Life is Healthy

This day has all of the makings of "one of those days." But what are ya gonna do? My windshield washer on my car won't work. Had to drop it off at the shop. If it weren't the middle of winter, I might not worry about it so much. But I gotta have it on days when it snows—ya know, when trucks pass you and splash crap all over your windshield.

Other stuff suggests that I probably should've got out of bed. But I've decided not to go into any of that here.

New Thyroid Drug
Yesterday, my doctor put me on a new thyroid medication. This is a compound from a pharmacy in Canada. I'll let you know how it works out. I was taking Armour Thyroid. But I've heard that they changed the formula and people weren't doing so well on it. I've been sick for a while. Maybe it's related.

When I was first diagnosed with thyroid disease in the early '90s, I took Synthroid. I never did well on it. My hair fell out, finger nails cracked, and I had horrible painful, periods. Those were just some of the things that happened. For the most part, it was like I wasn't taking anything for my disease.

Then I found Mary Shomon's site. What a Godsend. Up to that point, I had no idea that I had options other than Synthroid. I didn't know that doctors only wanted to treat thyroid disease inside a certain range and that anything inside that range was considered OK or normal. After reading her site, I realized I wasn't getting the treatment I really needed. So I found a doctor who would prescribe something other than the hyped up drug currently being touted. That's when I finally started getting better.

So, we'll see. Maybe this new drug will help me get back to being myself. Depression is a big part of thyroid disease, at least it is for me. I'm hoping this will help.

P.S.
I forgot to explain the previous post. I had to post that phrase on my blog so that a blog service I signed up for could verify my blog. Nothing too mysterious. But kinda funny.

I recently saw a post on Dr. Davis's Heart Scan Blog that reminded me I intended to write about iodine. Iodine is an essential trace mineral. It's required for the formation of activated thyroid hormones T3 and T4. The amount of thyroid hormones in circulation, and the body's sensitivity to them, strongly influences metabolic rate. Iodine deficiency can lead to weight gain and low energy. In more severe cases, it can produce goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland.

Iodine deficiency is also the most common cause of preventable mental retardation worldwide. Iodine is required for the development of the nervous system, and also concentrates in a number of other tissues including the eyes, the salivary glands and the mammary glands.

There's a trend in the alternative health community to use unrefined sea salt rather than refined iodized salt. Personally, I use unrefined sea salt on principle, although I'm not convinced refined iodized salt is a problem. But the switch removes the main source of iodine in most peoples' diets, creating the potential for deficiency in some areas. Most notably, the soil in the midwestern United States is poor in iodine and deficiency was common before the introduction of iodized salt.

The natural solution? Sea vegetables. They're rich in iodine, other trace minerals, and flavor. I like to add a 2-inch strip of kombu to my beans. Kombu is a type of kelp. It adds minerals, and is commonly thought to speed the cooking and improve the digestion of beans and grains.

Dulse is a type of sea vegetable that's traditionally North American. It has a salty, savory flavor and a delicate texture. It's great in soups or by itself as a snack.

And then there's wakame, which is delicious in miso soup. Iodine is volatile so freshness matters. Store sea vegetables in a sealed container. It may be possible to overdo iodine, so it's best to eat sea vegetables regularly but in moderation like the Japanese.

Seafood such as fish and shellfish are rich in iodine, especially if fish heads are used to make soup stock. Dairy is a decent source in areas that have sufficient iodine in the soil.

Cod liver oil is another good source of iodine, or at least it was before the advent of modern refining techniques. I don't know if refined cod liver oil contains iodine. I suspect that fermented cod liver oil is still a good source of iodine because it isn't refined.

Omega-6 Linoleic Acid Suppresses Thyroid Signaling

The thyroid gland controls the body's metabolic rate, among other things. It does this by secreting the thyroid hormones triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). As with any other hormone, the tissue response depends on the amount of hormone and the tissue's sensitivity to the hormone.

For example, in type I diabetes, the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin to move glucose from the blood into tissues. In type II diabetes, often the tissues are so resistant to the action of insulin that glucose is not effectively transported from the blood into tissues, despite high levels of insulin. Both result in excessively high blood glucose after a meal containing carbohydrate.

In the last post, I discussed a study in which rats on different diets, fed equal amounts of calories and omega-3, gained weight in proportion to the omega-6 linoleic acid content of their diets. 1960s men fed a diet high in linoleic acid also gained weight relative to a more typical control diet containing the same number of calories. Rats deficient in linoleic acid develop an abnormally high metabolic rate. This suggests that the metabolic rate may be supressed by linoleic acid, and leads us to the question: does linoleic acid suppress thyroid signaling?

I was first introduced to the idea by Dr. Ray Peat, who suggests that all polyunsaturated fats (PUFA) suppress thyroid signaling (and should be avoided as much as possible). I couldn't find any credible references in his articles, so I went digging around PubMed myself. It turns out, he's right, and it's been known since at least the 1970s.

The first thing I searched for is whether or not linoleic acid reduces the secretion of T3 or T4 by the thyroid gland. It doesn't seem to, although one study I found used Crisco as the "saturated fat" control group (I'm not making this up!). Next, I looked for studies that evaluated the effect of linoleic acid on tissue sensitivity to thyroid hormones. Here's what I found:

• A corn oil diet greatly suppresses the liver's response to T4 when compared with an equal amount of lard (5% by weight).
  
• A safflower oil diet suppresses the liver's response to T3 when compared with an equal amount of beef tallow (10% by weight).
• A diet high in linoleic acid (undisclosed source) suppresses the response of brown fat and liver to T3.
  

Further studies should reveal the extent to which observed effects of excess thyroid hormone are amenable to control by dietary polyunsaturated fat.

Prior to the switch in my thyroid medication, my temperature always ranged around 97. Well, last night I took my temperature, and it was 98.5, That's the highest it's been in years. Before, I always felt cold. Now, for the first time in years, I feel warm. I feel like I'm getting it together, too. And all it took was a little more T-3. So many people are different when it comes to the care of whatever ailment they might have. If we were all the same, we would all look alike. And wouldn't that be scary?

I finally got my tooth fixed yesterday. It is so much nicer without that sharp-edged tooth. Anyway, my face was numb for close to five hours. Why is it that the numbing seems to get number after you leave the dentist's office? And my breath had that wonderful I've-just-been-to-the-dentist's-office aroma. Gak. That's really hard to get rid of. Today, it feels tender. But not sharp. Yea.

I started taking bio-identical hormones for my perimenopausal symptoms. I think I may be feeling a little better. But I've only been taking them for about five days so it might just be my imagination. I had to do something. I felt horrible. I have been sleeping a little better—well, I didn't sleep well on Saturday night but that's another story entirely. I had my girls on Saturday night and they slept with me. The five-year old does OK. She picks a spot and goes to sleep. The three-year old on the other hand spins like a top. Anyway, I didn't get much sleep.

My life has been pretty boring lately. Nothing much has happened for a while. I just go to the gym, go to work, and then go home. At least we're having good weather today—even if it is just a tease. So I think I'll go for a walk at lunch time. Wow. The excitement never ends.

I ate lunch at my desk today. I've been busy working on an article that I have to finish. I don't have much enthusiasm to write it though—and that means it's taking a long time.

Ack. I've been having a lot of trouble with electrical things these days. My electric at home was in such bad shape that my house could've burned down, and today my computer at work crashed. Hmmm. Is it me?