Hello Sir...
I think this articale seems to be an interesting as well as an excellent one...I hope that it will be an useful study for all the doctors as well as diabetics ..In the current scenario Indian doctors are not even advising the patients to do thyroid test or for Proper medication for thyroid disorders.......Being an Indian I really proud to see this article... Expecting more news from you...Congrats to you , Dr.Jothydev and his team.....Thank you..........
I have a different problem with my thyroid... I had cancer in my thyroid and it was removed. I've experienced hypothyroidism for treatment and I'm now taking meds that suppress the TSH levels to prevent recurrence. I therefore have a TSH level that is extremely low...
George,
I presume that you were put on thyroid medication after the thyroid removal, so are you saying that the dose is purposefully being kept low in order to keep your TSH level low, in order to supress cancer? I would also have to presume that the negative side effects of keeping your TSH low (blood glucose and osteoporosis) are less harmful to you than the possiblity of cancer recurring.
David Brownstein, MD, has written a number of books on the thyroid gland. One of them deals with Iodine (Why you need it and why you can't live without it). Iodine helps control the thyroid gland. I suggest your readers consider this resource.
I am a 65 yr woman, insolin (shots) diabetic (not obese) with a 18.17 TSH. I was taking synthetic drug 4 years ago but I had side affects. I was put on Armour Thyroid but lost my insurance so I could not get another reading to see if this was doing anything. Since I've turned 65 and am now on Medicare, my blood test shows 18.17 (4. lower than before.) I was told that I can't get armour thyroid any more but I did find Life-flo Iodine Plus with iodine and potassium iodine. I go for another blood test 8/4/11 so I will see if this is working (3 drops/d.) The Dr. got unpleasent with me when I told him that I had side affects to the synth. I filled the Rx but have not taken them. I want to see if the natural iodine is effective. If it brings TSH down any will take more dops/d.
First, read Brownstein's book on iodine. Second, google J Crow Lugal's solution. This is a diluted form of iodine, which you can order from J Crow's site, or from amazon.com; we've been taking the drops for a couple of months, and I have experienced quite a bit more energy, and my BG readings have improved somewhat.
You will learn more about endocrinology from Brownstein's books than many other sources (not that Brownstein has his material well organized). He has written a basketful of books, and I've only scratched the surface of his writings. However, he has persuaded me iodine helps our endocrine system quite a bit, and our American diets are woefully deficient in iodine.
First, read Brownstein's book on iodine. Second, google J Crow Lugal's solution. This is a diluted form of iodine, which you can order from J Crow's site, or from amazon.com; we've been taking the drops for a couple of months, and I have experienced quite a bit more energy, and my BG readings have improved somewhat.
You will learn more about endocrinology from Brownstein's books than many other sources (not that Brownstein has his material well organized). He has written a basketful of books, and I've only scratched the surface of his writings. However, he has persuaded me iodine helps our endocrine system quite a bit, and our American diets are woefully deficient in iodine.
Hi David.
I wrote an article on hypothroidism a few years ago for diabetes1.org. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me publish target TSH. Journalism at it's worst ... censorship. At least I got to publish the MANY symptoms that aren't necessarily listed by the typical ABC's of hypothyroidism articles - especially the fact that high TSH causes high LDL (as does non-normalized A1C).
I too am a proponent and subscriber of a TSH of 2.0. I actually couldn't get my endo to help me attain that goal. She's got the old guidelines stuck in her head for some reason. So, I sought out my PCP instead but yes, my endo sees my labs and scripts so she knows what I'm doing.
Endo also didn't want to help me with my T3 - something that isn't discussed in your article. I was encouraged by another type 1 with hypothyroidism to be as pushy about my T3 as I am about my A1C being normalized and my TSH being 2.0. So, I made an agreement with my PCP, had the T3 run again and low and behold it wasn't even borderline this time - it was under lab range. So, I asked for Cytomel and filled the prescription. I've been taking it for a few months now. Still fatigued (my primary symptom) though so ... back to the last idea - blood pressure meds side effect.
Finally, I have to disagree that hypothyroidism is a "complication" of diabetes. I believe it is co-disease of auto-immune based diabetes (aka type 1 or juvenile onset diabetes) - different than it being caused by uncontrolled diabetes. Our immune systems go after the thyroid as well as the beta cells.
In addition, my research has found that hypothyroidism affects a huge number of people simply as we age - whether it is diagnosed or not and diabetic or not. I haven't really found any causes.
Just a slight nuance to the word "complication" but important I believe.
Thanks for writing about a very important issue.
Doris J. Dickson
Are there natural remedies that deal with hypothyroidism? I am desperately trying to avoid man-made chemicals to treat what ails me.
Yes. Armour Thyroid. But you may have a hard time to get your doctor to prescribe it. That's because, being natural, it is not as consistent as Synthroid.
I am not a diabetic but my TSH went up to 10 last year so I began taking magnesium supplements, about 3 tabs of coconut oil and selenium in the form of 3 brazil nuts a day. My last TSH was 5 and my T4 and T3 which have always been in the normal range increased a bit which is a good thing. I have subclinical autoimmune thyroiditis, (Hashimoto's disease) but am resistant to taking any thyroid hormones while the T4 and T3 are in the normal range. My thyroid antibodies have sometimes been strongly positive.
I have been advised that as mine is an autoimmune condition, to go gluten-free but although I comply at home as my partner is gluten-intolerant, I do cheat a bit at work if there's something very nice on offer. The theory of going gluten-free being that wheat proteins leak out of the gut ( I was found to have a degree of leaky gut possibly caused by taking occasional NSAID's) and enter the bloodstream. Anti-wheat antibodies then form which target the thyroid gland as apparently the protein of this gland is not too dissimilar from wheat protein. I've also had a lot of immunisations due to being a nurse, travelling extensively and buying into the BS of annual flu and Hep B immunisations (no longer the case).
A cheek swab analysed by the American Red Cross showed I carry 2 HLA DQ2 genes for gluten intolerance, each gene inherited from my mother and father respectively. This isn't surprising as I have Irish and Scottish ancestry and 50% of Irish apparently carry these types of genes. I bought extensive gut tests from enterolab.com over the net.
Can this go the other way...Could hypothyrodism be a possible trigger for diabetes? For example, I had my thyroid ablated due to extreme hypothyodism and later was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes with no warning signals. AIC and fasting blood sugar was normal.
Thx
Hi
I'm both a MD and a person with diabetes (type I).
Hypothyroidism can lead to diabetes in a very simple way: people with hypothyroidism have the trend to gain weight and as we gain weight the body requires more insulin to balance the blood glucose. Eventualy the pancreas becomes exhausted and cannot produce as much insulin as required...
BG
TSH - Why It's Uselesss
from Stop The Thyroid Madness
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/tsh-why-its-useless/
T4-Only Meds Do Not Work
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/t4-only-meds-dont-work/
Thyroid Disease
by Mary Shomon
http://thyroid.about.com/
Do You Have Symptoms
of Hypothyroidism or
Thyroid Hormone Resistance?
by Dr. John C. Lowe
http://www.drlowe.com/geninfo/hyposymptoms.htm
Dr. Bernstein has mentioned in his teleseminars that he believes that autoimmune diseases come in clusters and he doesn't have a single diabetic patient who doesn't have several such disesases. One that he always tests for is hypothyroidism. He does NOT believe that it is a complication of diabetes, as it can appear long before someone becomes diabetic (or long after). He says that up to 80 or 85% of his diabetic patients eventually develop hypothyroidism if they don't already have it.
Dr. Bernstein says that he hasn't seen much correclation between TSH levels ahd hypothyroidism so he doesn't even order TSH tests any more. He says that if you are going to do only one test, it should be free T3, but he normally also orders total T3 and free and total T4. To treat hypothyroidism, he normally prescribes a concotion of a time-release version of a combination of T3 and T4 put together by a compounding chemist (since T3 by itself would need to be taken every 8 hours and nearly everyone forgets to take the afternoon dose).
From hearing Dr. Bernstein talk about it and from reading information at the National Academy of Hypothyroidism's web site (nahypothyroidism.org) I suspected that I had hypothyroidism even though my TSH test always came out quite low (about a month ago, it was 0.59) because I had several symptoms such as being tired much of the time, difficulty sleeping, low heart rate, low body temperature (although I have had that at least since I was 5 and I just turned 60), fingernails tearing, no significant change in cholesterol levels (not that I'm all that concerned about cholesterol; Steve Gibson, inventor of the Gibson Light Pen for the Apple ][ and the SpinRite disk utility [grc.com], who is not diabetic, but about three years younger than I, mentioned on the "Security Now" podcast that his LDL cholesterol went down by 43% five weeks after he went low carb) since switching to a low carb diet, etc.).
Two different Kaiser Permanente doctors ordered TSH tests for me at different times and both were quite low, so neither doctor thought I might have hypothyroidism. When I suggested to the second of those doctors that I might, he said he didn't think so and he did not order any addtional tests.
The NAH site says that TSH tests only detect about 20% of hypothyroidism cases and that if you have diabetes, are older, experience a lot of stress, etc. the test is particularly unreliable.
What NAH recommends as being the most reliable way to determine hypothyroidism is testing free T3 and reverse T3. The ratio of free T3 to reverse T3 should be >2.
I went to the CHAP Clinic in Pasadena because I can no longer afford to pay for the California MRMIP program (over $757 a month, plus co-pays, now that I'm 60) to ask for a prescription for metformin, since mine had expired and was surprised (and grateful) that the doctor I saw there ordered a bunch of tests, including TSH, total T3 and free T4. This indicates to me that she has a better, but still imperfect (outdated?), understanding of testing for hypothyroidism. She seemed puzzled that TSH and free T4 were normal, but that my total T3 level was low. She has ordered free T3 and free T4 (I'm not sure why T4 since this has already been done) tests to be done in early May. I'm going to suggest that she have reverse T3 tested instead of free T4 and that she have a look at the NAH web site for reasons why.
She also ordered iron tests since some of the earlier tests indicated I have anemia. I had those tests at Kaiser and they were low, but when I asked my doctor there, he said it was not low enough to be concerned about. The NAH site says that low iron can cause inadequate T4 to T3 conversion (which seems to be what is happening in my case) and too much reverse T3 to be made.
NAH says that in most cases, a time release version of T3 alone should be prescribed, though some patients will benefit from a little T4 along with it. In other cases, prescribing T4 will result in more T3 being produced by the body and making matters worse.
You said you were going to do a posting about T3. I suggest that one of the people you should talk to before you do that is Dr. Kent Holtorf, the medical director of the NAH.
Dear Stan,
Thank you for your extensive and insightful comments. I still do plan on writing about the T3 test that Dr. Bernstein and you recommend, and your leads are most helpful.
By the way, I was interested in your mention of Steve Gibson. I used Spinrite for many years and corresponded with him a few times. But not about hypothyroidism!
David
As far as I know, Steve Gibson does NOT have hypothyroidism. It has been a number of years since I have seen him when he occasionally came up north to L.A. County to speak to the Pasadena IBM Users Group (which was disbanded some years ago).
Steve always appeared to me to be in excellent health and I think he still is. He does a weekly podcast with Leo Laporte called "Security Now" (twit.tv) and a couple of years ago or so, he mentioned that he had learned that he was low in Vitamin D and that he wasn't able to raise it by sunbathing at midday. He started taking vitamin D3 gel caps from Now Foods that he buys from iherb.com (which is the same place I get mine). They devoted one whole podcast to vitamin D, risking the wrath of those who only want to hear about computer security.
It was just a couple of weeks ago that Steve mentioned that he had switched to a low carb diet and made a few remarks about it. From it I learned that Steve often goes to a local lab to have blood and urine samples taken for various tests. I think he's kind of a health enthusiast. He has full transcrips of the shows done and put on the grc.com website so you can do searches on what was discussed.
And, by the way, I learned about Gary Taubes "Why We Get Fat" (I learned about "Good Calories, Bad Calories" from you, from another podcast the Leo does with Paul Thurrott of "Windows IT Pro" magazine (this was before Mary Jo Foley joined the podcast). Paul had adopted a low carb diet because of the book and he has mentioned low carb favorably several times since then.
Another blog I've been following recently is that of Swedish physician Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt (dietdoctor.com), who promotes the low carb, high fat (LCHF) diet. Among other things, there are links to some video interviews he's done with other doctors. A while back he did a test of the Dreamfields "low carb" pasta on himself (he is not diabetic) and concluded it was a fraud (http://www.dietdoctor.com/the-dreamfields-pasta-fraud).
Featuring Content From:
By using this service, you accept our Terms of Use. Please read them. The consumer health information on is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen. Copyright © 2013 Remedy Health Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Top 8 Low-Carb Mistakes 
What Your Feet Say About Your Health 
7 Unusual Treatments for Diabetic Foot Pain 
The Facts on Diabetic Neuropathy 
My husband's thyroid completely failed back in the early 90's (his TSH reading was over 400 at the time.) He was diagnosed as having Type 2 diabetes last year and his doctor insists that his current TSH of .221 is normal (the lower the better,)even though the printout from the lab shows this number to be low. He complains of tiredness, and frequently falls asleep after he eats (even after breakfast.) The doctor wants to place him on anti-depressants because she thinks his is depressed. I think that his thyroid medication dose needs to be modified. What should he do?
Good question. I could have written a lot more, but purposefully kept my article short. Your husband can ask his doctor for further tests that they commonly use for situations just like these: total thyroxine (T4), Free thyroxine (FTI or FT4), and/or Triiodothyronine (T3).
I would suggest requesting a T3 test and if it is in the low end of the range asking about Cytomel. T3 is known for affecting energy levels.
Also, because you mention fatigue soon after eating, I would consider reading Dr. Bernstein's book (The Diabetes Solution). High insulin doses (or release), high blood sugar (sooner than the typical 2 hour blood sugar test recommends) and high carb intake are all noted for causing fatigue after eating.
Also - if your husband is taking blood pressure meds, fatigue is on the top of the side effect list I found. Might want to check side effects of any other meds.
I hope that helps - it'll give you a few avenues to pursue other than adding the side effects of an anti-depressant (which do nothing good for type diabetes!).
Doris.
He eats a very low carb breakfast: two eggs, ham steak, slice of cheddar cheese, coffee or tea. Don't think it is carb overload.