Armour Update

For those who are interested I have done some research with the help of my functional medicine doctor, Rob Bruley in to the formula changes of Armour Thyroid. As there is quite the buzz about this at the site http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com I think it is good for all of us who take Armour Thyroid to be informed.
Forest Pharmaceutical did willingly talk to Rob Bruley, M.D. and told him there was a formula change within the last year. They did not change any of the active or inactive ingredients. What they did change was the amounts of two inactive ingredients. They decreased the amount of anhydrous dextrose and increased the amount of cellulose. Rob said that the increased amount of cellulose may have the effect of increasing the thyroid effect from a given dosage as I have had to really decrease my dosage of Armour Thyroid.
I had asked Rob about taking it sublingually as recommended at STTM, so he posed the question to them. They responded that they are asked this question frequently but they have no data to prove or disprove relative absorption of the product sublingually vs. swallowing. Therefore, they cannot endorse this route of administration. They say it was never intended to be taken sublingually. Rob also asked about gluten and they said it is gluten free (hurrah!). They also said they use no dyes because they use titanium dioxide as a lightener.
Now I conclude from all of this that one can still take it sublingually if desired, and I do most of the time. However, I also think that it is entirely possible that they tweaked the amount of anhydrous dextrose just enough to make the taste less pallatible when taken sublingually because they know people are doing it and they don’t want to be sued for misuse of the product. We are, after all, a very litigious society and they do have to cover their butts (pardon the expression).
If anything the increased cellulose should cause it to be better absorbed as the tablet will get to the stomach more intact and I know from using cellulose caplets that the cellulose disappears after just a few seconds in water, so it clearly will not last long in stomach acid.
Another issue a person could have with sublingual adminstration is a burst of T3 when you take it and a sudden drop in energy a short time later. As there are days when I don’t want to bother with taking it several times I find swallowing it and getting a slower release easier.
I hope this information is helpful and fairly presented. Please leave any questions or statements by clicking on “comments” and I would love to share what you have to say with other readers.

Poodle Bath Day

Oh my goodness we had bath day yesterday, well technically shower day, but both large black dogs were bathed much to their consternation and disgust. One poodle had been unjustly accused of having dirty feet and was duly whisked off to the basement shower and the other one unaware of what was happening and always jealous of attention not paid to him followed willingly.

So we all three arrive in the bathroom and I quickly close off any means of escape i.e. shut the doors. My big guy now starts to panic but soon smiles when he sees that the little fella is the intended victim and not him. Little Guy is gently picked up and placed in the tub, shower in hand and with the water warmish I begin the process of shedding several months of dirt and oil. LG is not taking this without protest and pretty soon he is hanging his very wet head over the tub dumping several cups of warmish water on my bathroom floor. He puts the brakes on when an attempt to turn him around is made, and again water flies all over but I have a cadre of towels to wipe up the spilled ingredients, so I then adopt a devil may care attitude. Let him cover every surface with water the bathroom will be cleaner for it.

I have realized by now that LG did not track the dirt in to the house, so the whole reason for the sudden bath time seems to be the BG standing next to me smiling. Oh well his turn will come. LG finally breathes a sigh of relief when I turn the water off and he starts to jump out but I quickly (I must say I am proud of my reaction time) pull him back into the tub and begin the toweling off process. He has the cutest face, so I start there and dry his eyes, ears and mouth. He comes out looking a bit scruffy but adorable and happy. One paw comes out of the tub soaked and is placed back in the tub to be dried before it touches the floor again. The other paw comes out, well you get the picture he is ready to be done with this spring cleaning project. To make matters worse he says, “I didn’t even have the dirty feet!!!!!”

Amazingly, once LG is allowed to jump out still wet and shaking off every 5 seconds the BG jumps in the tub with no encouragement. Hmm, this is suspicious behavior indeed and I am perplexed. Maybe he actually feels dirty and would like to be clean or he is finally aware of the fact that he is the cause of this emergency bath time and has a guilty conscience. No BG never has a fit of guilty anything not even when he has destroyed the walls of the house we now live in or caused a black eye when an attempt to hold him back is made.

Guilty feelings or not he now awaits like some little Lord Fauntleroy to be bathed and cleaned, to smell good for a change instead of like several month old dirty poodle. BG is so large that it soon becomes clear that the best way to bathe him is to share the shower, so off come my dirty gardening clothes and now dog and human share a shower. Oh Lord this is fun bending over a wet smelly dog who is not cooperating anymore, who does have mud in all four paws, and who basically just wants out of this shower NOW! I should ask the reader at this point if you have ever attempted to keep a wet poodle in a shower? That fur gets slimy when wet and the larger the poodle the harder it is to contain them in anything something I found out too late. I loved the BG by the time I figured out that smaller poodles actually make a lot of sense.  I sort of hold on to the BG like you might an eel,  finish his cleansing and rinse myself off.

Now I need towels and plenty of them but in my haste or BG’s haste I have forgotten to set the towels close to the tub. They are all across the room tantalizingly close but not close enough. I need to get across the room, hold the poodle in the tub and not fall or in any way harm myself. Sooooo…..I deftly put one hand on BG, lift my very wet body out of the tub, reach across the room with another poodle sniffing my face, no not just sniffing, licking my face, grab said towels and quickly wrap them around BG before he bounds out of the tub and starts shaking . It is a veritable rain forest in my bathroom, now steamy from the shower (and no exhaust fan) and the water is falling in a deluge.

Now they both shake in unison spreading water from wall to wall, mirror to mirror, all over the floor, toilet and all three doors. I release them from their shackled existence, or so they see it, and they literally race upstairs and start to tussle and fight running in to the glass top table knocking it askew and throwing area rugs asunder. I am directly behind them naked as a jailbird and run them outside on the deck praying no one or thing is around to see this special site. Of course as these things go as soon as they are outside where they could wrestle to their heart’s content, where nothing can be broken or dislodged they become angelic, standing quietly outside the door, staring inside all the while drooling on the glass of my three French glass doors (my spousal unit calls it stereo drool because both outside and inside are covered with the rivulets of puppy slaver) begging to come in.

I relent and let them in and the same clownish behavior resumes this time the leather couch is knocked around and a kitchen chair or two rocks precariously. I quickly round them up by the scruff of their necks like a mother dog, grab some of their supper put them and their supper on the deck and all the while pray that the guy who is coming for the deck estimate will not surprise me just because he “was in the area”.

With material now adorning my previously uncovered body and the rain forest destroyed (bathroom dried from stem to stern) I collapse on the floor and thank Mother God Azna for my peace of mind, for a whole body and lastly for two clean but let’s face it, too large, black poodles. Oh yes, and for a very clean and now dry bathroom. I have literally killed two birds with one stone and I am most grateful.

Burn Those Bras

Yesterday, Joe Mercola had an excellent article about brassieres. Yup those supportive cups for the ladies and if you love your underwire you will not like what the experts feel happens to female breasts when compressed by a bra, not to mention what occurs when the wire constantly impinges on delicate body parts like your rib cage.
If you wear a bra to stop sagging of your breast tissue it basically puts the lie to that old wives tale although there is always the voice of contradiction and variety is what makes the world go round, so be it. The free movement of breast tissue cleans the lymphatic system of the breast and keeps breasts healthier and less likely to develop cancerous cells. Clean lymph is vital to a healthy life and yes there are ways to keep your lymph free of toxins.
If you would like more information regarding this subject check out the archives at Mercola.com. If you would like a good daily lymphatic cleansing check out the CRT program by Teresa Tapp. Also bear in mind that antiperspirants have aluminum in them that stops the natural cleansing of the lymph under your arm, try just powdering with baking soda in the morning before you dress. Baking soda works wonders at controlling odor. If you still have odor problems perhaps it is time to check your diet or take a Blood Cleanser or an anti-viral, anti bacterial tincture like Viragon sold at Baseline Nutritionals.
In the meantime whenever socially acceptable burn that bra, free those breasts and wear your chest proudly.

Natural Thyroid versus Big Pharma Synthroid

There is a big debate going on at the online site Stop The Thyroid Madness (STTM) because Forest Pharmaceuticals has altered the formulation of Armour Thyroid. Janie Bowthorpe, author of STTM and natural thyroid advocate, is all a twitter because allegedly the new formula is causing hypothyroid symptoms to return and the taste is awful. I am bothered because I just started Armour Thyroid and have seen good results (my t-3 has gone too high even) and I have decreased my dose by half of what it was with compounded thyroid. I have seen tremendous improvements from my days taking Levothyroxine, so I would love to hear from people on their experiences good and bad.

I have been letting my Armour melt under my tongue or in my vestibular area as Janie recommends and really have nothing to complain about. Does it taste like a piece of candy? No. Do I need everything to taste sweet? No and if you do you need to look at your diet and get rid of the sugar. Is the texture chalky? Yes but it is medicine. I do have a health problem and if a little chalky tasting tablet helps me feel better I am all in favor of it. The other issue that Janie brings up in her book STTM is that different times and seasons may necessitate more or less Armour (or some other natural thyroid) is it possible that the folks needing more grains with the new Armour thyroid are suffering from seasonal issues and not the alleged decrease of porcine thyroid or the addition of other ingredients that make up the tablet made by Forest Pharmaceuticals.

I must say that first of all Forest Pharmaceuticals needs to talk to Janie Bowthorpe. Quit refusing to speak to her because she has an online site or whatever your reasons are because you are creating a problem of confidence where there may be no need. All of us should have the right to talk to someone who has the answers about any medication we take and refusing to talk to her shows your childishness and typically inconsiderate behavior of every other arrogant pharmaceutical company. It is frightening for anyone who takes a pill for a certain quality of life and we need answers.

To Janie and the other voices complaining about the taste and texture, get over it. Also if the dosage has changed there must be a control group to determine this and not just one voice here and one voice there saying they have had to increase their dosage or that their hypo symptoms have returned. Do they, for instance, have allergies that their body might be fighting off as it is now spring? Did they have some recent incident, such as a death in the family, that could trigger return of symptoms? Have they just returned from an overseas trip because that taxes the body and causes hypo symptoms to become exagerated? Jane and John Q. Public cannot just start making accusations against Forest Pharmaceuticals without more substantial evidence that the new Armour Thyroid really has diminished abilities because all they do is scare the rest of us in to making a decison that could ultimately harm us not help us.

If you are interested in this ongoing Armour debate tune in to STTM and be a vocal participant. Twitter about the issue, put it on your Facebook page, in general call attention to the problem, openly discuss the issue with others who have a vested interest and in the end you will hopefully be able to make an educated decision that you can then discuss with your physician and make a change or stay with Armour. It is ultimately up to you to take control of your health.

Easy peasie

If you recognize the phonetics of that title then you probably know Jamie Oliver and you needn’t read on. If it seems an odd thing to title a blog then read and enjoy.

I have just whipped up tonight’s pizza sauce which will be served on Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Pizza Crust with grass fed beef, organically grown green pepper (from last year’s garden), mushrooms, onions, oil cured olives and grass fed raw Monterey Jack Cheese on top.I really had not been able to come up with the tastiest tomato sauce until this week when I was watching an episode of Jamie Oliver’s Happy Days Live.

Jamie, being the cooking wizard that he is, suggested a simple but intensely flavored tomato sauce and for me it was perfect. You take a jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil and whiz them up either in a food processor or as I just did with my hand held blender, add spices of your choice and Voila! you have the perfect compliment to your evening pizza delight. I had dehydrated tomatoes from last year’s crop sitting in my pantry, so I softened them in boiling water, placed them in a jar with grapeseed oil and added water and whizzed them until they were smooth. I added organic oregano and basil from Mountain Rose Herbs, fresh minced garlic (organically grown of couse), a touch of Celtic Sea Salt, freshly ground tellicherry peppers and now it can marinate all day just waiting to be spread thinly on tonight’s crust.

Like I said, easy peasie.

Keep up with the T-Tapp PACE

Yes, you read that right PACE, I am commenting on PACE again but some may not like what I have to say.

I was T-Tapping (the coined phrase for exercising with Teresa Tapp) to Total Workout Slow the other day and I finally heard Teresa say what I had been thinking. The idea behind the Progressively Accelerating Cardiopulmonary Exertion (PACE) is not a new idea at all it has just been well promoted by Al Sears and I will give him credit for that as not all of us are clever enough to advertise well. I have felt for sometime that several people actually do the PACE program including, as many have noticed on this blog, Kathy Smith and now Teresa Tapp. This adds a lot of variety to your exercise program and variety is after all the spice of life.

Teresa at one point in her morning long seminar (that she recorded for people like me to exercise to) said that she designed T-Tapp exercise 10 years ago (with the help of Dr. Ken Cooper) with the idea that you elevate the heart rate for a minute or two and then let it come down (she called it sprinting), elevate, let it come down. What does that sound like to you? To me that is PACE in a nutshell and in addition to the cardio workout you will work muscles you didn’t know existed and sweat like you have never perspired when working out. Your posture improves, bone density increases and you just feel perkier. Doing lunges the T-Tapp way I have been able to lunge with none of the knee pain that I always experienced in years past. The Total Workout even includes a T-Tapp chiropractic adjustment called T-Tapp Twist. When you do it with the precision she requires (rather like the discipline involved with traditional Qi Gong) you can actually feel your vertebrae fall in to position, you sleep better at night and you don’t have stiffness.

I’m not really promoting any one of the T-Tapp exercise programs in this article but I did want to address PACE because I think there are many different ways to do PACE and some are better than others. T-Tapping is a common sense approach to PACE that I can vouch for its effectiveness and recommend it. Al Sear’s program is useful and promotes good health it is just not a new idea and also not the only progressively accelerating cardiopulmonary exertion program out there.