A long time member of metabolism.com, Eric Pritchard, has been a determined critic of “T4 only” treatment of hypothyroidism. In his latest comment Eric shows that scientists were aware of the inadequacy of “T4 only” treatment since 1947! I wanted to give everyone a chance to read his comment so I am posting to the main blog. Thanks again for your insight Eric.
Eric writes:
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Submitted on 2012/03/25 at 6:11 pm
Endocrinologists have a hard time with the symptoms of hypothyroidism in the same sort of way that New York City folks believing that there is anything worthwhile west of the Hudson River. However, there are very relevant functions to the thyroid hormone effectiveness that exist beyond the boundaries of the classical endocrine system. This potential was given initial credence by Drs. Kirk and Kvroning in 1947 when they published a note saying that not all patients’ symptoms were managed by thyroxine (T4). This was collaborated in 1954 by Dr. Means. Drs. Gross and Pitt-Rivers discovered triiodothyronine (T3) and found it far more active than T4, which is now called a pro-hormone. The concept of euthyroid (your thyroid is OK) hypometabolism (but you are dragging anyway) was demonstrated by Dr. Goldberg in 1960. Drs. Refetoff and Braverman, circa 1970, discovered the connections between the thyroid gland and symptom producing cells, namely the cellular reception of hormones and the conversion of T4 to T3 outside of the endocrine system, which produces 80% of the body’s requirement for the active hormone, T3. Another issue that is dismissed is the necessity of supporting chemistry to function properly. For example, every thyroid hormone replacement counter-indicates is use if the adrenals are insufficient. So there is far more going on than endocrinology is willing to promote. That is why there are 1.7 million patients suffering in spite of T4 therapy. That is why there are still more patients suffering from false negative diagnoses for the symptoms of hypothyroidism. |
