IODINE IS VITAL FOR GOOD HEALTH

 

By Dr. James Howenstine, MD.
November 5, 2005

Lack of iodine is widespread in the United States today. For many years iodine was added to bread in generous quantities which prevented iodine deficiency. Each slice of bread contained 150 mcg. of iodine filling the whole days RDA of iodine In 1960 the average diet consumed about 1 mg. of iodine daily with bakery products accounting for about 75 % of the total. This quantity of iodine was enough to decrease the thyroid glands ability to absorb radioactive iodine and it was also sufficient to prevent excess release of thyroid hormone thus preventing many cases of hyperthyroidism (Grave’s Disease).

Forty years ago the food industry decided to remove iodine from baked goods and replace the iodine with bromine. Iodine and bromine appear similar to the thyroid gland and bromine easily binds to the thyroid gland’s receptors for iodine. Bromine, however, is of no value to the thyroid gland unlike iodine and it inhibits the activity of iodine in the thyroid gland. Bromine also can cause impaired thinking and memory, drowsiness, dizziness and irritability. This substitution of bromine for iodine has resulted in nearly universal deficiency of iodine in the American populace. Iodine therapy helps the body eliminate fluoride, bromine, lead, cadmium, arsenic, aluminum and mercury. Could this substitution of bromine for iodine have been carried out to increase diseases and thus create more need for pharmaceutical drugs?
Among the problems caused by iodine deficiency are:

Underactivity of the thyroid gland produces fatigue. In rodents iodine deficiency leads to abnormal pituitary-adrenal function. The adrenal gland provides energy and stamina.

When iodine no longer binds to thyroid cell membranes enzymes called peroxidases are able to damage these membranes and produce autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and Hyperthroidism (Graves Disease). Researcher Dr. Guy Abraham has observed several cases of thyroiditis and hyperthyroidism that have been corrected by the simple replacement of iodine. For more than 100 years high doses of iodine have been known to benefit both underactivity (hypothyroidism) of the thyroid gland and overactivity of the thyroid gland (hyperthyroidism). Iodine therapy allows the sluggish thyroid gland to resume normal production of thyroid hormone leading to resolution of hypothyroidism. Provision of iodine stops the peroxidase injury to the thyroid membranes in hyperthyroidism which permits hyperthyroidism to resolve. Thus thyroid surgery for hyperthyroidism is no longer necessary.

Several human organs need iodine but can not absorb it until blood iodine levels reach high values (stomach, salivary glands). Most persons exhibit impaired production of stomach acid as they age. This impaired capability to produce adequate stomach acid may be a result of iodine deficiency as iodine promotes stomach acidity.

Resolution of cysts Iodine therapy resolves nearly every case of breast cysts. This treatment also can heal ovarian cysts and works well on skin cysts when rubbed over the cyst.

Iodine is found in large quantities in the brain and the ciliary body of the eye. Lack of iodine may be involved in production of Parkinson’s disease and glaucoma.

Lipoprotein (a) This dangerous substance is quite important as it produces plaques in arteries because it is very sticky and collects platelets, calcium and fibrin from the blood circulating inside our arteries. Excessive clotting and vascular disease resulting from high levels of lipoprotein (a) can be reversed by iodine treatment.

Other Health Problems Iodine has proven value in treating headaches, keloids, and parotid duct stones.

How Can Iodine Deficiency Be Detected?
An accurate test for diagnosing iodine deficiency exists. Dr. Jay Abrahams has developed a loading test to settle this issue. The patient takes 4 iodine tablets (12.5 mg each). If there is sufficient iodine in the individual the excess iodine is excreted in the urine in the next 24 hours. If iodine is lacking the body retains most of the iodine with little iodine appearing in the urine. Use of this test has shown that nearly every patient with any condition known to be associated with iodine deficiency tested positive for iodine lack. Therefore, it often is sensible to assume iodine lack and proceed to treat with iodine.

However, when a patient takes iodine for several months and has shown no improvement this test can be used to exclude a problem with absorption of iodine. Iodine lack is known to be a factor in the development of breast and prostate cancer. Sixty patients with a variety of cancers were studied. All sixty patients were found to have serious iodine deficiency.

To correct iodine deficiency by taking iodized salt is not feasible. You would need 20 teaspoons of iodized salt daily to get adequate quantities of iodine. Dr. Abrahams has developed an iodine preparation named Iodoral to treat iodine deficiency. This is composed of dried Lugol’s solution containing 12.5 mg of iodine per tablet. A person with adequate iodine stores who takes 4 of these tablets (50 mg.) will excrete 90 % of the iodine in their urine.

Dr. Abrahams thinks that the correct quantity of iodine needed to maintain sufficient amounts of iodine in the body is 13 mg. daily. This is 100 times more than the government recognized RDA for iodine. This quantity of daily iodine would be distributed as follows –six mg. to thyroid gland, five mg. for the breasts in females and two mg. for the remainder of the body. Males appear to usually, but not always, need slightly less than females.

Prominent thyroid researcher, Dr. Benjamin Eskin, has shown that the thyroid gland and skin prefer to concentrate the iodide form of iodine while the breasts concentrate iodine. His research suggested that the body needs both the iodide and iodine form of iodine. This is easy to accomplish with Lugol’s solution developed by French physician Dr. Jean Lugol in the 1820s. His solution mixed iodine (5 %) with potassium iodide (10 %) and 85 % water. Dr. Lugol’s solution killed germs and was used with success in treating infections and many other conditions. This solution in the recommended 2 drop dosage contains 5 mg. of iodine and 7.5 mg. of iodine which is exactly the quantity of iodine recommended for daily intake by Dr. Abraham. Lugol’s solution tastes metallic unless greatly diluted and stains clothing and skin.

A third solution that works well in correcting iodine deficiency is Triodide made by Scientific Botanicals of Seattle, Washington. This has the same dosage of iodine and iodide combined with a sea vegetable called bladderwrack. This can be obtained from natural food stores, Tahoma Clinic Dispensary and compounding pharmacies. This contains 12.5 mg of iodine in the same 2 drop dosage.

Dr. Abrahams recommends taking 50 mg of Iodoral (four 12.5 mg. tablets), Lugol’s solution (8 drops)or Triodide (8 drops) daily for 3 months as a loading dose. Then this dose should be gradually reduced to the 12.5 mg. maintenance dosage under the supervision of a knowledgeable health care professional. Dr.Abraham feels that 14 to 15 mg. of iodine/iodide daily is the upper maximum of safety. This is close to the recommended dose of 12.5 mg daily so caution is necessary in managing iodine repletion. Japanese researchers have discovered patients with hypothyroidism who were taking 20 mg. of iodine or more daily.

Another valuable iodine preparation is saturated solution of potassium iodide. This does not have the correct ratio of iodine iodide recommended by Dr.Abrahams for correcting iodine deficiency but it does have a multitude of valuable healing properties. It can help open up blocked arteries, disinfect water, cure bladder infections, reduce or eliminate ovarian cysts, diminish unsightly keloids, loosen thick bronchial secretions, reduce or eliminate Peyronie’s Disease and Dupuytron’s contracture.

Endocrine Cancers And Iodine Stores
Iodine deficiency is a recognized risk factor in the development of cancer of the breast, prostate, and probably the ovary and endometrium. Breast cancer is twice as common (12.1 %) in women taking natural thyroid hormone or synthetic thyroid hormone as in women not taking thyroid hormones (6.2 %). The risk for breast cancer in women taking thyroid hormones increases with time. Women who had taken thyroid hormone for 15 years had a 19.5 % incidence of breast cancer while women who had been on thyroid hormone therapy for five years had only a 10 % incidence of breast cancer. This increase in breast cancer with time suggests that correction of a iodine deficiency might well eliminate the need for thyroid hormone and would also lower the incidence of breast cancer.

Japanese women, who are eating lots of seaweed, have the highest iodine intake (13.8 mg. daily) of women anywhere in the world. They also have the lowest incidence of breast cancer in the world. Japan has one of the lowest worldwide rates of every type of cancer with the exception of stomach cancer. In addition Japan has one of the lowest incidences of iodine deficiency, goiter (enlarged thyroid gland), and hypothyroidism. Iceland, another high iodine intake country, has low rates of goiter and breast cancer. Two countries with low iodine intakes (Thailand, Mexico) have high rates of breast cancer and goiter.

Patient Studies.With Iodine Therapy
A patient of Dr. Rowen named Betty had severely painful breast cysts. She took 5 mg. of iodine daily with complete disappearance of painful breast cysts.

Veronica, another patient of Dr. Rowen, had advanced breast cancer with severe hip pain from a bone metastasis. Iodine loading test showed severe deficiency of iodine. After three months of Iodoral she still has not restored her iodine levels but her excretion of bromine has increased 10 fold. Her cancer therapy with IPT and artemisin has been stable with only an occasional IPT and she continues with 25 mg. of Iodoral three times daily. Dr. Abrahams relates that he has seen two remissions of breast cancer in persons taking 75 mg of Iodorol daily. Iodine deficiency plays a role in allowing breast cancer and prostate cancer to develop.

Another physician has seen a case of prostate cancer go into remission after taking Iodoral and supplements.

George Flechas MD relates that many of his diabetic patients need lowering of insulin dosage and diabetic drugs after repletion of iodine deficiency. Dr. Rowen has observed the same thing.

Food Sources Of Iodine
Iodine from fish must be limited because of mercury problems. However, sardines have such a short life span they do not get contaminated with mercury. My suggestion would be to buy tins of sardines packed in tomato sauce so you can avoid the transfats used in oil packed sardines.

Brown and red seaweeds contain the most iodine (kombu, focus, etc.).of sea vegetables. You may still need supplemental iodine to get an adequate quantity for repletion of iodine deficiency. unless you are eating lots of seaweeds.

The evidence presented here proves that iodine is vital to human health. Many persons will experience improved health when their iodine deficiency is corrected.

Index Words in order
Iodine, hyperthyroidism, bromine, thyroid gland, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, hypothyroidism, breast cysts, ovarian cysts, skin cyst, Parkinson’s Disease, glaucoma, lipoprotein (a), keloids, bladder infections, arteries, bronchial secretions, Peyronie’s Disease, Duputron’s contracture, cancer breast, cancer ovary, cancer endometrium, cancer prostate, goiter, diabetes

© 2005 Dr. James Howenstine – All Rights Reserved

Ascent Iodine

Ascent Iodine

30ml dropper bottle

 

The chemical purity of the iodine in ASCENT is greater than or = 99.8%. We are more concerned about the purity than the actual source. Iodine from seaweed may possibly contain impurities found in the ocean such as arsenic, bromine in quantities that are not desirable or healthy.

Ascent Iodine is totally different from the typical iodine in its denser state sold as an antiseptic, or as iodine tri-chloride (claiming to be atomized), or as added to potassium iodine to make it safer.

Difference between Ascent Iodine and Detoxified Iodine
Detoxified Iodine – A brand name that for many years has been produced at 10 amps of resistance for five minutes with a high volume of iodine.

Several human organs need iodine but can not absorb it until blood iodine levels reach high values (stomach, salivary glands). Most persons exhibit impaired production of stomach acid as they age. This impaired capability to produce adequate stomach acid may be a result of iodine deficiency as iodine promotes stomach acidity.

Resolution of cysts Iodine therapy resolves nearly every case of breast cysts. This treatment also can heal ovarian cysts and works well on skin cysts when rubbed over the cyst.

Iodine is found in large quantities in the brain and the ciliary body of the eye. Lack of iodine may be involved in production of Parkinson’s disease and glaucoma.

Lipoprotein (a) This dangerous substance is quite important as it produces plaques in arteries because it is very sticky and collects platelets, calcium and fibrin from the blood circulating inside our arteries. Excessive clotting and vascular disease resulting from high levels of lipoprotein (a) can be reversed by iodine treatment.

Click here to purchase……….

The Effect of Fluoride on the Thyroid Gland

The Effects of Fluoride

 

on the Thyroid Gland

 

 

 

By Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield MBBS LRCP MRCS
Medical Advisor to Thyroid UK

 

There is a daunting amount of research studies showing that the widely acclaimed benefits on fluoride dental health are more imagined than real. My main concern however, is the effect of sustained fluoride intake on general health. Again, there is a huge body of research literature on this subject, freely available and in the public domain.

 

But this body of work was not considered by the York Review when their remit was changed from “Studies of the effects of fluoride on health” to “Studies on the effects of fluoridated water on health.” It is clearly evident that it was not considered by the BMA (Britsh Medical Association), British Dental Association (BDA), BFS (British Fluoridation Society) and FPHM, (Faculty for Public Health and Medicine) since they all insist, as in the briefing paper to Members of Parliament – that fluoridation is safe and non-injurious to health.

 

This is a public disgrace, I will now show by reviewing the damaging effects of fluoridation, with special reference to thyroid illness.

It has been known since the latter part of the 19th century that certain communities, notably in Argentina, India and Turkey were chronically ill, with premature ageing, arthritis, mental retardation, and infertility; and high levels of natural fluorides in the water were responsible. Not only was it clear that the fluoride was having a general effect on the health of the community, but in the early 1920s Goldemberg, working in Argentina showed that fluoride was displacing iodine; thus compounding the damage and rendering the community also hypothyroid from iodine deficiency.

 

Highly damaging to the thyroid gland
This was the basis of the research in the 1930s of May, Litzka, Gorlitzer von Mundy, who used fluoride preparations to treat over-active thyroid illness. Their patients either drank fluoridated water, swallowed fluoride pills or were bathed in fluoridated bath water; and their thyroid function was as a result, greatly depressed. The use in 1937 of fluorotyrosine for this purpose showed how effective this treatment was; but the effectiveness was difficult to predict and many patients suffered total thyroid loss. So it was given a new role and received a new name, Pardinon. It was marketed not for over-active thyroid disease but as a pesticide. (Note the manufacturer of fluorotyrosine was IG Farben who also made sarin, a gas used in World War II).

This bit of history illustrates the fact that fluorides are dangerous in general and in particular highly damaging to the thyroid gland, a matter to which I shall return shortly. While it is unlikely that it will be disputed that fluorides are toxic – let us be reminded that they are Schedule 2 Poisons under the Poisons Act 1972, the matter in dispute is the level of toxicity attributable to given amounts; in today’s context the degree of damage caused by given concentrations in the water supply. While admitting its toxicity, proponents rely on the fact that it is diluted and therefore, it is claimed, unlikely to have deleterious effect

 

They could not be more mistaken
It seems to me that we must be aware of how fluoride does its damage. It is an enzyme poison. Enzymes are complex protein compounds that vastly speed up biological chemical reactions while themselves remaining unchanged. As we speak, there occurs in all of us a vast multitude of these reactions to maintain life and produce the energy to sustain it. The chains of amino acids that make up these complex proteins are linked by simple compounds called amides; and it is with these that fluorine molecules react, splitting and distorting them, thus damaging the enzymes and their activity. Let it be said at once, this effect can occur at extraordinary low concentrations; even lower than the one part per million which is the dilution proposed for fluoridation in our water supply.

 

The body can only eliminate half
Moreover, fluorides are cumulative and build up steadily with ingestion of fluoride from all sources, which include not just water but the air we breathe and the food we eat. The use of fluoride toothpaste in dental hygiene and the coating of teeth are further sources of substantial levels of fluoride intake. The body can only eliminate half of the total intake, which means that the older you are the more fluoride will have accumulated in your body. Inevitably this means the ageing population is particularly targeted. And even worse for the very young there is a major element of risk in baby formula made with fluoridated water. The extreme sensitivity of the very young to fluoride toxicity makes this unacceptable. Since there are so many sources of fluoride in our everyday living, it will prove impossible to maintain an average level of 1ppm as is suggested.

 

What is the result of these toxic effects?
First the immune system. The distortion of protein structure causes the immune proteins to fail to recognise body proteins, and so instigate an attack on them, which is Autoimmune Disease. Autoimmune diseases constitute a body of disease processes troubling many thousands of people: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis, Asthma and Systemic Sclerosis are examples; but in my particular context today, thyroid antibodies will be produced which will cause Thyroiditis resulting in the common hypothyroid disease, Hashimoto’s Disease and the hyperthyroidism of Graves’ Disease.

Musculo Skeletal damage results further from the enzyme toxic effect; the collagen tissue of which muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones are made, is damaged. Rheumatoid illness, osteoporosis and deformation of bones inevitably follow. This toxic effect extends to the ameloblasts making tooth enamel, which is consequently weakened and then made brittle; and its visible appearance is, of course, dental fluorosis.

 

The enzyme poison effect extends to our genes; DNA cannot repair itself, and chromosomes are damaged. Work at the University of Missouri showed genital damage, targeting ovaries and testes. Also affected is inter uterine growth and development of the foetus, especially the nervous system. Increased incidence of Down’s Syndrome has been documented.

 

Fluorides are mutagenic. That is, they can cause the uncontrolled proliferation of cells we call cancer. This applies to cancer anywhere in the body; but bones are particularly picked out. The incidence of osteosarcoma in a study reporting in 1991 showed an unbelievable 50% increase. A report in 1955 in the New England Journal of Medicine showed a 400% increase in cancer of the thyroid in San Francisco during the period their water was fluoridated.

 

My particular concern is the effect of fluorides on the thyroid gland
Perhaps I may remind you about thyroid disease. The thyroid gland produces hormones which control our metabolism – the rate at which we burn our fuel. Deficiency is relatively common, much more than is generally accepted by many medical authorities: a figure of 1:4 or 1:3 by mid life is more likely. The illness is insidious in its onset and progression. People become tired, cold, overweight, depressed, constipated; they suffer arthritis, hair loss, infertility, atherosclerosis and chronic illness. Sadly, it is poorly diagnosed and poorly managed by very many doctors in this country.

 

What concerns me so deeply is that in concentrations as low as 1ppm, fluorides damage the thyroid system on 4 levels.

1. The enzyme manufacture of thyroid hormones within the thyroid gland itself. The process by which iodine is attached to the amino acid tyrosine and converted to the two significant thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3), is slowed.

2. The stimulation of certain G proteins from the toxic effect of fluoride (whose function is to govern uptake of substances into each of the cells of the body), has the effect of switching off the uptake into the cell of the active thyroid hormone.

3. The thyroid control mechanism is compromised. The thyroid stimulating hormone output from the pituitary gland is inhibited by fluoride, thus reducing thyroid output of thyroid hormones.

4. Fluoride competes for the receptor sites on the thyroid gland which respond to the thyroid stimulating hormone; so that less of this hormone reaches the thyroid gland and so less thyroid hormone is manufactured.

 

These damaging effects, all of which occur with small concentrations of fluoride, have obvious and easily identifiable effects on thyroid status. The running down of thyroid hormone means a slow slide into hypothyroidism. Already the incidence of hypothyroidism is increasing as a result of other environmental toxins and pollutions together with wide spread nutritional deficiencies.

 

141 million Europeans are at risk

One further factor should give us deep anxiety. Professor Hume of Dundee, in his paper given earlier this year to the Novartis Foundation, pointed out that iodine deficiency is growing worldwide. There are 141 million Europeans are at risk; only 5 European countries are iodine sufficient. UK now falls into the marginal and focal category. Professor Hume recently produced figures to show that 40% of pregnant women in the Tayside region of Scotland were deficient by at least half of the iodine required for a normal pregnancy. A relatively high level of missing, decayed, filled teeth was noted in this non-fluoridated area, suggesting that the iodine deficiency was causing early hypothyroidism which interferes with the health of teeth. Dare one speculate on the result of now fluoridating the water?…

 

Displaces iodine in the body

 

Do you think it should be marketed?
Fluoridation of the nation’s water supply will do little for our dental health; but will have catastrophic effects on our general health. We cannot, must not, dare not, subject our nation to this appalling risk….

 

References:
L Goldemberg – La Semana Med 28:628 (1921) – cited in Wilson RH, DeEds F -”The Synergistic Action Of Thyroid On Fluoride Toxicity” Endocrinology 26:851 (1940).

G Litzka – “Die experimentellen Grundlagen der Behandlung des Morbus Basedow und der Hyperthyreose mittels Fluortyrosin”
Med Wochenschr 63:1037-1040 (1937) (discusses the basis of the use of fluorides in anti-thyroid medication, documents activity on liver, inhibition of glycolysis, etc.).

W May – “Behandlung der Hypothyreosen einschlieblich des schweren genuinen Morbus Basedow mit Fluor” Klin Wochenschr 16: 562 – 564 (1937).

Sarin: (GB: isopropyl methylphosono-fluoridate) is a colorless, odorless volatile liquid, soluble in water, first synthesized at IG Farben in 1938. It kills mainly through inhalation.

Cyclosarin (GF) and Thiosarin are variants. Pennsylvania Department of Health
http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/health/cwp/view.asp?a=171&q=233740

Sarin: (GB: CH3-P(=O)(-F)(-OCH(CH3)2)
Source: A FOA Briefing Book on Chemical Weapons http://www.opcw.org/resp/html/nerve.html Gerhard Schrader, a chemist at IG Farben, was given the task of developing a pesticide. Two years later a phosphorus compound with extremely high toxicity was produced for the first time.
IG Farben: “…the board of American IG Farben had three directors from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the most influential of the various Federal Reserve Banks. American IG Farben. also had interlocks with Standard Oil of New Jersey, Ford Motor Company, Bank of Manhattan (later to become the Chase Manhattan Bank), and AEG. (German General Electric) Source: Moody’s Manual of Investments; 1930, page 2149.” http://reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/chapter_02.htm

 

The full text of this article can be found in Namaste Magazine Vol.7 Issue 1

 

 

Click here to buy Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield’s book

Your Thyroid and How to Keep it Healthy

 

 

 

 

Tears Behind Closed Doors – Diana Holmes

Diana Holmes completed one year of her SRN (State Registered Nurse) training. The ensuing years were plagued by ill health and many misdiagnoses, she eventually ended up in a wheel chair.
Diana is a courageous woman who has strived to help many thousands suffering with her helpline. The research she has uncovered should put an end to the gravest ‘faux pas’ in medical history, but just like other issues, the door keeps being closed. Why?

This is the harrowing story of one remarkable and intelligent woman who struggled to survive against a health-system impregnated with limited protocols and half-truths that condemn many of us to a life of pain and disability and eventual death, because the system is treating dis-ease with singular labels

This is Diana’s story
In 1994 she started a campaign to look into the problems of diagnosing and managing thyroid conditions. She ran a Help Line for three years, during which time she spoke to over 6,000 thyroid sufferers. Eventually she met consultant Dr Gordon Skinner. He was so impressed with her work that he asked her to assist with his thyroid clinic, which she did for two and half years. She has now written two books about her life and the effects of hypothyroidism and co-authored a medical paper with Dr Skinner, as well as given talks throughout the UK.

The diversity of the signs and symptoms of this chronic condition
Hundreds of thousands of people in the UK (and millions worldwide) are suffering with hypothyroidism (under active thyroid gland). This condition is not being picked up because doctors are using blood test results as the only indicator. Signs, symptoms, history of the patient and a clinical appraisal should be used as other indicators.

Therefore, many who suffer with thyroid conditions are not diagnosed or they are misdiagnosed with other diseases. The diversity of the signs and symptoms of this chronic condition of hypothyroidism leads doctors into taking symptoms in isolation and treating them, and therefore many people are pigeonholed into illnesses they do not have. These people are desperate to be well, but instead they are intimidated, fobbed off, and belittled by the medical profession. In this article I have included extracts from my book Tears Behind Closed Doors to highlight very important facts of the GRAVEST ‘FAUX PAS’ IN MEDICAL HISTORY.

Over a period of twenty-three years I was misdiagnosed with six serious diseases and treated for them all. The diseases were, namely, Epilepsy (treated for six months), Coeliac disease (an allergy to the protein in wheat and rye for which I was on a Coeliac diet for eleven years), Polymyalgia Rheumatica (a muscle disease for which I was treated for six months with high doses of steroids).

Then there was depression; I was treated for years with anti-depressants. I was diagnosed with ME (myalgic encephalo myelitis, no treatment). Myalgic of the muscles, encephalo of the brain, and myelitis of the central nervous system. ME is a collection of signs and symptoms relating to the muscles, brain and central nervous system. The majority of ME sufferers have a condition called hypothyroidism (under active thyroid). Last but not least, Myasthenia Gravis (a very grave muscle disease), for which I was treated for 2½years with Mestinon and high doses of steroids. Mestinon is a powerful drug, which has many side effects.

“My energy level continued to be way below par. The intensity of the dizziness varied, depending on my activities and now I had coeliac disease. The list of my physical disorders was growing. In addition I had the mental and emotional problem of coping with my life as my health continued in a downward spiral.

My desperation to quantify my illness
I was also beginning to experience the terrible frustration and loneliness of ill health. All who suffer from long-term or debilitating illnesses experience these feelings but usually try to conceal them. One feels ashamed yet dare not admit it to others. Feelings of anger also well up until they reach an intolerable over-spill; contributing to the drain on one’s emotional well being.

I often imagined that if I could put the feelings of dizziness, sleepiness, and the awful way I felt, on the table in front of my GP, then he would see that I wasn’t making up this horrible nightmare. My desperation to quantify my illness to him was immense. Yet, to convey this to him in anything that would remotely resemble facts, was impossible for me.…

Before I had retired from work, I had taken out a Permanent Health Insurance to cover myself in case of illness. The policy was sold on, from one company to another, until a well-known company, by the name of Unum, bought it. I continued to receive payments from this company, under the terms of the policy, until one day they informed me that I was to be sent for a ‘Dynatron Test’. This, I was told, would show up any problem with my muscles. I welcomed this, but not the journey to London. The test was horrid and very painful. The ‘Dynatron Test’ comprised pulling various limbs against a tensioned frame. The results were recorded on a computer.

I was unable to complete the tests due to pain and fatigue. My husband and I travelled down by train to London, and on the return journey I was very ill. The pains in my back and the exhaustion were awful. The steward asked, ‘Would you like some ice packs?’ I said, ‘Yes please.’ He said that he thought that I would feel more comfortable in a first class compartment and so took us to our seats. We were impressed by his sensitivity! I attended the clinic in London for the ‘Dynatron Test’ on the 23rd May 1994. The letter my doctor received from Unum is set out below.

Dear Dr [name removed]
You may recall that we were in correspondence about this patient of yours last year. You will know that we have not been convinced about her disability for some little time and we therefore arranged an independent orthopaedic examination and a Dynatron assessment in London. Our examiner was a distinguished teaching hospital orthopaedic surgeon. The conclusion is that there is no organic abnormality. Her symptoms are totally out of proportion to any objective evidence that there is and the gross variability in her response to the Dynatron examination is a good demonstration that she was exerting volitional control over the examination. Our feeling, therefore, is that she is indeed fit to pursue her insured occupation and further benefit will not be paid.

If I was exerting volitional control over the examination as they suggested, this surely makes nonsense of the ‘Dynatron Test’. The patient, as I see it, is in a ‘no win’ situation. For example, if I performed well on the test, I would have been told to return to work. By performing poorly on it, on the other hand, I was told that I was cheating and must return to work anyway. They accused me of cheating the machine and of this I stand innocent before my God.

Can you imagine how I felt after I read that letter? The horrors of whatever it was I was suffering from were bad enough without being kicked, punched, and kicked again while I was down.
An independent insurance adviser has since told me that this ‘rejection’ is a common ploy of some health insurance companies.

The stress that the Dynatron Test and the letter caused was indescribable. My condition became worse. I often heard myself saying, ‘I am hurting, I just shuffle along (this was inside the house. I had to use a wheelchair before I dare venture out to the shops), I can’t go any faster, when will the pain go away? My body is so heavy, I am so exhausted but I must push on. . . oh dear God, please help me!'”

“Few of you reading this will realise that there is an illness stalking this land, attacking nearly one in three of you at some time in your life; which; untreated will not get better and go away; and which will slowly age you, and eventually destroy you. Moreover treatment has been available for more than a century, but has become steadily less effective; and, worse its malign presence is less and less recognised by a medical profession at worst because of wilful omission by doctors and specialists, or at best because of lack of basic knowledge. …” ~ Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield

Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield saved my life
In 1994, I went to see a private GP (MD), Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield. He told me, almost straight away, that I was suffering from hypothyroidism. I told him that I’d had blood tests carried out for thyroid function and that they had been returned within the ‘reference interval.’ He said that he didn’t place too much reliance on blood test results. I can truthfully say that Dr Barry Peatfield saved my life. I started on treatment and within two weeks my head had cleared. Previously I had suffered from a ‘busy busy’ sensation in my head. After a few months, most of my symptoms had cleared up except my muscles, which took a few more months to become strong again.

I reasoned that if this had happened to me it must have happened to others and so I started to carry out some research.

What I found was devastating! It was so simple and yet the medical profession had missed it!
According to Sir Richard Bayliss, an eminent endocrinologist, ‘The reference values for testing blood for thyroid function are, “95% fiducial limits of so-called healthy people.”2 Broken down this means, ‘an assumed fixed basis of comparison of so-called healthy people.’ Assumed, so-called – this is very loose and if the starting point is loose, then why do doctors interpret thyroid blood test results with so much rigidity? Whatever happened to signs, symptoms, patient history and clinical appraisals?

I wrote to the DOH (department of Heath)
“After two years of running the Help Line I approached Dr Gordon Skinner MD (Hons), DSc, FRCOG, FRCPath, who was then Senior Lecturer at the Birmingham University Medical School, and told him of the data I had collected. He made a request to see it. Upon seeing it he asked me to assist him with thyroid clinics. This I did for three years and with the data we collected from holding the clinics I co-authored a medical paper with him. This was accepted by the ‘Journal of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, (2000) 10, 115-124’ Dr Skinner extended invitations, in the year 2000, to eminent endocrinologists, biochemists and representatives from the British Thyroid Foundation, to meet with us, and to discuss the diagnosis and management of thyroid dysfunction – all parties declined…”3
In 1995, I wrote to the DOH (Department of Health), and requested a meeting for Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield and myself. The meeting was duly held and whilst they agreed in principle with my findings, they were not prepared to fund any trials.

Armed with my research I approached Woman Magazine and they agreed to feature my story, and with my telephone number at the end of the article I started my Help Line. I wasn’t prepared for the onslaught. Over three years, and several magazines later, thousands of people had contacted me and I collected thousands of questionnaires containing masses of data. Everybody’s story was a variation on a theme.

“NHS (The National Health Service, UK) was formed over fifty years ago, and it was hoped that spending would rise sharply and then fall. The assumption was that chronic illness would be stamped out at an early stage, and the NHS would gradually produce a healthier society. This has not happened. We have spent billions of pounds trying to make sick people better by treating related symptoms ‘singularly’ instead of getting to the root of the problem. The NHS never stood a chance.

Doctors need to be reinformed
Around the same time that the NHS came into being, drugs were being used to combat TB and so patients were cured of this disease and lived beyond the age whereby TB would have killed them. According to Dr Broda Barnes (deceased), who practised in America – ‘although these patients were living longer, they were now open to other diseases which could kill them, such as heart disease, diabetic complications, atherosclerosis, glycemic conditions, hypertension, and chronic hypothyroidism, which is a common diagnostic failure.’4 Hypothyroidism is sometimes called ‘mild myxoedema,’ but to those who suffer it is certainly not mild.

Laboratories are working on the assumption, that blood testing for thyroid function, is ‘an assumed fixed basis of comparison of ‘so-called’ healthy people,’ so-called being the operative word. When the starting point is very loose then the end result cannot be deemed to be specific! As patients did not have a blood test when they were well, there was no need, therefore the doctor does not have a base line for them, from which to work.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is the basic genetic material found in every living cell in our bodies. The chemical structure in every single person is different and everyone has his/her own personal pattern. There would be no need for a ‘reference range’ if we were all the same, but we are not all the same!

The majority of GPs and consultants do not know how the reference values are made up, and therefore the results are interpreted without any flexibility. Thus there is a problem with the diagnosis and management of hypothyroidism. The patient has a poor quality of life through ill health, sometimes for many years. This leads to lost potential.
Continued ill health that mystifies doctors, in turn incurs exaggerated costs for the NHS for each patient.”5

Dr Skinner and I set up a Working Party, which I chaired. The Working Party comprised of three doctors, a biochemist and a Bachelor of Science. We had two meetings with a representative from the DOH, all to no avail.
Many people today are enslaved in bitter bondage and the slave driver is technology. This technology is used out of ignorance by the medical profession whose reliance, on a set of figures, outweighs the signs and symptoms suffered by the patient.

I sincerely believe that GPs are not receiving the correct information from their professional body. They must feel frustration when blood test results are returned in the ‘reference range.’ Many times doctors may believe that their patient is suffering from a thyroid condition, only to be upstaged by a blood test result. They do need to be reinformed on the diagnosis and management of thyroid conditions. I hope that by sharing my story it will help the readers of Namaste to a greater vista. (You may take this and Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield’s article to your GP).

As I stated at the beginning of the article, I believe this to be the biggest ‘faux pas’ in medical history. If that isn’t the answer, then is there A HIDDEN AGENDA?

WHY do I think this is?
Is your thyroid function compromised?

A myriad of diverse symptoms can point to dysfunction and are being ignored by the medical systems.

The routine blood tests alone are NOT able to detect thyroid/adrenal dysfunction.

Doctors forced to treat blood test results not patients. Iodine deficiency and fluoride – two major disrupters putting 141 million Europeans at risk.

“To condemn the entire population, already having marginal levels of iodine, to inevitable progressive failure of their thyroid system by fluoridating the water, borders on criminal lunacy” ~ Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield

Signs And Symptoms of Hypothyroidism
Set out below are only 17 of least 97 (see more signs and symptons opposite column) the signs and symptoms which I suffered as a result of hypothyroidism:-

Exhaustion
Hair loss
Dry cracked skin
Slowing down of: thinking processes, speech, and movements.
Weight gain
Constipation
Low body temperature
Blurred vision, double vision
Dizziness
Numbness
Insomnia
Heavy periods
Hallucination
Mood swings
Paranoia
Impaired memory, lack of concentration
Lack of confidence

I suffered from many more signs and symptoms and my quality of life was very poor. I had so many tests including blood tests, over the years. If I could have calculated the time waiting for test results to be returned, I am sure it would equate to many months, but still my suffering went on.

MORE SIGNS AND SYMPTONS

Depression
Post natal depression
Voices in the head
Early menopause
Pallor – yellowish tinge to the skin
Cold extremities
Intolarance to cold
Eczema and Psoriasis
Boils and Spots
Hoarse voice
Deafness and Tinnitus
Loss of third outer eyebrow
Loss of eyebrows
Dimminished sweating
Goitre
Bruising
Scallop Tounge
Slow Pulse
Fatigue
Puffy face and eyes
Visual disturbances
Bladder irritation
Low fertility and libido
Frequency of upper respiratory infections
Frequency of urinary tract infections
Muscle weakness
Shooting pain in the hands and feet
Muscle and joint stiffness
Diminished sweating
Intolerance to heat
Bluish lips
Thinning hair
Loss of body hair
Candida
Haemorrhoids
Skin problems
Umbilical Hernia
Albuminuria
Yellow skin
Slow achilles reflex
Liver tenderness and enlargement
Abdominal distention
Clinical Anaemia

The list IS NOT EXAUSTIVE

“Thyroid deficiency is the great pretender and any part of your system, in any combination with any other, amy amlfunction, producing its own particular mix of symptons.”
~ Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield

Many people today are enslaved in bitter bondage and the slave driver is technology. This technology is used out of ignorance by the medical profession whose reliance, on a set of figures, outweighs the signs and symptoms suffered by the patient.

I sincerely believe that GPs are not receiving the correct information from their professional body. They must feel frustration when blood test results are returned in the ‘reference range.’ Many times doctors may believe that their patient is suffering from a thyroid condition, only to be upstaged by a blood test result. They do need to be reinformed on the diagnosis and management of thyroid conditions. I hope that by sharing my story it will help the readers of Namaste to a greater vista. (You may take this and Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield’s article to your GP).

As I stated at the beginning of the article, I believe this to be the biggest ‘faux pas’ in medical history. If that isn’t the answer, then is there A HIDDEN AGENDA?

WHY do I think this is?
Is your thyroid function compromised?

• A myriad of diverse symptoms can point to dysfunction and are being ignored by the medical systems. The routine blood tests alone are NOT able to detect thyroid/adrenal dysfunction.

• Doctors forced to treat blood test results not patients. Iodine deficiency and fluoride – two major disrupters putting 141 million Europeans to be at risk.

Tears Behind Closed Doors
by Diana Holmes

Click to purchase
Tears Behind Closed Doors

This book represents a long overdue examination of a serious medical problem and is the result of Diana Holmes’s untiring crusade in the wake of continuing failure to diagnose thyroid dysfunction. Diana sets the scene by telling her own harrowing story and explaining the triumphant way in which she overcame her illness. She goes on to examine with great clarity the multitude of signs and symptoms.

Diana’s Website…..
http://www.thyroidtears.co.uk/Introduction.%20html