Minerals in Thyroid: Has anyone heard of dr... - Thyroid UK

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Minerals in Thyroid

Suzi_ profile image
39 Replies

Has anyone heard of dr Isabella Wentz. She recommends some good vitamins for thyroid but are very expensive. Good for Hashimoto Thyroid

Has anyone tried any vitamins? I think she is a pharmacist in USA

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39 Replies
greygoose profile image
greygoose

She is a pharmacist in the USA. And, I find some of her ideas very weird. In general, you shouldn't take supplements without first testing to see if you need them. We always recommend getting vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin tested, and supplementing according to the results, with cofactors, etc. Nothing is going to do you any good if you don't need it. And too much of come things can be dangerous.

And, I have no idea what is meant by 'good for thyroid'. Good in what way? No supplement is going to cure the condition, just optimise the resulting nutritional deficiencies. None of them are going to restore you thyroid to working order. So, I don't know what 'good' means, in that context. :)

in reply togreygoose

"I find some of her ideas very weird"

Could you give any examples, gg?

I read an article of hers that was recommended on here, and there was something about it that didn't seem quite right. But I've forgotten what it was!

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply to

Me too! Sorry, I can't give any examples because I haven't read anything of hers for ages, because she annoys me! And I've forgotten most of what I've read. But, I remember thinking no, that's weird. Her insistance on trying to reduce antibodies, for a start!

HEA72 profile image
HEA72 in reply togreygoose

Hi greygoose, from my understanding an under-active thyroid condition can be caused by nutritional deficiencies. In functional biochemistry nutrients (e.g. vitamins/minerals/amino acids/essential fatty acids) are needed as co-factors and co-enzymes along chemical pathways within the body to help endocrine glands function and make hormones. Of course nutritional deficiencies wouldn't be the sole cause of an under-active thyroid gland, other causes could be chemical and heavy metal toxicity, pathogens, physical and emotional trauma, autoimmunity.

An example of a nutrient deficiency that affects thyroid function would be iodine. There are medical doctors out there who also practice functional medicine now, who recognise that those with underactive thyroids who do not have Hashimotos Thyroidism are in most cases, iodine deficient. Iodine deficiency is becoming more recognised again within the functional medicine field with non-autoimmune under-active thyroid disorders.

"It is likely that anyone with hypothyroidism, especially when it is not due to autoimmunity, will be iodine deficient. Because iodine is so necessary in tissues other than the thyroid (eg breast, bone marrow, immune system, brain), the iodine levels should be tested by a urine test." Dr Sarah Myhill

"Iodine is an essential element that we cannot live without. Every cell in the body needs and requires iodine to function optimally. The most vulnerable population for iodine deficiency are women of child-bearing age. Iodine deficiency during pregnancy can cause permanently lowered IQ in children along with a host of neurologic and endocrine problems including mental retardation, autism, ADHD and thyroid problems. In adults, iodine deficiency can be linked to the epidemic rise in cancers of the glandular tissues—including the thyroid, ovary, uterus, prostate, breast and pancreas." Dr Browstein MD

This deficiency can be due to the issue we have with mercury, fluoride, bromine and chlorine in our water and food supply, these compete for the iodine receptors in the thyroid gland, hence causing a thyroid hormone deficiency, because the thyroid relies heavily on adequate iodine supply to function. Toxins e.g. heavy metals and chemicals can also block chemical pathways in the body and thus inhibit the conversion of tyrosine into T4 and then to T3.

Ref:

drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Iodine_...

drbrownstein.com/iodine-def...

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toHEA72

I'm sorry, but I don't see the point of your comment. But, I very much doubt the accuracy of this statement: There are medical doctors out there who also practice functional medicine now, who recognise that those with underactive thyroids who do not have Hashimotos Thyroidism are in most cases, iodine deficient. There are so many reasons for hypothyroidism, but one is highly unlikely to be deficient in iodine in the Western world. But, why are you telling me that?

HEA72 profile image
HEA72 in reply togreygoose

Hi, the point of my comment was to illustrate how nutritional deficiencies can affect thyroid function. It's easier to grasp when there's an understanding of functional medicine. Mainstream medicine doesn't work this way, because it uses the allopathic approach, so it's easy to not understand this way of approaching health, if all a patient's experience is of treatment from an NHS GP or endocrinologist.

I can testify to the nutritional link to hypothyroidism. Years ago when I had problems with my thyroid function I was treated by a nutritionist/naturopath using nutrition, it worked. I was low in iodine, vitamin A, omega 3, selenium. When these deficiencies were corrected my thyroid function recovered. Sadly, I'm struggling again with hypothyroidism and correcting nutritional deficiencies isn't helping the way it was in the past, I think this could be because my health issues are far more complex now, as I've discovered I have Lyme Disease and heavy metal toxicity too.

To give examples of some medical doctors who recognise hypothyroidism and iodine deficiency:

Dr Myhill Mb Bs says "It is likely that anyone with hypothyroidism, especially when it is not due to autoimmunity, will be iodine deficient"

ref: drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Iodine_...

Dr Brownstein MD says "The thyroid gland contains the highest concentration of iodine, more than any other organ in the body. You can not make thyroid hormone without sufficient amounts of iodine.

Over the last 40 years, iodine levels have fallen by 50% in the United States. During the same time, we have seen an epidemic rise of thyroid disorders including:

Graves’ Disease

Hashimoto’s Disease

Hypothyroidism

Thyroid Cancer

My research has clearly shown that these illnesses are tied to iodine deficiency. Among the thousands of patients that come to my office, more than 95% are iodine deficient. No wonder there is a thyroid disease epidemic!"

Ref: drbrownstein.com/iodine-the...

These books are really interesting, they explain why in the western world there is iodine deficiency and how this affects thyroid function and creates a whole host of other health issues:

amazon.co.uk/Iodine-Why-Nee...

amazon.co.uk/Iodine-Crisis-...

Hope this helps. It's a fascinating journey opening up the world of functional medicine and health problems. It takes a lot of home study but can feel empowering, as it opens up more tools in the box to help ourselves along our healing journeys. :-)

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toHEA72

But, I never said that nutritional deficiencies didn't affect the thyroid. Show me where I said that? Thank you for your good intentions, but I really don't need two lengthy lectures. I don't think you read my response correctly, just jumped to conclusions about what I was saying.

HEA72 profile image
HEA72 in reply togreygoose

I had no intention whatsoever of upsetting you or causing you stress. You're clearly upset and I am not here for that. I was just trying to be constructive and helpful to this post that's all. Sharing knowledge to help others.

"I never said that nutritional deficiencies didn't affect the thyroid. Show me where I said that?"

Here:

"No supplement is going to cure the condition, just optimise the resulting nutritional deficiencies. None of them are going to restore you thyroid to working order."

Let's leave it there. I think we're just reading from different pages of the book here, so to speak. I think our hormones maybe getting in the way here and causing possible confusions and misunderstandings.

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toHEA72

I am neither stressed nor destressed. Just puzzled. But, I see where the confusion lies. Yes, let's leave it there. :)

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again

She seems very knowledgeable and has written some books about Hashimoto's because she sufferers from it. I think a lot of Americans follow her advice about a special diet for the disease. I have no idea if it works or not but I have read some of the questions and answers on her site and some of what she says makes a lot of sense.

Tennis_junky profile image
Tennis_junky

Yes I’ve read her book. I do in fact take a large handful of expensive supplements every day to help with symptoms and to help convert T4 in to T3 and I’m managing my day a whole lot better, but I’ve done a lot of research on what I’m allowed to take.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator

Her main site is:

thyroidpharmacist.com/

Some of what she writes is good. But the fact that her sales side is so large and prominent troubles me.

You can be reading a bit and suddenly see that she created a new product to fill just that gap in the market. Amazing how often her products have some unique selling point that gives you no option but to buy them.

Even when she doesn't brand products herself, she has affiliate links (even to the point of the company pointed at having a thyroidpharmacist section of their website). Which indicates how powerful her words are as sales tools.

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again in reply tohelvella

She looks a picture of health so I think that also helps with the sales.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toLora7again

If she were an unattractive male, even if her words were as near identical as they could be (i.e. missing bits about her being pregnant), would she be lauded?

The unworthy part of me keeps wondering if she has a spectacularly good Photoshop artist. :-)

(That is a light-hearted comment.)

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again in reply tohelvella

No she looks as good in real life unfortunately .😉.. I have watched some of her videos.

TSH110 profile image
TSH110 in reply tohelvella

There seem to be lots of ugly men in the media whose words are clearly lauded. Can’t say the same is the case for women, those in the media seem a remarkably beautiful selection of the sex for the most part! Maybe an ugly man with charisma could pull it off!

She seems to have a self promotional mega energy - which I find suffocating and exhausting. I used to read her stuff some of which was informative, but I got fed up with her naked commercialism and endless email alerts that made me feel like screaming in the end. It seems to be a very American thing - I call it brash!

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toTSH110

There seem to be lots of ugly men in the media whose words are clearly lauded.

There are such men - but quite often they have something, ruggedness, intellectuality, or whatever. My mind's eye was seeing some men who have appeared on television recently who seem to be irredeemably unattractive. (But I shall not identify who I am thinking about. :-) )

Marz profile image
Marz in reply tohelvella

Complete with a charm by-pass too !

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply toLora7again

And she’s also just had a baby ...despite hashimoto’s frequently causing infertility and miscarriage. She looks the very picture of good health

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again in reply toSlowDragon

Gigi Hadid the model has Hashimoto's and she looks a picture of good health as well.

womenshealthmag.com/health/...

in reply toLora7again

There are ways and means. Also a younger person who is optimally medicated would probably look well xxx

Marz profile image
Marz in reply toSlowDragon

I think she may be a driven type - a mixture of Polish background and wanting to succeed where her parents did not have opportunities. I have read that Hypos can be Type A personality 😎

in reply toLora7again

You mean she looks the picture of health on her picture - assuming it IS her picture. And when was the picture taken, was she even suffering from thyroid problems then?

Sorry, I'm sceptical too...

LivingWithHT profile image
LivingWithHT in reply to

It is mostly genetics. People who are genetically predisposed to being slim will not be as affected by weight issues from Hashimoto’s/hypothyroidism like people who are genetically predisposed to being overweight or in the average range.

That and she probably eats very little and does a lot of cardio to maintain her model figure.

I am, unfortunately, genetically predisposed to being overweight so maintaining a healthy weight has always been a issue for me and my hypothyroidism has made it much worse.

Lora7again profile image
Lora7again in reply to

I have seen her being interviewed on tv in the US and she looks as good in real life ... she must have good genes except she has hashimoto's

mandyjane profile image
mandyjane

I have taken to finding cheaper ways to supplement that I imagine are just as effective, maybe more so as more natural. So for minerals I take half to one teaspoon of sea salt in a glass of water bedtime.(contains plenty of magnesium and potassium and sodium and iodine etc I used the Cornish stuff and for B vitamins I make myself a drink out of marmite ( I dont have it every day). I do use vit C and zinc fissy tablets for gut health and to relieve any constipation and take Vit D and vit K2 in the winter. It doesn't have to be expensive. It is a great shame that not enough proper reasurch has been done on vitmains and minerals. It seems that nobody alternative or otherwise really knows how much we need, the interactions or the full benefits. We have evolved as human beings to get our nutrition from the food we eat so I would think that we need to be taking if we supplement vitmains about the same amount or a little bit more ( if we have absorption problems) than we would have naturally in a varied diet. Everything and anything is poisonous in large enough amounts. It seems that we do pee out the excess of some vitamins but even vitamin C would give you hellish diarraeah if you went over the top. I am especially careful re minerals to avoid electrolyte imbalances.

endomad profile image
endomad

If you eat clean and healthy you should get most of what you need. I remember crunching the numbers once with recommended daily intake and what food contained the required nutrients. Portions were surprisingly small. If deficiency in say vit D B12 etc you must supplement, magnesium is good for lots of reasons but should be balanced by sodium and potassium. Unbalancing your body with high doses of vits is not good, all water soluble vits pass each day in urine, high dose B vits make wee dark n smelly so you can see how quickly those expensive B's are passed out. Fat soluble vits build up (not good if too high) and all chemicals you put in your body have to be processed by liver & kidneys, overloaded liver = fatigue.

Bigger, more, higher dose, does not always = better healthier in most cases. Bombarding your body with multiple handfuls of pills instead of a good clean balanced diet is not really healthy. Sailors with scurvy were treated with an orange, small, natural, easily digested. Serious deficiency easily treated with eating fruit. I do think maintenance doses are helpful but unless serious deficit it's just another stress on our already tired bodies. However many people feel better taking mega doses and I'm all for whatever works, we are all different x

HEA72 profile image
HEA72 in reply toendomad

Hi endomad, I agree with eating clean and healthy, I also agree with big doses doesn't always equal better, especially with a tired body, as you say. I've personally experienced that :-/ Frustratingly however, it's reported that our food supply is often deficient in the nutrients we need these days, due to intensive farming. So relying just on diet alone isn't always the solution. The RDAs for nutrients were set in 1941 and outdated now. These are also set at levels to avoid disease e.g. scurvy and ricketts, but don't take into account the levels needed for optimal functioning of the human body and when ill with infection. It's my understanding that our nutritional needs will change when unwell and under stress for example.

Dr Myhill writes a lot about this, here's a link to one of the articles she writes about this subject, if it's of interest. I find her work very useful in helping me learn and understand the subject :-)

drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/Nutriti...

endomad profile image
endomad in reply toHEA72

Dr Myhills articles are always straight to the point. Im luck I grow a lot of my own veg. I am in france and was horrified that human waste pumped out of septic tanks was used in the fields (ugh) you actually get a certificate :) there was a study some years back about the levels of nutrients compared to 50 years ago, it was dismal reading. I juice and smoothy veg to get maximum nutrients, i eat a lot of raw veg.

Food production is all about profit now not nutrition. My dad always says when they started using heavy pesticides, food prices went up as it cost more, now we pay more for organic. Im glad i dont eat much meat as a good organic 3lb chicken here is 12-15 euros, i would rather eat extra veg tbh. My husband is interested in us rearing our own meat (ugh) i get fresh eggs each week from my neighbour and full cream unpasteurised milk from my friend who works at an organic dairy. I think we need less food if its nutrient dense, low nutrients leave the body hungry.

HEA72 profile image
HEA72 in reply toendomad

Great reply. Sounds like you're very clued up on the nutrition side of things :-) Blimey re the human waste!! Yikes! I've heard a similar thing happening in Egypt. :-/

hilary33 profile image
hilary33

Unfortunately with the depleted soil our crops are grown and the use of pesticides in we get less of the vitamins and nutrients we need nowadays. Food is definitely not what is used to be.

IgnoranceSound profile image
IgnoranceSound

I did hair mineral analysis and most of important minerals were on low range. It also showed sluggish thyroid and adrenals.

It was a year ago. I am still taking all of them in form of liquid and pills but there is no difference in my symptoms :(

I am also taking all of the vitamins too. Having diet with no gluten, no sugar, no lactose and healing my gut for 1 year. I think that there is much more to the story than just minerals and vitamins (maybe some gene mutations ect) but it's just my opinion.

Polski profile image
Polski in reply toIgnoranceSound

Are you including iodine? As long as you don't have Hashimoto's, this is likely to help (see recommendations above). A good way to take it is as kelp (a supplement from seaweed), rather than iodine itself. Always start with the minimum amount, and increase gradually to the level recommended on the box if you want to.

IgnoranceSound profile image
IgnoranceSound in reply toPolski

Thank you for reply! :)

Yes. I am. Currently taking detoxadine nascent iodine (started a year ago but still have cold hands, feet and feeling cold).

Taking a lot of it to be honest. I don't have autoimmunological thyroid disease so maybe that's why it's not working?

Guess maybe I need natural source of iodine from kelp. Will try that.

helvella profile image
helvellaAdministrator in reply toIgnoranceSound

Maybe you don't need the extra iodine at all?

Atoms of iodine do not know whether they came from "natural" sources or a chemical plant!

Kelp is often regared as a poor source simply because its content varies significantly. Two consecutive pots of what appears to be the identical product could have different iodine content.

For me, it can be a problem when doctors or other health care practitioners write about why you need certain supplements, and then sell those very supplements on their own website, or even claim they created them and put their name on them...I recently read about the importance of improving T4 to T3 conversion on the website of Westin Childs, OD, and it turned out he has created a supplement called T4 to T3 Conversion Booster. Very often, such supplements contain iodine which I am far from sure every thyroid patient needs, especially if they have Hashimoto´s which many thyroid patients do. And Amy Myers, MD, who writes about candida overgrowth and then sells her own formula of anti-candida supplements.

Of course, this could be perfectly legit, but you cannot disregard the commercial aspects - first, you write extensively about the need for a certain supplement, and then you sell said supplement on your own website. They are often quite pricey, too. And, I think many people tend to believe what they say because they are doctors and sound quite knowledgeable.

I have only seen this phenomenon in the US, and cannot imagine a European doctor selling his or her own supplements online...I am not even sure that´s legal in most European countries.

Agica profile image
Agica

Yes i take high d vitamin 200microgramm selenium and magnesium+zink per day

Suzi_ profile image
Suzi_ in reply toAgica

Which magnesium supplement do u take? U have Hashimoto? Thanks

Agica profile image
Agica

Magnesium with Zinc mg=266.mcgr zinc=10mcrgr I bought Holland and Barrett Yes i have Hasimoto Good luck

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