Obesity and Personal Responsibility

[kpete]

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/obesity_and_personal_responsibility_20120508/

[BlueToTheBone]

1. Funny cartoon,

But, I have another story to tell about obesity.

My beloved has hypothyroidism and in 1987, the dr gave him synthroid/levathroid pills. He has been faithful in his compliance with the pill for all this time. He isn't and hasn't ever been an "over eater" but continued to gain weight and lose energy. It eventually tumbled into type II diabetes and he has been faithful in his compliance with no sugar and low glycemic foods. Still, he continued to gain weight and to lose energy (now sleeping up to 14 hours a day.)

Recently I found a "functional medicine" doctor and he changed the synthetic thyroid hormone to a bio identical hormone which included "free T3" along with "T4". The first week with no other change, he lost 4 pounds and was awake for the entire day. We are now at week 4 and his weight loss has been significant (we'll know tomorrow as we have his second visit) and his energy level is soaring.

I'm thinking that the pharmas are making this epidemic with chemicals and if we worked more with the natural world, we might have better successes with our medicine and health.

[Voice for Peace]

2. that's a great story and hope he'll share it with many others

"What a difference a molecule can make."

[BlueToTheBone]

4. Indeed. It also made me think

that we can spend our lives working on what we are told is the right thing to do and be so wrong about the solution. It makes me know that the AMA needs a make over.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

3. Interesting.

I'm on Levothyroxine and I have the same issues, minus the diabetes, but I'm sure I'm headed in that direction. What is the name of the med that he is currently on? I will ask my GP about it.
Thanks!

[BlueToTheBone]

5. Odds are your GP will be skeptical

about it. It is bio identical and is pig thyroid which converts correctly in the human body. According to the functional medicine guy, when you only give T4, it suppresses the free T3, exacerbating the original condition.

He also noted that when you take zinc, you must take copper with it...15/1 ratio because zinc along suppresses copper. (Zinc for infection/inflamation)

[BlueToTheBone]

6. Product name ARMOUR n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

8. Thanks for posting this.

I've been on synthroid for several years and I have a constant battle with my weight. I'm also on other medications that aggravate the problem. I recently had one of the other meds changed and I've lost 40 lbs. in the past two months. I'm going to ask my doctor about changing the synthroid. If he won't change it, I'll have him refer me to an endocrinologist.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

7. I've had Hashimoto's thyroiditis since I was eleven years old.

It often hits preadolescent girls. It's the most common form of thyroid disease in the U.S. and is an autoimmune disorder.

My mother and grandmother spent my entire childhood yelling at me at the dinner table because I was a picky eater. Some of it was food allergies. Some of it was shitty cooking. Some of it was just crap like boiled greens I couldn't stand.
They just KNEW I was gonna starve to death. I didn't. I am still here. They had a problem with food. I didn't.

I have taken Armour thyroid (which is ground-up pig or sheep glands from the slaughterhouse) ever since I started needing it. Most doctors insist on people taking synthroid which is T4 only and expensive. Armour has T3 and T4 both in it and is cheap.
A lot of people do not do well on Synthroid and need the Armour thyroid.

I have fought this fight with doctors for over forty years. I've even heard several say "The dosage of Armour is inconsistent, blah blah". I silenced one board-certified endocrinologist with, "I read the label. It says 'biologically assayed, United States Pharmacopoeia." He shut up.

More info: http://thyroid.about.com

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com

[BlueIris]

9. Thanks for the tip about Armour thyroid.

My mom takes Synthroid. She might want to know about Armour.