Download Environmental Toxins and their Impact on Thyroid Function

Environmental Toxins and Their
Impact on Thyroid Function
Millicent Holliday, RN, CTN
Lyceum 2008
It’s a Jungle Out There…
It's a jungle out there
Poison in the very air we breathe
Do you know what's in the water that you drink?
Well I do, and it's amazing
People think I'm crazy, 'cause I worry all the time
If you paid attention, you'd be worried too
It's a jungle out there
Disorder and confusion everywhere
No one seems to care
Well I do
Hey, who's in charge here?
You better pay attention
Or this world we love so much might just kill you
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so
It's a jungle out there
Hey, Who’s in Charge Here?
• Poisons in the very air we breathe
• Do you know what’s in the water that you drink?
• People think I’m crazy because I worry all the time
• If you paid attention you’d be worried too
• You’d better pay attention or this world we love so
much might just kill you
• I could be wrong now, but I don’t think so
• It’s a jungle out there
The Endocrine Glands
Should Be in Charge
A Quick Overview of the Thyroid
Gland
• It is the largest endocrine
gland in the body
• It is found in the neck inferior
to the thyroid cartilage
(Adam’s apple)
• It controls how quickly the
body burns energy and makes
proteins and also controls how
sensitive the body should be
to other hormones
Functions of the Thyroid Gland
• It produces the thyroid hormones Thyroxine (T4)
and Triiodothyronine (T3)
• These hormones regulate metabolism and affect
the growth and rate of function of many other
bodily systems
• Iodine is an essential component of both T3 & T4
• Thyroid also produces Calcitonin, which plays a role
in calcium homeostasis
• The thyroid is controlled by the hypothalamus and
pituitary
Thyroid Hormones
• Thyroid hormones play a particularly crucial
role in brain development during pregnancy
• In the blood, T4 & T3 partially bind to
throxine-binding globulin, transthyretin and
albumin
• Only a very small fraction of the circulating
hormone is free (unbound); with T4 it is
0.03% and with T3 it is 0.3%
• Only the free fraction has hormonal activity
T3 & T4 Regulation
• Both Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3)
are regulated by Thyroid Stimulating
Hormone (TSH)
• TSH is released by the anterior pituitary,
which is, in turn, regulated by the thyrotropinreleasing hormone (TRH) produced by the
hypothalamus
• TSH production is suppressed when the T4
levels are high, and vice versa
TSH
• TSH is secreted at an increased rate when it is cold
(it accelerates metabolism to generate heat)
• TSH is blunted by somatostatin (a hormone that
inhibits the release of the growth hormone
somatotrophin)
• It is blunted by elevated levels of glucocorticoids
(adrenal hormones), estrogen, testosterone and
elevated blood iodine levels
Calcitonin
• It regulates blood calcium levels
• It is produced in response to hypercalcemia
• It stimulates movement of calcium into the
bones, as does parathyroid hormone
The Significance of Iodine
• It is essential to the production of Thyroxine (T4)
• Thyroxine is critical to the regulation of metabolism
and growth throughout the animal kingdom
• In humans, children born with thyroid hormone
deficiencies will have physical growth and
developmental problems, and brain development
can also be severely impaired (Cretinism)
Signs and Symptoms of Hypothyroid
• So often ignored by health practitioners
• Fatigue
• Cold intolerance
• Menstrual irregularities
• Infertility
• Constipation
• Low body temperature
• Hair loss
• Atherosclerosis
Signs and Symptoms of Hyperthyroid
• Nervousness
• Weight loss
• Heart palpitations
• Heat intolerance
• Goiters (these can be associated with either
hyper or hypothyroid)
– Exophthalmic goiter or Grave’s disease
Etiology of Thyroid Imbalances
•
•
•
•
•
•
It’s a jungle out there
Poisons in the very air we breathe
Do you know what’s in the water that you drink?
People think I’m crazy because I worry all the time
If you paid attention you’d be worried too
You’d better pay attention or this world we love so much
might just kill you
• I could be wrong now, but I don’t think so
• It’s a jungle out there
Poisons in the Very Air We
Breathe
Disorder and confusion everywhere…
• Downwind Syndrome
• Atmospheric nuclear weapons testing exposed
millions of people around the globe to radioactive
fallout and may have led to the cancer deaths of
more than 15,000 people, suggests an analysis of
government studies by the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research
TAKOMA PARK, Maryland, March 4, 2002 (Environmental News Service)
Air Pollution
• Halogenated organic compounds have been used for a
variety of purposes for hundreds of industrial processes
over the past 50 years
• They present a danger to human health and include such
known toxins and potential carcinogens as dioxins,
pesticides and PCBs
• DDT/DDE is a example of a halogenated organic compound
and has been shown to bio-accumulate in animal fat,
disrupt hormone function and damage ecosystems
• PCBs may also adversely affect human health by
contributing to neurological, immune system, reproductive
system and other organ damage
Air Pollution
• “Chemically, HOCs such as polychlorinated or
polybrominated biphenyls (PCBs or PBBs,
respectively) and dioxins show chemical
structure similarities to T3 or T4.”
• “This fact supports the assumption that HOCs
might bind to structures normally employed by
T3 or T4.”
Wilfried Karmaus Dept. of Epidemiology Michigan State University
Synthetic Chemicals and Hormonal
Disruption
Do You Know What Is In the
Water You Drink?
We could talk all week about it, but let’s just look at
fluoride to start with…
• As early as the latter part of the 19th century
communities in Argentina, India and Turkey were
chronically ill because of naturally high fluoride
levels in the water
• Symptoms were premature aging, arthritis, mental
retardation and infertility
• Fluoride displaces iodine and compounds
hypothyroidism
• Fluoride is an enzyme poison
Fluoride Video Clip
• Dr Vyvyan Howard on Fluoride in Drinking
Water
• FLUORIDE ACTION NETWORK
http://www.FluorideAlert.Org
A Little History
• In 1930, May, Litzka and Gorlitzer von Mundy used fluoride
preparations to treat overactive thyroid illness
• Patients drank fluoridated water, swallowed fluoride pills or
bathed in fluoridated water and, as a result, thyroid function
was greatly depressed
• However, many patients suffered total thyroid loss, so the
fluorotyrosine, which had been used in this research, was
remarketed as Pardinon and sold as a pesticide
• Fluorides are categorized as Schedule 2 Poisons under the
Poisons Act of 1972
• Proponents of fluoride in drinking water rely on the fact that it
is diluted and therefore unlikely to have deleterious effects
• You better pay attention…
Or this world we love so much might just kill you…
I could be wrong now, but I don't think so…
Fluoride and Its Four-Fold Effect
on Thyroid Function
1. The process by which iodine is attached to the amino acid tyrosine
and converted to T4 and T3 is slowed
2.
The toxic effect of fluoride has the effect of switching off the uptake
into the cell of the active thyroid hormones
3. The thyroid stimulating hormone output
from the
pituitary gland is inhibited by fluoride, thus reducing thyroid output of
thyroid hormones
4.
Fluoride competes for the receptor sites on the thyroid gland which
respond to the thyroid stimulating hormone, so that less of this
hormone reaches the thyroid gland and so less thyroid hormone is
manufactured
Dr. Barry Durrant-Peatfield MBBS LRCP MRCS
Medical Advisor to Thyroid UK
The Result of Fluoride Toxicity
• Disruption of the immune system: thyroid
antibodies will be produced, which will cause
Thyroiditis, resulting in the common hypothyroid
disease, Hashimoto's disease and the
hyperthyroidism of Grave’s disease
• Muscular skeletal damage results
• DNA cannot repair itself & chromosomes are
damaged
• Fluoride is mutagenic, resulting in all types of
cancer, but especially bone cancer
By Dr. Barry Durrant-Peatfield MBBS LRCP MRCS
Medical Advisor to Thyroid UK
Thyroid Lab Work
Tests
Vitamin D3
Thyroxine (T4) Free
Thyroxine (T4)
Units
ng/ml
ng/dl
ng/dl
Expected Range
32.0-100.0
0.61-1.76
4.5-12.0
Triiodothyronine (T3)
Free
Triiodothyronine (T3)
TSH
pg/ml
2.3-4.2
ng/dl
85-205
uIU/ml
0.50-5.500
TSH Ranges
• Normal range: 0.5 to 5.5 ulU/ml
• Clinical range: 0.3 to 3.3 ulU/ml
• Optimal range: 1.0 to 1.5 ulU/ml
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, DO
Dr. Tenpenny’s Recommendations Relative to
Rethinking Thyroid Disease
• Mildly elevated TSH, normal T4 & normal T3
– Represents iodine deficiency, specifically in brain tissue
High TSH, Low T4, variable T3
– Need more iodine and selenium
Low TSH, high T3, Low T4
– This is a protective mechanism to most parts of the body
– Need selenium to stabilize tissue & iodine to shift
production to T4
– Need very low dose iodine to re-regulate system, Mg & I
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny 2007
Remedies That May Support Normal
Thyroid Function
Vitamin D3
Iodoral
Selenium
ThyroForce
Thyro-Chord
Metal-Chord
Addicide-Chord
Lipo-Chord
Chem-Chord
Lymph-Tone I, II or III
Remedies That May Support Normal
Thyroid Function
• The Opening
Channels Program
• Thyropath
• Hypothalmapath
• Phyto Cal-Mag
• Core Borage Blend
• Chlorophyll
• L-Tyrosine
• Magnesium
• Zinc
Conclusion
Who’s in charge here?
We are the pioneers and the ones responsible
for educating our patients/clients so that they
can be informed and, consequently, make wise
decisions that will sustain not only themselves
but their families and, hopefully, reverse the
trend of degradation that threatens the very
future of this great land
It’s a jungle out there!!!