arthritis and the thyroid connection

PARATHYROID GLANDS, ARRHYTHMIAS AND BONES

You have four tiny parathyroid glands, smaller than most other glands, which measure less than ¼ inch each. Yet they play a critical role in the health of muscles and bones because they secrete a hormone called parathormone. This hormone, along with the thyroid gland, regulates the balance between two minerals, calcium and phosphorus.

Your parathyroid glands are found on, and work in harmony with, the thyroid gland. Both play critical roles in how the body uses calcium. If your parathyroids secrete too little hormone (hypoparathyroidism), the blood calcium level will drop and the blood phosphorus level will rise. This will leave you deficient in usable calcium and cause all kinds of muscle problems, including convulsions.

If your parathyroids secrete too much hormone (hyperparathyroidism), you will have too much calcium and too little phosphorus in your blood. Calcium will be removed from your bones, causing bone problems, muscle weakness, and neuromuscular symptoms, like heartbeat abnormalities and arrhythmias.

When working well, and with a healthy thyroid gland, your four tiny parathyroid glands keep calcium and phosphorus levels in proper balance. This balancing mechanism offsets excesses or deficiencies of vitamins D and F. Vitamin D removes calcium from the blood into the bones, and vitamin F (unsaturated fatty acids from flax oil, cod liver oil, etc.) mobilizes calcium from the blood to muscles.

The Healthy Thyroid Connection

Many physicians and physiologists, including me, believe that long-term use of synthetic thyroid hormone drugs (Synthroid, etc.) can induce parathyroid problems. That is why we try to first resolve thyroid problems with nutrition. If that fails, we resort to natural thyroid hormone drugs like Armour. If that fails, as a last resort, we use synthetic thyroid drugs-always keeping a sharp eye on parathyroid function thereafter.

Although tiny, these glands are frequently diagnosed as problematic. Whether they are truly causing problems like high or low blood calcium, heart arrhythmias, or muscle problems is often difficult to tell. On scans, these glands often show up with lumps, bumps, and tumors. They are usually small, but can grow. While these tumors can indicate parathyroid disease, they frequently turn out to be incidental, inconsequential and often simply disappear. It is not uncommon for these glands to be operating normally-even with these "abnormal" findings.

Surgery? If lumps or tumors are present and there are abnormal blood calcium and phosphorus readings, the gland or glands are often surgically removed. This may or may not resolve the problem. The following letter clearly shows how the rush to surgery is often the wrong approach:

“I was having problems with a racing heart and my doctor found that my blood calcium was 10.7. She said this meant that I had a parathyroid problem, and I was referred for an MRI. The test showed two small tumors on one parathyroid gland, and a possible third tumor on another gland. I was scheduled for surgery, but decided to write to you instead. You recommended that I take a natural choice, which I did, and then had another blood test last week. My blood calcium had dropped to normal, and my doctor said I no longer needed surgery. My heart is back to normal, I rarely feel any unusual beats, and I know that I will be 100 percent in another couple months. Thank you."Evelyn Maasen, Massachusetts

Nutritional Imbalance as Underlying Cause

In this case, as is the case for thousands of other people, a deficiency of omega-3 fatty acids caused a blood calcium problem triggered heart arrhythmias. Whether the deficiency was strong enough to cause parathyroid disease remains a question because Mrs. Maasen opted not to have another MRI. But just to be safe we utilized a parathyroid protomorphogen product to provide support for these glands, and give them a rest as the blood calcium and phosphorus levels balanced.

In the end we got a good clinical result~normal blood calcium, no more arrhythmias, and a very high probability that all tumors would disappear within 6 months. When compared to all the possible medical interventions-neck surgery, powerful and potentially debilitating heart drugs, cardiac shock treatments, cardiac ablation (burning off spots on the heart), and possibly even a pacemaker--things couldn't have worked out better.

The lesson here is that although there are often tumors and problems with the parathyroid glands that can require surgery, most glandular disease (and disease in general) starts with nutritional deficiency and imbalance. If this goes on long enough glands will actually break down and spill their is to create antibodies to these proteins. When the doctor finds antibodies to your own glands, the diagnosis is an autoimmune disease.

Resolve Nutritional Deficiencies

Once it has progressed this far, a protomorphogen product, matched to the "diseased" gland, is usually needed. But in all cases, it is best to resolve any underlying nutritional deficiencies and imbalances first. Then you can find out if there is real disease or just functional abnormality. In the case of Mrs. Maasen, we may never know if her heart problem was simply a result of high blood calcium from a deficiency of omega-3s or whether there was ever a problem with her parathyroids. Given her result, we might surmise that a nutritional deficiency caused her problem. And as with thousands of other people, the parathyroid findings were probably just incidental-having nothing at all to do with any symptoms.

Disclaimer: I, (Teresa Biggins) am not a Medical Doctor, and cannot prescribe, cure or diagnose. Many of these articles have not been written by me. They have been copied , usually word for word from Web sites, periodicals, books and fliers. Not all agree with my position concerning some issues, but they are all excellently written with wonderful information in them. It is only by studying many positions that we can make OUR OWN informed decisions. The articles are gathered and presented this way in order to help you achieve that end easier. Full credit and the source is always given, and I encourage you to look the sources up, as most may have additional information. ALL information on any page is here for furthering your educational needs for the purpose of equipping you with information only, and not intended for prescribing, diagnosing, or curing any ailment you may have. These articles may not be misconstrued as medical advise or instruction. No action should be made based solely on these contents; instead readers should contact the appropriate health practitioner on any matter relating to their health, or well being. Readers who fail to consult with with appropriate health professionals assume the risk of any injury. Your body is your own to care for. No claims can be legally made about the information supplied on these pages. These instructional documents have been prepared as a narration or copy of what has been reported in the most effective way to use the product or gain knowledge about specific subjects or products. These are not endorsed by the AMA or the FDA. All are intended to be an honest report of what is known about these subjects for those who are interested.