Richard Shames - Thyroid Mind Power: The Proven Cure for Hormone-Related Depression, Anxiety, and Memory Loss

The story of how I came to collaborate with Drs. Rich and Karilee Shames began with my own bout of mysterious illness in 2001.

Looking back, I was probably moderately hypothyroid since childhood, experiencing symptoms such as inordinate depression and fatigue, while most other kids were bouncing happily around the neighborhood.

My hands and feet were always, and I mean always, unexplainably cold. Because my father had similar symptoms, I figured it was just genetic and did my best to cope through the early part of my life.

When my forties came around, however, it was a different story. Suddenly, I gained more than 20 pounds on my slender frame without explanation. I was so exhausted I could barely get through the day and would lapse into comalike naps every chance I got.

I felt so depressed and anxious I cried and worried obsessively every day.

So much of my hair fell out I actually had nightmares about it, while my hands and feet constantly felt like I had been thrown into a meat locker for a day.

Totally desperate, I consulted with many of my medical colleagues. I was tested for everything from anemia to leukemia, but to no avail.

Having heard somewhere that weight gain could be caused by low thyroid, I asked for thyroid testing. The singular standard TSH test came back within normal limits. Perhaps like many of you reading this, I was assured that there was absolutely nothing wrong with my thyroid.

Chalking my plethora of perplexing symptoms up to stress, and my slowing metabolism to age, my well-meaning colleagues dismissed meshockingly and completely. I was still so sick.

Sensing on a gut level that my thyroid was making me ill, I resorted to reading every book on the subject at Barnes and Noble. I thank my lucky stars that the Shamess book Thyroid Power was one of them, because there began my healing journey.

Based on their evaluation and suggestions, I concluded that I was indeed hypothyroid and requested additional tests. I was shocked back then at the resistance of my conventional medical colleagues (including acquaintances and friends) to simply order further testing.

They insisted the TSH test was exquisitely sensitive and that I (of course) was being stubborn.

If it hadnt been for the Shamess book, I might have given up. Finally, I was able to convince one colleague to give me the two thyroid antibody tests, which came back grossly abnormal.

Amazingly, even then my lovely primary care physician insisted the tests did not mean I was hypothyroid! After much arguing and begging, she prescribed the lowest dose of Synthroid, and the rest, shall we say, is history.

On the second day of taking medication, it was as though the heavens opened up for me. I opened my eyes without a struggle for the first time in months. A diagnosis of Hashimotos thyroiditis eventually followed.

With the change to a T3/T4 medication (also endorsed by Dr. Shames) and a significant dosage increase, I was back to myself again within a few months. My depression and obsessive worrying had disappeared; my energy level had rebounded, in generous supply.

Happily, I returned to my normal weight, managing to fit back into my clothes with a deep sense of relief. There was so much that improved, it seemed impossible that one little pill could make such a huge difference. I had at last regained the Self I hadnt been since I was 11 years old.

My thyroid cure was radically life changing on many levels. I became an enthusiastic advocate of mind-body healing, both in my own life and in my practice.

I began to focus on this overlooked role of thyroid issues in psychological health. Over the next 10 years, I eventually identified more than 200 cases of hidden hypothyroidism that had been causing persistent mental symptoms in my patients, colleagues, friends, and family members.

The greatest stories of all belong to our patients. All too often they had wandered from one therapist to another in the seemingly endless struggle to figure out what was wrong with them. Now, many are finally doing much better with good thyroid care.

Regards and best wishes for your success as well,
Sam Von Reiche, PsyD,
Clinical Psychologist and Success Coach
Clifton, New Jersey

We are exceedingly grateful to the large number of people involved in bringing our thyroid work to publication. We especially want to thank:

• Our devoted colleagues and hardworking staff at the Preventive Medicine Center of Marin in San Rafael, California
• Those many openhearted and insightful patients who have offered us their feedback and inspiration
• The researchers and epidemiologists who are diligently uncovering the many interconnections in this complex field
• Faith Hamlin, our amazing agent at Sanford Greenberger Associates, for her continued focus on key health issues
• Shannon Welch, our delightful editor at Rodale Inc., for her remarkable clarity and support and Stephanie Knapp, Editorial Assistant
• Georgia Kahn, this books manuscript consultant, for her careful adherence to detail and deadlines
• Lynn Larkin, dedicated Canary Club founder (www.CanaryClub.org), for helping many thyroid sufferers to finally get their true diagnosis
• Mary Shomon, thyroid advocate par excellence, for her open-hearted support of our efforts
• Brian Narelle, master cartoonist, who brings ideas into form (NarelleCreative.net [inactive]; )

You may be shocked to discover how thyroid balance affects your mind.

When some of the 40 million Americans with thyroid imbalance manage to see endocrine doctors, these specialists are not at all surprised to find symptoms of depression, anxiety, memory loss, sleep problems, or even excessive cravings. Such symptoms are commonly a direct mental result of the thyroids effect on brain chemistry.

These psychological symptoms often resolve with good thyroid care.

But when the majority of these same 40 million, with their same mental symptoms, see primary care practitioners, something different happens.

They are often given a mental diagnosis, prescribed an antidepressant medicine, and referred to a psychiatrist.

This is even more likely if the causative thyroid problem is not the kind that shows up easily on one simple, overrated blood test. Researchers estimate that half of all thyroid problems are undiagnosed.

Misdiagnosing thyroid imbalance as a mental problem is quite costly.

• Expensive psychological medicines and lengthy psychotherapy can never fully resolve the underlying physical issue of gland dysfunction.
• Missing the true diagnosis can lead to years of untreated hyper- or hypothyroidism.
• This in turn leads to increased amounts of diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, and infertility.

All of thisand morewould greatly improve if practitioners and patients alike could just be more aware of the commonly occurring thyroid connection to mental health.