| Did you know that the vast majority of medicine has | | | | The theory (again there's no science) says T4, the |
| no science behind it? Most of what doctors do is | | | | slow-acting, storage part of thyroid hormone will |
| based on opinion. Or tradition. Or political correctness. | | | | convert to T3, the active form-which is what we |
| Or any number of things besides science. | | | | need-as we need it. |
| And medicine is wrong a lot of the time. | | | | Well, not so fast, Chester. Conversion depends on a lot |
| For instance, the TSH test. Doctors decided if your | | | | of things. First off, most people can't get the job done |
| pituitary gland keeps telling the thyroid to work harder | | | | because their bodies don't know the trick. Additionally, |
| at producing thyroid hormone, it must mean that the | | | | low cholesterol, so praised by doctors, prevents |
| thyroid isn't keeping up. Is that really how it works? | | | | conversion. Not to mention the fact that 95% of us |
| Perhaps, but we have no science that confirms it. | | | | lack the minerals required for the T4/T3 conversion. In |
| Thyroid blood tests came along in the 1960s. At the | | | | short, we can't depend on any conversion. |
| time, 20% of the population suffered from underactive | | | | Without the conversion, of course, we never get any |
| thyroid problems. Medical poobahs, however, set TSH | | | | active thyroid hormone, and we feel like death |
| limits to 'allow' 5% of the people tested to meet the | | | | warmed over. But the doctor reads the blood tests |
| hypothyroid requirement. What was that about? | | | | and assures us we're 'fine.' |
| Certainly not science. | | | | How can that be? While Synthroid and its ugly generic |
| Then there's the problem of what constitutes a normal | | | | cousins don't improve your health, they make the blood |
| TSH level. TSH test ranges have always been a | | | | tests (T3, T4, etc.) look fabulous! You can be in a heap |
| moving target, constantly changing in a vain attempt to | | | | on the floor gasping for air, but you're fine; the tests |
| make the facts fit the test. Now they find it doesn't | | | | say so. |
| work. But they still use it! And how many people crawl | | | | You can only look on in dismayed astonishment as |
| through life because of that infernal test? | | | | your doctor waves the test result 'evidence' around |
| Why do they keep using it? A blood test lends the | | | | and declares victory. |
| appearance of science-and is certainly easier than | | | | Third problem: Lots of people have an allergic reaction |
| listening to a patient's symptoms and figuring out how | | | | to Synthroid-and all its generic equivalents. |
| to make them go away. That takes way too much | | | | Fourth problem: The blood tests don't work at all for |
| time for today's medicine. | | | | the majority of people who have thyroid problems-half |
| Then there's the problem of how much medicine to | | | | the world's population. All told they're 'fine' as they drag |
| give. Since the advent of thyroid blood tests, the | | | | through life. |
| average dose of the thyroid medicine given to | | | | Put these problems all together, and they spell disaster. |
| hypothyroid patients is half of what doctors prescribed | | | | Never mind that untreated/under-treated |
| when they treated symptoms. So even if we're | | | | hypothyroidism causes the entire endocrine |
| treated, we're still in a ditch. | | | | system-the wheel in the middle of the wheel in how |
| And speaking of thyroid treatment, Synthroid, the | | | | our bodies work-to go whacko. Never mind, as well, |
| medicine of choice and the blood tests' evil twin, also | | | | that it causes heart disease, as in leading cause and all |
| came out in the 1960s. (Any way you look at it, that | | | | that. Among other disasters. |
| was a bad decade.) | | | | In fact, never mind anything, The unscientific, unreliable |
| First problem: Synthroid stands for synthetic thyroid, | | | | test has spoken. |
| and it doesn't look anything like the real thing. | | | | Doctors celebrate "evidence-based medicine." Well, the |
| Which leads us to the second problem: Natural thyroid | | | | evidence is in, and all the thyroid blood tests get a |
| contains all five parts of the thyroid hormone: T4, T3, | | | | failing grade. |
| T2, T1 and calcitonin to protect our bones. Synthroid, | | | | So find a doctor who treats patients, not tests. |
| besides being synthetic, contains only T4. | | | | |