Why Do I Still Have Thyroid Symptoms? when My Lab Tests Are Normal: a Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Hashimoto's Disease and Hypothyroidism

Author Datis Kharrazian has a private functional medical practice in San Diego where he works with chronic and challenging immune, endocrine, and neurological disorders. This book illustrates Dr. K's approach to treating illness where the thyroid is involved or suspected. He takes a holistic approach and will branch into other related topics such as adrenals, blood sugar, CFS, inflammation, and gut issues. Unlike many allopathic medical practices he dives deep to find the root cause of symptoms before suggesting a treatment. He runs sophisticated immune system tests and food allergy/sensitivity tests. He outlines seven causes of hypothyroidism and says only one requires the use of hormones. He believes western allopathic medicine is too quick to use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a solution. Sometimes he finds what appears to be a thyroid problem has its origin somewhere else and hormones are totally unnecessary. This is an area where allopathic medicine has failed so many patients and books like this will help bring more awareness to healthcare professionals, the general public, and policy makers. Dr. K treats Hashimoto's disease as an autoimmune disease and not a thyroid disease. His approach is to balance out the TH1 and TH2 cytokine responses to quiet the autoimmune attack, reduce inflammation and eliminate food sensitivities (like gluten). Like all functional medicine practitioners he will use vitamins, mineral, antioxidants, herbs and food as a preferred tool. Again, he states he can often avoid the use HRT but he is not opposed to use it, if need be. This approach to Hashimoto's is controversial as mainstream allopathic medicine only approves of HRT as treatment for Hashimoto's. In fact endocrinologists will not treat Hashimoto's until your TSH goes above a certain value. According to AACE (American Association of Clinical Endocrinology) that number is 3.0, but many uniformed MD's will still use the standard lab range of 5.5. By that time, your thyroid may have received allot of damage and you probably have felt crummy for a while. Dr. K's approach does not cure Hashimoto's but it is a step closer to the root cause. Dr. K is very clearly against the use of iodine on a patient with Hashimoto's. On his website he has even challenged Dr. Brownstein (One of the biggest advocates for the use of Iodine/Iodide) to a public debate on the topic. He does not say Brownstein's approach does not work. He claims his approach is safer and less risky. However, in many other ways his approaches are similar to Dr. Brownstein's and other functional medicine practitioners. If you want to learn more about Dr. Brownstien's approach and the other side of the story on Iodine see his book: "Iodine, Why you need it. Why you can't live without it". This book is not a written as a self help book but is intended for the health care practitioner who wants to learn and apply these strategies. It is well researched and has adequate footnotes for those who would like to do more research on a specific topic. It is a very good resource for patients who want to be better informed and understand alternative approaches not available in allopathic medicine. This book is too complicated in some areas for many patients as a certain level of technical knowledge is expected. For that reason and others, I recommend all thyroid patients to read "Stop the Thyroid Madness" by Janie Bowthorpe. It is a practical easy to read self help book and can complement this book on many levels. I have personally learned a tremendous amount and benefitted by reading this book. I was able to apply some of the ideas directly and was certainly better informed when consulting with health care providers. I feel this is an excellent addition to my library. Dr. K has a slowly growing following of functional medicine practitioners that are learning and using his methods and approaches. Dr. K currently runs a website called [...] were you can read some of his current articles and inquire into a practitioner who uses his approach in your area. At the time of this review he has no trained practitioners in the Boston area.

The vital message of Dr Kharrazian's book is that, in treating Hashimoto's thyroiditis, conventional medicine focuses only on the end result, not on the cause - an immune system that has begun attacking the body itself. In fact, traditional medicine takes this piecemeal approach to all autoimmune conditions, even when the same patient experiences additional autoimmune problems - involving more and more organs or body systems. Dr Otis Kharrazian cuts right to the chase. When I was diagnosed with my fourth autoimmune condition, I began to suspect that the original cause was not being addressed. I was elated to find confirmation from Dr Kharrazian, a scientific researcher of some standing. He goes straight to the proverbial cliff top and starts building a fence. For those who want to understand the bio-mechanics behind their illness, Dr Kharrazian's explanations are simple, clear and informative. But like other reviewers, I was frustrated at the constant advice to consult with my healthcare professional. Yes it is intelligent to do this, and certainly, there are legal and safety considerations. But many of us with Hashimoto's and other autoimmune conditions have already eliminated gluten (often after a diagnosis of gluten enteropathy) and have tried many of the nutritional supplements recommended. And yet we continue to find ourselves decidedly unwell. A further frustration for readers who live outside of the US as I do is that many of the recommended lab tests are not available. Despite these reservations, I did find the book to be a great springboard for further enquiry. Googling "calming cytokines" (using Kharrazian's term) produced a goldmine of international research, some of which I am surprised he does not mention. Kharrazian refers to the problem of determining TH1 or TH2 dominance and recommends tests, but does concede that if the tests are unavailable, attempting to balance the immune system is a viable option. He doesn't explain further, although he does give one page to the effect of dysbiosis on the conversion of T4 to T3 in the gut. However, the problem goes much further than this localised effect. Abstracts from researchers in USA, Japan and Europe refer to research on the successful use of probiotics in modulating the entire immune system, affecting many more organ systems in the body. The other point that Kharrazian does not make(although he does briefly mention the effect of environmental toxins - again only on thyroid)is that it is of little use addressing your internal environment (such as removing gluten or refined carbohydrates) without addressing your external environment - e.g. removing toxins from your home, garden, and personal care. For example, phthalates, used in hundreds of consumer products, have been shown to disrupt thyroid functioning. These culprit toxins include seemingly innocent cosmetics, which contain chemicals that constantly get absorbed through the skin and can inflame the entire immune system - not just the pancreas and thyroid gland. Although the thyroid is a major target organ, environmental toxins lead to the domino effect of added autoimmune conditions. With regard to Dr Kharrazian's recommended fast, there are differing medical opinions on fasting and there are other, gentler options for reducing the load on your digestive system. In fact, there are some cases where it is dangerous to fast. This IS a case where it is necessary to consult your health professional - and one who is knowledgable about fasting. Fasting of any length should be undertaken under supervision, taking into account your current medications and your total medical conditions. I give Dr Kharrazian's book 5 stars for addressing the paradigm shift clinicians need to make, as well as for encouraging patients to request a more holistic approach to their condition. The website, called simply "thyroidbook" is very informative and helpful. It also offers training for doctors. However, in addition to Dr Kharrazian's book, I consider it vital to read books like "The Probiotic Revolution" by Gary Huffnagle Ph D., "Bacteria for Breakfast" by Kelly Dowhower Karpa Ph D, RPA, and "The Autoimmune Epidemic" by Donna Jackson Nakazawa. It is also worthwhile to research organic personal care and household cleaning, as well as the use of Omega 3 as an anti-inflamatory.

I highly recommend this book. I was diagnosed with hashimotos on February (30 years old). My gp said there was nothing at all i could do to slow donw or even stop its progress so I went online to research as much as i could. I read repetidly about the benefits of leaving gluten and I just didn't want to do it. I bought this book thinking that it might be a waste of money but to my surprise the info it contains is extremely useful and is way better than what you will find on the Internet. The book describes everything that can be wrong with your thyroid and why it doesn't nesesaraly shows up on your labs. One of the things is your inmune system (hashimotos) and there is plenty of advise on this condition. This book convinced me of leaving gluten "for a while" but to my infinite surprise my constipation was gone from day one and my mental fog is not bad now (aka I can remember my friends names and don't forget to pick up my son from school) so I really didn't plan to eat it ever again. After about a month of my new diet I had a blood test and to my delight my TSH was within normal range! I don't know if its just a cycle or the things I have done, I guess only time will tell but I pretty happy at the moment. Other things that I am doing because of the book is taking vitamin D and controlling my blood sugar levels. There are more things recommended in the book but I guess I am taking baby steps and this has worked our for me so far. Don't worry, it's not a waste of time and money.

Após anos sofrendo exatamente os sintomas descritos nos capítulos deste livro (e depois de ter comparecido a diversos médicos para consultas), finalmente consegui encontrar respostas e caminhos para melhorar os sintomas de Hashimoto, hipoglicemia, fadiga, queda de cabelos e outros.

Je recommande très très vivement. Une référence. Très clair et prescrit.

This is, by far, the best book to understand thyroid problems ( and I have read a lot). It is very helpful to determine the type of thyroid problem you have...there are many! His advice regarding the importance of a strict gluten-free diet for Hashimoto's patients was a game changer and helped convince my daughter to give up wheat completely. The importance of food allergy and underlying causes for the autoimmune response causing Hashimoto's is fully explored. It also helped with the confusion around iodine supplementation. The supplement support for each condition was very helpful, but he does not give dosages. It will be important to work with a natural health care practitioner to implement many of the supplement supports recommended. It is a technical book which I purchased in kindle form. I found this format difficult for this information packed book and would recommend buying the paper book for easy referencing ( unless of course you are a kindle wiz). The only problem with this book is that it will give you superior understanding compared to your doctor/endocrinologist, and it will make you very skeptical of the modern approach taken for thyroid treatment. Definitely a 5 star book.

Questo libro, scritto in inglese, spiega tante cose riguardo alla tiroidite Hashimoto. E' una lettura molto importante e valida, a mio parere, per chi soffre di questa malattia autoimmune. Viene spiegato un approccio efficace e innovativo alla malattia ed esemplifica ciò che i nostri medici endocrinologi spesso ignorano e non ci dicono, obbligandoci a prendere ormoni sostitutivi. Un libro indicato anche a chi fa uso di ormoni della tiroide, avendo un TSH regolare, sentendosi comunque poco bene oppure a chi è stato appena diagnosticato con la tiroidite Hashimoto e non prende niente. Viene illustrata, tra l'altro, la necessità di una corretta alimentazione, cioè di una dieta senza glutine, senza lattosio, senza legumi che peggiorano l'infiammazione dell'organismo e la malattia. In più, in base al proprio caso, vengono proposti integratori da assumere. Il libro è utilissimo e spiega in maniera esaustiva ciò che i nostri medici non ci dicono oppure ignorano. Dopo aver iniziato a seguire i consigli del libro, mi sento molto meglio e non prendo ancora i farmaci.