Dr. Craig Reese, DC, PC

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone had a great holiday season this year! I confess, I’m always glad when it is over. The New Year brings new goals and resolutions for many. If yours is to be in better shape or at least healthier in some way, we can help. Diet and exercise work better when your organs are functioning better. With the nutrition testing and acupuncture graphing along with blood tests, saliva, urine and hair analysis we can find the underlying cause of your problem and help to reverse it usually. It is actually cheaper to be taking the correct supplements for your body then to keep trying the latest supplement in Prevention Magazine or the newest MLM product.

Thyroid Update

I have written several newsletters about thyroid problems and the need for iodine. I have more information that might be helpful for you. A few months ago the FDA made natural thyroid like Armour very hard to find. It still is but fortunately, I found a supplement made from pig thyroid that seems to work almost as well as Armour or Nature Throid. It is called GTA from Biotics Research and it has the desiccated thyroid in it. Now by law, the thyroxine (T4) has to be removed from all natural supplements but no one checks to see if the T3 is removed. T3 is the active form of the thyroid hormone and T4 is the storage or inactive form that has to be converted to T3 with a specific enzyme. Iodine, selenium, glutathione and copper are all important in the conversion of T4 to T3.

Iodine

We have more thyroid problems and breast cancer because of a lack of iodine. It is also responsible for fibrocystic diseases like fibrocystic breasts, ovarian cysts and uterine fibroids. If you are taking a thyroid drug and no iodine, you are at an increased risk for breast cancer, fibroids and estrogen-related diseases.
Before they took iodine out of dough conditioners back in the 1960’s, breast cancer risk was 1 in 20. You could get 4 times the RDA of iodine in just 4 pieces of bread back then. Since they replaced the iodine with bromide the risk of breast cancer has now risen to 1 in 8. Think there might be a correlation? Now even strawberries are gassed with bromides. Chlorine, fluoride and bromide prevent the conversion of T4 to T3.

Weak Thyroid Symptoms

• Morning headaches that go away as the day goes on.
• Increase in weight. The thyroid helps burn fat.
• Sensitive to cold and/or cold hands and feet.
• Dry brittle hair that falls out easily.
• Dry or itching skin.
• Reduced initiative and mental confusion.
• Low Barnes basal metabolism or axillary temperature test (below 97.8). This is not only caused by a weak thyroid. Pituitary, adrenal and gonadal dysfunction also causes it plus a few people just naturally have a slightly low temp but no other hypothyroid symptoms.
• Muscle cramps at rest because the body can’t use minerals properly.
• Reduced immune function or gets sick easily.
• Edema; especially facial edema.
• Constipation
• Outer third of the eyebrow is missing.
• Breast and uterine fibroids or ovarian cysts.
• Increase serum lipids like cholesterol. How many people on Lipitor or other statin drugs really just have a weak thyroid?
• Increase or decrease in blood pressure.

Blood Tests

Before the advent of a blood test to measure thyroid function in1960’s, a doctor would diagnose a hypothyroid based on your symptoms and put you on a natural thyroid. Today, even if you had every symptom listed above, if your blood test is in the normal range for TSH, you don’t have a thyroid problem. The normal range for a TSH is about .5 to 5.5. Recently the College of Endocrinology said that 3.0 should be the upper range of normal but most doctors still just follow what the blood test range says. 20 years ago TSH was 0.0-8.0 was normal. Dr. Mercola recently stated that the normal TSH range should be 1-1.5.

You must be able to read a lab test to help determine if it is a primary thyroid problem or a weak thyroid secondary to a weak pituitary. A blood panel without symptoms is useless. If 2 or more symptoms are present use the blood test to tell the difference between primary and secondary hypothyroid:
The TSH is above 2.0, primary hypothyroid is probable. If the symptoms are present and TSH is below 2 then the thyroid is weak because of the pituitary probably. If T4 is decreased below the midrange a need for iodine and tyrosine is probable.

If T3 is low or below the midline of normal lab range, under conversion of T4 to T3 is probable. If T4 is above the normal mid range then conversion is also a problem.

Under conversion from T4 to T3 is due to a lack of a specific enzyme. Lack of selenium, copper, glutathione, and iodine interferes with the conversion. Also too much estrogen or cortisol can stop the conversion of T4 to T3. There is now been discovered a new problem with thyroid cellular resistance. Just like your body can become insulin or leptin resistant, your cells can also become thyroxine resistant so that the hormone can’t get into the cell easily. RNA supplements help to make the cells less resistant.

While there are drugs, both synthetic and natural for a primary hypothyroid, there are only supplements that will help a weak pituitary caused hypothyroid. Eliminate refined carbs, dairy and gluten. Cabbage foods, soy, red clover, chicken skin, estrogen products, millet, fatty beef can all inhibit the thyroid. So can lithium and other drugs. You don’t have to avoid the foods forever, just until the thyroid starts functioning better. We can help you read your blood tests and help you figure out what you need to take.

Office News

I will not be in the office Friday the 15th but we are keeping Friday hours as part of our normal schedule. Let’s hope this will be a great year for everyone!