THYROID HORMONES AND WOMEN—ALTERNATIVE TREATMENTS FOR THYROID CONDITIONS
Inside This Report You’ll Discover…
- The Most Common Reasons Women Get Thyroid Problems
- How To Tell If You Might Have A Thyroid Condition
- Why Some Thyroid Conditions Are Reversible
- How To Determine If Your Doctor Is Doing Everything Possible To Fix Your Thyroid Condition (Most Are Not)
- New Advancements In The Treatment Of Thyroid Conditions
- Why You May Not Need Medication At All
- The Different Types Of Thyroid Conditions And Their Symptoms
- New Testing For Thyroid Disorders
Dear Thyroid Sufferer,
Some 20 million Americans are affected by thyroid disorders…that’s 1 in 13 people! And more than half of those people are unaware they have a thyroid problem because it frequently goes undiagnosed…until it gets severe.
According to the National Women’s Health Information Center, 1 in 8 women will experience a thyroid disorder during their lifetime. The reason why may surprise you because I’m sure you’ve never heard it explained to you…that’s because most doctors are only vaguely familiar with thyroid disorders.
My name is Dr. Michael Johnson and I am a Board-Certified Chiropractic Neurologist. Based on my extensive knowledge of neurology, I use a different approach in diagnosing and treating thyroid disorders. But first, let me give you some background…
I have practiced in Appleton, Wisconsin for over 25 years. I am the author of the book, What Do You Do When the Medications Don’t Work? –A Non-Drug Treatment of Dizziness, Migraine Headaches, Fibromyalgia, and Other Chronic Conditions. You can visit my website at www.askdrjohnson.com.
So I’m intimately familiar with the treatment of chronic conditions using what I know about neurology and physiology, and how to get people better without using medication.
I am also the author of the DVD, Creating Massive Amounts of Energy (see www.drjenergy.com), and I am a consultant for over 500 other doctors around the country dealing with a variety of health issues (see www.txfibro.com).
After studying more about thyroid disorders, I realized how poorly diagnosed and treated thyroid conditions are. I also noticed a very disturbing trend in the current treatment approach for these conditions, which I’ll reveal in a moment…
First, let’s learn more about how the thyroid works…
In healthy people, the thyroid makes just the right amounts of two hormones, T3 and T4. These hormones have important actions throughout the body. Most importantly, they regulate many aspects of our metabolism, affecting how many calories we burn, how warm we feel, how much we weigh…and our general well-being.
In short, the thyroid “runs” our metabolism—it’s
literally the “gas pedal” of the body.
Thyroid hormones also have direct effects on most organs, including the heart which beats faster and harder under the influence of increased thyroid hormones (this is why heart problems can often accompany chronic thyroid problems in women, and perhaps why heart problems are more common in women under the age of 50).
T3 is the more biologically active hormone (it’s more important for cellular function), and in fact most of T4 (80%) is converted to T3 in the body’s peripheral tissues. So T4 is just a precursor for the more active hormone, T3.
One of the problems in some thyroid disorders is that you may have trouble converting T4 to T3 in your tissues (have you been checked for this?). This can create a deficiency of T3, disrupting the body’s ability to properly regulate metabolism…leading to specific symptoms.
One of the controversial aspects of the most common thyroid medication, Synthroid, is that it is only T4. If you have difficulty converting T4 to T3 (and Synthroid is a synthetic form of T4, mind you) then this medication is not as effective.
Iodine is the primary element of T3 and T4 (T3 contains three iodine molecules and T4 contains four iodine molecules, respectively). This makes iodine essential to the production of these two important thyroid hormones.
Here’s a little known public fact related to iodine: in addition to the thyroid gland, iodine is also involved in ovarian function, and a deficiency has been linked to ovarian cysts and even ovarian cancer.
In addition, iodine is important for normal breast tissue and deficiencies have been linked to breast cancer.
Why is this relevant? Some people postulate that the primary reason for an increased incidence of thyroid disorders in women is due to the fact that their breast tissue and ovaries compete with the thyroid gland for any available iodine. Hmmm…
Many studies suggest we do not get an adequate amount of iodine—especially in the Midwest. This area is notorious for low iodine levels and used to be known as the “Goiter Belt” as a result (a goiter is when the thyroid gland enlarges due to lack of iodine)!
Before we go any further, let’s cover the three primary types of thyroid conditions:
#1: Hypothyroidism
#2: Hyperthyroidism or Grave’s
#3: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis
Symptoms of Hypothyroidism (slow thyroid)
- Do you feel fatigued, tired or sluggish?
- Do you have cold feet and/or hands?
- Do you require excessive amounts of sleep to function?
- Do you gain weight easily or have difficulty losing weight?
- Do you have difficult or infrequent bowel movements (constipation)?
- Are you depressed?
- Do you lack motivation?
- Do you suffer from morning headaches that wear off as the day progresses?
- Do you suffer from thinning hair or excessive hair falling out?
- Do you suffer from dryness of the skin and/or scalp?
- Do you suffer from mental sluggishness?
Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the body lacks sufficient thyroid hormones. Since the main purpose of thyroid hormones is to “run the body’s metabolism,” it is logical that people with this condition will have symptoms associated with a slow metabolism.
Millions of Americans have this more common medical condition…and it often goes undetected in the early stages. Were you told that your results were “normal” and yet you continue to have symptoms?
Symptoms of Hyperthyroidism or Grave’s Disease (overfunctioning thyroid)
- Do you experience heart palpitations?
- Do you suffer from inward trembling?
- Do you have an increased pulse even at rest?
- Are you nervous and/or emotional?
- Do you suffer from insomnia?
- Do you experience night sweats?
- Do you have difficulty gaining weight?
Hyperthyroidism is the medical term to describe an over production of thyroid hormones. Although this condition is less common, it can precede a slowing down of the thyroid. It’s usually easier to treat though.
Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis
Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is a condition in which the body’s
immune system attacks the thyroid gland (this is an auto-immune disorder).
It is diagnosed by checking for thyroid antibodies (TPO & TGB) and gluten antibodies.
Patients suffering from Hashimoto’s thyroiditis will experience symptoms of hypothyroidism AND hyperthyroidism…MEANING they will experience some or ALL of the above symptoms.
Since the thyroid gland controls the body’s metabolism, it can affect all of the systems of the body such as the gut, liver, gall bladder, hormones, cholesterol, brain (via neurotransmitters), adrenal glands, breasts, ovaries, and heart.
I have included two supplemental reports entitled Understanding Thyroid Markers and Panels and The Influence of Thyroid Hormones on Physiological and Metabolic Function to further help you understand more about thyroid conditions.
These two reports explain in detail how the thyroid gland affects all of the body’s systems. Read these reports and you will be amazed how the thyroid gland AFFECTS EVERY OTHER SYSTEM IN THE BODY!
This is EXACTLY why your thyroid NEEDS to function at its optimal level.
Now, back to that disturbing trend I observed concerning the treatment of thyroid conditions…the disturbing trend: most thyroid sufferers are treated exactly the same!
This really bothers me because I understand from my knowledge of neurology that no two people react the same…especially with endocrine dysfunction.
Then why are all thyroid sufferers treated the same?
Did you know that there are MANY different blood tests that can be analyzed in order to determine exactly how your thyroid is affected? Most doctors just use the same old blood tests and never bother checking beyond those.
We CAN treat your thyroid condition naturally and you may not need any medication at all.
DON’T get me wrong, I am NOT here to tell you to stop taking your current medications. Our office would NEVER do that!
We actually work WITH your M.D. to get you feeling better as quickly as possible.
How?
We use very specific blood tests, which may include any or all of the following, depending on individual determination:
- Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH): the message sent from a gland in the brain (pituitary) to the thyroid
- Free T3: an important hormone produced by the thyroid gland, considered to be the more biologically active hormone of the thyroid
- Free T4: another important hormone produced by the thyroid gland
- Thyroid Antibodies (TGB & TPO): checked in suspected cases of autoimmune thyroid disorders (see below)
- Reverse T3: this is a wayward (or “reverse”) version of T3 and causes problems
- Total T4: this is a reflection of how much total T4 hormone there is in the blood
- Free Thyroxine Index (FTI): this is an estimate of how much thyroxine is in the blood
- Resin T3 Uptake: this test measures the unsaturated binding sites on the thyroid proteins
- Complete Metabolic Profile (CMP): checks electrolytes, blood sugar, and other markers that can indicate any disturbances in physiology
- Lipid Panel: cholesterol, LDL, HDL, etc. because these can be related to endocrine dysfunction
- Complete Blood Count (CBC) w/differential: this checks your cells counts—white blood cells, red blood cells, and so forth as well as a specific breakdown of certain white cells that can indicate an often overlooked pattern of endocrine change
- Urinalysis: sometimes we discover substances your body is eliminating in the urine that shouldn’t be there
We ALSO test to see if you have an autoimmune disease. An autoimmune disease is where your immune system attacks a particular area of the body (like the thyroid, for instance), so we test for specific thyroid antibodies to determine if YOU suffer from an autoimmune thyroid disease.
We can also check for gluten antibodies, myelin (fatty sheath around the nerves) antibodies, cerebellar (back part of the brain controlling balance, coordinated movement, and spinal muscles) antibodies.
Additionally we can test your adrenal glands (small glands on top of the kidneys) via an Adrenal Stress Index (ASI), as many thyroid sufferers also suffer from adrenal problems.
Have you EVER been checked for any of the above antibodies or had an ASI?
We may choose to enter your blood work into our Functional Blood Chemistry Analysis software database to determine which nutrients are best suited to help your SPECIFIC condition.
This will facilitate a more complete and rapid recovery from your thyroid condition. Remember: NO TWO THYROID PATIENTS ARE ALIKE SO NOT ALL THYROID PATIENTS SHOULD EVER BE TREATED ALIKE!
Based on your PERSONAL blood chemistry, we can quickly determine which products will benefit you the most and get you on the road to recovery.
WHEN NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS ARE NOT BASED ON YOUR CURRENT BLOOD WORK, THEY ARE MOST OFTEN INACCURATE!
YOUR SPECIFIC CONDITION MUST BE ANALYZED VIA YOUR BLOOD CHEMISTRY RESULTS IN ORDER TO MAKE EFFECTIVE NUTRITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS!
(PLEASE NOTE: Due to the current laws in the state of WI, ALL nutritional supplements are prescribed by our medical doctor.)
At this point ask yourself
the following questions:
#1: How have my thyroid symptoms affected my job, relationships, finances, family, or other activities?
#2: What has it cost me in time, money, happiness, sleep?
#3: Where do you picture yourself in the next one to three years if your thyroid problem is not taken care of?
#4: What is it worth to you if we could improve your condition?
NOW, IMAGINE YOUR LIFE WITHOUT THYROID SYMPTOMS! THINK OF FEELING LIKE YOURSELF AGAIN, AND DOING ALL OF THE ACTIVITIES AND THINGS THAT YOU USED TO DO.
Here’s What To Do Next…
Call my office at 757 3638571 and tell my staff that you are interested in setting up a FREE CONSULTATION to discuss alternative treatments for your thyroid condition with me, Dr. Scott.
Sincerely,
Dr. Mark A. Scott