Hypothyroid or ‘euthyroid sick syndrome’?

By Adam Thompson | Published: April 10, 2010

The most informative summary I’ve ever read on the subject of hypothyroidism:

http://entropyproduction.blogspot.com/2010/03/chronic-forms-of-euthyroid-sick.html

I’ve essentially self-diagnosed myself as hypothyroid, but the above has me interested in whether my root problem is in another system (pituitary, liver, or hypothalamic).  I also learned a lot from the post.  The sections that stood out as significant to my situation and diet are below, followed by my thoughts.  This isn’t really organized, I just wanted to note and respond to the highlights.

The Lechan group has followed up there results with an effort to see if inflammation can affect the TRH neurons directly (Sanchez, 2008).  Cortisol may be considered the whole-body response to inflammation, and the Sanchez group did not find that it serious impacted the TRH neuronal activity.  They did, however, find that local inflammatory paracrine hormones (i.e. cytokines, which I like to refer to as immune system catnip) could turn on D2 genes found in specialized neuron supporting cells known as tanycytes (and they were hardly the first group to notice this association).  Specifically, when they injected rats with bacterial lipopolysaccharide, the D2 activity in the tanycytes was turned on, and since these glial cells are adjacent neighbours to the TRH neurons we would expect the local T3 concentration in the TRH neurons to be higher.  This in turn is going to down-regulate TSH production by the pituitary gland, as well as the other hormones the TRH neurons innervate (prolactin, oxytocin, and arginine vasopressin).

My take: A response to local inflammation down-regulates TSH production, which down-regulates thyroid activity.  This is relevant to me because my allergies caused local inflammations.

A bacterial infection in close proximity to the hypothalamus could result in down-regulation of TSH and hence T4 levels.  If an infection lasts a long time, then overall T4 levels may be depleted over time and become depressed compared to normal.  This is especially so because the rest of the body’s D2 will also increase T4 to T3 conversion as a result of inflammatory signals triggered by the infection, thus depleting the T4 reservoir in the blood stream while simultaneously the thyroid is signaled to produce less T4.

A bacterial infection, he says.  How about an allergen that similarly causes an immune response?  (He only mentions viruses and chronic bacterial infections.)

On celiac disease:

One of the more interesting associations of lymphocytic hypophysitis appears to be with celiac disease.  If you are familiar with gluten sensitivity, you are probably aware that there are some idiopathic forms (i.e. those without known pathologies).  An Italian group found that some 40 % of newly diagnosed celiac patients had anti-pituitary antibodies in their blood serum and it resulted in at minimum growth hormone deficiency (Delvecchio, 2010 and my post on the subject).

On iodine :

However, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there is a strong body of research out there that shows that removing iodine from the diet can arrest hypothyroidism so I would caution people against taking large doses of iodine without being aware of the potential for an adverse outcome (Kasagi, 2003 and Yoon, 2003).

Edit: Note, author says on the above: “It’s probably important to note that with regards to iodine, it’s people with Hashimoto’s (autoimmune) thyroiditis who may get relief by removing iodine from the diet, but they presumably still need to be treated with T4.”

He also says that hypothyroid people should probably avoid goitrogens, which affirms my suspicion.

My main concern in this case is that soy (and other goitrogens) might actually induce autoimmune disease.  If genistein binds irreversibly to TPO, it will change the shape/conformation of the TPO somewhat.  If you are unlucky, a receptor on an immune B cell may then recognize the misshapen TPO as a foreign body and launch an autoimmune attack on the thyroid gland.  This is the ‘superantigen’ hypothesis from autoimmunity theory.  The positive news to take from this hypothesis, if you remove the goitrogen, then the autoimmunity should also go away (given half a year or more for the gland to start to heal assuming it hasn’t been completely obliterated by the immune system).

Soy milk as a child?  Hmm.

On T4 and deiodinases (new concept to me!):

The D2 story is probably the most important from the point of view of a euthyroid sick syndrome. This is because local T3 concentrations in major tissues are determined by the local gene expression of the deiodinases, and not by blood T3 levels (Kohrle, 2000).  This is the reason for the heavy emphasis on circulating T4 in testing for thyroid disorders.  Thus the two principle requirements for maintaining a normal body temperature are: [1] Sufficiently high concentration of circulating T4 in the blood. [2] Proper gene expression of the deiodinases.

On fasting:

From my reading of many of the articles relating to the deiodinases it does seem clear that fasting will decrease thermogenesis (Coppola, 2005) and in particular serum T3 decreases, but should only do so in a transitory fashion. [...] For most people, fasting remains a good was to restore heath to a damaged liver but if you have low T3 blood levels avoid fasting as a weight-loss technique.

On fructose:

Overall, Mendel’s results were negative for a binding inhibitor but some other research has suggested that free-fatty acids (FFA) as a possible culprit (Chopra, 1986). Recall that free-fatty acids are often a product of a fatty liver overburdened with fructose intake.

A few other things he suggests, I paraphrase:

  • Selenium assists T4->active T3 conversion.
  • T2 is totally inactive.
  • The liver is largely responsible for T4->T3 conversion.
  • If a person has normal T4 but a low basal temperature, the problem isn’t the thyroid.
  • “This underscores a point that I would like to make: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis may have consequences that extend outside of the thyroid in a large minority of patients, so if T4 replacement therapy doesn’t provide relief for symptoms, then there may be problems upstream or downstream of the thyroid gland. Autoimmune diseases have a tendency to cluster.”
  • Usefully, he describes that in hypopituitarism, Addison’s/ ACTH deficiency is more common than TSH deficiency, so it’s something I should check.  He also notes that Hashimoto’s and hypopituitarism are correlated.
Posted in Health | 6 Comments

My ferritin test results

By Adam Thompson | Published: April 7, 2010

I had a Ferritin blood test done yesterday for $45 via https://www.mymedlab.com/.  My purpose was to ensure that, as my desiccated thyroid dose is raised to 3+ grains, I’m treating the right symptoms.  Low Ferritin can mess up thyroid treatment.  I was a likely candidate for low Ferritin because of my untreated Celiac disease.

Surprisingly, my result is “336″.  The normal range is listed as 22-322.  That puts me on the high end of normal.  I read more about high Ferritin levels, and my level is no problem.

My above-average level is probably caused by my diet, which is almost all red meats (high in iron), and my heavy use of cast iron for cooking my meat.  I may try a different kind of pan, much as I love my cast iron.

I also found sources saying that high Ferritin can go along with hypothyroidism, so that might be another reason it’s high.  I’m not going to worry about it, but I’ll test it at least yearly.

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Food sensitivity discovery & self-diagnosing

By Adam Thompson | Published: April 6, 2010

I’m going to describe how I do discovery, diagnosis, and knowledge-seeking for my own health.

I am not a medical practitioner or professional, and this advice is only based on my personal experience and knowledge. I am speaking only of my own experiences. You should consult medical professionals about your health.

This is related to my personal health post:
http://adamthompson.org/blog/health/summary-of-my-health/

How to start

I’m 26 now. I’ve had my allergies and intolerances my whole life, but didn’t realize I had them until 8 months ago. The reason I didn’t discover them sooner is actually philosophical. Prior to becoming an atheist and then an Objectivist three years ago, I was raised as a Christian. I was taught, and partially accepted, that suffering is normal; it’s to be endured, or even celebrated. Christianity also seeks to disconnect the mind from the body, and as a result, I regarded my body as an unimportant attachment to my mind. I was actually suffering very severely under my intolerances, but I simply accepted that as normal and ignored it. There were plenty of signs of my problems, and I consider my parents and doctors at fault for not caring about the signs, but in the end it was my responsibility to take care of myself. I wasn’t taking care of myself.

Objectivism is a selfish, happiness-seeking philosophy. After becoming an Objectivist, my focus switched from others to myself. About a year ago, I realized that my health was really uncomfortable. I chose to fix it, selfishly, in order to feel good and be happy.

Symptoms

Any form of physical discomfort is a sign of some health problem. If I’m feeling discomfort, it has a cause and it’s probably fixable.

For intolerances, the specific forms of discomfort are: Gas (I think that ANY GAS, EVER, is a sign of intolerance), bloating, growling stomach all the time, pain deep in the navel, loose stool. Loose stool is anything that requires a lot of wiping. When I was a kid, I got into trouble for using too much toilet paper. In fact, I wasn’t just an inherently wasteful person, I had health problems!

For allergies, the discomforts are part of an immune response and can include: Acne, itchy skin, hives, nervousness followed by exhaustion, sensitive gums, sensitive lips, irritated/loose-feeling teeth, itchy throat, lots of mucus, runny/stuffed nose, watery eyes, sore muscles. In extreme cases: Nausea, sickness, asthma, lightheadedness. In severe cases, these symptoms can turn into deadly anaphylaxis. Get an Epi-pen if you have these symptoms.

Allergic symptoms will appear while eating the food and a few hours afterward (acne and exhaustion can last 1-2 days). Intolerance will mess up digestion immediately or within 24 hours. Gluten and casein intolerance are probably the worst; with more than a trace amount of gluten I have inner navel pain within 5 minutes, and destroyed digestion and exhaustion for 5 days.

Fact-finding

Each time I feel a symptom I don’t know about, the first thing I do is Google it. Type in whatever information you have that’s relevant. Use double quotes around terms (so it doesn’t treat the words in the term as separate words). ‘I have itchy skin’ returns results about allergies. Now you know it may be an allergy. Did you just eat onion? ‘”itchy skin” onions’ returns results specifically about onion allergies. Sometimes, when reading the results, you’ll realize a better thing to search for, or a more proper term for something. ‘onion allergy’ will get you even better info about onion allergy. You’ll discover that onions are an ‘allium’. ‘allium allergy’ will now give you quite specialized results. Do a lot of skimming, and read anything that’s good. Take anecdotes on forums with a huge grain of salt, but they can still be very useful for making correlations. If you’re serious about a subject, start looking into the actual scientific studies.

Any time someone mentions something you want to know about, Google it. Curious about all this iodine supplementation? “iodine supplementation”, “supplementing iodine”. If you find a particularly good resource, remember it. Whenever I Google about various vitamins, I end up reading the same awesome website. Now I check that website first, before Googling about vitamins. This is how you come to know the best resources on the web.

Be careful that you don’t treat correlation as causation. Anecdotes, real medical studies, many “facts”, and even your own body’s symptoms and reactions may indicate correlations that are not actually causal. Correlations can be useful to know about, but they are not the same as causations. I find I must beware of this constantly.

Testing foods

The clearest way to know whether you can have something in your diet is to test it. Be careful, because a severe allergy can kill you. Shellfish is my worst allergy, and if I ate a whole lobster, I bet I’d end up in the hospital. Eggs just make my skin itchy and are no problem to test. Note that allergic reactions can change in nature over time; in 10 years, maybe eggs will be dangerous to me. Don’t test severe allergies; you already know you have them.

Go to an allergist first; you can get a skin prick test for many allergens at once. These tests are not definitive, but they’re a good starting point and guide to your potential allergies.  You can also get immune response blood tests

Once you begin self-testing, you’ll want to test foods one at a time, and not have to re-test. The best way to accomplish this is:

  1. Go on a diet that certainly contains none of your allergens. The best diet for this is a form of paleo: An all-meat diet. You’ll want a diet that’s literally just fat and meat. I mean, nothing else. No salt (unless you start to feel dehydrated). No drinks. Nothing else. Veggies and fruits are optional; they’re the first foods you’ll try, but before trying them you’ll be on a meat-only diet. You could avoid this type of diet, but it’s a healthy diet, only temporary, and it’ll make finding your intolerances very quick and easy. (It’s missing certain micro-nutrients, which is why you’ll want to add fruits and veggies.) For this diet, you’ll need to do your own cooking. The first 2 weeks will be an exhausting metabolism switch to fats and proteins instead of carbs. After that, you can begin testing and adding foods.
    1. Edit April 7, 2010: I’ve heard convincing arguments that allergies can be related to ‘leaky gut’, which is an intolerance, usually of gluten and other things.  This makes it even more important to be on an all-meat diet for at least a couple of weeks before beginning allergen self-testing.
  2. Test one pure food at a time, waiting long enough between foods that the symptoms from one are gone before testing another. Note that intolerances and allergies have independent symptoms and timing; therefore, you can test both at once if you’re in a hurry. Try one allergen per day. Try one intolerance every 4 or 7 days. If you have an allergic reaction the day you try the allergen, you’re allergic to that. If your digestion falls apart when trying the intolerance, you’re intolerant of it; wait until your digestion is back to normal (4-7 days) then try another. Test pure foods; testing “Bob’s spaghetti sauce” is really time-inefficient, because it contains 6 ingredients, and if you’re allergic to ANY of them, you’ll have to test them all separately anyway and you just wasted a day.
  3. Re-test important foods that will require major life changes, like gluten, eggs, etc. Anything that’s super-important to you should be re-tested at least once. For me, this was coffee, chocolate, gluten, rice, etc.

Treatment

Using all the information you find about symptoms, start reading about how to treat the root problem. Design a treatment for yourself.

If you have a good doctor and/or allergiest, you can go to them with the information you’ve learned and they’ll either agree with your treatment, or offer good reasons why they have a superior treatment. If your doctor doesn’t seem to know about your problem, he should be willing to learn. If he rejects facts that you’ve carefully verified yourself, either take control of the relationship (not a great solution) or change doctors.

In many cases, ‘treatment’ is simple, such as “stop eating onions”. Note that many processed foods contain other foods. By ‘processed foods’ I mean absolutely anything that’s not raw and pure. Sea salt contains shellfish proteins. Almost all spaghetti sauce contains onion. The ingredient “natural flavors” can contain a huge number of different things. Gluten is almost always unlabeled. Frito-lay corn chips contain gluten because they’re processed on the same lines. Most packaged unflavored bacon contains spices and sugar. Etc. The best way to discover this, before eating it, is to Google it. The second best way is to call the company who produces the food, but that’s a huge pain, and they don’t always know (or they’re just wrong). ‘does soy sauce contain gluten’ reveals that some types do, some don’t. ‘do van camps beans contain gluten’ is also helpful.

Doing all this can be difficult, but if the comfort is worth it to you, you’ll love the results.

Posted in Health | 2 Comments

Summary of my health

By Adam Thompson | Published: April 6, 2010

Introduction

In August of 2009 I became serious about improving my health.  I’ve made great progress, which I’ll summarize now.

I am not a medical professional, nor have I consulted one, so this is all a non-professional self-diagnosis.  However, my epistemological approach is very strict, and I’m betting my life on my correct judgment.  If you have any questions about my reasons for anything I’m doing, I can answer them.

I currently weigh 150 pounds, am 26 years old, don’t smoke or drink, and have no other known complications.  I’m a software developer.

Known intolerances

  • Gluten (critical) (Celiac disease)
  • Casein (and maybe lactose) (includes milk, butter, yogurt, cheese)
  • Soy
  • Corn and all other grains I’ve tried
  • Legumes
  • Nightshades, especially tomatoes and peppers
  • Xanthan Gum (this is in fact a common intolerance/laxative)
  • Saurkraut
  • Coconut
  • Coffee
  • Chocolate
  • I avoid goitrogenic vegetables for thyroid reasons.

Known allergies

  • Shellfish
  • Eggs
  • Onion, garlic, and probably all “Allium”
  • Banana
  • Honey
  • Many spices
  • Fish oil, all types (shellfish traces)
  • Sea salt (shellfish traces)
  • Seafood like salmon (shellfish traces)
  • Nori / seaweed (shellfish traces)
  • Potato (very mild)

Diet

I am now on an all-meat version of a paleo diet. I designed my diet myself.  My goal is to maintain my health, not to lose weight.  Note that I’ve always had a ‘skinny’ body type and fast metabolism.

Sometimes, I eat nothing but meat and its fat for 2 weeks at a time.  Importantly, I consume all the fat in the meats I cook.  I also eat organ meats, mainly liver and heart. Most days, I literally just eat beef. I eat 1-3 meals per day, and I do not count calories; whenever I get fairly hungry, I eat as much as I can comfortably. If I eat too often, I find my digestion gets worse. If I wait too long to eat, I crash for the next 8 hours after eating. I do not fast.

Daily:

  • Beef or Lamb: ~3 pounds, organic, grass-fed, ~75% lean, ground.  Beef and lamb are superior to other meats for this type of diet, because they’re more fatty and nutritious.
  • Bacon: 1 package (8oz) organic, uncured, unseasoned.
  • Raspberries: 1 small carton occasionally.
  • Stew: Sometimes, when I go shopping, I get ~4 pounds of the fattiest beef I can find, some liver and other organ meats, and some broccoli. Organ meats are important on a meat diet.
  • Apples: Every few weeks, I eat a few apples. They’re a great snack; no prep, fairly healthy. They have fructose; I consider it no problem if this is my only small source.
  • Duck and chicken: When I feel like doing more cooking, I buy one whole and roast it, eating all the skin, fat, and organs.
  • Chicken, turkey, etc.: These are good occasionally, but much less nutriet-dense than beef, and less fatty.
  • Salt: I use Himilayan rock salt. Unlike sea salt, no shellfish traces, yet still has trace minerals.

When first starting this diet, my body was hungry and tired for the first two weeks.  This is the time it needed to adjust from metabolizing carbohydrates to metabolizing fat and protein.

According to my research, I’m pretty sure this diet has all the micronutrients I need.  I also take some supplements, but my goal is to phase them out, once blood tests show my nutrition is good.  See below for my supplements.

Cooking

  • Stew: I take fatty beef and broccoli, put it in a crock pot for 6 hours on high, and end with a 100% edible, fatty, delicious stew. Lasts 1-3 days. Cooking the broccoli eliminates some of its goitrogenic effects. Drinking the hot stew is a great coffee replacement!  I intend to add bones to this recipe soon.
  • I cook ground beef using a small pre-seasoned cast-iron pan. To reseason, I found the simplest way is to open the windows, coat the pan in oil (I use canola or olive), and leave the burner on high until it’s smoking heavily.
  • I cook my ground beef at fairly low heat; high heat seems to ruin the digestibility of the fat/grease.
  • When I have lettuce, I use it as a “bun” for the meat. This really adds a lot.
  • Sometimes I make burgers, sometimes I just make cooked ground beef (kind of like hamburger helper). I eat both with a fork unless I’m using lettuce buns.
  • I don’t use spices, seasonings, or anything like that. Only what’s listed here. Sometimes I add a little salt.

Supplements

I’m trying to simplify my supplement intake. I’ve replaced vitamin D supplementation of 4000IU with 15-30 minutes of daily sunlight (when available). Selenium will be replaced with liver.

I still supplement:

  • Solgar VM-75 multi (morning)
  • 400mg Magnesium Citrate (morning, evening)
  • 1000mg Calcium Citrate (mid-day)
  • Solgar “B-Complex” (evening)
  • 1 tsp salt daily (morning, evening). This is for aldosterone adrenal support.
  • 15mg iodine daily (down from my initial 25mg). This is for thyroid support.

Exercise

I just read the best fitness book I’ve ever found: Body By Science by Doug McGuff, M.D. and John Little.  Everyone should read this book.  McGuff says about his philosophy of life:

Well I think, much like Mike Mentzer, I find the philosophy of Objectivism to be very compelling. And I subscribe to it basically because reality exists, and reality existed long before I got here. I think existence precedes consciousness and in order to be successful in the world in a true sense you have to pay attention to reality and reality’s response to your actions. And if you’re not doing that you’re not going to get the best results out of life possible.

His book’s quality reflects this view.

Using it as a guide, two weeks ago I began high-intensity, to-exhaustion workouts and sprints about once per week. (Note BBS does not advise doing sprints, but I love them.)  I LOVE this format. This is a huge discovery for me. I always loved fast workouts and hated “cardio”. I always hated the idea of working out every day, and I could never do it. Weekly exhaustive workouts suits me wonderfully! It’s something I love doing, now. It’s like a sport. I lift in a gym and sprint along a nearby road using Vibram Five Fingers.

Doing this workout weekly, and then recovering for a week, not only has the science behind it presented in BBS, it also feels right.

Food sources

I order most of my meat online, because it’s a pain to go shopping every 3 days for fresh meat, and grass-fed meat is cheaper online than at Whole Foods. There are no other good butchers near me. I do shop at Whole Foods for other items, like my raspberries, apples, bacon, broccoli, supplements, and occasional meats. Everything I eat is ‘organic’.

Here’s a site listing local meat sources:
http://www.eatwild.com/products/

I’m currently experimenting with many grass-fed, organic beef sources. I’ve liked U.S. Wellness Meats, but their beef has an unusual flavor. I want to see what others taste like:
http://www.grasslandbeef.com/
http://www.alderspring.com/store/page3.html
http://www.goodearthfarms.com/Order%20Form.htm
http://www.texasgrassfedbeef.com/beef_cuts_and_prices.htm
http://www.beyondorganicgrassfedbeef.com/products.html
http://www.grassorganic.com/c-10-beef.aspx
http://www.rossfarm.com/beef/price.html
http://www.certified-organic-beef.com/index.php/vmchk/ORGANIC-GRASS-FED-GROUND-BEEF/Organic-Grass-fed-85-Lean-Ground-Beef-Patties/Detailed-product-flyer.html
http://www.rockymtncuts.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/23?osCsid=2nbu5ula22bbi3uohkk2u5qnr0
http://www.prairiepridepork.com/products/index.php?catid=20
http://www.grassfedtraditions.com/grass_fed_beef.htm

Restaurants

I’ve given up on restaurants. If I meet at one for family or business, I just refrain from eating. If it’s a nice restaurant, I might try to order some pure meat, like a steak. However, usually it’s cooked on the same grill as spiced (read: gluten) meats, shellfish, etc., or they add sauce against my orders (“it’s just steak sauce!” = soy, gluten), or it touched the same spatula as bread buns. In cases where I can sense the contamination, I just don’t eat the dish. I would only eat at a restaurant by choice if I were literally starving. I would rather fast for 3 days than risk restaurant food. They are so damn unknowledgable about what’s actually in their food.

I’ve significantly changed my plans and lifestyle to accommodate my health needs.

Travel

I haven’t had to travel more than a day yet, but I have some plans.

  • <3 days: If I can keep food cool, and reheat it, I can refrigerate pre-cooked meat that will last for about 3 days. By car, that means I must have a a car-fridge, and a car-microwave or gas stations with microwaves. By plane/hotel, that means I need a hotel with a fridge and microwave. No problem. For non-refrigerated stints, like the plane ride, Thermos’ vacuum-sealed lunch containers are the best option.
  • 4+ days: I’m going to need to be able to cook meat. This means I’ll need a kitchen, a mini-stove (like a camping stove), or a plug-in single electric stove, and a pan. (I’ve heard of microwave dishes that create little ovens…I might try that.) I’ll have to transport my meat frozen in fairly large quantities (12+ pounds!), or have it delivered to my destination, or find local suppliers. I can cook in a hotel, roadside at a park, or whatever.

So for example, if I were going to Telluride for 10 days, and there were no local food supplier, I would:

  • Bring 30 lbs of frozen beef in a cooler, or order it to be shipped to my destinaton hotel.
  • Have a hotel room with at least a fridge and microwave; or ideally, a kitchen!
  • Each morning, I’d cook 3 lbs of beef in my hotel room. I’d eat, put half the remainder in the fridge for dinner, and the rest hot in a vacuum container for lunch.

Thyroid and adrenals

I’ve self-diagnosed myself as having hypothyroid and adrenal exhaustion, after extremely extensive reading and self-testing. It could be genetics, organ problems, celiac malnutrition, or exhaustion caused by previous allergies.  I’ve had the symptoms my whole life.  This is something I do want professional advice on, so I’ll get that when I can afford to. I have a prescription for dessicated thyroid.

I’m currently on:

  • 3 grains of Naturethroid (the best brand in my opinion). I divide this over 5 doses per day. I’m still raising the dosage, as my temps are low and I still have some hypo symptoms. This has had a huge beneficial effect for me. I don’t even have to set a timer for dosing, I know I’m late because I start to feel the old exhaustion.
  • 30mg cortisol (using Isocort, which actually supplies the entire adrenal cortex, which I think is preferable in my case to cortisol-only). I’m being very cautious with this. I also divide this over 5 doses. This also has had a huge beneficial effect on my energy, as well as on the stability of my temperature.

I take these separately from my other supplements because otherwise they can interfere with each other.

My body temps average 97.3 now, up from 96.5 when I started, are still rising, and are FAR more stable (a result of the cortisol). My energy level is now also constant during the day, and I’m more sleepy at night. I am absolutely certain that the treatment I’m trying is helping me.

Cheapest Isocort source: http://www.nutraexpress.com/bezwecken-isocort-240-pellets.aspx
Best initial knowledge resource: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

Knowledge resources

  • http://www.modernpaleo.com/
  • http://groups.google.com/group/oevolve/
  • http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/
  • Many, many resources found via Google.
  • I don’t read any blogs, but I’ve taken a few recommendations from OEvolve this week, and started following a few blogs on RSS.

Also see my upcoming post about discovering food sensitivities.

I may edit this post to keep it updated with new information.

Posted in Health, Personal | 4 Comments

Purpose of this blog

By Adam Thompson | Published: March 25, 2010

Welcome

My purpose here is to publish my ideas and updates about topics that interest me.  I will discuss what I’m doing, knowledge I discover, ideas I have, analysis of other people’s ideas, significant events, and more.

Because I have such diverse interests, this blog is strictly categorized.  Readers can read and subscribe exclusively to their categories of interest.  Email and RSS subscriptions are available.

Categories

  1. Virtual Worlds: I’m a professional game developer.  My particular interest is virtual worlds as games.  I’ll post about games, design, development, technology, projects, ideas, and more.  Game design and development is the focus of my life, both professionally and for fun.
  2. Philosophy: I’m an Objectivist.  I don’t have an academic interest in philosophy, but I do think about it a lot, and many of my other interests are related to Objectivism because of the importance of the ideas.  Philosophy is my primary hobby.
  3. Web Apps: I own a web consulting business, plus I have a strong secondary interest in web applications.  I’m very experienced with building web apps.  I also have a lot of ideas about what should be built, and how it should be built.  I intend to post a lot about web app technologies.
  4. Health: I’m healthy and have always made an effort to be.  However, I recently learned that I’m gluten intolerant, lactose/casein intolerant, soy intolerant, legume intolerant, and allergic to a slew of foods starting with eggs, seafood, and many other things.  I’m currently on a meat-only diet.  I’m also a candidate for diabetes and thyroid issues.  I’ll be posting about my explorations into all of these problems.
  5. Personal: For family and close friends, who are interested in my public personal life.  I’ll be posting about decisions, events, trips, and such.

Enjoy!

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