During this time of year of colder temperatures and shorter days many people with chronic fatigue syndrome and/or fibromyalgia experience an overall worsening of their symptoms along with an increased inability to tolerate the cold. For several of these individuals their thyroid gland may not be functioning properly; however, blood work completed by a primary care provider would show results as normal.  The reason for this is that not all lab tests are correctly checked and numerous tests need to be performed since many times even if the hormone levels are normal there are other “inhibitors” of thyroid hormone that are not usually checked.  In those cases individuals would experience symptoms of low thyroid; however they would not be treated by their doctor since the baseline blood work was normal.

Thyroid hormone is a key regulatory hormone for temperature control, metabolism, and neurological function. Symptoms of low thyroid are several, some of which include cold intolerance, worsening pain in colder weather, increased cholesterol levels, diminished energy levels, depression, poor hair growth, menstrual abnormalities including infertility, diminished metabolism with weight gain, and swelling in the ankles/feet. In fact, proper thyroid hormone management is probably the safest and most beneficial cholesterol reducing agent yet is hardly ever used for this purpose, and if properly treated, most patients with poor cholesterol and depression can discontinue their prescription drugs for these conditions.

Even when a low thyroid condition is established it is essential for the correct hormone to be given. For many people hormones obtained commercially through their doctor hardly help their symptoms even though their repeat blood work is normal. Utilizing the correct all natural bio-identical thyroid medication is key to overcoming this thyroid hormone resistance and helps patients clinically feel better and should be addressed with your doctor.

We often talk about immune dysregulation and fibromyalgia/cfids. The various internal and external stressors that have created the physiolgic disruptions that we must therapeutically reverse, often have an etiolgic nodal point at the immune system. Intensive research by immunoligists like Dr. Kenny DeMeirleir have uncovered part of this submicroscopic landscape so we can see some of the rough terrain we must cross.

For some of our patients, the initiating event is a viral infection. For others, it is a multitude of stressful events or illnesses.  Once the immune system is generating a line of irregular, unregulated products, it will continue to do so even if the original stimulus is gone. The song is over, but the (unpleasing) melody lingers on.  The immune system response to a viral infection is a complex and carefully regulated system. Interferon is the protein produced by the cells of the body virus particles invade.  Interferon activates a system that, essentially, produces two things:  a specifically molded, 5-section enzyme that breakes up both the virus particles and the infected cell, and another enzyme that is transmitted the the surrounding cells and pre-immunizes them to the virus, so they can destroy the invader before being destroyed themselves. The shape of the 5-section enzyme is fairly precise, and it’s production very specific, for otherwise, this immune response would destroy the very life it is trying to protect.

One of the problems that arises in our patients is that other inflammatory products produced by different cells in the immune system, under some stress situations, can activate this enzyme system also in some of the cells of the body.  When it does, it produces a distorted version of the 5-part enzyme with only 3 sections. These incomplete enzyme particles are unable to affect viruses, but the can interfere with the basic activities of individual cells. Their distorted shape causes them to literally get stuck in the channels of the cell walls, interfering with the normal passage of elements and minerals, thus disrupting the function of entire organ systems. Re-regulation of this process can be a bit like taming a wild horse, and sometimes takes quite a bit of time and resources, but FFC has demonstrated in case after case that this can be accomplished.

If you haven’t heard the news FFC’s Ft. Worth Physician, Dr. Kelly Boulden was featured in an interview on WBAP Radio. Click to listen to the interview on holiday fatigue and stress. WBAP Radio Interview