MEDICAL TREATMENTS FOR HYPOTHYROIDISM AND HASHIMOTO'S THYROIDITIS

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MEDICAL TREATMENTS FOR HYPOTHYROIDISM AND HASHIMOTO'S THYROIDITIS

http://www.ithyroid.com/hypot_treatments.htm

 

SYNTHROID OR LEVOTHYROXINE SODIUM

 

The basic medical treatment for hypothyroidism is the administration of

replacement thyroid hormone.  Most doctors will insist on prescribing Synthroid

which is a brand name for levothyroxine sodium.  This is the monosodium salt of

the levo isomer of the thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4).  Therefore Synthroid or

other brands of levothyroxine sodium will provide the same chemically

identical hormone that our thyroid hormones make.

 

While there are other manufacturers of levothyroxine sodium, doctors seem to

insist on prescribing Synthroid which is much more costly.  My suspicion is

that the doctors are getting kickbacks, perhaps in the form of free trips (which

is a form of kickback in the pharmaceutical business), for prescriptions

written for Synthroid.  (Someone could look into this and report back.)

 

Levothyroxine sodium will work for many people with hypothyroidism and will

alleviate some of the symptoms.  However, many hypothyroids will not respond

well to levothyroxine sodium.

 

In my experience, most hypos are deficient in selenium and zinc.  These two

minerals are critically important for converting the body's supply of thyroxine

(T4) into triiodothyronine (T3), which is the hormone that the body uses at

the cellular level.  Thyroxine is known as a " prohormone " because the body has

to convert it into another hormone for use.

 

Therefore taking levothyroxine sodium or Synthroid is the same as taking a

prohormone.  The body has to convert it into the active hormone (T3) for the

effects to be felt.  If the hypothyroidism is due to a breakdown of the

conversion of T4 to T3, the person will feel little benefit from taking T4

(thyroxine

or Synthroid).

 

ARMOUR THYROID HORMONE

 

Another way to get thyroid hormone is to extract it from animals slaughtered

for meat consumption.  The packing company Armour produces such a hormone and

the hormone is also called Armour.  The advantage of Armour is that in

addition to T4 it contains some T3 which has already been converted from the

T4. 

Also there are some references in the literature to other forms of thyroxine,

such as T7 (there might be T5 and T6 also).  I don't know if these are very

important, but there is the possibility that they have some minor functions, if

they exist at all).

 

Hypos who are suffering from an inability to convert T4 to T3 (and these

persons usually also have low production of T4) benefit from Armour more than

from

Synthroid.  More than likely Synthroid might be found just as beneficial as

Armour if sufficient amounts of selenium and zinc are provided through

supplementation, but it could take a period of time (days or weeks) to replenish

these

minerals if they are seriously depleted.

 

Some people might object to the use of Armour for other reasons.  There was a

time when the potency of Armour varied, but it seems as though the company

has corrected that problem.  Also, some people object to taking something from

animals but that is just a fear and I don't see any justification for that

fear.  

 

Overall, I think that hypos will do better taking Armour rather than Sy

nthroid or another manufactured form of levothyroxine sodium.

 

HOW MUCH HORMONE?

 

Many people feel that since they have to take thyroid hormone then their

thyroid glands must be " shot. "   Doctors do their best to perseverate this myth

by

telling patients that their thyroid has " burned out " or will burn out.  I

think this is nonsense.

 

As an approximation, our thyroid glands produce about 300 mcg of hormone a

day.  Therefore the thyroid gland of a hypo taking 100 mcg of replacement

hormone a day is producing about two thirds of the hormone that is needed. 

Very,

very rarely will you see a person taking over 200 mcg per day.  As you can see,

most hypos thyroids are producing more than half of the thyroid hormone

needed.  To me this is not " burned out. "   

 

I am not the only person with the belief that by providing the body with the

proper nutrients the thyroid will be able to produce all the thyroid hormone

needed.  It's not a matter of taking a " dead " thyroid and bringing it back to

life.  It's a matter of taking a thyroid that is under producing and getting it

to produce more.  It's possible and people are doing it.

 

Some people wonder if they take less hormone than they need will that

stimulate the thyroid to produce more hormone.  I tried this when I was hypo and

also

looked into this.  I've seen no evidence that this strategy will work.  I

believe the thyroid gland is doing the best that it can and will produce more

hormone when it has the raw materials to do so.

 

WHEN YOU THYROID RECOVERS

 

If you take the supplements that your thyroid gland needs to produce hormone

you may experience a sudden increase in the production of thyroid hormone.  I

experienced this in my recovery from hypothyroidism.

 

I had recently had my silver amalgam (mercury) filling replaced and was

supplementing zinc and selenium along with other supplements.  One morning about

an

hour after breakfast when I took my Armour hormone and my nutritional

supplements, I got very hot, sweaty, and shaky.  After a short period of

thinking

that I was really sick or dying, I reasoned that my thyroid gland may have

recovered.  I stopped taking thyroid hormone and within a couple days I was

feeling

much better.

 

While thyroxine has a half life in the body of about 7 days, triiodothyronine

(T3) has a half-life of about 10 hours.  This means that if your thyroid

suddenly starts producing hormone or your T4 to T3 conversion suddenly

increases,

you could have high levels of T3 for a day or two, but these levels will soon

return to normal.

 

There have been other members of the group who have experienced this sudden

increase in thyroid production who have gone through this " hyper episode. " That

period can be frightening but it passes.  The best strategy is to discontinue

the replacement hormone to see if it passes.  You can call your doctor to

tell him or her what you've done.  You may find that your thyroid gland has

completely recovered and you no longer need replacement hormone or you may find

that you need to resume replacement  hormone at a lower dosage. 

 

 

Studies:

 

From Dr. Mercola's site at www.mercola.com:

 

NEJM Study Proves Armour Thyroid Better Than Synthroid

 

Patients with hypothyroidism show greater improvements in mood and brain

function if they receive treatment Armour thyroid rather than Synthroid

(thyroxine). Hypothyroidism, where the gland has ceased to function or been

removed, is

usually treated with daily doses of Synthroid. But the researchers found that

substituting Armour thyroid led to improvements in mood and in

neuropsychological functioning.

 

Not all tissues that need thyroid hormone are equally able to convert

thyroxine to triiodothyronine, the active form of the hormone. But most patients

with

hypothyroidism (reduced thyroid function) are treated only with thyroxine. On

6 of 17 measures of mood and cognition -- a catchall term that refers to

language, learning and memory -- the patients scored better after receiving

Armour

thyroid than after receiving Synthroid. No score was better after Synthroid

than after combination treatment. The authors also detected biochemical

evidence that thyroid hormone action was greater after treatment with Armour

thyroid.

The patients who were on Armour thyroid had significantly higher serum

concentrations of sex hormone-binding globulin

 

The New England Journal of Medicine 1999;340:424-429, 469-470.

 

COMMENT: Extracts of animal thyroid tissue, first used in 1892, contained

both thyroxine and triiodothyronine (Armour thyroid) and were the only available

treatment for hypothyroidism for some 50 years. Because of concern about their

variable potency, these extracts have been considered obsolete for some time

by all but a few natural prescribers. This is a MAJOR article. I did not

realize that natural therapies would penetrate this far this quickly. I am very

surprised that this was published in NEJM. If one reads the editorial, you will

find that it recommends that patient NOT switch from Synthroid to Armour

thyroid because more research needs to be done and " the majority of patients

taking

Synthroid " have no complaints about their medication. " If your doctor or

endocrinologist refuses to give you Armour thyroid instead of Synthroid, you can

use this article to show him that it is indeed better. Synthroid (thyroxine) is

RARELY ever the best choice for hypothyroid patients.