One of the amazon reviewers (a doctor) backed up what you've said about thyroid-- that the tests don't always point to the problem:
Quote: Dr.Richard Shames and his wife, Karilee, who is a skilled nurse,have written a book that has the potential to help millions of people feel better. As a practitioner of medicine working at the Preventive Medical Center in San Rafael, California, I have been using some of the philosophy and techniques that I learned directly from Dr. Shames to help many patients. These patients suffer from the most common symptoms such as: fatigue, depression, weight gain, insomnia, headaches, joint and muscle pain, memory loss, frequent colds and viruses, cold hands and feet etc. Previously I was at a loss to help these people and could only tell them that there was nothing "wrong" with them and that their problems were not "medical" at all. It turns out that I, along with most medical practitioners, were victims of our own dogma. In reality, when it comes to thyroid disorders, many people have so-called "normal" tests, and yet when given thyroid hormone, their quality of life improves dramatically. I am not speaking of a short term placebo response, that we see frequently with any healing intervention. Many of my patients get better and stay that way, simply from taking thyroid hormone that no "well trained" medical practitioner would dare give them, because their tests were "normal". Fortunately, with this book, the Shames family has broken that taboo and the genie is out of the bottle at last. This book is directed and designed for the health consumer and it will help to empower them to demand the treatments they are entitled to receive. It is organized as a step by step program to help the health consumer understand the nature of the problem they may be facing and what the potential solutions are. The reader is educated at each step and encouraged to take more control over their own health care. While many Physicians encourage the mystique of the "all knowing" omnipotent Doctor, the Shames's are completely committed to breaking down that power relationship in their work. This book goes a long way to making the health consumer a more equal partner. I was particularly glad to see the emphasis on women's health issues and the encouragement of women to ask for more assistance with the problems of mid-life that are so often simply dismissed as "oh well, that's menopause for you". Women have been the victim of a patriarchal health system for too long and this book is one of many that helps women patients get the medical care they are entitled to.
The issue of thyroid dysfunction is brought down to earth in this book and the reader is given a wide range of options to try. Rather than simply accepting the divine judgment that "your thyroid is normal according to the tests", the patient has several choices, if her/his symptoms are interfering with their life. They can ask for more tests, as the simple basic thyroid tests do not necessarily have all the information needed. Particularly they can request that their thyroid antibodies be checked. I have seen many patients, who responded magnificently to thyroid medication, when their only abnormal result was high levels of these antibodies. Of course, conventional medical dogma denies this possibility and will only treat people who have a TSH level above 5. Even if all the tests are normal, this book encourages the patient to ask for a trial of thyroid hormone treatment. I can assure you that many people will improve with this simple intervention and there is no risk if one if carefully monitored. Finally, if the standard thyroid treatment fails to improve things, there are other types of thyroid hormones that might help, including the often ridiculed natural thyroid. Dr. Shames reports on many cases of people who responded far better to combinations of T4 and T3 hormone, rather than the standard T4 treatment alone. As with all who challenge the conventional dogma, I am sure there will be those who criticize this new approach. Remember anyone who takes on the established medical dogma will be critiqued severely, but often these pioneers turn out to be correct. I believe that Dr. Shames' view will turn out to be correct in the end. The tyranny of the "normal" thyroid test will be broken and there will be a new paradigm developed to explain why so many people get better with thyroid hormone supplements. While you may not find everything in this book to your liking, there were parts that I did not agree with, the overall message and thrust of this book is one of liberation and empowerment for so many women and men who are not being helped by modern medicine today.
If you or someone you care about does not feel well, from the symptoms mentioned above, you owe it to yourself to try the program recommended in this book. Of course there is no guarantee for success, but there is no risk to you if it is done with the guidance of a caring practitioner and the potential reward is nothing less than a return to a vibrant healthy life. Rich and Karilee Shames deserve our thanks and gratitude for bringing this issue out to the public and I truly hope that this new book helps spark an important reevaluation of this entire area of medicine. The fact that the forward was written by Dr. Nathan Becker, of the Department of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco shows that this is not a fringe idea any longer. I also conduct research at UCSF and know that Dr. Becker is one of the leading authorities on thyroid dysfunction. I hope this review encourages more people to read this book and act on its important recommendations.
