points to ponder. I have seen selenium deficiency indicated in hashi's time and time again.

selenium for hashimoto's thyroiditis by Jeffrey Dach, MD:

http://jeffreydach.com/2009/11/07/selenium-for-hashimotos-thyroiditis-by-jeff...


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Got mercury? Follow the link for an interview with Dr. Michael Galitzer from Suzanne Sommer's book, "Breakthrough", I've cut and pasted a portion:

http://www.ahealth.com/content/education_research/published_excerpts/suzanne-...


MG: Some people can be exposed to mercury and can excrete it, but most people are non-excreters; they just can't get rid of it and it can stay in their body for 30 years.

SS: So it this a silent killer?

MG: I'd say it's a silent weakener of the body. Absolutely.

SS: So it's systemic; the blood, bones, organs?

MG: Everywhere, and it is dangerous for the central nervous system and the brain.

SS: How does it rear its ugly head?

MG: For me, it's usually when people complain of fatigue, then right away mercury is suspect. I also see it in the thyroid, especially in regards to teeth because mercury leaks out of old fillings and the thyroid isn't very far from the lower jaw, so often we come across something called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis which is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks the thyroid gland with antibodies.
I frequently neutralize the mercury with selenium and then at some point down the road when they're less toxic and feeling stronger I have them take their mercury fillings out. Thyroid issues are huge with mercury, as is blood pressure and mercury, high cholesterol and mercury, heart disease and mercury, kidney disease and mercury, and prostate disease.

SS: Should everyone be taking selenium?

MG: Yes. Selenium is an antioxidant, and selenium neutralizes mercury and also selenium has anti-cancer effects. 200 micrograms a day in tablet form is what I usually recommend.

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More on mercury here(and other stuff):

http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/ed-bauman.htm


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Dr. David Brownstein has found an infectious aspect in autoimmune conditions, follow link for complete text:

http://www.thyroid-info.com/articles/brownstein.htm


Mary Shomon: In your book, Overcoming Arthritis, you describe how certain infections may be at the root of both autoimmune diseases-including Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease-and arthritic disorders. Can you tell us a little bit more about that concept?

David Brownstein, M.D.: In conventional medicine, there is no explanation for why autoimmune disorders (e.g., Rheumatoid Arthritis , Hashimotos’, Graves, Thyroiditis, etc) occur. If you don’t understand the cause of an illness, then how can you fashion an appropriate treatment regimen?

My experience has shown that many individuals suffering from autoimmune illnesses often have an underlying infectious component. The idea of an infectious cause of Arthritis has been around since 1899, when a form of Arthritis in cattle was diagnosed as being caused by a bacterium. In humans, this idea was further developed in the 1930’s by a rheumatologist, Dr. Thomas Brown. Dr. Brown was able to isolate a bacterium, Mycoplasma Bacterium, from the joints of people suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis . After isolating the bacteria, Dr. Brown began treating his patients with Antibiotics directed against this bacterium, and he noticed an interesting phenomenon. His patients actually improved. At that time, people with Rheumatoid Arthritis did not improve with conventional medicine (which is similar to what happens today with rheumatoid Arthritis patients treated with conventional medicine).

When I read Dr. Brown’s research, I immediately began thinking about my patients who were suffering from autoimmune illnesses, including thyroid patients. I began testing my patients for bacterial infections 8 years ago, and I discovered a significant portion of these patients had signs of an infection. In the case of thyroid patients (i.e., those with Graves, Hashimotos’ or thyroiditis), the infection was located in the thyroid gland.

In my experience, 80% of patients with autoimmune arthritic disorders (i.e., Rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus, Sjogren’s, etc) and approximately 70% of those with autoimmune thyroid disorders (i.e., Graves,’ Hashimotos’, thyroiditis) have signs of an infection. This made perfect sense to me. Perhaps these individuals had a bacterial infection (e.g., Mycoplasma) that the body was not able to clear. Mycoplasmas are a very small bacterium that can actually get inside of the cells of the body. Because of this, the immune system cells are unable to directly attack the bacteria. In order to rid the body of the bacteria, the immune system cells will often resort to attacking the body’s own tissue, which has been infected with the organism.

In the example of thyroid infections, in order to get at the infection, the body will produce antibodies against its own thyroid gland. This would explain why the thyroid gland becomes inflamed in autoimmune thyroid illnesses, as well as why the body would produce antibodies against a particular gland. I believe this hypothesis holds true for many autoimmune disorders.

Mary Shomon: You talk about he use of Antibiotics to tackle infectious aspects of these conditions. What type of Antibiotic therapy have you found useful in your practice?

David Brownstein, M.D.: Mary I have been checking patients who have autoimmune illnesses for infections for years. When I isolate a particular bacterium, I will use very small amounts of an Antibiotic that can effectively kill the bacterium. However, this is not like taking penicillin for a strep infection. The infections in an autoimmune illnesses are very deep in the tissues. The Antibiotics cannot get directly at the infection. So, the antibiotics are not going to directly kill the bacterium, but, over time, will prevent the bacterium from reproducing.

By using nutritional support (i.e., vitamins, minerals, herbs) I have found very low doses of antibiotics can succeed in allowing the immune system to overcome the infection. In fact, I do not use the antibiotics every day. Usually 2- 3 days per week is sufficient. The bacterium that I most commonly isolate is Mycoplasma. The Antibiotic that I have found the most successful are the tetracycline (or doxycycline) antibiotics, which effectively treat Mycoplasma infections. In my book, I talk about other infections that can occur, and treatments for such infections as well.

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Also, there are a lot of environmental factors that can impact the thyroid. Breastcancerchoices has an excellent overview of detoxification strategies:

http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/household.html


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And IMO, your intestinal flora is completely out of whack- guess that you knew that though, huh? Get some fermented foods into your diet, picjk up the book, "Wild Fermentation" by Sandor Elix Katz. Fermenting foods is easy:)

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I hope that some of this helps! :)

>>
Lead and cadmium came up on testing as being elevated.
Sluggish bowels for ever.
<<

Lead will do that to you, You can stop uptake of lead from intestinal mucosa with AMLA. But for Lead see Cutler on more chelation as well as Mercury tests which are mostly inconclusive: http://home.earthlink.net/~moriam/ANDY_INDEX.html#other_metals

Range of Lead expressions are shown here: http://homeoint.org/books/boericmm/p/plb.htm



A note on AMLA, since the big push for 'natural' vitamin C (crazy imo) the AMLA I see is not worth buying: http://www.iherb.com/Amla-indian-gooseberry-amalaki-amlaki


Better off getting Triphala which contains AMLA from a good source while available (FDA Gestapo):
http://www.iherb.com/Planetary-Herbals-Triphala-1-000-mg-180-Tablets/1593?at=0


As for Ascorbic Acid this one tests really well: http://www.iherb.com/Allergy-Research-Group-Pure-Vitamin-C-Powder-4-2-oz-120-...

also, AWESOME that you are off gluten! I dropped gluten a while back and I'll never go back. For more info on potentially problematic foods see http://www.dogtorj.com