If you are reading or listening to lecture 21, I assume that you have read or listened to the previous 20 lectures, and I want to congratulate you on getting to the end of this seminar.
I have provided you with a lot of information and now you know more about thyroid than most people, more even than most doctors. And I am not talking about orthopedic doctors or gastroenterologists or other specialists who do not normally deal with thyroid and know very little about it. I am talking about doctors who are supposed to know – internists, family practitioners and even endocrinologists. So give yourself a pat on the back.
Of course, you realize that all the information I gave you is just a tiny part of what there is to know about thyroid. I will continue to provide more information in my blog, so be sure to subscribe. The more you know, the better decisions you can make. But you certainly know enough to start further actions, especially if you suspect that you have low thyroid.
You are now equipped to see if you have the problem and how you can deal with it yourself. You know the symptoms, you know how to check certain things to confirm the diagnosis (low temperature, low pulse rate, low iodine, missing outer third of the eyebrows, etc.) and you can try some of the things we were talking about – excluding products like gluten and dairy, eating foods that help thyroid, making sure you get enough iodine, eating enough omega3 fatty acids, taking the right supplements and so on. You can download a list here.
There are many people who do only that, without using prescription medications, and many of them are just fine. I’ve had a few dozen patients like that, I did not give them any medicine, either synthetic or natural. I just monitored their blood tests regularly and adjusted their supplements.
The problem is that most people do need thyroid medications. Most people cannot correct the problem with only diet and supplements. They need either Synthroid with or without Cytomel, and about 3-4 people out of 5 do well with that. But at least 20%, that’s at least one out of 5 people, possibly more, cannot turn Synthroid, the unnatural form of T4, into the T3 that the body needs.
That’s why natural desiccated thyroid (NDT) is my preferred medicine. And, as you know, it is not really a medicine, it is dried up animal (usually pig’s) thyroid, which is standardized to contain 38 mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3 per grain. A grain is 60 to 65 mg. Besides the T3 and T4 it contains different minerals, vitamins, proteins, and all the elements that normal thyroid gland contains.
I had two goals in creating this course.
One was to give you information that might help you help yourself. Again, I emphasize the diet, which means eating certain foods and staying away from certain other foods. I recommend the use of supplements. That’ s why I have a “store” section on my website. It contains my ebooks plus many very useful supplements. They are all from highly reputable companies that I have used for the last few decades.
The other goal was to explain that most of the time, people with low thyroid need the help of a knowledgeable and experienced doctor, like me. A doctor who knows and understands various manifestations of low thyroid and knows how to correct the problem. Most doctors can’t do it. They can deal with a typical hypothyroid patient, by finding high TSH and prescribing Synthroid. That’s all they can do. If you have tried that and it did not work for you, the good news is that there are holistic doctors like me, who have seen hundreds or even thousands of patients with low thyroid and know how to deal with the problem. Doctors who are not stuck on and limit themselves to TSH and Synthroid.
This is why I offer a personal coaching program. I email you an order for a very comprehensive blood test (in my experience all insurances pay for the blood test), followed by a detailed consultation, which includes various aspects of your medical history, dietary review, what medications (if any) you take, what supplements you take, and many other things. Then I offer treatment recommendations, which may include medications like Armour Thyroid or another form of natural desiccated thyroid (NDT), and supplements.
You have several choices. This could be a one-time consultation, or a 3-month program, 6-month or 12-month program. Most people choose 12 months, because that gives us enough time to finetune the program that’s right for you, find the right dose of medication plus the right supplements. After that we “meet” every 3 months to review your situation and to make any adjustments that are necessary. I also like to do a comprehensive blood test twice a year.
The idea is to help the patient become normal and keep it this way. Longer program is also more cost effective because it is less expensive per session plus you get some additional benefits. I urge you to continue to work with your local doctor, because I will only help you with your thyroid, possibly menopause, if you need help in that area. I will also teach you about improving bone health, since most women have increased risk of bone fractures as they get longer.
Click here to learn more about coaching.
Speaking of cost effective, you should be aware that medical insurances do not cover non-traditional treatment, so there will be a fee, just like for other non-covered medical procedures like plastic surgery or dental implants.
Most insurance companies do not cover natural desiccated thyroid. They usually do pay for generic Synthroid called levothyroxine sodium, so if you need Armour thyroid or NP thyroid, it’s usually an out-of-pocket expense, unless you have a really good insurance that covers everything. I personally take 2 grains of NP thyroid. I get a bottle of 100 pills for about $180, which lasts me a little over 3 months.
I mentioned that 1 or 2 out of 5 people do not do well on Synthroid. But that means that 3-4 out of 5 do have good results. Over the years I’ve head hundreds of patients whose insurance suddenly stopped covering NDT but continued to cover Synthroid (generic). We tried Synthroid instead of Armour and many people continued to do well. Of course, there were many who didn’t and they had to go back to Armour. So my approach is this. If I start the patient on thyroid meds for the first time, I go with NDT first. But if a patient comes to me and she is already taking Synthroid and is doing well, then I continue using that. I just try to use the white pill (50 mcg) instead of a colored one.
My hope is that now you no longer feel lost and helpless, the way people do when they know that something is wrong, but their doctor tells them that everything is OK. Now you know a lot about thyroid, and you can take certain steps toward improving it.
If you need professional assistance, you can always arrange (while available) a free 30-minute no-obligation phone consultation with me or sign up for a coaching program.
You can also join my Facebook low thyroid group. You are already signed up for my thyroid newsletter. I will let you know what other new things I am going to provide as time goes on.
At this point I want to mention that I am not unique. Yes, I am different than the majority of doctors who treat low thyroid, but there are many other doctors like me. Unfortunately, they are few and far between compared to “regular” doctors. In my future blogs I will give you some ideas about how to find the right doctor. I also plan to organize an educational program for medical doctors and teach them the right way to treat hypothyroidism.
Until that time, you can use the resources on this site and set up a free consultation or a coaching program with me.
If you think that this information might be useful to your friends, please feel free to share it with them. Also, encourage them to go to LowThyroidDoctor.com and download this 21-lecture course for free. Please visit the site often because I am always updating it and it has many useful tools and a lot of information. All free, of course.
And, don’t forget that a free, no-obligation, 30-minute phone consultation with me is still available. You can book it online or by calling the office at 718-769-0997. As of this writing the waiting time is fairly reasonable, about 3-4 weeks.
It was my pleasure to educate you about thyroid. I hope it will make a difference in your life. Please visit my store to get my ebooks and natural supplements.
Finally, please email me with any questions or comments, I may use them in my future seminars and presentations. Send them to DrTeplisky@gmail.com. I read all the emails and I try to answer as many as I can.
Thank you again. This is Michael Teplisky, MD from LowThyroidDoctor.com wishing you the best of health.