Lie 21: Your thyroid blood work is normal. You are fine.
Tell that to the millions suffering from not being treated
Are you exhausted all time? Do you barely have enough energy to get thru your day?
I feel your pain.
Image of the thyroid gland
This post is going to get a little personal, because I have had first-hand experience with this.
When I was 25 years old, I was so tired. One day at work, in front of my computer, I fell alseep with my hands on the keyboard. I had to take caffeine pills just to stay awake. I had every single symptom of hypothyroidism, including: cold all the time, losing hair, dry skin, joint pain, constipation and difficulty losing weight.
My doctor said I needed to see an endrochronologist. He took one look at my blood work, and said, “Who sent you here? Why are you wasting my time?’’
For the next 25 years, I went to several more doctors trying to get help. No one would help me because of my “normal” blood work. When I turned 50, I finally paid the $1,000 out of pocket to see a holistic doctor. She treated me based on my numerous symptoms. She prescribed me dessicated thyroid, which is a combination of T4 and T3 thyroid medications.
For the first time in my life, I finally had my energy back.
I was lucky. Lucky that I had saved the money to see a holistic doctor. Lucky that she treated me based on symptoms.
But many people are not so lucky.
Here is a typical scenaro: You go to your doctor because you are exhausted and can’t lose weight. The doctor orders a TSH blood test. The blood test comes back normal. Doctor says you are fine. See ya.
But you aren’t fine. You feel like crap.
So a couple of years go by and you get another TSH blood test. This time it comes up abnormal.
This time the doctor says “I see you are hypothyroid so we are going to put you on Levothyroxine.’’ They give you the prescription and you leave the office feeling hopeful.
A couple of months of taking the medication, you still feel like crap. Still exhausted. Still can’t lose weight.
You back to your doctor to complain. They put you on an anti-depressant.
Years go by and nothing changes. You still feel like crap and nobody cares.
This is the situation for millions. MILLIONS!!! Millions of people are not getting treatment. Millions of people are sick and exhausted. Millions of people are put at an unnecessary high risk for heart disease and diabetes.
Symptoms of hypothyroidism you may be experiencing:
Fatigue
Brain fog
Slow thinking / slowed mental processing
Memory problems
Depression
Low motivation
Irritability
Difficulty concentrating
Cold intolerance
Weight gain or inability to lose weight
Dry, course or thinning hair
Joint pain
Slow heart rate
Constipation
Gallbladder sluggishness
Low exercise tolerance
Heavy periods
Infertility
Erectile dysfunction
Headaches
Depression
Having these symptoms are a big deal and can greatly affect the quality of your life. And if that were not bad enough, low thyroid is also a risk for heart disease. Great.
Ok, let me try to break it down for you where things went south
No. 1, TSH is a worthless test that has caused more harm to mankind than any other on the planet. It measures thyroid stimulating hormone in the blood. It does not measure thyroid hormone in your tissues, where it matters. By the time the TSH gets out of normal range, that person has been needlessly suffering for years.
Before some stupid idiot decided to measure thyroid with the TSH test, for hundreds of years doctors measured a person’s thyroid function based on their temperature. A low temperature indicates an underactive thyroid.
According to the late Dr. Broda Barnes, the author of Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness, “The temperature test has checked out against the basal metabolism and other thyroid tests and has revealed hypothyrodism when other tests have done so, and when they they have failed to do so.”
He added, “In thousands of patients, use of the basal temperature test to detect hypothyroidism and then to correct it—Starting with very small doses of thyroid medication and increasing them, if necessary, until retesting has shown the temperature rising- has led to gratifying results.”
Does your stupid doctor know this? Have they ever asked for your temperature? Hell no. Metabolic rate increases when body temperature increases. I have recorded my own morning temperatures for 20 years. They range from as low as 93 to as high as 96. So of course, no where near the 98.6 normal temp it should be.
In order for this test to be accurate, check your temperature first thing in the morning. Keep the thermometer near your bed. As soon as you wake up, do not move. Do not get up. Reach for the thermometer. If your temperature is below 98.6 for several days, you are hypothyroid. No blood test needed.
Before and after thyroid treatment
No. 2, Levothyroxine is a worthless medication today, as most people who are taking it still feel like crap. Absolutely worthless and it should be criminal that this is the standard of care.
If you are hypothyroid, this is the medication you will be given by your allopathic doctor. Do they care that it does not work? No they do not care. They are following their marching orders of prescribing what their medical training has told them was the right medication.
From the book, Living Well with Hypothyroidism by thyroid expert Mary Shoman, “Why did the doctors stop listening to the patients valid concerns and start ignoring total deterioration in health in order to devote themselves to the results of a test and treatment with only one drug?”
Currently Levothyroxine is one of the top three most commonly prescribed medications. 23 Million people are taking it, and that amounts to 7 percent of the population. The brand name is Synthroid.
Paul Robinson, author of several books on the thyroid, who has himself suffered due to untreated thyroid issues, said, “A large group of endocronogists thinks it works, unfortunately, it does not. Some patients are left with debilitating symptoms, so much so they’re virtually an invalid as a result. It can makes people’s lives unbearable.”
Invalids!!!
Because of these bastards not treating people with the proper medication, they are becoming invalids!! Sons of bitches. Makes me sick!!
Dr. Barnes said that 40 percent of the population are hypothyroid.
So why is Levothyroxine worthless? I’ll tell you why. Because Levothyroxine is a T4 only medicaton. We humans need T3. It is the most important thyroid hormone and we can not live without it. If we go without it, we will die, or just die a slow painful death which is happening now to millions due to undertreatment.
Robinson said, “T3 itself is the biologically active thyroid hormone. It’s the one that acts within the nucleous, the center of our cells, which does all the real work.”
So why are they only giving people T4 instead of T3?
Back in the 1950s when Levothyroxine was introduced, hypothyroid patients were given dessicated thyroid, which was a combination of T4 and T3. This was a perfectly fine medication that people had been taking for 100 years. It was made from the glands of pigs.
Big pharma wanted to sell their new drug, so they told doctors to take people off the dessicated thyroid. It was too “unstable” they said. They claimed one batch could be different from another, although it was perfect for 100 years.
The drug companies villified dessicated thyroid. They did everything in thier power to demonize it and convinced doctors it was dangerous. They could not make any money from pig glands.
The late Dr. Ray Peat, one of the leading voices regarding the thyroid, said, “The first time I took enough desiccated thyroid to make my heart speed noticeably, there was a pleasure pushing up from my abdomen through my chest, making me want to smile and laugh. When I have watched suicidal women using thyroid or progesterone, there is a transformation (under an hour with progesterone, a few hours or longer with thyroid) from weeping to smiling and laughing; they speak of unbearable pain being replaced by pleasure.”
Before and after thyroid treatment
Here is the thing most people do not understand… Since Levothyroxine is T4 only, it is supposed to convert into T3, the hormone we need. The words to pay attention to is “supposed to.”
Most people are not able to do this conversion, myself included.
In order for this conversion to take place, lots of things have to be going on.
Here is a list:
You have to have perfect mineral balance
You have to have a perfect healthy liver
You have to have zero toxins
You have to have zero heavy metals
You have to have a perfect healthy gut
You have to have zero inflammation
You have to have a perfect healthy metabolism
You have to have a perfect healthy gallbladder
You have to have perfect nutrition with all the proper nutrients
You have to have perfect healthy mitochondria.
So in other words, forget about it. Unless you are a perfect human with perfect health, it’s not going to happen.
How many people do you know that could meet that criteria? I know only two people, both athletes.
I think maybe when it first came out in the 1950s, people were healthier. Hardly anyone was obese. People were more metabolically healthy. So maybe it did work back then, because people had the tools in their toolbox to do the conversion.
Today, not a chance. We have been poisoned in every way they can think of. We are loaded with toxins and heavy metals. We are not even at the same starting place.
Shoman said, “It’s not acceptable that many millions of people with hypothyroidism are undiagnosed and undertreated, and even those who are diagnosed have about a fifty-fifty chance of getting proper treatment.”
This is my gripe and the reason for this post.
In the 1970s, the great poisoning began. Chemicals in our food, air and water. Have you seen the photos of the people on the beach in the 1970s? Not a fat body anywhere.
We are too sick and fat to convert T4 into T3 today. So guess what happens? The longer we go without T3, we get sicker and sicker and sicker. The T4 is not being converted.
There is another blood test called Reverse T3. This will be elevated if there is too much T4. Why is there too much much T4? Because it’s not getting converted and your stupid doctor is only giving you T4.
When reverse T3 is high, it blocks the body from producing its own T3. It puts the brakes on T3. The higher the reverse T3, the worse you will feel.
Many people that have been on Levothyroxine for a while will end up with high reverse T3. Which is not what we want. Stupid ignorant doctors will just keep on increasing the dosage when patients complain. Instead of doing the logical thing and giving them T3.
Doctors can’t seem to take their heads of out of their ass to realize most people can not convert T4 into T3. They continue this malpractice of prescribing T4 only medications.
If I seem a little harsh, well I have good reason. I realize I have been bashing doctors. There are many brilliant doctors. We still have great doctors with good intentions and who want to help people get to the root cause. But what they are doing with hypothyroid patients is criminal. I can not enbrace their negligent outdated practices.
According to Antonio Bianco, an expert on thyroid physiology and metabolism, “Unfortunately a lot of people that talk about treatment of hypothyroidism, they have an incomplete understanding of thyroid physiology and I don’t mean to criticize any of my colleagues. We talk about T3 so much. T3 is the biologically reactive hormone. T3 is the one. But the strong school of thought says never measure T3. You don’t measure T3. Why would you not measure T3? But this… makes absolute no sense. So…I attribute this to incomplete understanding of thyroid physiology. That’s it.”
He was a lot kinder than I for saying the doctors have incomplete understanding of thyroid physiology. I would take it further and say they could have a complete understanding of thyroid physiology if they wanted to. No one is stopping them from learning. But they choose not to, and this is where malpractice enters the picture.
Something to consider…80 percent of hypothyroid patients are women. 62 percent of endocrinologists are men. What do men do when women complain about thier symptoms? They don’t believe them or label them “hysterical” and tell them to see a psychiatrist. Of course I can’t prove this, but if 80 percent of the hypothyroid patients were men, we would not even be having this conversation.
And again, for me it’s personal. My mother was on dessicated thyroid for many years. She was healthy. Then in the ‘70s, stupid ignorant doctors took her off the dessicated thyroid and put her on Levothyroxine.
Her problems started gradually. Her weight exploded. She gained 50 pounds in a short time. She had to have to her gallbladder taken out. Next she had irregular heartbeat and had to have a pacemaker. Next her knees were stricken with osteoporsis and arthritis with pain so bad she could barely walk. The last years of her life were filled with suffering. Suffering that could have been avoided had she been given T3.
So yah, I blame these stupid doctors for what they did to my mother. She did not deserve the suffering she went thru. No one does.
Janie Bowthorpe, author of Stop the Thyroid Madness, said, “I was angy and appalled at what had happened to me for those two decades I was on Synthroid and later Levothyroxine, pushing me to apply for Social Security Disablity because my ability to function had become a nightmare. I was equally disappointed when I discovered how inadequate the TSH lab test was, resulting in nunerous doctors over the years blindly proclaiming me normal based on a pituitary hormone, in spite of being constantly disabled. “
Did you catch that? Disabled. Yes. That’s what happens when you don’t get T3.
According to the late Dr. Peat, “At the University of Oregon Medical School in the 1970s, a doctor had prescribed 100 micrograms, which was a moderate dose of T4 to a hypothyroid woman. And after a few months, she didn’t improve, so he increased the dose to 200. Over months, got it up to 400 micrograms of T4 per day, and she went into a myxedema coma and was taken into the medical school hospital, where they found she had absolutely no detectable T3 in her body, explaining the coma.
Her brain simply wasn’t making carbon dioxide or energy. So they gave her intravenous T3 immediately, came out of the coma, recovered from the massive edema, myxedema, and they put her on a mixed product containing T3 to maintain her, and there was no problem.
But there are milder cases like that, millions of them around the country, women being prescribed T4 and the response being measured in terms of how much their TSH is being suppressed, it totally ignoring their body temperature, their symptoms, their cholesterol, all of the basic absolute indicators of what the thyroid is doing and how much is needed.”
OMG! Look at the dog!!!
What about if you have had your thyroid removed? It is even more critical that you get the T3 because your body is no longer producing it. You will really suffer without the T3.
Ok, so lets say you have decided to empty your bank account and go and see a holistic doctor. In most cases, this a good first step.
They are trained to look for the root cause, may be open to additional tests beside the TSH, and they may be willing to prescribe dessicated thyroid, which contains T3.
But, and this is a big but, many will try to tackle the list of what is wrong with your body. Detox, change your diet, get rid of the heavy metals, reduce inflammation, reduce stress, yada yada yada. By the time you fix all of these you will be dead.
These so called thyroid gurus you see spouting their fix, it’s always the same. One doc says change your diet and you will be cured. Another says reduce the inflammation and you will be cured. Stop eating gluten and you will be cured. And it goes and on and on, a never ending quest to try to find something that actually works.
I’ll tell you what works… T3. Just give people the damm T3 and end this BS.
It is so frustrating it is beyond belief. Of course try to get rid of heavy metals and inflammation. But you need T3 in the meantime. And they will dose it out in tiny, tiny increments that are not what your body needs and keep you sick. They will make you beg for it. Can you imagine? Having to beg for a lifesaving medicine that is perfectly safe and has been used for a 100 years? Do you see why I am so angry?
Dr. Barnes said, “And daily life for a hypothyroid person might well seem to the normal individual to be almost the equivalent of combat duty.”
If you take too much T3 you can get heart palpitations. I got heart palpitations from taking too much iodine. So this is an issue. Stupid doctors think you will just keep taking the same dose with heart palpitations and get a heart attack and die. This is why they do not want to give it to you. They can’t give you a little credit to realize when you are having palpitations and to reduce the dosage. Are we toddlers?
According to Dr. Westin Childs, a doctor who in an expert in thyroid issues, “Some doctors say you should not take T3 because it may precipate or cause a heart attack. It is a little misleading to say that. T3 containing thyroid medications do put a little bit of excess strain on the heart by increasing both the force of contraction and the heart rate. In a similiar way that a stress test might unmask existing heart disease, taking T3 thyroid medication in high doses can also do the same thing.”
He added, “But it’s not the T3 medication that causes the heart attack, its the existing blockage of the arteries that already existed and its the use of the thyroid medication which may unmask that existing disease.”
Dr. Childs said, “And even then this is incredibly uncommon and incredibly rare. In fact, I’ve never even heard of a single patient experience of a heart attack with the use of any thyroid medication, including T3.”
If you gradually increase the dosage, you will realize when and if you are having palpitations. I have never had heart palpitations from T3 and I experimented with a high dose. Everyone is different, some people need more thyroid medication, some need less. Adjusting the dosage to eliminate palpitations is not a big deal and should not be a deterrant. You may get palpitations from walking up a flight of stairs. Does this mean you are going to get a heart attack and die?
I would rather take the risk of having heart palpitations for a day or two, than dying from heart disease, which is what happens when you don’t get enought T3.
So what can you do to make sure you are getting the proper thyroid medication?
First of all, if your doctor is only testing TSH, find another doctor. Sorry. I know your insurance may not cover a different doctor. I get it. But we are talking about life and death here.
You don’t need a doctor to do these blood tests. You can order a complete thyroid blood panel from Life Extension.com or numerous online labs. You order and pay for the bloodwork, then they send you an order you can take to your local lab. It costs less than $100.
When you get your results back, look at the numbers. Do you have adequate Free T3? Do you have too high Reverse T3?
You can easily put your test results into Chat GTP or other AI engines and get a line by line analysis of what your numbers mean.
Ok, so lets’ say you are low in T3 and feel like crap.
You have a couple of options.
Option 1: Become your doctor and buy the T3 yourself without a prescription. This is what I did.
Where to buy:
https://www.idealabsdc.com/lab/
Let me tell you about this one called Tyronene. Georgi Dinkov, a brilliant researcher in the field of metabolism and mitochondrial function, is a chemist who has created a business selling these products because he realized the great need for them. He has personally designed and created them to fill the void.
If you go the website, it will say these chemicals are for research purposes only. So you are the guinea pig. He does not give dosing, so you have to figure that out on your own. Each drop equals 8 mcg. Start with three drops and keep checking your temperature and gradually increase a drop at a time until you temp comes up to normal. Remember, too much is not better. Pay attention to your symptoms also, as they are key. Keep track of your blood pressure and pulse.
What you are getting is a chemical liquid T3, not the same as the one from pigs. I have used this for months, no issues. I started at three drops and just did three drops twice a day.
He also has two more products called Tyromax and Tyromix, both which include T4 and T3.
Here are some links to a couple of his videos for more information:
Here is another place to buy T3, called Cynomel:
This is a Mexican pharmacy. I have ordered from them. Totally legit. I am taking this T3 now. Unfortunately, because of the tarriffs, they are no longer able to ship to the US. Unbelieveable. But I wanted to include it because it is the only T3 you can get without a presciption, other than the one Dinkov offers. Hopefully we will be able to get it again one day.
Option 2: Become your own doctor and treat yourself with dessicated thyroid.
Here is where I get mine, no prescription needed:
https://telyrx.com/medications/armour-thyroid
They have two brands, Armour and NP Thyroid.
Again, start low and gradually increase according to your temperature.
There are plenty of scammers trying to sell you bovine dessicated thyroid. I would not waste your money. You want the pig thyroid. Also plenty of scammers selling you mineral drops and saying they will cure your hypothoidism. Of course minerals are important. And they may help. But you still need T3 regardless.
Option 3: Call your pharmacy and find out which doctors near you prescribe dessicated thyroid (Armour or NP Thyroid). If you get lucky, the pharmacy can give you a couple of names. You could also look into the websites of holistic doctors near you and see if they mention dessicated thyroid or Cynomel. Trying to find a doctor willing to prescribe Cynomel is like a needle in a haystack, which is why I get it without a prescription.
Then call those doctors and ask of they prescribe dessicated thyroid or Cynomel before you make an appointment and if they test other thyroid markers beside TSH. If not, do not waste your time.
Here is a small list of possible providers that treat the thyroid:
Paloma Health
100% thyroid-focused clinicians
Known for prescribing T3 and combination therapy when indicated
Works nationwide
Website: palomahealth.com
Push Health, independent prescribers
You request liothyronine (Cytomel) and a licensed clinician reviews
Many users obtain T3 through this platform
Website: pushhealth.com
MyThyroid.com (Dr. Kent Holtorf, Holtorf Medical)
Well-known for using T3-based thyroid protocols
Offers telemedicine across most states
Website: holtorfmed.com
Integrative/Functional Telemedicine Clinics
These clinics routinely use T3 therapies:
Cedarwood Natural Health (Dr. Eric Wood ND)
Austin Functional Medicine
Progressive Medical Center (Atlanta; telehealth nationwide)
All are familiar with T3 and often prescribe it if labs support the need.
5. Fountain Life / Precision Medicine Clinics
Often prescribe T3 for hypothyroid optimization
Nationwide telehealth access
Option 4: Go to your allopathic doctor. Get a TSH test. Get told you are normal. Feel like crap for another 10 years. Or get put on Levothyroxine and still feel like crap for another 10 years.
According to Robinson, “You cannot let this go on because there is such a lot of calateral damage to a person’s life, to their jobs, their careers, their relationships. Everything. Hypothyroidism causes cardivascular disease, osteoporosis. It’s linked to cancer, you can not let it go on. It has to get treated fast, that’s the best way to deal with it.”
How to take T3:
If you are able to get the Cynomel, it comes in a 25 mcg dose per pill. Some people cut them in half and take them twice a day. Some people take the entire pill twice a day. Most people do not take more than 50 mcg a day.
If you go with Dinkov’s T3, it is a liquid and each drop equals 8 mg. So you can easily adjust the dosage gradually.
Now something I just learned and have not studied, is to take your T3 according to our circadian rhythm. This is something that worked for Robinson. He found that when he took his T3 at 4 a.m., instead of 8 a.m., his whole life changed for the better.
I did try this one night and did not notice anything different. It has to do with synching the T3 with cortisol, and from that perspective, makes sense, especially if your cortisol is high or low. Here is a link to his book if you want to learn more:
My own personal experience:
When I turned 60, I knew things were going to fall apart, so I went to a naturopathic doctor since I moved away from my holistic doctor. She provided a free interview before accepting me as a patient. The very first thing I asked her is “Are you going to treat me based on my blood work, or my symptoms.” She said both.
For three years, she never adjusted my thyroid medication, which had been at the same dosage for 10 years. I begged her to increase it. “You will burn out your receptors,” was her answer, whatever the hell that means.
She said I could heal my metabolism and said to go on a keto diet. Plus, I had to take lots and lots of supplements. So I played along. Did the keto diet, took the pills. (By the way, a keto diet is not good for the thyroid. It reduces T3 levels and increases R T3)
And as every year went by, I felt worse and worse and worse. Before becoming her patient, I lost 60 pounds by intermittent fasting. She told me to stop fasting. I did. I gained 25 pounds in just the three years I was her patient. I changed nothing, and my calories did not increase.
She did not seem to think this was a problem and said to try Ozempic.
I finally got fed up and fired her.
The first thing I did was order T3. I started adding it to my T4/T3 medication. I kept increasing the dosage gradually. A marker of thyroid health is a normal temperature upon waking. I usually check my temperature every morning.
This temperature check is a very accurate and realiable indicator. No stupid blood test is needed.
After about a month of gradually increasing my thyroid medication up to 500 MCG, I finally got a normal temperature for the first time in 20 years.
Now there is a lot of risk at this high dose. Heart palipations is a big one. Normal dosage is around 50 mcg a day.
So needless to say, the next day I reduced the dosage back down to normal.
So my little experiment with the T3 was not the answer, as taking such a high dosage is not recommended or safe.
But at least I knew there was something else, which meant I had to start at ground zero. I got a hair tissue sample analysis and discovered I had iron overload. The iron is the problem. I am donating blood to correct this imbalance, and am on The Root Cause Protocol, a mineral balancing program by Morley Robbins which I can highly recommend.
So now I am in the process of healing myself with peptides. I am writing a book on peptides to make it easier for people to understand them and how they work. I will let you know when it is available. I am really excited, as peptides can really improve mitochondrial function and your health, which is a very big deal.
I hope this is helpful. I felt a need to get this information out there because so many people have been suffering, thinking they are taking what they need, when in reality they are not.
For more information:
Lots of articles on the thyroid:
Mary Shoman
Stop the Thyroid Maddness