iThyroid.com

Greetings from John:

Everyone with a thyroid disease wonders what is going on--How did I get this disease?  Many people who get hyperthyroidism or Graves' disease are really surprised because they, like I, felt really great just before getting sick. 

Even Olympic class athletes develop Graves' disease, making us all realize that if people in apparent top health and conditioning can get it, then anyone can.

After going through and recovering from both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, I feel that I have a very good idea what causes these diseases and my theory is at odds with current medical thinking. 

I believe that hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, Graves' disease and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, are caused by a combination of nutritional deficiencies and chemical toxins, usually heavy metals. 

I have had both hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism and corrected both conditions through nutritional supplementation and I feel very strongly that I can show you how to do the same.  

If you want to live with these diseases or switch from hyperthyroidism to hypothyroidism by getting RAI, then medical doctors can help you to do this.  I really don't recommend this, because this approach does not improve your health but only pushes you down the path to more serious health problems.

However, if you want to correct these conditions by getting to the cause, then there is only one way--through nutrition.  You can change your nutritional status by changing your diet and/or by adding or changing your nutritional supplement program.  

If you want to stop your current downward trend in your health and start improving your health to minimize or eliminate these diseases from your life, then you're going to have to do a lot of work.  You're going to have to take control of your life and become your own doctor, educate yourself about health and the essential nutrients that your body needs to maintain  thyroid health, get to the store and buy the supplements and foods that will help you, maintain a diary so you know what's helping and what's hurting, and develop the determination not to give up.  I and other people at this site will help you, so you're not on your own.

What's my motivation?  I'm not out to sell you anything.  Whatever supplements you need, you'll have to hunt them down and find them somewhere else.  My motivations are simple:  first, thyroid diseases have taken years of my life and I hate them and want to see them eliminated as much as possible from the world; and second, I can't stand to see people suffer from something that I feel I can help correct.

Thyroid diseases are not easy to correct but I believe it's possible.  They are not simple, one-deficiency diseases, but are the result of complex and inter-related nutritional deficiencies and toxicities.  Hyperthyroidism is particularly difficult because once you get it just about every nutritional supplement and many foods make the condition worse.  It's very much like falling into quicksand--it seems no matter what you do, you just keep sinking deeper and deeper.  I call it the "backward disease" because it defies standard nutritional logic and gets worse when you take the nutrients that usually help most disease conditions.

I've been in that hyperthyroid quicksand and just before my head went under, I figured out the right nutritional strategy and escaped.  Fortunately I kept a diary and that diary has provided a roadmap to guide others out of that mess.

Hypothyroidism is a quagmire also.  In hyperthyroidism you at least know that your thyroid is capable of producing hormone.  The problem is how to find the brakes.  In hypothyroidism you think your thyroid is broken and can never be repaired.  I hope to show you that this isn't the case and the solution might be as simple as changing your diet, having your silver amalgam (mercury) dental fillings replaced, and taking nutritional supplements.

The biggest obstacle in overcoming thyroid disease is that the person's energy level and brain functioning are so low that it's extremely difficult to figure out what to do and to take the steps necessary to improve.  Just about everyone with thyroid disease refers to this condition as "brain fog."

I've used nutrition for decades to correct my health problems, but when I had thyroid disease, my brain was barely working.  Fortunately I had the time to study nutrition for the months on end that it took (because my brain functioning was low) and the sense to keep a diary so that I could analyze what nutrients were helping and what were hurting.

Once I started supplementing with the nutrients I needed to correct hyperthyroidism, the increase in brain function and energy level was amazing.  I didn't realize how much of a fog I was in until I got out of it.  I always say that getting hyperthyroidism was one of the worst experiences of my life, but recovering from it was one of the best.  I can have the worst job to do like lying in the dirt under a car trying to fix it on a hot, sweaty summer day with bugs biting me and I'm still happy--happy to be alive and able to just do the job.  

Thyroid disease is the result of the accumulation of many years of nutrient deficiencies.  I think you'll find as I did that once you correct those deficiencies, life is truly great!!  You'll be amazed.

People with thyroid disease tend to flip back and forth between hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.  Most people with hypothyroidism don't seem too concerned about their plight until it gets bad.  They think, "Oh, I just take this little pill once a day and I'm fine."  Please take my advice and start learning now.  Hypothyroidism for many people is the first step toward hyperthyroidism.  Believe me, you don't want to experience it.  It's not the way to lose weight!  If you have hypothyroidism and are overweight, let me show you a better way to correct those conditions.  Even if hypothyroidism doesn't lead to hyperthyroidism, it's an indication that your health is poor and your energy is low.  Learn what nutrients are deficient in hypothyroidism, correct those deficiencies, and feel the physical and mental differences that health can make in your life.

While there is a lot of information on this site to read, I would urge anyone with  Graves', Hashimoto's, hyperthyroidism,  hypothyroidism, or any other autoimmune disease, to study everything carefully so that you understand what pushes you hyper, what pushes you hypo, and what causes the immune system to go wacky in autoimmune disease.  This information may protect you from getting into worse trouble.

On this site you can read about my background and stories of how I developed and recovered from hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism.  

Thyroid disease is primarily a disease of women.  Close to 90% of the sufferers are female.  The risk of getting Graves' Disease and Thyroid Eye Disease  (TED) is greatly increased by smoking.  Read my theory about why women are the victims, how smoking affects the thyroid and TED, and why women should never smoke, get silver amalgam (mercury) dental fillings, and should protect themselves from other heavy metal toxic sources.

You can read the latest version of the Thyroid Supplement List and details about how each nutrient affects the thyroid and endocrine system.  

Also you can read my interpretation of the science of medicine versus the art of medicine and explore how we know anything and how sure we are of what we think we know.

This is an interactive site.  I have had a group on Egroups.com since September, 1998, and everyone who has participated has learned an incredible amount by working together, trying the supplement program, and reporting back to the group on the results.  

This is a group effort and many people have contributed and continue to contribute.  I hope to develop additional features of the website including pages devoted to the interpretation of thyroid medical tests and the interpretation of hair mineral analyses.  Hopefully other members will also contribute to these and other areas.  If you have expertise in any related area or related disease conditions, please let me know so that we can add that information to the site.

This is your site so let me know what you would like to see.  I wish you all the very best of health and pledge to do my best to provide you with the information and motivation to attain that.

                      Sincerely, your friend,
                      John Johnson
                      BU007@aol.com