With regard to the article by Doris Jones (‘The scandal of thyroid care’) and the suspension of Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield (WDDTY, vol 12 no 5), it may interest your readers to know that I have had tremendous success in treating my underactive thryroid with the help of a nutritionist, medical herbalist and homoeopath, and through exercise, meditation and creative visualisation.

My GP has been extremely supportive of my decision not to take drugs over the past three years and is quite amazed at what I have achieved. Maybe she was prepared to go along with my ideas because my T4 levels never fell below the lower normal limit. (What is normal anyway?) However, on one occasion, my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level dropped down to 24 and she did wobble a little!

My TSH levels are now normal and I am pleased to say that my thyroid is now functioning normally.

I am gradually reducing the supplements I have been taking under the direction of a nutritionist. At present, I am taking a maintenance dose of 5 mL daily of underactive herbal thyroid tincture, TH 207 x 1 daily, Femforte 11 x 1 daily and one homoeopathic dose of Fucus. (Both TH 207 and Femforte 11 are available from BioCare.)

I took responsibility for my own health – against all the odds. As far as orthodox medicine is concerned, I now have an ‘active’ thyroid gland. I read everything I could lay my hands on about the thyroid gland. An article written by Helen Kimber – ‘Complete synergistic support for an underactive thyroid gland’ (reproduced in Nutri News, a newsletter published by The Nutri Centre) – was especially helpful and interesting.

My thyroid was also found to be normal on ultrasound. I arranged to have this test done myself at the Viveka Clinic in St John’s Wood, in London, in conjunction with ultrasound of my breasts. This gave me the confidence to continue with my regime.- E. Barnett, Bucks

I have been taking my underarm temperature first thing in the morning for a few weeks and have found temperatures ranging from 97 degrees to 98.2 degrees!

The article states that the most accurate readings are taken on days two and three after a period starts, but doesn’t mention the best days for men or postmenopausal women. D K, Langdon Hills…….

A:Taking your Basal Temperature can be an initial indicator of possible hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid), since low body temperature is one symptom.

The Basal Body Temperature is the lowest temperature that you achieve during the day. The test entails placing a thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes on waking and before rising out of bed. Supposedly normal readings are between 97.8 and 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit (36.6 and 37 degrees Celsius); anything lower is supposedly abnormal. It is the same test used for natural family planning in women since female hormones cause the body temperature to fall slightly just before ovulation and then rise just after.

But we stress that it is only an indicator. The danger is relying on any single test or factor to determine thyroid function or, for that matter, health. Recently, Diana Holmes, one of our readers, sent in a paper excoriating doctors for relying totally on blood tests for hypothyroidism. She based some of her fascinating conclusions on the work of Dr Broda O Barnes, who studied hypothyroidism for some 35 years.

Currently, doctors tend to assess thyroid function by performing blood tests to measure three thyroid hormones in the blood. These tests examine the amount of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), the hormone released from the pituitary gland to cause the thyroid to secrete thyroid hormones and also the hormones themselves: T4 (thyroxine) and T3 (triiodothyronine), which regulate your metabolism by setting the rate at which reactions take place in individual cells.

As Diana points out, the blood tests are very limited because they will show accurate levels of thyroid hormone in the blood, but not how much the body is able to use or how much is necessary for an individual patient’s health. No test has yet been devised to show how much hormone is actually present inside each cell in the body. Furthermore, the tests are based on a cross section of so-called normal people’s thyroid function, when many of those comprising the “normal” range may themselves not really be normal. The test may also show as “low normal” many people whose true health demands that they be in the higher range of normal.

Measuring levels of hormone in the blood also won’t show whether there is exhaustion of adrenal glands, which will effect hormone uptake, or malfunction at receptor sites, she says, or whether the conversion of one hormone to another is adequate. There is also the problem inherent in all laboratory work: human error or the margin of error built into the test. Our Alternatives columnist Harald Gaier says that when he orders up blood tests for thyroid and they come back as abnormal, he often will request a new set from another lab, just to be sure.

The other problem with the test is that it will register as “underactive” patients whose low output is perfectly adequate for their needs. By relying solely on a test, doctors also adopt a simplistic solution, believing that simple replacement of the “low” hormone will sort out the problem. This one-dimensional approach may be why thyroxine replacement therapy so often doesn’t work.

In one University of Birmingham study of 102 patients, nearly half given replacement therapy had levels of TSH outside normal levels (The Lancet, January 19, 1991). Furthermore, thyroxine replacement therapy often doesn’t do any good. A Danish study divided up a group of 206 patients who’d had surgery for goitres (swelling due to inadequate thyroid uptake of iodine), and gave half thyroxine and half no treatment. After nine years, the group which received nothing had no higher recurrence of goitre than those who’d received the hormone. And of course if you’re given thyroxine for spurious reasons, such as for overweight, your own production of the hormone will decline; if you haven’t had a thyroid problem when you started, you’ll certainly end up with one.

This is one reason why tests, in Dr Gaier’s view, should comprise only one marker of this disease but must be consistent with the entire clinical picture, which can vary tremendously between patients. The main symptom is a decrease in metabolic rate, which is evidenced by general slowing of mental and physical function feelings of tiredness, cold, weight gain, general pains, forgetfulness and lack of ability to concentrate. Even the pulse is slow.

One blood test he does find useful examines for autoimmune diseases by assessing whether the body produces anitibodies that attack its own thyroid tissue. These tests would confirm suspected autoimmune disease, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Grave’s disease.

It’s also wise to keep in mind that there can be many complex causes of thyroid dysfunction and an entire range of solutions. Sometimes a low thyroid will need nothing more than supplementing with kelp; in other cases, further investigation may reveal that the problem has to do with something else in the endochrine system. Oftentimes women with unbalanced hormone levels will have thyroid problems, since both TSH and sex hormones are regulated by the pituitary gland in the brain; as soon as the sex hormone imbalance is corrected, the thyroid often functions much better.

This tiny bow-tie-shaped gland is our body’s central metabolic regulator and, when it goes awry (as it can in today’s highly toxic environment), it can cause untold mayhem. Hundreds of thousands of people – one-sixth of the over 55s, according to one survey – are walking around with undiagnosed underactive thyroid. Half of all women and a quarter of all men will die with an inflamed thyroid (J Pathol Bacteriol, 1962; 83: 255-64). This becomes all the more serious when you consider that a thyroid gland out of control can sometimes even kill you.

Indefatigable researcher Doris Jones, who has tirelessly searched for an answer to her son’s myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), has discovered copious evidence that undiagnosed thyroid problems may be one of the major elements contributing to those puzzling diseases of the 21st century like ME, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome now appearing in epidemic numbers (see Special Report, p 1).

Doctors have trouble diagnosing an underactive thyroid because they use the wrong tests. They still cling to a number of blood tests, which don’t tell them about the full state of a person’s thyroid, only about the levels of thyroid hormone circulating in the blood. These tests also can’t tell them how much thyroid hormone the body is able to use or how much is necessary to ensure an individual’s health.

To make matters even more complicated, a host of conditions and drugs can throw off a thyroxine reading. Even taking the Pill can give a false picture of the state of your thyroid.

Doctors like Barry Durrant-Peatfield have successfully diagnosed patients simply by relying on a simple, non-invasive test developed by Dr Broda Barnes, a thyroid expert, 30 years ago. Dr Barnes, who believed that many people have subtle thyroid disorders that don’t show up on any blood test, publicised a simple, accurate test for both hypo- and hyperthyroid conditions that can be done at home (Barnes B, Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness, London: Harper & Row, 1976).

Barnes’ test involves recording your basal body temperature (BBT), the body’s lowest temperature during its waking day. This is invariably when you wake up, but before you get out of bed in the morning.

The test simply entails placing a thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes first thing in the morning before you get out of bed for several days and recording the results. (Premenopausal women need to take the test on days two or three of the menstrual cycle.) A normal reading ranges between 36.6 and 36.8 degrees centigrade (97.8 to 98.2 degrees). Anything markedly below this could signal that the individual has an underactive thyroid; anything markedly higher suggests an overactive one. Of course, a good doctor will also consider and exclude other causes of a low basal body temperature, and the BBT test is no substitute for careful and complete history-taking.

According to Dr Peatfield, this test has been ignored or derided by many practitioners and authorities. Doctors used to diagnosing on the basis of a scientific reading, like a laborary result, tend to suspect anything as simple as a thermometer reading. The tragedy is that this reliance on gadgetry is blinding medicine to the simple wisdom of Peatfield’s approach and instigating a witch hunt to round up all those doctors who refuse to diagnose thyroid disorders on the basis of blood tests.

As with most areas of medicine, space-age equipment and high-tech lab results are no substitute for having a good look at a patient and listening to his story. In order to figure out how to treat some of the most puzzling new illnesses plaguing us nowadays, doctors may have to recover some of the lost art of traditional medicine: learning again how to read the state of a patient’s tongue.

Lynne McTaggart

Causes of an underactive thyroid

* Iodine deficiency. This was the most common cause of hypothyroidism in the past, as the thyroid gland adds iodine to the amino acid tyrosine to create thyroid hormones. This has become rare nowadays due to iodised table salt. Yet, it can still be caused by an excessive consumption of foods that block iodine utilisation such as turnips, cabbage, mustard, cassava root, soybean, peanuts, pinenuts and millet. However, cooking usually inactivates this blocking mechanism.

* Drugs, including lithium, dopamine, steroids, some cough mixtures, sulphonamide and even radiographic contrast agents can adversely affect the function of the thyroid.

* Mega-doses of vitamin C or of glutathione can alter thyroid function.

* Prolonged use of medicinal herbs such as bladder kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana), bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus), bugleweed (Lycopus virginicus), dulse (Rhodymenia palmetto) and sea tangle (Laminaria digitata) may bring about iodine-induced thyroid deficiency.

* Multivitamin preparations containing more than 100 mg (0.1 g) of iodine per capsule/tablet will eventually do the same thing (Nutr Health Rev, 1996, 75: 4).

* Iron supplements can bring on symptoms of hypothyroidism because iron binds to thyroxine, making it insoluble (Ann Intern Med, 1992; 117: 1010-3). And if you think taking iron will give you more energy (which you lack in hypothyroidism), you’re wrong.

* The medicinal herb ma huang (Ephedra sinica) is contraindicated in hyperthyroidism, also known as ‘thyrotoxicosis’.

Tests that work
Perhaps the best test to discover if you have an underfunctioning thyroid is the naturopathic basal body temperature (BBT) test. As soon as you wake up, place a thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes. Supposedly normal readings are 36.6-36.8°C (97.8-98.2°F). Anything lower could be an underactive thyroid and anything higher, an overactive one. If you’re a premenopausal woman, the most accurate measurement is on the second or third day of your menstrual cycle. Remember, the BBT will slightly rise and fall just before and after ovulation.

One of the best diagnostic tools is infrared thermography – which measures temperature as infrared radiation – both for early diagnosis and control during treatment. As the thyroids lie just below the skin (on each side of the throat), they are readily visualised by thermography.

Nutritional medicine

* Supplement with zinc, and vitamins A and E, which work together to make the thyroid hormones. A deficiency in any one of these nutrients will reduce the amount of active hormones produced. Low zinc is common in the elderly, as is hypothyroidism. Supplementing with zinc reestablishes normal thyroid function in zinc-deficient hypothyroid patients (Alt Ther Health Med, 1997; 3: 78-81). Riboflavin, niacin and pyridoxine (vitamins B2, B3 and B6, respectively), and vitamin C are also necessary for hormone synthesis, and copper, selenium and zinc are necessary for enzyme conversion of T4 to T3 (Clin Sci, 1995; 89: 637-42; Bio Trace Elem Res, 1992; 33: 155-6).

* Avoid eating too much bran or bioflavonoids, both of which lower levels of circulating thyroid hormones (J Clin Endocr Metab, 1996; 80: 857-9).

* Essential fatty acids are needed for the smooth functioning of thyroid cells, and the amino-acid tyrosine (200 mg/day) is also vital for the formation of thyroid hormones, and has been used successfully to treat some cases of hypothyroidism (Alt Ther Health Med, 1997; 3: 78-81).

Alternative medicine

* The homoeopathic remedy Iodum (low potency) taken twice daily, has shown success. In one study, circulating T3 and T4 hormone levels were increased by 20 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively, in those given the remedy (Br Hom J, 1988; 77: 152-60).

* Traditional Chinese medicinal herbs have also proven effective. In one study, 32 hypothyroid patients were treated for a year with the Chinese herbal preparation Shen Lu, and compared with 34 healthy controls. Following the herbal treatment, the patients’ symptoms markedly improved, with levels of T3 and T4 nearly doubled (Chung Kuo Chung His I Chieh Ho Tsa Chih, 1993; 13: 202-4).

* Try Thyrejuv, a combination remedy of nettles, Damiana, Siberian ginseng, parsley, Irish moss, mistletoe and kelp, produced and marketed by Nutriscene UK Ltd. Although there have been no controlled clinical trials of this medication, I have found it to be effective for T3 deficiencies.

Harald Gaier

Harald Gaier is a registered naturopath, osteopath, homoeopath and herbalist based at The Health Equation, 11 Harley Street, London W1G 9PF; tel: 020 7612 9800/07917 662 042.

Successfully treating thyroid disorders is a tall order for any doctor. It’s vital that he not only knows about the gland itself, but also that he understands the entire endocrine system, including the complex workings of the various biochemical pathways.

Unfortunately, most medical students receive, at most, half a day’s worth of schooling in the complexities of the endocrine system. Small wonder that knowledgeable and expert practitioners able to meet the varying needs of thousands of patients are exceptionally thin on the ground.

The result is an epidemic of people walking around with undiagnosed thyroid disorders. The latest information indicates that thyroid problems may play a significant role in many of the 21st century’s most puzzling illnesses, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). This is all the more serious as, in some circumstances, untreated or poorly treated thyroid problems can lead to death (Neal JM, Basic Endocrinology: An Integrated Approach, Oxford: Blackwell Science, 2000).

There is much controversy in medical circles over states of hypothyroidism, in particular where patients have normal blood tests, but show the clinical signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism. These conditions are described as ‘biochemically normal but clinically hypothyroid’.

Subclinical hypothyroidism is common, especially in elderly women. The presence of this condition or of thyroid antibodies increases the risk of developing overt hypothyroidism. The risk is even greater if both are present (BMJ, 1997; 314: 1175-8).

Screening for hypothyroidism is particularly important during pregnancy since undiagnosed hypothyroidism in pregnant women may adversely affect their fetus (N Engl J Med, 1999; 341: 549-55).

One reason that hypothyroidism so often goes undetected is the common misconception that a diagnosis of clinical hypothyroidism can be made from blood tests alone. But many conditions can change the amount of circulating thyroid hormones in the blood – everything from pregnancy, dieting and kidney problems to prescription drugs and even illness.

In such patients, thyroid function tests are virtually useless (BMJ, 2000; 320: 1332-4). Especially in elderly patients, some of whom may have pituitary tumours or hypopituitarism, testing only for TSH may be inappropriate. Unless a doctor diagnoses hypothyroidism through careful clinical examination and history-taking, the diagnosis is likely to be missed (BMJ, 2000: 321: 1275-7)

In addition, when patients are taking thyroid replacement therapy, other drugs can affect the amount needed or absorbed. A study in hypothyroid women treated with thyroxine showed that when they take oestrogen therapy at the same time, the usual doses of thyroxine may be inadequate (N Engl J Med, 2001; 344: 1743-9).

ME: the link with thyroid
Thyroid problems may be a culprit behind unexplained diseases such as ME/CFS and FMS. In most cases, the health problems experienced by these patients are part of a more basic and profound dysfunction, such as primary damage to the hypothalamus or pituitary gland through infection and/or some other insult. In Basic Endocrinology: An Integrative Approach, author J.M. Neal says that these different manifestations of thyroid dysfunction, especially those seen in hypothyroidism, require their own special treatment.

Psychiatrists have filled the major UK journals with articles postulating that ME/CFS and FMS have a psychiatric basis. In one recent report (Lancet, 1999; 354: 936-9), the authors suggest that the problems seen in conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, premenstrual syndrome, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), CFS and FMS are all in the head.

Such a mindset ignores the established research showing that abnormalities in ME/CFS patients may be due to thyroid, adrenal and other hormonal dysfunction. E.G. Dowsett, an eminent researcher in CFS, found that 5 per cent of female ME patients suffer from thyroiditis (Hyde BM et al., The Clinical and Scientific Basis of ME/CFS, Ottawa: Nightingale Research Foundation, 1992: 285-91). Byron Hyde, the leading Canadian researcher in this field, reports that glucose and TSH tests reveal that up to half of ME patients develop thyroid problems (Proceedings of the Second World Congress on CFS and Related Disorders, Brussels, September 1999, p 60).

At the same conference, Belgian researchers showed that TSH levels, among others, were elevated in CFS patients (Proceedings, p 62). In Why ME? (Crafton Books, 1989), author Dr Belinda Dawes acknowledges that, in ME and other environmental and allergic disorders, thyroid function is disturbed, and low-dose thyroid hormone supplementation, along with other supplements, is often appropriate.

Other eminent international researchers have found that the endocrine system in ME/CFS sufferers is disrupted (Rheum Dis Clin North Am, 1996; 22: 267-84; J Psychiatr Res, 1997; 31: 69-82; Horm Metab Res, 1999; 1: 18-21). A key feature is a defect in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 1991; 73: 1224-34; J CFS, 1995; 1: 59-66). In one study, computed tomography (CT) of ME patients showed that both adrenal glands were reduced by as much as 50 per cent compared with the controls (Radiology, 1998; 209P [Suppl]: 411-2).

One reason why this thyroid abnormality is often overlooked in ME patients is that it doesn’t show up in the usual neuroendocrine tests. In one large study, the researchers concluded that these tests are inadequate for ME/CFS patients (Scott LV, The role of the HPA axis in chronic fatigue syndrome [PhD thesis], British Library, 1997).

The evidence suggests that these patients may not have a truly normal thyroid function (‘euthyroid’), but may have what is known as ‘euthyroid sick syndrome’ (J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 1997; 82: 329-34). There may be a problem in conversion from T4 to T3, a process which takes place in the liver and is facilitated by several enzymes, and requires specific micronutrients to proceed smoothly (Medicine Endocrinology 23-24-98 html, Thyroid, Lecturer Dr Blum).

Possibly the most comprehensive list of common symptoms due to hypothyroidism seen in ME/CFS/FMS/MCS can be found on the website of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, Merck Manual, Thyroid Foundation of America (http://thyroid.miningco.com/blchklst.htm?pid=2750&cob=home).

Professor Timothy Dinan, University College in Cork, Ireland, has observed an increased prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in CFS patients. At a conference at the Royal Society of Medicine last October, he announced his discovery that, in CFS, as in other stress-related conditions, regulation of the HPA axis is abnormal and associated with diminished organ function.

In a recent randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, a well-known American team treated 72 FMS patients for subclinical thyroid, gonadal and/or adrenal insufficiency, disordered sleep, suspected neurally mediated hypotension, opportunistic infections and suspected nutritional deficiencies.

The treated group enjoyed significant improvement compared with the placebo group. Of 38 treated patients, 33 received thyroid replacement therapy, demonstrating that hypothyroidism plays an important role in FMS and CFS (J CFS, 2001; 8: 3-28). An earlier study by the same team reported similar results (Am J Med Sci, 2000; 320: 1-8). One researcher has even postulated that CFS, FMS and Persian Gulf syndrome share a common underlying cause: a magnesium deficiency plus a toxic excess of fluoride (J CFS, 1999; 5: 67-127).

Certain practitioners and researchers have treated patients with thyroid replacement therapy using either conventional synthetic thyroxine (T4) or natural thyroid hormones, such as Armour Thyroid, which contains the full complement of thyroid hormones, including the far more powerful T3. In the UK, Dr Gordon Skinner, perhaps the best known of these practitioners, proposes treating biochemically normal but clinically hypothyroid patients with low-dose thyroxine (BMJ, 1997; 314: 1764).

Skinner’s treatment has received publicity through the publication of Diana Holmes’ book Tears Behind Closed Doors (Avon Books, 1998), in which she tells of her years of being misdiagnosed before being correctly diagnosed and treated by Dr Skinner. Skinner and his team later published the results of their trials with patients like Holmes (J Nutr Environ Med, 2000; 10: 115-24).

Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield used a similar treatment regime (J Nutr Environ Med, 1996; 6: 371-8). Until recently, he prescribed thyroid replacement therapy to all patients with clinical hypothyroidism (not just patients with CFS/ ME/FMS), with low-dose adrenal support for those who needed it. He gained a solid reputation for successfully treating many patients with CFS/ ME/FMS as well as other thyroid and adrenal dysfunctions.

As Peatfield writes in his own information booklet, ‘With the pituitary-thyroid-adrenal axis damaged, the body’s immune system cannot recover, and the sufferer is frequently ill with apparent relapses of virus illness, other general illnesses, and indeed low-grade parasitic infections.’ (Durrant-Peatfield BJ, Diagnosis and Treatment of ME).

Nevertheless, Skinner’s approach has met with considerable opposition from medical practitioners in endocrinology and clinical biochemistry. Even the medical director of the ME Association, one of two major ME/CFS charities in the UK, opposed Skinner’s treatment on the grounds that its benefits were unproven and potentially dangerous (BMJ, 1997; 315: 813-4). Dr Peatfield recently had his medical licence suspended, the latest victim of the General Medical Council’s witch hunt on doctors using unorthodox procedures (WDDTY, vol 12 no 5).

Despite the wealth of evidence of disturbed thyroid functioning and other abnormalities of the HPA axis (notably adrenal deficiencies) in ME, the medical director of the ME Association recently co-authored a booklet stating: ‘There is no evidence of disturbed thyroid gland function in ME/CFS, and the use of thyroxine supplementation in people who have normal thyroid function tests is a controversial form of treatment which carries a number of risks, including the potential complication of precipitating an Addisonian crisis in patients with hypocortisolaemia [diminished production of cortisol by the adrenals]’.

Fibromyalgia and thyroid
Much of the research on FMS patients also points to thyroid problems as a hidden cause. A recent study reported that almost all of the hormonal feedback mechanisms controlled by the hypothalamus are altered in this condition. This includes elevated levels of ACTH, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and cortisol (hydrocortisone) as well as lowered levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, somatomedin C, free triiodothyronine (FT3) and oestrogen (Scand J Rheumatol Suppl, 2000; 11: 8-12).

Studies have shown that thyroid disorders, notably hypothyroidism, and altered reactivity of the HPA axis are a common feature in FMS patients (J Rheumatol, 1992; 19: 12120-2; J Rheumatol, 1993; 20: 469-74).

Dr John Lowe has documented his experiences with FMS patients and his study of fibromyalgia in a 1260-page publication The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia (McDowell Publishing, 2000). This book effectively argues that fibromyalgia is largely caused by inadequate thryroid hormone regulation of tissue functions.

The medical regulatory bodies have produced four ‘mandates’ to serve as guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of hypothyroidism:
1. A deficiency of thyroid hormone is the only cause of symptoms and signs characteristic of hypothyroidism
2. Clinicians should not permit patients with ‘normal’ thyroid test results to use thyroid hormone
3. Hypothyroid patients should use thyroid hormones only in ‘replacement dosages’ (dosages that keep TSH within its reference range)
4. Hypothyroid patients should only use thyroxine (T4).

To help the thousands of thyroid patients who fall outside this strict definition, Dr Peatfield and other practitioners have had to resort to violating accepted medical practice, knowing their risk of suspension or revocation of their licences. Indeed, one doctor goes so far as to argue that adherence to these ‘mandates’ is itself contributory to the sudden rise of new diseases.

FMS, CFS, ME and other such syndromes may not be all in the sufferers’ heads so much as in their necks, largely the result of a low thyroid problem not properly treated.

Doris Jones

Early symptoms
* Weakness; fatigue; arthralgias or myalgias; muscle cramps; cold intolerance; constipation; lethargy; dry skin; headache; menorrhagia
* Outstanding features: thin, brittle nails; thinning of hair; pallor with slack skin; delayed return of deep tendon reflexes. Other physical findings may be few or absent.

Late symptoms
* Slow speech; absence of sweating; constipation; peripheral oedema; pallor; hoarseness; decreased sense of taste and smell; muscle cramps; aches and pains; dyspnoea (laboured breathing); weight change (usually gain, but weight loss is not rare); deafness. Women may have menstrual irregularities
* Physical findings include puffiness of face and eyelids; yellow skin colour; thinning of outer halves of eyebrows; thickening of tongue; hard, pitting oedema (swelling) and fluid leakage into the lung, chest and/or heart cavities, enlargement of the heart (‘myxoedema heart’) and joints; slow heartbeat; possible hypothermia; pituitary enlargement.

Hyperthyroidism: symptoms and signs
* Nervousness; restlessness; heat intolerance; increased sweating; fatigue; weakness; muscle cramps; frequent bowel movements; weight change (usually loss)
* Possibly palpitations or angina pectoris; menstrual irregularities; hypokalaemic periodic paralysis; possible stare and lid lag; tachycardia or atrial fibrillation; fine, resting finger tremour; moist, warm skin; exaggerated reflexes; fine hair; onycholysis (loss of nails); rarely, heart failure; possible clubbing and swelling of fingers (acropachy); osteoporosis may result from chronic thyrotoxicosis
* Men may experience decreased libido; impotence; decreased sperm count and gynaecomastia (excessive growth of mammary glands)

Fluoride
Since the 1930s and 1940s, fluoride has been used to treat hyperthyroidism and
thyroid tumours (Z Physiol Chem, 1937; 245: 58-65). It was then recognised that problems occurred in the liver, where most of the T4 to T3 conversion takes place. Minder and Gordonoff reported ‘an antagonism between iodine and fluorine’ (Arch Intern Pharma Codyn, 1956; 107: 374-81).

Fluorine, by far the most reactive element of the halogen group of chemicals, was found to displace iodine and inhibit iodine transport (Nature, 1959; 183: 1517). Even now, at least one drug to control hyperthyroidism (such as fluorotyrosine) is fluorine-based (Martindale, 32nd edn, 1999), as are numerous steroids (fludrocortisone, fluticasone, fluocinolone, flurandrenalone), antidepressants (fluoxetine [Prozac]) and antipsychotics (flupenthixol, trifluoperazine).

Andreas Schuld, head of Parents of Fluoride-Poisoned Children, has amassed data from many studies which clearly demonstrate that the symptoms of fluoride poisoning are identical to those of hypothyroidism and thyroid disorders (www.bruha.com/fluoride/htm/f). His latest investigations have revealed documented evidence on how fluoride mimics the actions of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), especially when fluorine particles attach themselves to aluminium in water, thereby activating certain proteins which can inhibit T3 activity in cells.

Mercury
Several studies have reported high levels of mercury in the pituitary glands of dentists, on post-mortem examination, in comparison to other areas of the brain.

Accumulation of mercury in the pituitary is of particular importance as the overall control of this gland over the production of many hormones (including thyroid and adrenal hormones) influences virtually all body functions (Levenson J et al., Menace in the Mouth?, Brompton Health, 2000).

One cited study reported that tissues containing only a small fraction of the total mercury found in the human body can contain higher concentrations of this metal than the largest organs. Examination of the pituitary and thyroid glands of mercury miners revealed the highest concentrations of mercury – greater than the levels found in their kidneys, lungs and parts of the brain.

I feel that it would be helpful to include information about yoga as a helpful alternative therapy for hypothyroidism. Two positions – the Shoulder Stand followed by the Fish – are considered to be useful. The Shoulder Stand has the effect of squeezing the blood and other fluids from the thyroid gland while the Fish, which is a position that opens the gland, helps to kickstart the gland into normal functioning.- Hazel Edwards, via e-mail