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Potential Problem with Cortisol-Lowering In my opinion, the producers of Cortislim® and Relacore® are doing the public a disservice. Both of these over-the-counter products contain magnolia bark, and Relacore® contains phosphotidylserine and other agents known to lower cortisol levels. If someone has chronically high cortisol, say from stress, then it's important to lower the level, and these products can do that. The phosphatidylserine in Relacore®, for example, can reduce the pituitary gland’s production of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). ACTH is the hormone that stimulates the adrenal cortex, causing it to synthesize and secrete cortisol into the blood. Cortisol is a major stress hormone, and it enables cells to adapt to the increased energy demands of stress. In addition, cortisol can prevent low blood sugar, suppress some immune functions, and prevent or relieve inflammation. However, many people have cortisol deficiencies. If a person's cortisol is low instead of high, taking products such as Cortislim® and Relacore® can worsen their cortisol deficiency symptoms. Because of this, it is extremely important that people have their cortisol levels measured before using Cortislim® and Relacore®. Salivary free cortisol testing is the preferable form of testing, and it is fairly expensive compared to blood and urine testing. Some people balk at the suggestion that they use physiologic cortisol therapy. Their measured cortisol levels are low, and they have classic symptoms of cortisol deficiency. Yet they are afraid to use a therapeutic dosage of cortisol because of what a fear derived from what the commercials for Cortislim® and Relacore® have "taught" them: that increasing their cortisol level at will give them or worsen their belly fat. If you're considering using one of these products, you will hopefully have your salivary free cortisol levels checked before hand. If your cortisol levels are high, one of these products will most likely lower it. But if your cortisol levels are low, using the product could product very unpleasant symptoms. Dr. Lowe's
book The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia The Editorial Board of StudySphere has awarded The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia its Award of Excellence. StudySphere, an online education portal, designates itself the "the premier source for the education of tomorrow's leaders." It provides access to research-quality, child-safe websites organized for online education. The editors write, "StudySphere’s goal is to help students, teachers, librarians, and other researchers find both highly targeted and closely related information quickly." The Excellence Award was partly based on an excerpt from The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia. In the excerpt, Dr. Lowe asserts that many doctors who ascribe patients' symptoms to psychological disturbance are themselves psychologically disturbed. He writes that the most appropriate label for these doctors' psychological disturbance is "delusional (paranoid) disorder." Dr. Lowe considers the chapter from which the excerpt is taken one of the most important in the 1260 page book. "Through my career," he said, "I've often seen the harm that these doctors do to patients. The patients need understanding and caring guidance, but these doctors alienate them and cause them to anxiously doubt themselves. The doctors are supposed to help patients, but instead, they worsen patients' suffering." Because of this harm to patients, he is adamant that the last sentence of the excerpt should be urgently heeded: "It is time that we recognize these physicians' delusions for what they are and take all necessary steps to end the doctors' pernicious impact on patients." If Your Doctor Doesn't
Believe Your Fibromyalgia In our last newsletter, we cited our two most recent published studies. These studies provide strong evidence that the major cause of fibromyalgia is too little thyroid hormone regulation. The deficient regulation may be a result of hypothyroidism or thyroid hormone resistance. If you have a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, and your doctor isn't aware of the relationship of fibromyalgia to hypothyroidism and thyroid hormone resistance, we encourage you to print copies of the studies and share them with your doctor. By doing so, you'll be enlightening your doctor so that he or she can use the information for your benefit and that of other fibromyalgia patients. The full text of the study reports is available without charge: Report at Medical
Science Monitor: Clinical Care Sponsored by, © 2006 John C. Lowe. All rights reserved. This 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: "© 2006 John C. Lowe." (3) Neither this full document nor any section of it may be distributed for profit.
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