DEAR THYROID^TM

True confession: I am more likely to prescribe eating your leafy greens and other natural substances than I am to write you a script for synthetic pills.

Here’s why. It’s an intimate case study. It’s me. Physician, heal thyself.

A couple of years ago, my hair fell out. Not in modest numbers of hairs, but in clumps. The part in my hair looked the freeway in Los Angeles – wider than I thought humanly possible. It wasn’t a gracious leap into a refreshing pool of deep water…it was a flailing nose-dive/belly-flop into an emptied-out cement carcass of a watering hole.

It was ugly. I was not only balding, I was tired – and not just a little sleep-deprived, but chronically, completely exhausted. And gaining weight. And cold all the time.  My period was increasingly heavy – and my libido was A-WOL. Measures had to be taken.

So I took them. I behaved like a good gynecologist and waddled into the dermatologist’s office. She looked at my scalp and seemed unimpressed. Still, I pressed my case. I described how my ponytail used to be twice as thck. She lectured me about my inflamed scalp, and prescribed some toxic steroid solution called Clobetasol, and ordered some labs. I felt guilt over my inflamed scalp and dutifully applied the steroid solution. Labs returned: my thyroid was underfunctioning and my iron was low. Ferritin is the most sensitive indicator of iron supply in the body, and mine was scraping the bottom of the barrel. I knew what to do from a conventional medicine perspective. At Harvard Medical School, I was taught that the treatment for low thyroid and iron is simple: pills. Specifically, a regimen consisting of popping synthetic thyroid medication and iron pills would get me back to my lusty, luscious, thick-haired self.  One other additional bit of nutrition advice from my dermatologist: eat red meat three times per week.

The pills had an effect all right. I started Synthroid and more hair fell out. And, with synthetic iron in my system, I was constipated – and bloated from the constipation. And the clobetasol gave me a perpetually-greasy look to my thinning locks.

So now, instead of feeling vital and sexy, I was bigger, bloated and bunged-up. With greasy, thinning hair.

Not. Hot.

This was not the lithe, radical wellness to which I aspire.

There had to be a better way.

There was – and there is.

(Hands in the air! Testify!)

And that way is yes, eating your leafy greens (go get that iron, baby!) – kale is a miracle in plant-form.

And an old-fashioned but lovely glandular called Armour Dessicated Thyroid. Armour might be an old remedy but beyond anecdotal accolades (it worked for me, Word Sister!), it has good evidence to support its use. Does taking orally ground-up animal glands ever sound good? Or rather 19^th century? While it’s true that feeding women fresh animal organs did first come on the scene in 1898, we’ve come a long way, Baby.

Oh yeah. That’s what Imma talkin’ about. Believe.

And so that’s what I did. I let kale (and all it’s sexy green cousin veggies) and Armour love and light me up.

And they did. I’m back to my vital, sexy self – and so are my numbers. My hormones are balanced, baby. No constipation, no weight gain. No ugly side effects, at all. Just all-natural energy, all the time.

That’s what I want – and achieved – for myself. And that’s what I want for my patients, too.

Like Joan. Joan is a 41-year-old lawyer married to another lawyer and together they have long hours and two kids. She’s fatigued, her libido is low, her periods are heavier. She has gained 10 pounds in the past year with out

Sound familiar? It did to me. I am Joan and she is me.

We do some testing and sure enough, both her thyroid and iron are low. Specifically, her free T3 or active thyroid hormone is low and her TSH, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, is high – which indicates the thyroid gland is underperforming.

And now, from very personal experience, I have something better to offer Joan than synthetic pills accompanied by weight gain and constipation. Instead, I prescribe Joan Armour Thyroid and advise that she include kale or some other green leafy vegetable in her diet every day.

Within one month, Joan is more energized, and her menstrual flow is normal. Her libido is back to where it was in her 30s. Her numbers look goooooooood.

And nary a synthetic pill, extra pound or uncomfortable bowel movement in sight.

Can I get a “You go, Girl”?

—

For more about Dr. Sara, go to her new website http://www.saragottfriedmd.com

Tags: A True Story of Faith (in Vegetables and Glandulars) Healing, A true story of faith in vegetables and glandulars healing by Dr. Sara Gottfried, Dr Sara Gottfrieds intimate case study, green leafy vegetables for thyroid patients, hair falling out thyroid symptom, heavy menstrual cycles, libido awol, side effects of synthroid in some patients, thyroid patients eat cale

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