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December, 2003
IN MEMORIUMThis year marked the passage of two renowned family physicians, Gregory J. White, M.D. and John R. Lee, M.D. These two doctors affected the lives of millions of people, far beyond those they actually encountered during their lifetimes. Dr. White was a natural childbirth advocate and home birth practitioner. He realized the frustration of his patients who wanted to breastfeed but lacked the resources and support. He suggested to his wife and her friends that they offer that support at a time when breastfeeding was often discouraged. In 1956, seven women formed La Leche League, a group of breastfeeding mothers in Franklin Park, IL, who met periodically to support and encourage each other and to share experiences and information. La Leche League eventually spread worldwide and resulted in the improvement of the physical and emotional health of millions of babies and their mothers around the world. Mothers confronted their doctors with questions and information, and ultimately taught them about breastfeeding issues. This group of seven founding mothers and their babies started a revolution that eventually coerced the medical establishment to accept, and then to promote breastfeeding in their doctrines. The huge pharmaceutical industry that manufactured infant formula was forced to tone down their rhetoric about the health benefits of their products and to limit their sales promotions in the third world. Dr. White was a great personal mentor of mine. As a medical student, I accompanied Dr. White on some of his home births. He possessed an enormous wealth of knowledge and experience in obstetrics. He taught me what equipment to bring on home births and how to handle problems. He authored the book Emergency Childbirth for the benefit of paramedics in the field. He founded the American College of Home Obstetrics, a group of local physicians who met periodically to discuss their cases, and served as president of that organization. Dr. White is survived by his wife, 9 children, 54 grandchildren, and 17 great grandchildren. Our second great loss this year was Dr. John Lee who pioneered the use of transdermal progesterone cream and bio-identical hormones. He stood up against the medical establishment's dangerous practice of HRT (hormone replacement therapy) treatments. He exhaustively examined the scientific literature regarding use of female hormones and wrote several books exposing the dangers of using synthetic estrogens and progestins to treat menopausal symptoms in women. He wrote three What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About... books: Menopause, Premenopause, and Breast Cancer. He popularized the concept of "estrogen dominance" as a cause for breast cancer, infertility, fibroids, uterine cancer, and PMS. He advised the use of transdermal natural progesterone cream to balance the effects of estrogen dominance. He demonstrated the extreme differences between bio-identical hormones and synthetic hormones. For example he pointed out that while progesterone is absolutely essential for the propagation of a pregnancy, the synthetic progestins (like Provera® in birth control pills) will prevent implantation and destroy the embryo. He also exposed the shoddy research and harmful effects surrounding such highly promoted drugs such as sodium fluoride, Fosamax®, Tamoxifen® , and oral contraceptives. After his retirement from private medical practice, he traveled around the world lecturing, writing his books, publishing his newsletters, and distributing information on his website (www.johnleemd.com). His efforts were largely ignored by the medical establishment, but were recognized by the thousands of women whose health was dramatically improved while following his recommendations. These women spread his teaching and advice one-to-one and forced a revolution in the thinking about female hormones. Dr. Lee was thankful that during his lifetime the medical establishment finally validated his analysis of the problems with conventional HRT. These two great men had the courage to stand up against the conventionally accepted medical theories that they knew were wrong. Modern medicine is an enormous bureaucratic empire. It remains firmly entrenched in its accepted practices until it is forced to change by outside pressure. As consumers of health care, we have the responsibility to examine all options before choosing what is the best care for ourselves and for our families. Modern medicine is wonderful in the areas of acute sickness intervention, trauma care, and corrective surgery. However, it fares poorly in teaching optimal health guidelines and preventing illness. The principal that "if a little bit is good, a lot must be better" does not apply to human health. We must remember the medical disasters of the past: formula feeding of infants, neck irradiation and tonsillectomies in children, DES and Thalidomide during pregnancy, the Swine Flu Vaccine, HRT, Fen-Phen, and the USDA Food Pyramid. Therefore, we need to carefully examine the following current medical fads before blindly accepting them: chemical contraception, routine ultrasounds and epidurals for pregnant women, cholesterol lowering drugs, multiple childhood vaccines, fluoride supplements, the ADA diet, and widespread use of psychoactive drugs. Dr. White and Dr. Lee left us a legacy of innovation and bravery in challenging the mainstream medical establishment. They encouraged us to take a stand for what we believe in regardless of the opposition we encounter. They taught us that the truth always prevails.
SAY NO TO DRUGS!This year Congress passed a $400 billion Medicare bill that provides aging Americans with a prescription drug benefit. Americans are always looking for a new drug to help solve their medical problems. I suppose this is why we see a new Walgreens store opening in every neighborhood. During my medical school training, I realized that allopathic medicine relied far too heavily upon medications to relieve unwanted symptoms. I felt that this approach did not adequately address the underlying condition that produced the symptoms. An ill person has an innate ability to initiate healing by self-correcting underlying imbalances. I believe that symptoms such as pain and fatigue are helpful in that they can alert us to an imbalance that we should correct. Using drugs to relieve symptoms is akin to covering the glaring "fix engine" light on your car's dashboard with black tape so that you won't notice it while you continue to drive. After covering up symptoms for awhile, the underlying structure will fail, resulting in a far more serious problem. I believe that heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and degenerative diseases were long preceded by symptoms that were ignored or covered up by drugs. I do not like the message that our government is sending us by subsidizing the chronic use of drugs. I understand that it is merely human nature to desire a quick fix to a problem, but this approach is not in the long-term best interests of the individual or society. If you are attempting to improve a person's health, why not pay for a health club membership, or for cooking and nutrition classes, or for better food instead? I cannot argue with the short-term use of drugs, for example taking antibiotics for an acute bacterial infection. However, I reject the promotion of drugs such as cholesterol lowering agents, which are expensive and have significant adverse effects. Furthermore, I remain unconvinced of their long-term benefits, especially when compared to the Omega Zone diet for example. The Zone not only improves cholesterol profiles, but also results in a slowing of the aging process by improving metabolic and hormonal function. The chronic use of one drug often causes side effects, which leads to the need for another drug, and so on. If we continue to spend more money on entitlement programs for health care without changing lifestyles and health habits, I fear that in 10 years when the baby boomers retire, we will confront a health care crisis of unimaginable proportions. Of course each American has the right to live whatever lifestyle he or she chooses. The question is, who should bear the burden of supporting the results of unhealthy lifestyle choices? It's unwise and unfair to lay this burden upon the next generation of young Americans. When they were growing up we told them to "Say No to Drugs." Now that they have grown, we will be asking them to "Buy Us Drugs!"
WILSON'S THYROID SYNDROMEDr. Denis Wilson recognized that many of his patients exhibited the classic symptoms of hypothyroidism although their thyroid blood tests were normal. They had symptoms such as fatigue, dry skin, constipation, brittle hair, depression, weight gain, and water retention. The other factor that all these patients had in common was a low body temperature-less than 98° F. He named this condition Wilson's Thyroid Syndrome or WTS. He postulated that although the person's thyroid gland produced plenty of thyroxine hormone (T4), there was a deficiency of the enzyme that converted T4 to T3 at the cellular level. T3 is the active form of thyroid hormone, which acts on the individual body cells to produce cellular energy, which in turn determines our body temperature. If the body temperature is always low, the enzymes that control a myriad of chemical reactions in the body function ineffectively. This explains how a low body temperature can result in so many different symptoms involving multiple organ systems. We all know how a body temperature elevated by several degrees can result in unpleasant symptoms such as headache, achiness, and fatigue. If we return the temperature to normal with fever reducers, we immediately feel better. Dr. Wilson postulates that a low body temperature similarly produces unpleasant symptoms, and if we can raise the temperature to normal, the symptoms will improve. WTS is more common in women and is most likely to occur after a severe physical or emotional stress such as following pregnancy, divorce, prolonged illness, death of a loved one, or restrictive dietary regimen. Due to the body's increased demand for thyroid hormone during major stress, the enzyme that converts T4 to the active T3 gets bogged down. Insufficient T3 is produced, resulting in a low body temperature and all the other symptoms of hypothyroidism. The blood tests, however, show adequate levels of T4; thus most doctors dismiss the thyroid system from being at fault for the patient's symptoms. Dr. Wilson's approach is to treat the patient with a custom compounded sustained release preparation of T3, which is gradually released throughout the day. He increases the dose every day until the average body temperature reaches 98.6° F and then maintains that dose for several weeks. Most patients report that their symptoms are greatly or fully improved when they achieve normal body temperature. After several weeks of treatment, the T4 to T3 converting enzyme is freed up, the patient is weaned slowly off the T3, the system has been reset, and the patient can maintain the normal body temperature without supplemental thyroid hormones. Dr. Wilson also uses herbal medicine supplements to help maintain the temperature during the weaning process. If a patient has had WTS for a long time, he may have to repeat several cycles of T3 therapy before he can achieve a normal body temperature. I like Dr. Wilson's method for the following reasons: (1) it utilizes a natural bio-identical hormone in physiologic doses for treatment; and (2) the treatment goal is to enable the body to reset itself and then to get off the medication. The difficult part about the treatment is that the patient must pay very careful attention to the treatment schedule. The T3 medicine must be taken at precisely the same time every 12 hours, and the dose changes every day. The patient has to take and record his temperature three times a day. However, for those patients who have been suffering with debilitating symptoms without an apparent cause, a therapeutic trial on the WTS protocol might produce gratifying results. Home | Staff | Newsletters | Vitamins & Stuff | Recommended Reading | Links | Downloads George B. Elvove, M.D., P.C. © 2010, George B. Elvove, M.D., P.C. |