PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), Part I

There's been a lot of talk about PTSD recently because of so many Veterans returning from war.  

PTSD has been around for a long time, however, the label for this disorder and it's symptoms has changed names over the years.  The symptoms of PTSD are normal after a traumatic event. It only becomes diagnosable once the normal recovery process becomes stalled.  By stalled I mean the individual is not able to process the event or events into their views of themselves, others and the world around them.

Many people suffering with PTSD also have other related conditions.  These include Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety and/or Panic Disorder, Personality Disorder, and Substance Abuse to name a few.  These can either precipitate the condition or develop because of it.  Often by treating PTSD many of the related conditions either improve or become resolved.

Symptoms of PTSD follow exposure to a traumatic event or series of traumatic events.  These symptoms fall into three catagories, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive.  Many individuals suffering with PTSD tend to avoid (behavioral) certain situations, people, and places that bring up feelings (emotional) or memories that are uncomfortable.  By using avoidance they try to protect themselves from re-experiencing these uncomfortable sensations.  Meanwhile the cognitive aspect also continues to keep people with PTSD stuck by creating thoughts that continue to manufacture emotions like those experienced through PTSD and others, such as guilt, shame, and blame.  Finally emotional symptoms can also include anxiety, hyperarousal, insomnia, hypervigilance, irritablity, moodswings, and difficulty concentrating, among others.

Your Food is Your Medicine

What if you believed the above statement?

Would that change the way you look at food?

Would it change the choices you make when going to eat or shopping for food?

What does that statement really mean?

What does food do?

What is the definition of medicine?

Food does many things.  On a very simple level it provides our bodies with the fuel to function.  Fuel in this case being the Carbs, but also the Fats and Proteins.  Each serves a different purpose, however, each is essential for suvival.

As an example we receive proteins from various sources; grains, beans, nuts, seeds, meat, and dairy.  Some are complete proteins, some incomplete, meaning our bodies have to build them together to make a complete protein.  These then are used in many functions in the body.

Besides the main nutrients or building blocks, there are also a multitude of micronutrients our bodies need for optimal health; including vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, etc.

What if I told you that many of us are not only lacking in the essential nutrients our bodies require, but also the the micronutrients they need? 

What if I told you that many people are actually starving, and yet they not only look well fed, but even over fed.  

Your body can't tell you what it needs, it can only let you know that it's hungry.

Fibromyalgia; Part I

An article written by a medical professional I read stated that everyone with Fibromyalgia has low thyroid function to some degree.  That’s a bold statement and yet I agree.  The question that remains is whether the problem is the thyroid or it’s related mechanisms, or something else affecting the thyroid or thyroid hormones.  Ultimately it may not matter, as treating with hormone replacement helps low thyroid function (LTF) regardless of the cause.

First, what does low thyroid mean?  Many think low thyroid means your blood work for thyroid appears abnormal.  When your doctor checks your thyroid function they usually look at three markers, TSH, T4, and T3.  There are other tests that can be done, reverse T3, anti-thyroid antibodies, as well as other types of tests that can be used to rule out other abnormalities if your doctor finds reason to believe something else is wrong.

There are serious medical conditions that can affect the different mechanisms and structures involved in the production of thyroid hormone.  These need to be ruled out by a qualified medical professional.  This information is NOT intended to be a substitute for such health care.  If, however, everything is ruled out and the blood work shows you have, or even if it doesn’t show you have low thyroid function, you may benefit from thyroid treatment.

TSH refers to Thyroid Stimulating Hormone, which is produced in your brain in the anterior pituitary.  TSH tells your thyroid to produce T4 which in turn breaks down into T3.  T3 is the active hormone used by the different systems of the body for metabolism regulation as well as many other functions.  (this is a simple version)

In most cases, Doctor’s including Endocrinologists prescribe T4 (Synthroid, Levothyroxine) for hypothyroidism.  The theory is that your body will break down the T4 into the needed T3 making you will feel better.  Many times, however, even though a patient’s blood work may look better, they continue to feel terrible.  Inevitably they are then prescribed even more T4, and the process continues.  More about this will be said in the section on reverse T3.

Symptoms of Low Thyroid

Depression Insomnia Constipation Neuropathy			no sex drive fatigue dry skin Fibromyalgia
Anxiety weight gain cold hands / feet			brittle nails hair loss
high cholesterol
restless legs
muscle / joint pains low body temperature (below 98.6)
mood swings (sometimes misdiagnosed as Bipolar)
lack of concentration and focus (sometimes misdiagnosed as ADHD)

That’s an incomplete list of symptoms one can experience with LTF.

What if you have hypothyroid symptoms but your blood work is normal?  Often times people will have hypothyroid symptoms yet their blood work remains normal.  In fact blood work for TSH levels only started to be used in the early 1970’s.  Before then doctors looked at clinical symptoms such as those above.  The main medication for treating LTF for years was Armour’s Thyroid, which is typically desiccated porcine thyroid which naturally contains both T4 and T3 in a ratio similar to what humans produce.  It has been around since the late 19^th century actually.  If you went to a doctor in 1910 then, feeling lethargic, gassy, constipated, and depressed your doctor may have prescribed Armour’s thyroid. 

Today no doctor would treat you unless your blood work, specifically your TSH, is abnormal.  Yet many people continue to have hypothyroid symptoms even though their blood work continues to fall in normal range.

What are other reasons for treating with Armour’s Thyroid?  If a patient who has been diagnosed with LTF continues to feel poorly despite being given a T4 preparation, most likely it’s because they don’t break down T4 properly or they tend to produce too much reverse T3 instead of the active T3.  Reverse T3 is something we all produce.  Most likely reverse T3 is an old evolutionary mechanism that we still carry that slowed our metabolism during times of hunger or injury until either food was found or we healed.  Once some people start producing reverse T3 they may have a problem turning the mechanism off.  Another theory that may explain the overproduction of reverse T3 is a lack of enzyme to break T4 down into healthy or active T3.  Reverse T3 as the name suggests doesn’t work like active T3, and if you have a tendency to producing too much of this, all the T4 in the world won’t make you feel better. 

The reasons why someone may produce too much reverse T3 are irrelevant.  The only option to taking only T4 is adding T3 to it in a ratio of 4:1, 3:1, 2:1, or even 1:2 of T4:T3.  This can be given as regular prescriptions of Synthroid / Levothyroxine and Cytomel.  Another option is to have them compounded.  And lastly another option is Armour’s Thyroid, Natur-Throid, or a synthetic T4:T3 formula.  I personally take only T3 every day, and every other day add T4 because I don’t feel well taking T4 on a daily basis.