Thyroid – Myths and Legends (Part 1)

In my article about Prostate Cancer, I presented various scientific facts to the reader, thus providing some data and statistics on what doctors, Big-Pharma and Media often fail to tell the patient.

There are many websites on prostate, even on Facebook, and there are also many followers to such websites, all believing that what they are told is the truth and nothing but the truth. In fact, the vast majority of the patients fail to even remotely try to research and understand… safe alternatives.

On the latter word there is even a bigger concern and that is: faith.  This is simply because no-one wants to die, we all want a cure for eternal life, and this life is not a rehearsal, this is what we get and we try not to make a mistake! We only need one mistake to end up with tragic consequences.

We have been told, since childhood, to trust authority: the teacher, the priest, the policeman, the news, the Government, politicians and so on; we have also been told to have absolutely full faith in doctors, medicine and drugs. They know! They are doctors and they have… “studied”! With faith, and that is all that we have, we expect, with optimism (mostly with our fingers crossed) that doctors will save our life; with faith, we ask no questions.

And with this in mind we follow and hold to our beliefs – nobody will change them, till death. The fact that you have prematurely died due to ill advice cannot be of any concern to you (you are dead) and any challenges from the families will mainly find hostility and a brick wall as the “medical fraternity” primary purpose is to stick together and fence off any objections.

I joined a website [healthunlocked.com] where there are various health forums – one of them being – “Thyroid UK”. With hindsight I should have guessed that most, if not all, of these Forums are supported by the same “mob” that provide inaccurate or misleading information to patients. The fact that they are charities should be clear evidence, to most, that the patients’ interest is of little concern to them.

As with prostate posts on Facebook – the thyroid group knows it all, they have all the answers and… they are all ill and on medications. Under a psychological point of view what we have is known as Cognitive Dissonance and Denialism.

As with Prostate (cancer), Diabetes and Hypertension, just to mention a few, problems with thyroid can be cured and without drugs too.

The source of the problem can be found with the Hypothalamus. As this is a massive subject I will not address thyroid cancer and I am also dividing the post into two sections – information and cure.

Found deep inside the brain, the hypothalamus produces releasing and inhibiting hormones and controls the pituitary gland. Together, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland tell the other endocrine glands in the body to make the hormones that affect and protect every aspect of our health.

The thyroid is an endocrine gland in the neck shaped like a butterfly that secretes hormones which regulate growth and development through the rate of metabolism. Major endocrine glands include the pineal gland, pituitary gland, pancreas, ovaries, testes, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, and adrenal glands.

The hypothalamus is a very small, the size of an almond, part of the brain that controls body temperature, thirst, hunger, other homeostatic systems (blood pressure, pH, glucose concentration) and is involved in sleep and emotional activities.

The hypothalamic–pituitary–thyroid axis ((Astwood-Hoskins Loop) is part of the neuroendocrine system responsible for the regulation of metabolism. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus is to link the nervous system to the endocrine system via the pituitary gland (hypophysis).

The hypothalamus contains several types of neurons responsible for secreting different hormones.

  • Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) *1
  • Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) *2
  • Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) *3
  • Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) *4
  • Somatostatin (Inhibits growth and thyroid-stimulating hormones)
  • Dopamine (a neurotransmitter – responsible for transmitting signals in between the nerve cells)

All of these are released into the blood, in the capillaries, and travel immediately – in portal veins – to a second capillary bed in the anterior lobe of the pituitary, where they exert their effects.

Each of these hormones must be in careful balance in order for the body to function properly. Too much or too little of any of these will affect the body’s health and well-being. For example, too much of the anti-diuretic hormone can lead to water retention, while levels that are too low can cause dehydration or a drop in blood pressure.

Two other hypothalamic hormones are:

• Vasopressin (diabetes, blood pressure) [as a drug, Vasopressin is a man-made form of hormone]
• Oxytocin (“love hormone”, childbirth, lactation) – also research “OXTR and autism”.

The posterior pituitary is largely a collection of axonal projections (nerve cells, neurons) from the hypothalamus that terminates behind the anterior pituitary which serves as a site for the secretion of neurohypophysial hormones (oxytocin and vasopressin) directly into the blood.

Traumatic brain injury can be one of the causes that can affect the production levels of hormones that originate in the brain and can lead to serious physical diseases and disorders. Other causes can be found in malnutrition, including anorexia and bulimia eating disorders, genetic disorders, radiation, surgery, lesion, tumour or other physical injuries.

A common autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid is known as Hashimoto’s Disease. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is an autoimmune disease that is characterized by an infiltration and destruction of the thyroid gland by the immune system. In this condition, immune cells produce antibodies against a key enzyme that is required for thyroid hormone production — thyroid peroxidase — and/or against thyroglobulin, which is the building block of thyroid hormones.

Article by A B M Procaccini © – Counselling Psychologist, Naturopathist

NOTES:

  • *1 – Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone (TRH)— Stimulates production of the thyroid hormone which, in turn, controls the cardiovascular system, brain development,muscle control, digestive health and metabolism.
  • *2 -Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), is a neurohormone consisting of 10 amino acids that is produced in the arcuate nuclei of the hypothalamus. GnRH stimulates the synthesis and secretion of the two gonadotropins—luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)—by the anterior pituitary gland.
  • *3 – The secretion of GHRH increases in response to physical and emotional stress, and its secretion is blocked by a powerful hypothalamic neurohormone called somatostatin.
  • * 4 – Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) is a peptide hormone involved in stress response. It has been shown that injections of CRH promote wakefulness and inhibit slow-wave and REM sleep