have been growing ever since its arrival.

Last week its manufacturer privately settled a class action lawsuit in

the Ontario Superior Court, reportedly offering the litigants $2.25

million.

They had claimed the manufacturer suppressed a study to control the

thyroid market in Canada.

At the same time Synthroid was introduced, Dr. Derry says, " for no

reason at all, " dosages were dropped to one-third their previous levels,

and, rather than listening to patients' descriptions of their symptoms,

doctors were taught to rely instead on a lab test. As a result, he says,

the approximately 10% of the population who require thyroid according to

lab tests are being under-treated, while the many more who should be

started on thyroid medication are not.

" This was all done with no scrap of evidence and no comparison studies

being done--one of the biggest changes in the history of medicine, and

it was never checked, causing the biggest disaster medically of all

time, " storms Dr. Derry. " The numbers are staggering, the diseases and

deficiencies they have caused--including an epidemic of low IQs,

learning disabilities and dyslexia among their children--are

unbelievable, and the arrogance in their opinions and through their

teaching has led to many unnecessary deaths. "

Dr. Derry associates these dramatic medical changes in the mid-1970s

with the number of new diseases that were either first noticed or that

suddenly increased in the 1980s, including AIDS, chronic fatigue

syndrome, fibromyalgia, autism, ADHD, sleep apnea, hepatitis C and

Alzheimer's disease. He has found all of these ailments respond to

thyroid treatment, including Alzheimer's caught in the early stages:

" Brains sharpen within two weeks, although if Alzheimer's gets beyond me

I can usually slow it, but can't reverse it, " he says. After conducting

his own successful informal study on AIDS and thyroid, he attempted to

do a large-scale double-blind study, but found AIDS organizations

uninterested.

All of these research findings are new--in fact, most of them have never

been published outside his book before--and controversial. However, the

treatment the college is concerned about is neither new nor unique to

Dr. Derry. The focus is on the amount of thyroid he prescribes as a

result of his understanding that one in 10 patients can require much

higher than the normal dosage. This finding was documented in textbooks

of the 1960s.

" Ignorance has allowed the college to manipulate this material to make

it look as if I were overdosing some patients, " he says. " Since those

requiring higher thyroid usually had a traumatic childhood, my theory is

that long-term stress makes the receptors for hormones, particularly

thyroid, less receptive. As a result, the current practice taught by

endocrinologists is a terrible injustice to these people who have had

childhood-abuse problems. "

The registrar of the B.C. College of Physicians and Surgeons, Dr.

VanAndel, comments: " There is room for innovation in controlled,

ethical settings where patients are aware they are being experimented

on, with controls and checks and balances such as in a university

setting, but not every technician should be given free rein. Dr. Derry's

treatment is not only non-mainstream, but this type of care has

significant risk which was brought out in court. People may feel better

on high doses of thyroid, but sudden irregularities of the heart can

result in complications, including sudden death. Dr. Derry is saying,

'Show us the bodies,' but the college would be legitimately criticized

if it waited for bodies. "

Responds Dr. Derry: " This is untrue. 'Significant risk' never came out

in court. There's a great deal of ignorance, even among physicians, that

natural dessicated thyroid is the safest drug--a natural

hormone--discovered in the last two centuries. [These] barely

potty-trained physicians and academics have no idea how to interview a

patient and appreciate the suffering they have been going through.

Millions are suffering, and they talk of university-monitored research.

The university academia are the cause of the problem, not the place to

look for a solution. No one has been harmed under my thyroid care;

however, the college has temporarily banned my prescribing thyroid in

any form. So far, he says, the college's ban has caused the death of two

people directly related to their inability to get adequate thyroid

medication. He fully expects more deaths to follow. " I warned the

college of this fact and they told me the patients could get it from

other physicians. But because of the chill induced by the college's

actions, this is not happening. Several patients have run out of thyroid

and are threatening suicide. "

As for Dr. VanAndel's assertion about possible sudden death from high

doses of thyroid, Dr. Derry responds: " Dr. VanAndel has stated the above

but refused to quote the reference that confirms this type of argument.

Where does he get this? It does not exist. " He concludes, " The college

has an infinite amount of money and absolute licence to do anything they

want.

They could close my practice or bury me in concrete. "

Dr. Derry's lawyer, Doyle of , says the college's refusal

to set a date for a full hearing has left Dr. Derry " twisting in the

wind indefinitely. " Like several Ontario doctors facing the loss of

their licences, Dr. Derry plans a court challenge to the college,

claiming the Charter of Rights protects patients' rights to choose the

medical treatment they find effective.

'I have to lie to survive'

THEY say Dr. Derry's treatment is risky. What about traditional

medicine? " storms resident Janice Kellington, 46. " In March

1990 [another doctor] gave me a 'magic drink' of irradiated iodine to

slow down my thyroid. I don't remember anyone saying it could kill the

entire gland.

Up until then, I owned a restaurant and always did five things at a

time.

After the drink I woke up stupid. I didn't have the energy to rip a

match off. It was a complete disaster. " The number of her visits to the

doctor catapulted from three a year to 30 a year. After three years of

trekking to doctors, of losing her restaurant and " dying bit by bit "

while being placed on six different antidepressants, none of which

worked, Ms. Kellington was referred to Dr. Derry. " The other doctors had

said, 'You must be fine because your blood work says you're fine.' I

kept saying, 'You're not giving me enough thyroid,' but nothing that

came out of my mouth mattered.

" Dr. Derry listened to me, doubled my medication and within 12 hours the

lights started to go back on; I got my peripheral vision back, my energy

back and my life. My business partner said I was back after three years

of Alzheimer's. "

As for Dr. Derry's problems with the College of Physicians and Surgeons,

she says, " I'm distraught about what's happening to him. I'll have to

resort to lies to get the medication I need because anyone who gives me

this high a dosage will be in the same trouble. I have to learn to lie

to survive. They killed my gland and made me a junkie and the thought of

doing without the [high dose of] thyroid, well, they're going to kill

me. "

Ms. Kellington says she is not the only patient concerned. While

standing outside the college in the rain as Dr. Derry's case was being

heard last October, she talked to some of the 40 other patients

protesting.

" I asked one woman why she was crying; she said because she was going

back to work. She had spent two years in bed because they had given her

the murderous [irradiated] drink three times, and somehow Dr. Derry had

got her back to health. Yet they make it sound like he's the

irresponsible one!

Just think of the savings he provides the healthcare system in

appointments and psychologists; I would have spent half my life in a nut

house. "

When patient Lorna Weir has an appointment with Dr. Derry, she flies

across the country. A professor of Sociology of Health at York

University in Toronto, in 1998 she was suffering from chronic exhaustion

and depression so " catastrophic " that she was sleeping 18 hours a day

and had to take time off work. Treatment by Dr. Derry changed her life.

" I'm deeply disappointed in the B.C. College's inability to look at

existing peer-reviewed literature and take into account the scientific

evidence that benefits patients, " she says. " They are behaving in an

authoritarian way at variance with scientific research.

" Colleges are supposed to protect the public interest; the B.C.

college is violating it. Dr. Derry is really gifted at dealing with

problem cases. Patients all across the land stand by him because they

know the wonderful effects these treatment methods have had on their

health. In the States there is much more variation allowed; gifted

practitioners don't get shut down. I have reason to believe this is a

turf war--the initial complaint came from an endocrinologist; they're

specialists defending against a GP lower in the pecking order. "