Question: I’m so happy to have found your website. I’ve had hypothyroidism for 2 years. I’m 61 years old and am on 125 mcg of thyroxine. Over the last 6 months, I’ve developed pain and weakness in my thigh and upper arms muscles. I also have inflammation of my Achilles tendon, my the tendons in my feet, knees, elbows. I have all 18 tender points. I’ve been pushed from pillar-to-post and finally was told I have fibromyalgia. I was also told my thyroid test results show normal. However after reading your information on the link between thyroid and fibromyalgia, I’m wondered if you can suggest what to I ask my doctor so he’ll test me for thyroid resistance. I’m due to see him on Monday and as I live in the UK and can't visit your organisation, I thought it would help if I told him about your research. I have loads of blood test results that all say I’m normal, but I definitely know these symptoms aren’t in my mind. A rheumatologist has recommended a trial of pregabalin or amitriptyline which I don't want to take. Is there another thyroid test which might point my doctor to try and see if I am thyroid resistant. Thank you so much for reading my email.

Dr. Lowe: Your description of your plight indicates that you are one of the millions of people being victimized by Big Pharma and the conventional medical system it uses to ensnare people. I think you’re wise in not wanting to use pregabalin, amitriptyline, or any of the other drugs being pandered to people whose doctors diagnose them as having “fibromyalgia.” I’ve never heard of a patient getting well with any of the so-called “fibromyalgia drugs,” and many people have such bad reactions to them that they have to give them up.

The vast majority of people who meet the criteria for fibromyalgia have too little thyroid hormone regulation, and that is likely to be the case with you. Unfortunately, you may not be able to convince conventional doctors in the UK that you need a trial of thyroid hormone therapy. Even if you could, they most likely would restrict you to T4 replacement. With that therapeutic approach, you probably wouldn’t fair any better than you do now. Because of that, you’ll probably do best by contact the good people at Thyroid UK. They are aware that inadequate thyroid hormone regulation can cause the set of symptoms that lead to a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. And they can give you the contact information for doctors who will treat you with a therapy other than T4 replacement.

The contact page at the Thyroid UK website is: http://www.thyroiduk.org/. The organization’s other contact information is below:

By Post:
Thyroid UK
32 Darcy Road
St Osyth
Clacton On Sea
Essex
CO16 8QF  By Phone: 01255 820407

When you do undergo a trial of thyroid hormone therapy, you might mention something to the doctor: that is, that I described to you the protocol that in my experience has worked best for most fibromyalgia patients. I’ll give you a brief overview.

You may be hypothyroid, and if so, you’re likely to improve with Nature-Throid. This product contains both T4 and T3. Most patients begin with 1 grain and at 3-week intervals increase their dosages until they get satisfactory results. Most patients have to slightly suppress their TSH levels before they begin to improve. Except in the rarest of cases, TSH-suppressive doses are harmless; this is evidenced from the hundreds of thousands of thyroid cancer patients who live in good health with suppressed TSH levels.

If you reach a dosage of 4 grains of Nature-Throid and haven’t improved, that’s the time to consider that you may be thyroid hormone resistant. If you are, you’ll mostly likely have to use plain T3 to recover your health. Sustained-release T3 usually doesn’t work as well as plain T3.

The doctor you work with may be concerned about your cardiac health. If so, ask him to order ECGs each time before you increase you dose of thyroid hormone. If your doctor needs more assurance that your cardiovascular system is healthy, he or she can also order more extensive cardiac evaluations.

If the doctor wants to learn the details of the treatment protocol that our studiesshow works best, I recommend that he or she get a copy of my book The MetabolicTreatment of Fibromyalgia. It is available at www.McDowellPublishing.com. Or he or she might get a copy of the protocol chapter (Chapter 5.2) from the book. It’s available at the publisher’s e-chapters page: www.mcdowellpublishing.com/echapters/contents.htm.

I hope you persist, Ann, until you find a doctor in the UK who’ll help you go through a trial of thyroid hormone therapy other than T4 replacement. Please let us know how you do.