I just read your article Nancy. I so hope they are going to figure it out. I'll be a guinea pig as long as it's safe...why not? Wilson's says you can "feel" results almost immediately, plus I can get my endo to keep me on the T3, just not sure she will go for the Wilson's treatment. I will find a doctor that is willling to try it after my iron problem gets resolved! I have seen people that had transient thyroid conditions that were "fixed" with medications, so maybe there is a chance this could help. I just want to feel better and if it really is the easy fix they say it is, then YAY! If not, I will have to start thinking about eliminating foods. I already feel like I have given up so much (time, effort, social life) to get myself healed and to lose a few pounds. My husband wants to know if "fun Angie" is coming back anytime soon! It's true I am not my normal hyper, happy self but I am in learning mode. I am thankful to all of you that has helped me on this journey. My husband and I claimed "2010" as the year for financial and physical recovery.
Nancy's article:
Dieting
Acute or chronic dieting can result in a significant decrease in intracellular and circulating T3 levels by up to 50% (46,47,51,90), which significantly reduces basal metabolic rate (number of calories burned per day) by 15-40% (48,230,232). With chronic dieting, the thyroid levels and metabolism often do not return to normal levels; the body stays in starvation mode for years with significantly reduced metabolism despite the resumption of normal food intake, making it very difficult to lose or maintain lost weight (48).
A study by Araujo RL et al. published in American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism found that 25 days of calorie restriction (dieting) significantly reduced D1, resulting in reduced T4 to T3 conversion with a 50% reduction in T3. This dramatic reduction in T3 was associated with an increase in D2, so there was no increase in TSH but rather a decrease from an average of 1.20 ng/ml to 0.7 ng/ml, demonstrating the fact that the TSH is a poor marker for tissue T3 levels, especially in a chronically dieting patient (47).
Fontana et al. found that T3 levels were significantly decreased by 25% in chronically dieting individuals compared to non-dieting individuals with no difference in TSH and T4 (thus undetected by TSH and T4 testing). This clinically significant reduction in T3 levels, potentially causing inability to lose weight or regaining of lost weight, fatigue, and depression, remained in the normal range despite the significant decline, demonstrating the weakness and unreliability of the common use of population references ranges that consider 95% of the population as “normal” (49).
A study by Leibel et al. published in the journal Metabolism found that individuals who had lost weight in the past had a significantly lower metabolism than those of same weight who had not gained or lost significant weight in the past (48). The metabolism in the weight reduced patients was 25% less than an equal weight person who did not lose or gain significant weight in the past and equal to someone who weighed 60% less than they did. Additionally, the reduction was shown to be present years later.
This 25% percent reduction in metabolism equates to an approximate deficit of 500-600 cal per day. Thus, if the previous overweight person is to maintain the reduced weight he or she lost, he or she must either eat 600 cal per day less compared to a person of same weight who has not had a weight problem or must jog about 1 ˝ hours per day to maintain the lost weight. This equates to approximately a pound per week of weight gain, explaining why weight is so quickly gained without continued very strict dieting. So many people who have difficulty keeping weight off don’t eat excessively but are continually told they are eating too much or they need to exercise more by people who have never had a weight problem. They are made to feel it is a character issue and that nobody believes how how little food they actually consume. Unless the physiologic thyroid dysfunction is corrected, any diet and exercise strategy is doomed.
Croxson et al. in Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism found that individuals with a history of intense dieting had dramatic reductions in T4 to T3 conversion with an intracellular deficiency of T3. The inadequacy and inaccuracy of standard TSH and T4 testing was demonstrated, as such testing failed to detect the dramatic reduction in tissue levels of T3 in all of the patients (50).
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