Adrenal Fatigue, MTHFR & Medications

-- SNEAK PREVIEW -- Expert: Dr. Alan Christianson, NMD Author of The Adrenal Reset Diet Host: Jen Wittman Creator of Your BEST Thyroid Life & Thyroid Loving Care The information provided in the following transcript is designed for informational purposes. The transcript is not meant to be used, nor should it be used, to diagnose or treat any medical condition. This transcript is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his/her health and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention. Jen: So, when you’re looking at the bigger picture of reversing a thyroid imbalance, should TSH levels be ignored?

Dr. Alan: No. I would argue no. It should not be treated as if its range is very meaningful, but it should not be ignored. Many do argue that you can simply give thyroid until someone feels better, and if the TSH gets too low then we can ignore that. I know people from other practices who have been in and out of my care, who have died from this approach. It hurts me to say it but it’s true and every complication you can think of from strokes to osteoporosis and hip fracture to cardiac damage, I’ve seen it all happen from those who have been under this approach from others. So, you cannot suppress the TSH and ignore it no more than you would ignore an elevated TSH. Healthy people have the TSH in a narrow range, between about 0.4 to about 1.9 at the highest. So, we really can’t ignore it when it’s outside of those ranges. That does show that there are problems brewing. If someone only feels better when their TSH is pushed down, that’s important data, but the solution is not just giving extra thyroid. The solution is figuring out why and that can be poor adrenal function, that can be low levels of some key nutrients, that could be the buildup of environmental toxins within the tissues, but there’s some reason for that…

Jen: So, several of my clients take natural desiccated thyroid in lieu of other medications; can you explain to the viewers what the difference is between the types of medications available to support the thyroid and what the advantages are of desiccated thyroid?

Dr. Alan: That’s been the source of controversy in medicine and in the late '70s, there were some poor brands of it that should have been off the market. They weren’t that well standardized. That created kind of a bad rap among medical professionals about it being inconsistent. So, in

 

their early '80s, the bar was raised on standardization and desiccated thyroid became standardized based on the hormone content, not just based upon more vague parameters like its iodine content. Since then, it has been more regulated and really not had mandatory recalls. There was a voluntary recall that Armour did but no mandatory recalls on it since. I do like desiccated thyroid, there’s three really important hormones: T4, T3 and T2. T2 might be a big one in terms of helping you burn fuel, you know, to get energy and to lose weight more easily. We don’t get that from synthetics, you know. T3 like Cytomel or T4 like Synthroid, they do not contain T2 and many with Hashimoto’s do not form T2 out of T3 adequately. There is an idea that desiccated thyroid will do something bad to the immune system for those that have Hashimoto’s and I finally found the source of that story. It was probably a quote from Dr. Broda Barnes in the early '80s at a lecture he gave. But that was really an opinion or an idea and there’s been no data I’ve ever found that supports this opinion. In fact, there's a few published studies showing the opposite; that desiccated thyroid may improve thyroid antibodies and I’ve seen that so often clinically. You know, I’ve had many case studies that patients to where the only change they made was to go from synthetic to desiccated thyroid and their antibody scores reduced or became negative. So I’ve seen that consistently, and there’s no reason not to use it for those that have Hashimoto’s. Quite the opposite, it can be a very good fit. There aren’t big differences brand to brand and I like brands that are well standardized and that do not have binders or fillers; they’re cleaner. Based upon those criteria, WP Thyroid is my favorite. I’m not paid by anyone for saying that, but I do use that the most clinically and it’s got some big advantages.

Jen: So, for those taking thyroid medication, how do you know when you’re on the best dose?...

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