The facts (very simplistic)
The thyroid is one of the family of glands (called the endocrine
system) that controls hormone production.
In descending order (from the top of the head) they are the pineal
gland, the hypothalamus, the pituitary (all within the brain), the
thyroid (in the neck), the adrenals and pancreas (just below the
stomach) and the ovaries and testes.
The main function of the thyroid gland in this system is to regulate the release
of energy within the cells - so too much of the hormone will cause an excess
of energy while too little
will cause a dearth.
Thyroid hormones
There are, in fact, four thyroid hormones. The first is T4
(thyroxine) which everyone has heard of. However, T4 is really only a way of
storing potential energy until it is needed.
To produce energy it needs to be converted, with the help of enzymes, into T3,
the hormone which actually gets into the cells and produces energy.
If the thyroid cannot produce sufficient T3 to supply the body with energy then
no function, physical or mental, will be able to operate at full efficiency.
A situation in
which many M.E. sufferers find themselves.
The thyroid may be unable to function properly for many (and much disputed) reasons
including genetic failure, autoimmune disease, trauma, glandular fever, micro-malnutrition
and the impact of environmental
toxins such as fluoride.
Diagnosis
Before the development of the TSH blood test diagnoses were based on family history,
observations of symptoms (always tricky as similar symptoms can be caused by
a range of conditions) and the measurement of body temperature - the basal blood
test.
The main blood test is that of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) - the hormone
released by the pituitary which instructs the thyroid to make more T4 to be converted
into energy
giving T3.
Normal levels are deemed to run from 0.15 micro units per millilitre up to a
maximum of 6 micro units per millilitre. The more production-stimulating TSH
is found in the blood, the less well the
thyroid is deemed to be functioning. But at what point between 0.15 and 6 micro
units an individual’s thyroid is failing to respond is hotly debated.
It is also possible to measure the amount of T4 (thyroxine) and T3 in the blood.
Conventional endocrinologists maintain that these measurements taken together
are sufficiently sensitive to detect an underactive thyroid.
However, a minority of specialists in both the UK and US
maintain that measuring the amount of TSH, T4 or T3 circulating in the blood
does not tell you anything. What you need to know is how much is getting into
and being utilised in the cells.
They recommend different tests (only available in private laboratories) which
test urine or saliva, from which they can deduce the amount of T3 and T4 which
has actually been used over a 24-hour period. This may produce very different
results from standard blood tests.
Dr Durrant Peatfield
One of the leading proponents of this view is Dr Barry Durrant Peatfield;
the second edition of his original book, The Great Thyroid Scandal is now available - see Your Thyroid and How To keep It Healthy.
Dr Durrant Peatfield has little time for the blood tests, which he sees as being
not just useless but actively harmful in that they fail to recognise, and therefore
enable to be treated, quite serious hypo-
thyroidism.
Dr Peatfield also questions the validity of treatment that consists purely in
supplementing the amount of T4 with extra thyroxine. For all kinds of reason
(explained in detail in the book) he suggests that supplemented T4 may not be
converted or properly utilised by the thyroid so be of little use.
Dr Peatfield’s treatment
His treatment suggestions include the avoidance of environmental toxins (which
may have harmed the thyroid in the first place), nutritional and adrenal support
and a carefully adjusted diet.
His other treatment of choice - and one which brought him into direct conflict
with the medical establishment - is natural dessicated pig’s thyroid. No
longer available in the UK (but still in the US) this was the main treatment
available from the discovery of thyroid failure in the late 19th century until
the development of synthetic thyroxine in the 1980s - and Dr Peatfield maintains
that it is better tolerated, better absorbed and more effective than the synthetic
thyroxine.
If you have any doubt about the health and function of your thyroid
it is worth going to your GP. As you will see from our reader’s
contributions, some do treat hypothyroidism successfully. However,
if you do not get much satisfaction then you may wish to do some
investigation of your own.
Whether or not you fully accept all Dr Durrant Peatfield's theses, his book is
an excellent and accessible introduction to the subject for lay people.
There
are also a plethora of websites offering support for both sides. Sue Boniface
suggests the ones that she has found most helpful on the next page.
Sarah Early
suggests www.thyroiduk.org, ardent supporters of Dr Durrant Peatfield.
The more conventional view is represented by www.british-
thyroid-association.org ‘a non-profit making learned society of professional
clinical specialist doctors and scientists in the United Kingdom who manage patients
with thyroid disease and/or are researching into the thyroid and its diseases
in humans’.
If you wish to contact Dr Durrant Peatfield direct, he now practises in Sussex
as a complementary therapist in the field of nutrition. info@drpeatfield.com
If you wish to get a private thyroid test he recommneds IWDL
44 (0)20 8336 7750 www.iwdl.net
or the Red Apple Clinic on 44 (0)1633 262772
www.redappleclinic.co.uk
From Chris Hillier:
Further to your request in the August edition of Foods Matter I
also had a problem getting a thyroid problem diagnosed.
For about three years I had the following symptoms.
• Excessive catarrh resulting in snoring and sounding as though I had a
permanent cold
• Overwhelming tiredness
• Lump in my throat
• Watery eyes
• Weight gain despite dieting
• Very puffy blown up face as if I was on steroids
• Difficulty in speaking - sounded as if tongue was swollen
I was referred to ear, nose and throat specialists both on the NHS and also
privately at great expense, and was prescribed various nasal drops that achieved
nothing.
I was referred to a speech therapist who could find nothing wrong and also
at my request to a neurologist as I felt the symptoms were similar to that
of motorneurone
disease, again to no avail.
All this time I was also consulting a Chinese herbalist, who having tried several
alternatives, eventually asked me if I had had my thyroid checked. I went to
my GP and asked for the TSH test. When the results came back the blood count
was 114. The normal
is below 5 and 30 is considered to be high! I am now taking 125 micrograms
of thyroxin to counteract my underactive thyroid .
When I asked my GP why this was not picked up sooner I was told that sometimes
it is missed or one doctor assumes that another has checked it!
From Sue Boniface
I read about other people's thyroid dilemmas with interest.
The big problem is that, before blood tests were developed, GPs listened to the
symptoms and treated them but now they just do blood tests and go by them.
The ‘normal’ range was devised 50 years ago, but people and lifestyles
have changed since then. Also, averages do not take account of the fact that
people are different. Anyhow, here's my story.
I had pre-existing health problems and earlier this year acquired some new ones.
Having already given up on the GP, I looked at alternative therapies. I got nowhere
with acupuncture so moved onto reflexology.
On examining my feet the reflexologist (Lesley Jepps www.lesleyjepps.co.uk)
said immediately that I had a thyroid problem. I denied this.
Yet every week when she touched that area of my foot I said ‘ouch’.
She maintained that my pre-existing and recently acquired symptoms could be thyroid
related.
I gave in, went to the GP and told him about the symptoms. He agreed - ‘thyroid’ -
and did the TSH test, which came back
normal. So I was dismissed, as being depressed and anxious, given a mild anti-depressant
and advised counselling.
Not happy, I internet searched and discovered that GPs are quick to dismiss patients
as depressed - which is a thyroid symptom - and to offer no more than the one
TSH test because of cost. But although the TSH test may be normal, until the
other tests are done you do not have a complete picture of
the workings of the
thyroid. So I paid for the T4, T3, thyroid antibodies and, again, the TSH tests
to be done. These tests also came back normal.
Frustrated, because the reflexologist was still insisting my
thyroid foot was bad - I researched and discovered that different labs around
the country use different ‘normal range values’. My T4 at another
lab was under the normal range.
Even more frustrating - I discovered an associate living in another part of the
country whose T4 was in the ‘normal’ range
(two points above mine), but because she was on the low side her GP prescribed
a trial dose of thyroxine to see if it would help.
I decided to leave the medical side and concentrate on the reflexology and some
mineral supplements that the reflexologist suggested to boost my flagging thyroid.
It seems that I am borderline, and if it hadn't been picked up now I would have
deteriorated and then in a few years the test would probably have been accepted
by my GP. I do seem to be improving and my thyroid foot is no longer the ‘ouch’ it
was. I am also booked to see a kinesiologist. She can also test the thyroid strength
and advise on supplements if still needed.
PS Re: soya
I have not done any research on this but I do know that the thyroid
is affected by our hormones and soy is an oestrogen - so if too much is eaten
this would upset the balance of the thyroid. I had been
prescribed progesterone to dampen down my oestrogen
levels and I believe it had depressed my thyroid too far.
Websites that have helped me:
www.thyroid-info.com
http://tpa-uk.technocool.net/TPAUK/drspress.htm
www.thyroiduk.org - this
site advises on other tests that can be done and private
doctors who think ‘outside the box’ - a good place to start.
www.btf-thyroid.org
Supplements that have helped me:
Vit C 500mg twice a day for both over and under
Vit E 250mg once a day - unless on anticoagulants
Vit B complex - 1 tab each morning for both under or over - must contain B-50
complex with 50mcg Vit B12, Biotin, 400 mcg folic acid, 50mg other B Vits.
Zinc, selenium and kelp but you really need advice as to whether they are suitable
for your thyroid type.
Click here for articles
Back to top |
