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Fibromyalgia, Hypothyroidism, Thyroid Hormone Resistance

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The Metabolic Treatment
of Fibromyalgia
by Dr. John C. Lowe
Readers' Comments

Your Guide to
Metabolic Health
by Dr. Gina Honeyman-Lowe & Dr. John C. Lowe

Your Guide to Metabolic Health

The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia

April 14, 2004
News from the Center for Metabolic Health
and Dr. John C. Lowe & Dr. Gina Honeyman-Lowe

New Items:

NEWS ITEMS

1. Chapter by Dr. Honeyman-Lowe published in the book, Fat & Furious
2. Letter by Dr. Lowe published in British Medical Journal online
3. Drs. Honeyman-Lowe & Lowe to speak at Kansas fibromyalgia conference
4. Dr. Lowe on Temple of Health Radio Show
5. More participants needed for study of metabolic rates
6. Interest in measuring patients' metabolic rates

Chapter by Dr. Honeyman-Lowe
Published in the Book Fat & Furious

Loree Taylor Jordan's new book was recently published. Its title is "Fat & Furious: Overcome Your Body's Resistance to Weight Loss Now!" As the title suggests, the book covers many blocks to weight loss and how to effectively get around them. Loree's clear and witty style makes the book delightful to read. Loree, who describes herself as a "reformed dieting maniac," is a supreme expert on the subject.

Of course, one reason many people can't lose weight is that they are on T4-replacement therapy. This was shown in a 2000 study.[1] On average, patients who used T4-replacement gained excess weight, but those who used TSH-suppressive doses of thyroid hormone didn't.

Loree asked Dr. Honeyman-Lowe to write a chapter for the book. Dr. Honeyman-Lowe titled the chapter, "Metabolic rehab is necessary for many to overcome impaired metabolism." In it, she explains that many hypothyroid and thyroid hormone resistance patients can't lose weight despite dieting, exercise, and conventional thyroid hormone therapy—the use of T4-replacement. She also explains that when these patients abandon T4-replacement and undergo metabolic rehab, they finally do lose weight as part of their overall improved health.

Her final paragraph in the chapter gives advice to patients whose doctors won't let them use thyroid hormone or insist that they use T4-replacement: "Trust your intuition and your intelligence. Most of my patients tell me that they have known that their problem is thyroid-related, but their doctors won't listen to them. You don't have to put up with bullying or intimidation by anyone, regardless of his or her diplomas and degrees. Find a practitioner to help you with your health and fitness goals, one who will listen to you, respect your intelligence, and collaborate with you."[2]

Interested readers can purchase copies of the 390-page book "Fat & Furious" in any of several ways:

Fax orders: (419) 281-6883
Telephone orders: (800) 247-6553
Email orders: www.loreetaylorjordan.com
Postal orders: Bookmasters, P.O. Box 388, Ashland, OH 44805

References

[1] Tigas, S., Idiculla, J., Beckett, G., and Toft, A.: Is excessive weight gain after ablative treatment of hyperthyroidism due to inadequate thyroid hormone therapy? Thyroid, 10(12):1107-1111, 2000.
[2] Honeyman-Lowe, G.: Metabolic rehab is necessary for many to overcome impaired metabolism. In Fat and Furious: Overcome Your Body's Resistance to Weight Loss Now. Edited by L.T. Jordan, Campbell, Madison Publishing, 2004, pp.105-111.

Letter by Dr. Lowe Published in
British Medical Journal Online

Several days ago, the online version of the British Medical Journal published a letter from Dr. Lowe. His letter is in support of the view of a Cuban psychiatrist and suicide researcher, Dr. Sergio Pérez. Dr. Pérez wrote to the Journal protesting a ban by the U.S. government on scientific journals editing and publishing articles submitted by scientists in countries embargoed by the U.S. Dr. Pérez pointed out that the ban is just as likely to hurt U.S. citizens as it will citizens of Cuba. He concluded, "It is not possible to block ideas, good relationships between people, and the love of human beings for the sciences."

The news report in the British Medical Journal that Dr. Pérez responded to contains a photo of President Bush. Under the photo is the statement, "President Bush's sanctions are affecting scientific articles as well as trade." The report also contains this statement: "Last September the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers trade embargoes, announced that any substantive changes made by American reviewers, translators, or editors to manuscripts from the embargoed countries would constitute a service to the country and would be permissible only with a special license. Violators of the trade regulations can incur fines as high as $500,000.00 (£268,000) and jail sentences of up to 10 years."

Journal publishers in the U.S. have responded to the ban by demanding that they be able to consider publishing articles based on their scientific merit, and that alone. They are prepared to defy the ban. One publishing official stated, "The advancement of science is a global activity, and this ruling is frankly inimical to that." Another said, "This ruling is baffling. How does editing manuscripts threaten the US?"

In his letter, Dr. Lowe wrote, "I fully support Dr. Pérez in his view that a ban on editing of articles of scientists from embargoed countries is bad for U.S. scientists—but also for scientists the world over and the citizens of their respective countries." He also wrote, "I vehemently believe that scientists—no matter what countries they work in---must have free access to one another's research findings, regardless of the field of science, lest human beings in all their countries suffer as a consequence. In view of that consequence alone, ideological differences over forms of government (as in the conflict between the U.S. and Cuba) are to me petty except for their destructiveness."

Drs. Honeyman-Lowe & Lowe to Speak
at Kansas Fibromyalgia Conference

Dr. Honeyman-Lowe and Dr. Lowe will give presentations on Saturday, May 15 at the annual conference of Fibromyalgia Coalition International. Dr. Honeyman-Lowe will speak on the essentials of effective metabolic rehab, and Dr. Lowe will talk about the mounting evidence that fibromyalgia is a metabolic disorder.

The conference is at the Marriott Hotel, Overland Park, Kansas. Dr. Lowe will speak from 10:30 to 11:45 AM, and Dr. Honeyman-Lowe will speak from 1:15 to 2:30 PM. Details of the conference are available online.

Dr. Lowe on Temple of Health Radio Show

Dr. Lowe was interviewed on the Temple of Health Radio Show in Atlanta, Georgia on two consecutive Saturday mornings, April 3 and April 10, 2004. The show airs at WGUN 1010 AM radio. The hosts of the show are Dr. Susan Kolb, a plastic, reconstructive surgeon and medical intuitive, and Dr. Rick Clofine, a gynecologist. Both Dr. Kolb and Dr. Clofine are board certified in alternative medicine. They practice at the Atlanta multidisciplinary clinic called Millennium Healthcare.

Drs. Kolb and Clofine invited Dr. Lowe to be on the show to talk about metabolic rehab. During the show, he took the opportunity to describe recent studies showing that T4-replacement therapy, usually with Synthroid, is ineffective for and harmful to many hypothyroid patients. For these patients, T4-replacement is harmful in three ways: (1) it leaves them chronically suffering from hypothyroid symptoms, (2) results in a higher incidence of hypothyroid-associated diseases, and (3) increases their use of drugs to control the symptoms and diseases.

Within a week, Dr. Lowe's paper containing documentary evidence for the ineffectiveness and potential harm of T4-replacement will be posted at www.drlowe.com. You can reach his paper through the following webpage: http://www.drlowe.com/frf/t4replacement/intro.htm

Dr. Lowe is presently working to complete a book, Tyranny of the TSH, that will also contain this evidence. Readers who are interested in the book can write to Dave Woodley at McDPubCo@aol.com. If you'll write "tyranny" in the subject line, the company will put your email address in the database of people who want to be notified when the book is available for shipping.

Dr. Lowe's interview will be posted in the near future on Dr. Kolb and Dr. Clofine's website: www.millennium-healthcare.com.

More Participants Needed
for Study of Metabolic Rates
by Dr. John C. Lowe

Our study of the metabolic rates of healthy women compared to those of women with fibromyalgia is underway. As I wrote in our last newsletter, we need more fibromyalgia patients for the study. However, we especially need more healthy women. Any woman between the ages of 20 and 60 is welcome to apply to take part. For purposes of the study, we'll consider a woman healthy as long as she doesn't have any major acute or chronic disease. If you think you're healthy but aren't sure, please apply. An internist and a family physician on our research team will determine whether you classify as healthy through health-screening blood tests and other assessments.

There is no cost to participate in the study, and participants receive a number of services for taking part. Thanks in advance for applying.

Interest in Measuring Patients' Metabolic Rates

In the last email newsletter, Dr. Lowe explained that he and Dr. Honeyman-Lowe now measure patients' metabolic rates at the Center for Metabolic Health. Since then, he's received emails from many patients and doctors expressing interest in the instrument for measuring metabolic rates. The instrument is called an indirect calorimeter. Dr. Lowe encourages other doctors to begin using it to provide their patients with metabolic therapy that's far more effective than thyroid blood testing allows. He welcomes any communication from doctors about the instrument. They can contact him at drlowe@drlowe.com. (Incidentally, Dr. Honeyman-Lowe and Dr. Lowe have no financial interest whatever in the company that markets the indirect calorimeter.)

March 16, 2004
News from the Center for Metabolic Health
and Dr. John C. Lowe & Dr. Gina Honeyman-Lowe

New Items:

NEWS ITEMS

1. Note to My Patients: Dr. Gina Honeyman-Lowe
2. Center for Metabolic Health Moves to Pearl Street
3. More Participants Needed for Study of Metabolic Rates
4. Center Now Provides Tests for Body Composition and Metabolic Rate

Note to My Patients
by Dr. Gina Honeyman-Lowe

When John and I went to Tulsa for the holidays, we found that my mother, Sue, was terminally ill. I traveled back and forth between Tulsa and Boulder a few times, but for the most part, I was in Tulsa with my mother from December through mid February. She died on February 13th.

During her illness, I was late with many communications, and I may have entirely missed a few. I wanted to let you know the reason, and to thank you for your patience and understanding during this difficult time.

Center for Metabolic Health Relocated
to Professional Building on Pearl Street

The Center for Metabolic Health has relocated to a professional building close to Pearl and 10th Streets in Boulder. The new address is 1007 Pearl Street, Suite 280, Boulder, CO 80302. This new location puts patients who come to the Center in the nexus of the famous and exciting Pearl Street Mall.

The Pearl Street Mall is the best known area in Boulder. Most visitors to Boulder spend time in the area, and this is true of most of Dr. Honeyman-Lowe and Dr. Lowe's out-of-town patients. It's now highly convenient for patients to come to the Center and visit the Mall at the same time. Minutes away from the Center are restaurants, coffee shops, clothing stores, museums, street entertainers, and the Boulder Bookstore, where writers regularly appear to discuss their new books.

Parking is available on the streets around the Center and in the parking garage half a block away at 11th Street and Spruce Street. We've provided links to maps to the Center and the parking garage. On the same webpage, we also provide links to motels and hotels for out-of-town patients, and to restaurants (some of which deliver) with their menus and phone numbers.

More Participants Needed for Study of Metabolic Rates
by Dr. John C. Lowe

We are about to begin our study of the metabolic rates of healthy women compared to those of women with fibromyalgia. We planned to begin the study in February, but we were delayed by the illness and death of Dr. Honeyman-Lowe's mother, Sue Wood.

We need more fibromyalgia patients for the study, but we especially need more healthy women. Any woman between the ages of 20 and 60 is welcome to apply to take part. For purposes of the study, we'll consider a woman healthy as long as she doesn't have any major acute or chronic disease. If you think you're healthy but aren't sure, please apply. We'll determine whether you classify as healthy through health-screening blood tests and physicians' assessments—at no cost to you.

There is no cost to participate in the study, and participants receive a number of services for taking part. Thanks in advance for applying.

Body Composition Analysis and Resting Metabolic Rates
Now Provided at Center for Metabolic Health

Dr. Honeyman-Lowe and Dr. Lowe now provide bioelectrical impedance for measuring patients' body composition. The instrument is a Biodynamic body composition analyzer. Its sophistication and precision is based on advanced microprocessor and software technology.

With extremely high precision, the instrument measures a patient's percentage of body fat, fat body mass, and lean body mass (muscle, bone, and connective tissues). It also compares the patient's body composition with what's considered ideal for the same sex, age, height, and weight. The instrument also estimates the patient's basal metabolic rate. Studies show that it is as accurate as CT-scan body composition analysis.

The doctors also now provide measurements of patients' resting metabolic rates. The instrument they use is the MedGem indirect calorimeter. The calorimeter measures the patient's oxygen consumption at rest and uses the result to calculate the metabolic rate.

For practicing doctors, indirect calorimeters were essentially off the market for almost thirty years. This happened because of a deal wrought between the endocrinology specialty and BlueCross/BlueShield. The deal was that the insurance company would no longer pay for indirect calorimetry and instead would pay for thyroid blood tests. Before long, technicians who had performed calorimetry tests had to find other kinds of work. And since then, about thirty years, indirect calorimetry has been available only through major research centers.

The reason that calorimeters were available only at major research centers was the cost. Until recently, they cost about $50,000. Because insurance no longer paid for the diagnostic test, it wasn't practical for a doctors to purchase them for their practices. Now, however, new sensory technology has made affordable handheld indirect calorimeters available for doctors. And now, once again, doctors can easily measure their patients' metabolic rates.

The deal between the endocrinology specialty and BlueCross/BlueShield—with other insurance companies following suit—led to a thirty-year disaster in the care of hypothyroid patients. The lives of scores of millions of these patients were ruined, and incalculable numbers died earlier than they otherwise would have. Recent studies confirm that thyroid lab test results are highly unreliable in identifying patients whose symptoms are caused by hypothyroidism, and they are highly undependable in finding thyroid hormone dosages that are effective for patients. But the handheld indirect calorimeter now enables patients to avoid being victimized by the disastrous decision to rely on lab test results. Dr. Honeyman-Lowe and Dr. Lowe now actually measure what's truly important in the care of hypothyroid and thyroid hormone resistance patients—the effectiveness of a particular thyroid hormone dosage on the patient's metabolism.

The doctors' now regularly use body composition analysis and metabolic rate measures in their clinical practice. The combination allows them to avoid a former need for guesswork and to make clinical decisions about metabolic treatment with far greater accuracy—a definite plus for patients eager to fully recover their metabolic health.

Patients interested in having their body composition analyzed and resting metabolic rate measured should phone us at (603) 391-6061, or write to us at Tammy@drlowe.com. She can arrange an appointment for the testing. New patients at the Center automatically receive a body composition analysis and metabolic rate measurement as part of their initial diagnostic workup.

Clinical Care

To inquire about long-distance consulting services or treatment at our clinic, please contact Tammy Lowe. You can reach her by e-mail at Tammy@drlowe.com, or by telephone at (603) 391-6061.

For services provided by Dr. John C. Lowe, please write to Tammy Lowe at Tammy@drlowe.com, or phone her at 603-391-6061.

© 2004 John C. Lowe. All rights reserved. This Center for Metabolic Health, LLC Email Newsletter may be copied and distributed subject to three conditions: (1) All text within the full document or any section copied must be copied without modification with all pages included. (2) All copies must contain the following copyright notice: "© 2004 John C. Lowe" (3) Neither this full document nor any section of it may be distributed for profit.

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