Elle Russ chats with thyroid patient advocate and author Janie A. Bowthorpe M.Ed, who suffered at the hands of doctors for 20 years. Why? They failed to see the connection between her chronic and debilitating symptoms and forcing her body to live for conversion alone, aka T4-only like Synthroid. The examining room responses were always along the lines of “You are normal” and “It’s something else besides your thyroid”. All the latter meant money down the drain, frustrating and false pronouncements by doctors, along with painful tests, dead ends, and the dark realization she would finally have to apply for Social Security Disability.
But Bowthorpe proved them all wrong in 2002. She switched to Natural Desiccated Thyroid, raised and found her optimal amount, and every single debilitating symptom went completely away. That change spurred her to create the movement later called Stop the Thyroid Madness, aka STTM.
What makes the Stop the Thyroid Madness movement different from other websites and books? It's near totally about 17 years of reported patient experiences in getting well, and the wisdom gained from those experiences. Janie is the author of three great books: The 2019 updated revision of Stop the Thyroid Madness: A Patient Revolution Against Decades of Inferior Thyroid Treatment - this book compiles all the patient wisdom in getting well and is often called the bible of patient experiences. Hashimoto's: Taming the Beast for those with the autoimmune Hashimoto's disease. Another patient-to-patient book, telling you first about Hashimotos, references to plenty of research, all the ways gut health issues can impact one's issues, and moves into several patient-to-patient information about frustrations, how foods affect different patients, better ways to eat, and 96 short testimonies how how Hashi's patients are taming the beast successfully. And lastly, Stop the Thyroid Madness II: How Thyroid Experts are Challenging Ineffective Treatments and Improving the Lives of Patients (aka STTM II). Each chapter contributed by a practitioner.
SELECTED LINKS
The website is https://stopthethyroidmadness.com
facebook page https://www.facebook.com/StoptheThyroidMadness/
