What to do when your doctor wants you to stop your hormone therapy.

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The most likely cause of hair loss is low thyroid, followed closely by medications.

I will give your PCP the benefit of the doubt that he or she doesn’t know anything about hormones, but that does not excuse him/her from trying to persuade you to stop a treatment that obviously helps you and has brought you back to life! Here are some questions that are brought about by visits to the PCP when they start attempting to scare you into stopping your bioidentical hormone replacement therapy with pellets or your natural thyroid medication (Armour Thyroid).

 

Is my thyroid being over treated? My PCP says my TSH level is too low:

No, your thyroid is not overtreated if your free T3 is between. 3.0 and 4.5 and your TSH is between 1-2.5.  Dr. Maupin has had hypothyroidism since she was 22 and she is an expert on thyroid replacement. Her daughter Dr. Sullivan has been on Armour Thyroid since she was 16.  They are treating you with the most bio-identical thyroid possible to normalize your free T3 and Free T4 thyroid hormones.  These two thyroids are the active thyroid hormones that enter your cells and turn on your metabolism.  TSH is just a stimulating hormone from the pituitary that stimulates the thyroid to make T3 and T4.  Looking at these two hormones tells BioBalance doctors and NPs if your body is getting enough thyroid.  Thyroid hormone is vital to life and to have it in the proper range is extremely important!

We don’t follow your TSH because it is not indicative of the amount of thyroid hormone you have circulating and does not parallel your symptoms.  TSH is only useful for diagnosing hypothyroidism but not for following how successful treatment is.  When you take thyroid successfully your TSH decreases to below 1.0.  That is a sign that you have enough thyroid hormone, the suppression (lowering) of the stimulating hormone TSH.

Dr. Sullivan and Dr. Maupin both have been successfully treated for their hypothyroidism and know that resolution of symptoms of low thyroid is as important as the lab numbers.  Ask yourself do you feel better when our doctors and NPs are managing your thyroid or when your PCP is? If we have wiped away your symptoms, and they don’t, then which one of us is right?

Do I really need all of these supplements?

We prescribe supplements for many reasons. Each supplement is prescribed for your individual problem.  We give you a list of the supplements you should take and give you the reason we are prescribing each one.  We often use supplements instead of prescription medications because they have fewer side effects, and they quickly supplement our inadequate diets or give us back what our lifestyle or medications take away.

Supplements are prescribed for you to add to the value of the food you eat, to protect you from cancer, treat anxiety, protect you from some medications (Statins use up CoQ 10, and supplementation gives the nutrient COQ 10 back to you to rescue you from abnormal liver function). We only prescribe supplements that treat specific individual deficiencies that you have because of your diet, Medications, genetics and or your medications.  PLEASE TAKE THEM!

Other than spironolactone, prostate complex and dermaplane, and laser hair removal… what can I do about my facial hair?

The only rule is don’t shave!  Shaving makes it worse thicker and creates stubble. White and light hair can’t be successfully lasered, but dark hair can be painlessly lasered.  Hair must be darker than your skin for an Alma laser to remove it. It is a painless process.  It must be done every 6 weeks when hair goes into another growth cycle, for 4-6 treatments. For facial hair, waxing, using an epilator and plucking are the most successful hair removal of light hair.  Dark hair is removed best with the hair removal laser—it is NOT painful and is effective. We give spironolactone to every patient to prevent facial hair and acne!

These methods are only necessary when a patient can’t take spironolactone for some reason or if they have particularly dense hair.Is my hair falling out because my testosterone is too high? That is what my PCP says.

The most likely cause of hair loss is low thyroid, followed closely by medications, poor protein intake, familial genetic hair thinning. If hair is thinning only in the frontal area it is due to low estradiol.  If it is thinning all over the head it may be an anesthesia side effect, or high cortisol, low thyroid, lack of protein and vitamins in the diet or a side effect of many medications. Only hair loss restricted to the temples and crown in women can be from high DHT, a byproduct of testosterone. (Please see my book The Secret Female Hormone).Remember to speak up to educate your doctor, and if he or she doesn’t listen or back down from dissuading you from taking your pellet hormone therapy, then vote with your feet and find another doctor. Another option is to say, I will continue to be your patient on the agreement that we won’t talk about hormones or thyroid again, and you will not order testing of these hormones.  I get tested by my hormone specialist.

This Health cast was written and presented by Dr. Kathy Maupin, M.D., Bio-identical Hormone Replacement Expert and Author.   www.BioBalanceHealth.com  (314) 993-0963

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