Two National Experts on the Thyroid and Endocrine System: How is Your Thermostat Working?

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Dr Marc Spurlock MD's picture
Dr Marc Spurlock MD
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 1 2010
Posts: 72
User offline. Last seen 10 years 35 weeks ago.
Jacob Teitelbaum, MD was one of my mentors related to properly identifying and treating thyroid disorders and environmental illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, etcetera. I saw this recent article shared on Facebook that was from Newsmax Health and wanted to increase it's reach by posting it for the users of Lumigrate.
 
The link within this article about what the tongue "tells" is actually a very informative video from another one of our foremost experts on thyroid health, Dr David Brownstein. The video provides great information, even if you don't follow the steps at the end to get the 'free' books and DVDs which are actually a bonus incentive for signing up for a newletter subscription. You'll see he discusses testing and treatment, including the importance of iodine to thyroid health.
 
He refers to the training MDs get in medical school related to testing thyroid and why that has missed so many people who have thyroid disorder. And they present good information as to why so many people in the U.S. (and elsewhere) are reassured by their doctors they don't have a problem with their thyroid, when in fact they do! 
 
As I've presented in other articles here at Lumigrate, the TSH test is what is typically used and it is insufficient. This video provides very good information as to why and how that came to be. (Interesting history about going to this test in 1971 and what happened at that time related to how much supplemental thyroid was being prescribed as a result.)
 
Another highlight from the video, which I hope encourages you to take the time to watch, is the high percentage of the US population with thyroid conditions contributing to symptoms they do not yet associate with thyroid, such as heart disease, cancer, and arthritis; diabetes is another one that unfortunately is often caught and treated without the doctors and patients looking for the underlying contributing factors related to thyroid. You will see that he estimates this to be 60-80% of the US population. 
 

You will find the link to the article at the source (Newsmax Health) is at the bottom, for your reference.   

Always Cold? These Diseases Could Be the Cause

Wednesday, 20 Mar 2013 10:06 AM

By John Bachman and Donna Scaglione

If you find yourself constantly reaching for a sweater or blanket, it might not be the thermostat’s fault. Jacob Teitelbaum, M.D., author of Real Cause, Real Cure, tells Newsmax Health that certain health conditions, including thyroid problems, Raynaud’s disease, and iron deficiency can cause you to feel cold.

The thyroid gland plays an important role in relation to whether the body feels cold. The thyroid serves as a thermostat or gas pedal in the body, and it has to be working properly to burn calories to create heat and fuel, Dr. Teitelbaum explains. 

“So if your thyroid is underactive — and women are more likely to have an underactive thyroid than men — you can’t burn the calories. That’s why people gain weight. They’re tired, they’re achy, and they’re cold intolerant.”
 
Another explanation for why a person may feel cold is Raynaud’s disease. People with this condition experience blood vessel spasms in their fingers and toes, or tips of their noses and ears after they have been exposed to the cold. Something as simple as reaching into the kitchen freezer can set off symptoms.
 
Note, if you follow the link, below to the source of this information there is a plug in at this point that you'll benefit from viewing if you make the click and go visit the website this is from. 
“Treatments include medications like calcium channel blockers, but also, simply taking magnesium supplements over time can be very helpful at relaxing the blood vessels,” Dr. Teitelbaum advises.
 
 “And more very importantly, learn to put on things like oven mitts before you put your hands into the freezer.” 
 
Iron deficiency is another cold-inducing culprit, because iron is critical for thyroid hormone function. Women are especially prone to iron-deficiency, and therefore, feelings of being cold, because of regular blood loss with each monthly period, Dr. Teitelbaum says.
 
Routine blood tests of iron levels often read “normal” when they are not, compounding the problem.
 
“So even if the iron blood test is normal… that’s meaningless,” he explains. “Studies are showing that that technical normal range misses about 90 percent of people with severe iron deficiency.”
He advises having your ferritin level checked and getting the numbered result rather than accepting a described range. Ferritin is a protein in the body that stores iron.
 
“If the result is under 60 and you’re cold, that suggests iron deficiency, which can also cause, in late stages, anemia, things like restless leg syndrome, and a host of other problems, as well as simply being cold a lot.”
 
Chronic stress due to fungal infections in the gut can also wreak havoc with the body’s internal thermostat. 

“That stress can suppress the master control center of the brain called the hypothalamus, and that, at the end of the day, is the conductor of the orchestra of thyroid and all these other functions that regulate our temperature,” he says. “And because of that sometimes people that are under chronic stress will also find that they have cold intolerance."
 

I would like to invite people interested in fluoride's impact on thyroid, which I provided to Lumigrate in 2012, at this link: www.lumigrate.com/forum/fluoride-really-safe . It's a very simple explanation of how fluoride is molecularly similar to IODINE, which is a very important nutritional component for thyroid health. You will see there are other topics from other Lumigrate experts for more comprehensive information about the history of fluoridation of water, topical applications' risks/benefits, and concerns about neurotoxicity: Mine is completely focused related to fluoride's impact on thyroid function. 

 

__________________

"There is no one to blame. There is simply taking action!"........Wm. Marcus Spurlock, MD Dr. Spurlock presently works in Dallas, TX treating people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Bio-Identical Hormone Deficiences and Environmental Illnesses. He has been doing this work exclusively for the last 9 years. In the fall of 2011 he opened a new health center; please visit his website, which is where he posts education beyond what is sprinkled at Lumigrate. http://www.renewedvitalitymd.com/ Through a total body approach, the treatments he and his team provide are 85-90% successful in returning patients to their previous health potential. You can see his complete vitae in Lumigrate's forum "About Our Writers" (link: http://www.lumigrate.com/forum/my-vitae-wm-marcus-spurlock-m...), and the majority of his contributions on Lumigrate are in the FMS/CFS/CPain section, where you'll see a forum which includes his name: http://www.lumigrate.com/forums/health-issuesdis-eases/fibro....

Mardy Ross's picture
Mardy Ross
Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole
Joined: Feb 16 2009
Posts: 2032
User offline. Last seen 46 weeks 2 days ago.
I've read some of the books by both authors, watched 1 Dr B DVD

What a pleasant surprise it was to expect to click on the link and just see a photo of a scalloped tongue and there was a whole video about and with Dr Brownstein! I learned of him through Jim Kennedy, DDS, who has loaned me his book and DVD in the past. 

I recall hearing Dr Teitelbaum speak about his personal health history, both in person and on television or YouTube that I've watched, related to having had a health crisis while he was in medical school and how that transformed the direction of his career once he was well enough to go back to complete his training. To hear Dr Brownstein talk about his first patient with thyroid disorder being his father reminds me how many providers out there, myself included, have changed what they are doing and how they are doing it, because of influences from their personal health or that of close family and friends. There are increasing numbers of MDs and DOs shifting and 'going outside the box', or as I say, coloring outside the lines.  

In the spring of 2012 I transcribed a lengthy presentation that was very well done about inflammation from diet causing essentially all the chronic medical conditions. This was a presentation to the local medical providers via the regional medical center's continuing medical education department and given by a local MD, a pulmonologist, who had been inspired to head off into this new 'investigative direction' after his wife had looked into what was causing her joint problems and found out about diet and inflammation and changed what she provided to the family and what she ate, which impressed him so much, he literally took the better part of a year researching it with the help of the resource professionals at the hospitals' library. 

In the summer, another MD told me that he'd been aware of the type of information that we provide at Lumigrate and was giving it some regard, but attending an alternative health retreat weekend at the bequest of the spouse had caused the dots to connect and (lightbulb moment). And so far in 2013 I have seen a great number of consumers taking action for the first time on information that has been out there circulating around but not having sunk in and turned into action. 

As you say, Dr Spurlock, there is no one to blame, there is simply 'take action', and I like the way that Dr Brownstein so matter of factly says 'we just didn't learn this right, so now you are learning it, ask your provider to learn it and if that's not working so well, just find another provider'. So many people get 'stuck' at that point and I want to encourage them to consider getting this information to their providers and respectfully asking them to review the information. I would think that the providers mostly are needing some guidance on where to get continuing education to learn how to do what you and Dr Teitelbaum and Dr Brownstein have long ago become 'cutting edge' providers for.  

As I say "Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better!" AND I will say from being so greatly impacted by the TSH testing not having caught my thyroid issues, and even MDs who knew how to properly test not doing it for whatever reasons, I commiserate with the frustration by the consumers. So don't get into the blame/shame cycle, get out of it and let that go ... forgive but don't forget, stay the wiser for it ... and press on for getting the answers and treatment you want and deserve! ~~ Mardy

 

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

This forum is provided to allow members of Lumigrate to share information and ideas. Any recommendations made by forum members regarding medical treatments, medications, or procedures are not endorsed by Lumigrate or practitioners who serve as Lumigrate's medical experts.

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