Functional Hypothyroidism May Be Ruining Your Health!

Thanks to a concerned patient, I was introduced to a book that answered many of my concerns about thyroid function. It is a book that has the potential to be life changing for many of us. The book is available on Amazon.com and is called “Hypothyroidism Type 2, The Epidemic” and is written by Mark Starr, MD(H). He’s a medical doctor who specializes in homeopathy.

In this article, I want to explain the concepts and teach you how to self monitor your thyroid function. However, if you want all of the statistics, I recommend that you get Dr. Starr’s book on Amazon.com.

What we might call “functional” hypothyroidism, or Type 2, was first discussed and investigated by Dr. Broda Barnes in the early 1900s. He was a medical doctor and an endocrinologist who taught endocrinology at the University of Chicago. He devoted his life to researching thyroid function and published many professional articles and books. Perhaps his most famous book is “Hypothyroidism, The Unsuspected Illness,” which was published in 1976. Unfortunately, the medical profession has largely ignored his research results, despite the fact that he had evidence from 70,000 autopsy studies and many long-term patient outcomes.

Dr. Barnes believed that, as modern medicine wiped out infectious diseases of the past, more and more children with poor immune systems survived into adulthood and had children themselves—passing their genetic weaknesses on to subsequent generations. “Just one hundred years ago, half the population in all of ‘Western Civilization’ died from infection at an early age. Two hundred years ago, the figure was much higher.” (p. 45 of Dr. Starr’s book)

This concretion of genetic weakness has resulted in the modern-day epidemic of chronic, degenerative diseases.

A little physiology is appropriate at this point. Our thyroid hormones regulate our metabolic rate. Simple statement—huge implications. Here is a partial list of conditions Dr. Barnes showed to be affected by thyroid function:

• Disruption of sex hormone function, resulting in decreased sex drive, infertility, endometriosis, PMS and polycystic breasts and/or ovaries
• Heart disease, including high cholesterol, hardening of the arteries, heart palpitations, heart attacks and stroke
• Fatigue (including chronic fatigue syndrome)
• Premature aging, including mental impairment and Alzheimer’s disease
• Hypertension OR hypotension
• Depression or nervousness
• Poor immune function resulting in repeated infections, including a susceptibility to yeast infections (think Candida)
• Intolerance to heat or cold
• Hyperinsulinemia and diabetes
• Cancer
• Multiple sclerosis
• Hair loss (this is important to me, obviously!)
• Headaches
• Muscle weakness and joint and/or muscle pain (including gout)
• Osteoporosis
• Weight gain
• Headaches
• Constipation
• Brittle nails
• Nutritional imbalances
• Birth defects
• Physical indications of the condition include dry skin, slow or hoarse speech, non-pitting edema and loss of the outer third of the eyebrows

Of particular interest to me is the connection between hypothyroidism and diabetes. Dr. Barnes found that all of his diabetic patients were hypothyroid. Remarkably, by treating their low thyroid, these patients almost all escaped the severe complications of diabetes, which include hardening of the arteries, kidney failure, blindness, heart attack and amputation. All of these problems are due to hardening of the arteries – a defining symptom of hypothyroidism.

So, do you think inadequate thyroid function might be important enough to be concerned about? And: Why would the medical profession essentially ignore Dr. Barnes’ research? The answer is relatively simple.

Big Pharma synthesized thyroxin (aka T4) and patented it. The generic name is levothyroxine and it is marketed under a variety of brand names, perhaps the most familiar of which is Synthroid, a patented and trademarked drug. Then, the lab test for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was developed and it was all over. Let me explain.

Currently, medical doctors only measure the TSH and, if it is within what the lab tells them is “normal” range, then you are fine. No attention is paid to your symptoms – after all, there’s another diagnosis for that, which requires a different drug, multiplying the drug companies’ profits. (Pardon my cynicism, but I have really seen too much.)

Problem is, TSH is completely invalid when it comes to evaluating whether your thyroid hormone is working in your body, at a cellular level. I want you to be aware of this issue because, if your M.D. checks your TSH while you are taking desiccated thyroid and finds it to be too low, he or she will take you off of your supplement. This recently happened to a patient/colleague of mine who has moved away and went to a new general practitioner. Please resist this advice, as she did. As we delve into the reasons more deeply, you will understand why.

One more word of warning: Dr. Starr has determined that levothyroxine is completely ineffective in reversing Type 2 hypothyroidism. It seems that the cells respond best to all of the thyroid hormone metabolites, not just T4. All of Dr. Broda Barnes’ work was done with desiccated thyroid.

Increasingly, thyroid hormone resistance is becoming a huge problem. There are multiple reasons for this, which Dr. Starr goes into in great detail. One of the primary offenders is the environmental toxins we are exposed to on a daily basis. These toxins include:

• Halogens: chlorine, fluorine and bromine.
  • We no longer add iodine to our baked goods due to the misconception that we were getting too much iodine. This is incredibly unlikely, since nearly every person I have tested is iodine deficient. Now, bromine is used as a dough conditioner, which displaces the iodine in our thyroid.
  • Our water is both fluoridated and disinfected with various chlorine compounds. We actually absorb more chlorine in the shower than we ingest in our drinking water.
  • Swimming pools and spas are loaded with chlorine
  • If you use Splenda, also trademarked, you are ingesting a chlorinated hydrocarbon. It is basically sucrose with 3 chlorine atoms added to it.
  • Many of our anti-fungal and pesticide compounds contain halogens. We ingest them if we do not eat organic produce.
• A huge variety of synthetic chemicals. There is a three-page, small print list in Dr. Starr’s book. Some of these include: organophosphate pesticides, a huge array of other pesticides, fungicides and insecticides, and the many industrial chemicals that are part of our every day life. The industrial chemicals include heavy metals, phenols and phthalates. If you are not familiar with phthalates, they are added to plastics to create pliability. If you use plastic wrap in the microwave, you are simply worsening the problem. All of these chemicals interfere with thyroid function.
• For more details, I recommend you read Dr. Starr’s book.

Over the last several years, I have been to multiple seminars on assessing and treating thyroid function. I have only gotten more and more confused, because the instructors made the topic way, too complicated and tried to use blood tests to monitor therapy. There are a couple of reasons for this: the widespread dependence in our education on laboratory testing, rather than physical signs and symptoms; and a worry about depressing the TSH too far since the medical textbooks say it is dangerous to do so. The worries include osteoporosis and heart problems. However, Dr. Barnes and Dr. Hermann Zondek both demonstrated the exact opposite. Dr. Zondek was a giant in the early study of hypothyroidism and endocrine disease. He published in 1918 an account of the first successful treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) patients with desiccated thyroid. He also wrote a famous textbook, in German, entitled “Disease of the Endocrine Glands.” Of course, levothyroxine does promote osteoporosis.

Dr. Barnes did a statistical analysis on his patient population paralleling the Framingham heart disease study that was on-going at the same time. He clearly showed that his patient population suffered almost no heart disease. He treated 1,569 patients, the equivalent of 8,824 patient years. The Framingham study predicted 72 deaths from coronary disease in a population this size; Dr. Barnes’ result was only 4. (page 34 of Dr. Starr’s book)

In Dr. Starr’s 14 years of practice, none of his patients have developed CHF and only 2 had a heart attack.

These are powerful results because heart disease is the #1 killer in the U.S., despite every drug prescribed for prevention. (An oxymoron, if I may say so, since all drugs are metabolic poisons. I know, my prejudice is showing.)

So, if blood work is inadequate (at best) and misleading (at worst), just what parameters are measured to determine thyroid status? There are two:

• Iodine status is monitored by the iodine test.
  • I paint the abdomen with a half-dollar size patch of 3% iodine. Since homeland security has designated iodine a dangerous product with regard to homemade bombs, I recommend you call for a brief, 5 minute appointment to get the iodine applied.
  • The brown patch should last for 24 hours. In some cases, I find that the color is fading as I am applying it! With most clients the stain is gone within 12 hours or less.
  • The therapy for this is Iodizyme, a nutritional product which contains both iodine and iodide. Many companies promote organic iodine or kelp supplements for this use. After 30 years of practice, I can state unequivocally that these products are ineffective in promoting iodine sufficiency.

• The second critical test is basal metabolic rate, which is expensive and not readily available. Instead, first morning body temperature – before you get out of bed – is an excellent approximation. Let me tell you how to perform the test:
  • Shake down a thermometer the night before and place it by your bedside.
  • When you first wake up, put the thermometer in your armpit for 10 minutes. Lie quietly; don’t worry; don’t wiggle around. If possible, snooze for 10 minutes. The temperature should be above 97.8º. That is the lower limit of normal cellular function.
  • A word about the proper thermometer to use. Digital thermometers are ineffective and inaccurate. You need to obtain a non-mercury oral thermometer. It is available on Amazon.com at this link.
  • If you contact me, I can send you a form to complete so that I can locate it in your file.
  • The therapy that I use is a nutritional supplement, which is desiccated, whole thyroid without the T4. It is much better tolerated than Synthroid. It comes in several different potencies and I will titrate your dose, based upon your body temperature. I have not published the name of this product to avoid causing problems with the FDA. If you call me, I will be happy to give you more information. I can also order it for you. This is a professional product, since you need to work with a doctor to establish the appropriate dose.

Although this may seem like a lot of work, the health benefits are more than worth it. I strongly recommend that you perform these two tests to see what support you need to optimize your health.

A personal story: I added a small amount of thyroid to my personal supplement program about 4 years ago, because I couldn’t think clearly. I instantly noticed a remarkable improvement in my cognition. However, when I ran a blood test, my TSH was low, so I was concerned about taking “too much” thyroid support. None of the various seminars I went to cleared up my confusion. After reading Dr. Starr’s book, I found that my first morning temperature was only 95ºF, even though I awaken drenched in sweat. Needless to say, I am titrating my dosage upwards to normalize my body temperature. Already, I am seeing new hair growth and greater stamina. I hope that eventually it will have a positive effect on my blood sugar issues, as well.

I strongly encourage you to perform these tests, so that you can age gracefully – without resorting to the pharmaceutical merry-go-round that never gets to the root of the problem. Let me know what you find out.

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