Overload
Thyroid disease treatments
Category: Medicines
Type
Involuntary
Introduction and description
The thyroid gland is one of the largest endocrine glands. It is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage (which forms the laryngeal prominence, or "Adam's apple" in men).
The thyroid gland controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body is to other hormones.
It participates in these processes by producing thyroid hormones. Hormonal output from the thyroid is regulated by thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) produced by the anterior pituitary, which itself is regulated by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) produced by the hypothalamus.
So we are not dealing with just one organ here were are actually looking at the interaction between three organs, any of which, if damaged or out of balance could produce the symptoms of thyroid disease. There is a section on Thyroid disease in the illnesses category that goes into a lot more detail about the workings and causes of imbalance.
Even a small decline or increase in the output of these hormones, if sustained over a long period of time, can have profound consequences for health and well being.
The thyroid can be overactivated or be underactive. Although we go into some detail in the page on thyroid disease on all the possible causes - viruses; bacteria; fungal infection; parasites; heavy metal poisoning - particularly from dental amalgam [mercury based] fillings and gold filling allergies; Iodine deficiencies and other forms of nutritional deprivation such as tyrosine deficiency [deficient because of low fat diets]; and of great importance pharmaceuticals, which appear to cause a large number of cases of thyroid imbalance, the section does not explore the issue of resonance in much detail.
There does appear to be evidence, however, that resonance plays a major part in thyroid disease. Any bodily organ can be shaken by both sound and by electromagnetic radiation. Low frequency high intensity radiation appears to be particularly implicated in producing diseases of all three glands affected in this cycle - pituitary, thyroid and hypothalamus.
Thus we have the following sources of low frequency sound or radiation implicated
- Heavy machinery - tractors, air conditioning equipment, electric fans, airplanes, cars, manufacturing plant, plus many other types of equipment. The link in each case is that they produce infrasound as they vibrate and although the infrasound is not heard, it has an effect.
- Helicopters - Helicopter blades produce low frequency sound [infrasound]. The University of Fairbanks in Alaska, for example, have been able to measure infrasound from a helicopter passing over the DOE array, it has also been recorded. The infrasound has a record for producing hallucinations, which is why there are some helicopter crashes, but there appear to be health problems as well.
- Wind turbines - wind turbines produce infrasound. If you work, live or are based near a wind turbine the infrasound is classified as high intensity, further away it is lower intensity. The link between wind turbines and hallucinations has been admitted, but the evidence linking wind turbines with illness has been suppressed because of the drive for 'clean energy'. But all that is needed is a change in the design of the wind turbines or an adjustment to tos ealready erected, as such this repression of known effects is irresponsible
- Exposure to LF domestic magnetic fields - which has a record of producing both hallucinations and illness if it is high intensty or of long duration
- Exposure to LF industrial magnetic fields - ditto
- Modern buildings - some modern buildings are 'sick' in that they produce both hallucinations and illness, again the culprit is usually infrasound which may be high or low intensity, as over long duration the effects would be the same. Occasionally the 'sickness' comes from static electricity.
- PVDF pipes - which can produce inaudible sound - infrasound from telluric currents. The intensity depends on how far away from the pipes you are
Some sorts of weather also produce infrasound, and we also have the Bass shakers used in cars or concerts, but these sources are often not prolonged. They can produce hallucinations, but they tend not to produce illness, unless of course you expose yourslef to them for das and weeks at a time. More details can be found in the section on Stimulation via resonance.
It is rare for any of these causes to be explored by the medical profession, in fact one gets the impression that many medical people are not aware that these are the causes, and the only way to actually correct thyroid disease is to investigate and correct the causes.
This becomes exceptionally important when one realises how drastic the treatments are currently. Both surgery and drugs are used to treat the symptoms not the cause. Both of which are no picnic for the patient.
Types of drugs
There are two classes of drugs used to treat thyroid disease:
- Over-activity - Anti-thyroid drugs are used to decrease the production of thyroid hormones, in particular, in the case of Graves' disease. These medications take several months to take full effect and have side-effects such as skin rash or a drop in white blood cell count, which decreases the ability of the body to fight off infections.
These drugs involve frequent dosing (often one pill every 8 hours) and often require frequent doctor visits and blood tests to monitor the treatment, and may sometimes lose effectiveness over time. "Due to the side-effects and inconvenience of such drug regimens, some patients choose to undergo radioactive iodine-131 treatment".
Radioactive iodine is administered in order to destroy a portion of or the entire thyroid gland, since the radioactive iodine is selectively taken up by the gland and gradually destroys the cells of the gland. Alternatively, the gland may be partially or entirely removed surgically, though iodine treatment is usually preferred since the surgery is invasive and carries a risk of damage to the parathyroid glands or the nerves controlling the vocal cords. If the entire thyroid gland is removed, hypothyroidism results.
- Underactivity - thyroid stimulating drugs are used to either supplement thyroid when there has been damage done to the thyroid or it has been removed, or they may be used to stimulate an underactive thyroid. According to the pharmaceutical companies themselves, long-term use 'will frequently cause':
- Heart problems - cardiac side-effects
- Osteoporosis – this drug can contribute to decreases in bone mineral density (high TSH levels are also well known to contribute to osteoporosis).
- Hyperthyroidism - Patients prescribed too high a dose of levothyroxine may experience hyperthyroidism. Overdose can result in heart palpitations, abdominal pain, nausea, anxiousness, confusion, agitation, insomnia, weight loss, and increased appetite.
- Allergic reactions - ‘Allergic reactions’ to the drug are characterized by symptoms such as difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, or swelling of the face and tongue.
These drugs also cross the placenta and are secreted in breast milk. We will look at the actual side effects in the next section.
Wikipedia
The mechanisms of action of these drugs are not understood. Some scientists believe [sic] that anti-thyroids inhibit iodination of tyrosyl residues in thyroglobulin. It is believed [sic] that they inhibit the thyroperoxidase catalyzed oxidation reactions by acting as substrates for the postulated peroxidase-iodine complex, thus competitively inhibiting the interaction with the amino acid tyrosine. Propylthiouracil additionally may reduce the de-iodination of T4 into T3 in peripheral tissues
But they don't know.
Side-effects
The following side effects including the figures for death come from the eHealthme web site and were all derived from Adverse Drug reports submitted to the FDA and SEDA by doctors. The figures only apply to the USA and not the rest of the world
If we take an example drug, the most common Levothyroxine sodium side effects are:
- Nausea (4,068 reports)
- Fatigue (3,943 reports)
- Weakness (3,642 reports)
- Breathing Difficulty (3,094 reports)
- Diarrhea (2,978 reports)
- Headache (2,931 reports)
- Dizziness (2,879 reports)
- Pain (2,554 reports)
- Rashes (2,465 reports)
Most of these symptoms are those of poisoning. If we take a different drug, the symptoms are not dissimilar. Most common Methimazole side effects:
- Fever (98 reports)
- Rashes (94 reports)
- Hyperthyroidism (82 reports)
- Weakness (77 reports)
- Agranulocytosis (75 reports)
- Breathing Difficulty (66 reports)
- Nausea (63 reports)
- Joint Pain (62 reports)
- Dizziness (60 reports)
- Fatigue (57 reports)
Agranulocytosis, is an acute condition involving a severe and dangerous lowered white blood cell count, a severe lack of one major class of infection-fighting white blood cells. And another example, the most common Propylthiouracil side effects:
- Fever (92 reports)
- Agranulocytosis (76 reports)
- Joint Pain (75 reports)
- Nausea l (72 reports)
- Hyperthyroidism (70 reports)
- Vasculitis (61 reports)
- Weakness (55 reports)
- Nausea And Vomiting (52 reports)
- Fatigue(47 reports)
- Abdominal Pain (41 reports)
Vasculitis is a group of disorders that destroy blood vessels by inflammation. Both arteries and veins are affected.
Death
Levothyroxine and its trade names
- On Sep, 6, 2015: 67,670 people reported to have side effects when taking Levothyroxine sodium. Among them, 974 people (1.44%) have Death.
- On Aug, 31, 2015: 5,198 people reported to have side effects when taking Levothroid. Among them, 104 people (2.00%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 208 people reported to have side effects when taking Unithroid. Among them, 2 people (0.96%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 14,861 people reported to have side effects when taking Levoxyl. Among them, 155 people (1.04%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 89,069 people reported to have side effects when taking Synthroid. Among them, 1,186 people (1.33%) have Death
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 88 people reported to have side effects when taking Tirosint. Among them, 3 people (3.41%) have Death
Thyrogen
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 291 people reported to have side effects when taking Thyrogen. Among them, 3 people (1.03%) have Death
Methimazole
- On Aug, 29, 2015: 1,487 people reported to have side effects when taking Methimazole. Among them, 20 people (1.34%) have Death
Propylthiouracil
- On Sep, 10, 2015: 1,055 people reported to have side effects when taking Propylthiouracil. Among them, 5 people (0.47%) have Death.
Wikipedia
On 3 June 2009, the FDA published an alert "notifying healthcare professionals of the risk of serious liver injury, including liver failure and death, with the use of propylthiouracil." As a result, propylthiouracil is no longer recommended in non-pregnant adults [sic] and in children as the front line antithyroid medication.
It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system.
Liothyronine
- On Aug, 31, 2015: 630 people reported to have side effects when taking Liothyronine sodium. Among them, 3 people (0.48%) have Death
- On Aug, 17, 2015: 2,264 people reported to have side effects when taking Cytomel. Among them, 17 people (0.75%) have Death
Armour thyroid
- On Aug, 27, 2015: 737 people reported to have side effects when taking Armour thyroid. Among them, 2 people (0.27%) have Death
Summary figures
Using the figures for deaths recorded on the eHealthme web site, which were all derived from Adverse Drug reports submitted to the FDA and SEDA by doctors. The number of deaths caused by this class of drugs as at early September 2015 were
2,474
the figures only apply to the USA and not the rest of the world.
How it works
Poisoning [more correctly toxicosis, but the effects are the same]
References and further reading
The pictures on this page do have a meaning.
At one time the staring and bulging eyes of a person in trance and thus having a spiritual experience such as the hallucinations shown below, was a sign of a god.
In other words, staring and bulging eyes - a symptom of thyroid imbalance - is a sign of spiritual experience.
This symbol was known almost word-wide and appears, as you can see from the page, in numerous old statues - including the Lewis chess men.
Observations
The total number of hallucinations as obtained from the eHealthme web site is shown in the table below. The link takes you to the eHealthme site where the up-to-date side -effects for each drug can be seen.
In some cases a link may not work, but will still take you to the site, but not the drug. This may be because eHealthme are in the process of updating the entry, or the drug has been discontinued, or the name has been changed. Name change is a not infrequent event and if one was cynical one might say that it was to ensure any hard pressed doctor was completely unable to keep track of the side effects of these drugs on a long term basis.
Pharmaceutical |
No of hallucinations |
Levothyroxine trade names Levothroid, Levothyroxine sodium, Thyrax, Unithroid, Levoxyl, Synthroid and Tirosint |
353 + 29 + 89 + 649 = 1,120 |
0 |
|
Carbimazole $$ |
0 |
Methimazole | 3 |
Propylthiouracil/PTU | 5 |
Liothyronine trade name Cytomel | 4 |
Liotrix brand Names: Thyrolar-1, Thyrolar-1/2, Thyrolar-1/4, Thyrolar-2, Thyrolar-3 | 0 |
Tiratricol ** | 0 |
Methylthiouracil ++ | 0 |
Benzylthiouracil ++ | 0 |
Armour thyroid [bovine thyroid glands] | 2 |
TOTAL | 1,134 |
** Tiratricol is not approved for sale in Canada or the United States. It was once an approved drug in Brazil, but its marketing authorization was suspended in 2003, effectively prohibiting its sale. Tiratricol is still available in France and som eparts of Europe - notably Spain and Germany
++ Methylthiouracil and Benzylthiouracil are not used clinically in the United States, they have similar mechanisms of action and side effects to that of propylthiouricil.
$$ International drug no figures for USA
Related observations
Healing observations
Hallucination
- Cytomel 017704
- Hectorol 019103
- Levothyroxine, Levothroid, Levoxyl, Synthroid 006920
- Nadolol 019667
- Sensipar 020027
- Tapazole 020171
- Vandetanib 020348
- Zemplar 020396