jane and jim leigh

Lois:
I'm replying to the group as you requested. Here are some quotes
regarding lab tests and dessicated thyroid from Solved: The Riddle of
Illness by Stephen E. Langer, MD. and James F. Scheer.

p.l82 (Chapter 22-For Doctors Only)
"The main complaint I encounter from physcians is that the basal
temperature test is unscientific; they feel that hypothyroidism can be
diagnosed only by the standard laboratory blood work. That is exactly what
I once thought. Now the basal temperature test is invariably the starting
point of my three-pronged diagnostic approach. I relate temperature to
patient symptoms and, of course, to medical history.
Today, the vast majority of physicians rely heavily on results of blood
tests for diagnosing thyroid function, perhaps too heavily. I make this
statement because many of my patients--and those of Dr. Barnes--have been
declared euthyroid by blood tests and proved to be conclusively hypothyroid
according to the basal temperature test, symptoms and medical history."

p.192(Chapter 22-For Doctors Only)
"It is apparent, therefore that the blood test criterion for thyroid disease
should never be the be-all or end-all in the diagnosis of hypothyroidism,
but rather just one parameter."

Desiccated thyroid or Armour -

p.181 (Chapter 22-For Doctors Only)
"(Dr. Barnes and his more than one hundred followers used the natural
form, as I do, on the premise that nature should know better than man, with
all his synthetic chemicals, what is best for the body.)"

p.181-182(Chapter 22-For Doctors Only)
"I will frequently start a new patient on thyroid therapy even if the
thyroid lab work is normal, and I believe there is scientific justification
to use it. Thyroid medication given to carefully screened patients is, in
my experience, almost always helpful. I start all my patients on the
equivalent of 1/4 to 1/2 grain of the Armour desiccated thyroid preparation,
and increase their dosage in 1/4-1/2 grain increments every seven to ten
days until a level that achieves the desired clinical results is obtained.
The dosage I use most commonly in adults is 1 to 2 grains. I have never
put a patient on more than 4 grains of thyroid hormone per day, as in most
of these patients we achieved the desired result with the smaller 1 to 2
grain dosage.
During the time my patients are titrated with a thyroid preparation, I
have them check their basal temperatures regularly. I also test their
thyroid hormone levels regularly. I refrain from increasing their dosage if
their basal temperature goes above 98.2, if their resting heart beat is
above 85 per minute, if on history they relate episodes of either constant
jitteryness or palpitations, or if their lab results indicate they're taking
too much thyroid."

Thought this might be of interest......p.122 (Chapter 15-Be Kind To Your
Arteries!)

Reason for Armour getting a bad name a long time ago:

"Bodansky and Bodansky make the interesting point that hypothyroidism
can be diagnosed by high blood cholesterol, and effectiveness of treatment
can be determined by the decline in blood serum level of cholesterol. A
give-and-take relationship apparently exists between the decrease in basal
metabolism in thyroid deficiency and the rise in blood cholesterol. "On the
average, the rise in cholesterol is approximately four times as great as the
drop in metabolism." (Emphasis added.)
It remains a mystery to me why modern medicine fails to make use of this
information. Perhaps it is because, during the mid-1930's, physicians
started patients on too high dosages of thyroid and brought on heart attacks
and, in several instances, death. The customary treatment for heart failure
in that period was digitalis, administered in large dosages to saturate the
patient, then in reduced dosages to maintenance level. No procedure could
have been more wrong for thyroid. Large to massive dosages were
tried--anywhere from 4 to 30 grains daily--causing the heart to race beyond
its ability. From this flagrant misuse, thyroid developed a bad name, one
it is still having difficulty overcoming. It is perhaps for this reason
that a prime way to lower critical blood fats, including cholesterol, is
often denied to patients who need it."

Hope this helps! Jane P. S. I know some of these are long. Maybe you can
figure out how to condense without losing the info.!

lois

Jane, thanks very much for doing this research and copying out all the
quotes. I'll email you directly so that we don't take up NG bandwidth with
little details.

Lois