Arem - The thyroid solution: a revolutionary mind-body program for regaining your emotional and physical health

This book has had a profound impact on the way I think, on how I see patients, and on my perception of the connection between the brain and hormones. If youre a woman, get this book. If youre a man with a woman in your life, get this book. If youre a man, get this book. The idea isget this book.

M ONA L ISA S CHULZ , M.D., P H .D.
Author of Awakening Intuition

Practical advice helpful right down to the appended reading list The thyroid can affect both body and mind. [Dr.] Arem writes clearly about how the gland can disturb a person and personal relationships. He relays much useful information.

Booklist

Dr. Arem provides solid explanations for symptoms of hypothyroidism in patients with normal blood levels of thyroid hormones and particularly addresses the needs of women who have thyroid and hormonal disorders.

G ILLIAN F ORD
Author of Listening to Your Hormones and The Link Between Thyroid and Depression

This book will be of tremendous help to the many people with thyroid disease and residual depressive symptoms. Dr. Arem elegantly addresses the important interplay of thyroidology and psychiatry.

L AUREN M ARANGELL , M.D.
Baylor College of Medicine

The Thyroid Solution presents a new and interesting perspective on the interaction between the thyroid gland and the brain. The text draws upon the deep clinical experience of the author that provides vivid personal examples.

E. C HESTER R IDGEWAY , M.D.
Head, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes The University of Colorado Health Sciences Center

The case histories included in this book are based on the authors experience with his patients, although patients names and personal information have been changed to protect their privacy. The opinions and recommendations in this book are those solely of the author. Baylor College of Medicine and affiliated teaching hospitals share no responsibility whatsoever for the writing or publication of any portion of this book. The information contained in the book is provided for educational purposes only. You need to seek the advice of your health care professional before you use any recommendation found in this book.

2007 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback Edition

Copyright 1999, 2007 by Ridha Arem, M.D.

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B ALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Originally published in hardcover in different form in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., in 1999.

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Arem, Ridha.
The thyroid solution : a mind-body program for beating depression and regaining your emotional and physical health / Ridha Arem.1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-83316-7
1. Thyroid glandDiseasesPopular works. 2. Thyroid glandDiseasesComplications. 3. Depression, Mental. 4. Mind and body therapies.

RC655.A68 1999
616.44dc21 00500872

www.ballantinebooks.com

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PREFACE TO THE 2007 EDITION

A t the time that the first edition of this book was released, patients suffering from thyroid imbalance, whether or not they had been diagnosed, had very limited resources to learn about their condition and understand and validate their symptoms and suffering. Millions of thyroid patients throughout the world were misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and made to feel like their symptoms were all in their heads. The link between thyroid imbalance and mood disorders, including depression, and the role played by thyroid hormone in regulating mood, emotions, behavior, appetite, and womens hormonal health were seldom expressed in books or by the media.

Some thyroid patients chatted on the Internet, sharing their experience to try to understand their symptoms, and refused to believe that they were crazy. Books about thyroid disorders basically chronicled the symptoms and signs of the conditions in a medical-textbook format, without describing the real-life issues and challenges faced by thyroid patients, or providing ways to understand and cure thyroid imbalance.

When The Thyroid Solution was first published, I received thousands of e-mails from patients throughout the world, thanking me for writing the book. I continue to hear how it has changed the lives of so many people suffering from thyroid disorders. Because my vision on the impact of thyroid imbalance on a persons health and life, and my comprehensive and futuristic approach to caring for thyroid patients is beyond what has been taught by conventional medicine, many conventional doctors, including endocrinologists, expressed some disagreement with my vision and approachand I was expecting this.

Over time, however, increasing numbers of these physicians have come to understand my vision and to adopt my successful approach in caring for thyroid patients. Increasingly, thyroid patients are not treated based on laboratory testing only. More doctors now listen carefully to their patients symptoms and are more aware that suffering may linger even after blood tests become normal with treatment. More doctors show compassion and provide more ways to alleviate the symptoms. But despite the progress we have witnessed, it is still not enough.

Since the first edition of this book, I have gained more knowledge from both the patients I cared for and from the expanding medical research published in the past few years. The first edition had triggered a great interest among colleague researchers in understanding further how the thyroid system affects our health and physical and mental well being, and in validating further the benefits of the comprehensive mind-body approach to treating patients suffering from a thyroid imbalance. Major advances have been made in recent years in recognizing the importance of healthy nutrition, the use of mind-body techniques, the consumptions of vitamins and antioxidants, and the fine tuning of medications while caring for thyroid patients. We now know more about the link between thyroid disorders and other autoimmune conditions such as pituitary dysfunction, growth hormone deficiency, fibromyalgia, and adrenal insufficiency, to name but a few. We now know more about female hormonal issues and how they are affected by the thyroid gland, about the benefits of hormonal treatments, and about how to use hormonal replacement therapy. We also know more about how weight is regulated, how the thyroid system affects the complex regulation of appetite and metabolism, and how thyroid patients can win the weight battle. We have gained more knowledge in the field of depression, anxiety, and mood-swing disorders, and the relationship between these disorders and the thyroid system. Many newer medications and treatment methods have become available to treat mental disorders, which the thyroid patient needs to know about. We also know more about what triggers and perpetuates autoimmune reactions on the thyroid, the roles of stress, environment, and vitamins and antioxidants in maintaining thyroid health. The physicians who care for thyroid patients now know that we should treat not only the thyroid and merely correct blood tests but also provide the best support possible to both the immune system and the mind.