Might
WTS Explain Why The Thyroid Treatment I'm Taking
Now Isn't Working?
Yes.
You can take thyroid medicine and have normal blood tests and still
have a low body temperature and classic symptoms. Body temperature
is what correlates the best with the symptoms. Therefore, thyroid
system evaluation or management that does not take body temperature
patterns into account is misdirected and often ineffective. Chapter
12 of the Doctor's Manual is devoted to explaining the treatment
and management of patients who are not doing well on T4-containing
medicine. As it turns out, patients who have hypothyroidism (low
thyroid gland function) may also be suffering from Wilson's Temperature
Syndrome. And if the WTS is left untreated those patients will continue
to experience troublesome symptoms.
Myth1
Once a person needs thyroid medicine to improve symptoms of decreased
thyroid system function, or low thyroid blood tests for that matter,
s/he will always need thyroid medicine for the rest of her/his life.
FALSE. Even glandular
insufficiencies of the thyroid system can be temporary, making it
possible for people to be weaned off thyroid medicine sometimes,
with their glandular function coming back up to normal. And people
without glandular insufficiencies are particularly easy to wean
off T3 therapy successfully after their symptoms have
resolved.
Myth2
If a person is given thyroid medicine when the thyroid blood
tests are normal, or when the thyroid gland is normal, it will damage
the thyroid gland.
FALSE. Whereas thyroid
medicine can rest a person's thyroid system for a time no studies
have ever shown that it can damage a previously healthy gland, preventing
it from functioning normally again after the medicine is discontinued.
Actually, resting the thyroid system in the right way can often
reset it, much like birth control pills can suppress a woman's own
female hormone system for a time to restore a normal menstrual cycle.
For example, the thyroid gland function of patients who come in
with their thyroid glands suppressed with thyroid medicine for the
past 20 years routinely have their own thyroid gland function
come back up again when they're weaned off.
Myth3
Thyroxine or T4 is the most important thyroid hormone,
and everything depends on its blood test levels being within a certain
range.
FALSE. Actually, there
was once a boy who was born without any thyroid function, and he
was started on T3 instead of T4. He grew
and developed normally and passed easily into adulthood without
ever having a molecule of T4 in his body.
Myth4
Thyroid medicine (T4 or T3) is absolutely
necessary and something "you'll probably need for life" one minute
if your blood tests are low. Then, the medicine automatically becomes
very bad for you the next if your tests are normal.
Wait a minute. Thyroid
hormones (T4, T3) have been floating around
in our bodies since birth, and they are absolutely necessary for
good health. There is nothing inherently bad about the molecules;
they can't and haven't directly damaged the tissue of your heart,
brain, or other tissues. There is no evidence that suggests that
thyroid hormones, when used properly, can damage the body in any
way. But of course, thyroid hormones are medicine, and as with all
medicines, should be used only under the thoughtful supervision
of a doctor. Taking thyroid medicine is not completely without risk,
as nothing is.
