Introduction to the Thyroid Series!

In my struggle to recover from Hashimotos, I've lent my previous nutrition knowledge to the hunt to get better, along with researching vast amounts around the subject.  I thought I'd do a series of posts focusing on what I know about Type 1 and Type 2 Hypothyroidism.  But as a starting point, below is an introduction and a list of great reference material.

So, I have what is known as spontaneous onset Hashimoto's Thyroditis, colloquially known as Type 1 Hypothyroidism.  Historically Hashimotos has been a hereditary thing, but I join a growing number of professional women who, following a serious work crunch involving the odd collection of a sore throat and a lot of stress and sleep deprivation, end up with a particularly virulent form of Hashimotos with a very high antibody count.  The upshot is that you lose your thyroid and you are (a) on replacement thyroid for the rest of your life (b) unlike Type 1 Diabetes, you will be subject to that autoimmune attack for the rest of your life because you've got the thyroid in your system and (c) the deeper you got into thyroid failure before diagnosis, the longer your haul out for a variety of reasons. Very unfunny, and hell yes, I wish I'd known about it 6-10 years ago, for starters I've been able to figure out exactly which month of work-hell kicked it off, and if I'd known I would have stayed home until I'd got rid of the laryngitis and let the other associate clean up his own mess, hence in part my proselytising about the disease. 

Type 2 Hypothyroidism can be caused by a whole range of factors, either resulting in your body producing low levels of thyroid hormone, or your body producing too much Reverse T3 and blocking the T3 you have in your body.  This is considerably more common than Type 1, and while you don't lose your thyroid, it can be equally devastating.

This is a women's issue. Both Type 1 and Type 2 Hypothyroidism occur in men, but the ratio of occurence in women to men is 20:1. 

Another reason why I'm evangelical about this is that (a) although Type 1 hit me very hard, bad, sloppy and incorrect treatment has hit me harder (b) I've watched two women "wake up" this year from Type 2 Hypothyroidism on T3 therapy (more on that another post). The thing all three of us share is that no one spotted that we were sick, our primary cares/GPs told us we were "normal" on blood tests, and friends, colleagues and loved ones didn't spot the signs. So, even if it's not going to happen to you, it's worth being aware so that you can help your friend, your mother, your sister - because this is the sucky thing about it, once you're ill, the odds are you won't spot it, or fight to get the right diagnosis (I was told "stress" for three years) until it's very late in the day because you'll be cognitively impaired by the lack of thyroid.


Websites

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ - great website, lots of very good info and one angry author, quite rightly so
http://thyroid.about.com/bio/Mary-Shomon-350.htm Great author on recovering from thyroid problems and hashimotos, and some fascinating interviews and articles. Not so easily laid out though as Stop the Thyroid Madness
http://www.endfatigue.com/ Jacob Teitelbaum's website - I ignored this resource for a long time but there's a lot of useful information on here, particularly if you have clotting problems, you don't have health insurance (it helps you order the first round of blood tests) or Type 2 Hypothyroidism and energy issues.
http://www.thyroidscience.com/
 http://www.naturalthyroidsolutions.com/Latest_Updates_and_News.html Dr John Lowe was at the forefront of debunking T4 only treatment, but tragically passed away in January 2012.  There's some great articles on both sites
http://restormedicine.com/low-dose-naltrexone-san-diego/  Low Dose Naltrexone is the best immune modulating agent out there for things like Hashimotos and Fybromyalgia - unfortunately the research is at an early stage but annecdotally a lot of Hashimotos patients and Fybromyalgia patients are seeing benefits see - http://snapl.stanford.edu/research/ldn.html

Healthcare providers

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/doctors/a/topdocs.htm  Mary Shomon's patient curated list of thyroid doctors - it's not totally up to date, doesn't include everyone who should be on there, but it's a fantastic starting point.
http://fibroandfatigue.com/ Cutting edge clinics, aimed at fybromyalgia but often the clinic will have a thyroid specialist
http://www.holtorfmed.com/ Great treasure trove of useful information, clips and articles (check out the media page) The clinics are California only - and cutting edge, but a rather incestous relationship with the Fibro & Fatigue Clinics - Holtorf used to be medical director of the Fibro & Fatigue Clinics, and there are none of those in California and no Holtorf clinics outside California
http://www.holtraceuticals.com/ A lot of thyroid care providers have some relationship with a supplement provider, Holtorf takes it to a whole new level - some are completely unique products of Holtorf's research, like Fibrinex or Flex Plus.  But check the components closely, some are very banal collections of ingredients, some hugely overlap, and some are rebrands at a 200% mark up, so make sure that the product you're buying (a) has "Manufactured for Kent Holtorf" on the label (b) you can't get it elsewhere cheaper.

Pharmacies

http://www.americanintegrative.com/ I hope to build this list out - but effective slow release T3 is the gold standard that everyone is looking for and this is the only pharmacy I know that can produce it.  Also will compound all sorts of other things including Low Dose Naltrexone.

Books

If you have Hypothyroidism there is going to come a point where you're going to have to sit down and read some of these.  In rough order of usefulness:

Stop the Thyroid Madness: a Patient Revolution Against Decades of Inferior Treatment; M.Ed. Janie A. Bowthorpe From Fatigued to Fantastic; Jacob Teitelbaum
Living Well with Hypothyroidism: What Your Doctor Doesn't Tell You... That You Need to Know (Revised Edition); Mary J. Shomon
Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? When My Lab Tests Are Normal [Paperback]; Datis Kharrazian (Author)
Feeling Fat, Fuzzy, or Frazzled?: A 3-Step Program to: Restore Thyroid, Adrenal, and Reproductive Balance, Beat Hormone Havoc, and Feel Better Fast!; Richard Shames (Author);  Karilee Shames (Author)