[Hilda]

Have to go for bloodwork today, and just wanted to post a reminder to stock up on your meds!
If you take estrogen, or BC pill, etc try to get a prescription for as much as they'll give you. I take thyroid myself, and going without it is very bad.

Anyone know of ways to derive things like estrogen or thyroid from natural sources?
I know a lot of children in the area where I grew up ended-up developing some type of thyroid disease later on in life due to the butchers' throwing the cow's thyroid gland into the ground beef mixture we all ate [a lot of]. I'd presume, one could consume an animals gland (?)

 

[Cunucu Beach]

There are soy products on the market that claim to help with estrogen deficiencies but I don't know how effective they are. If it's just hot flashes that bother you black cohosh and daimiana might be helpful. As for thyroid, see if you can get your doctor to write a prescription for a 90-day supply and keep it aside from your day-to-day supply. That's what I did.

And no, there is no way of getting thyroid hormone from natural sources. Kelp won't help if your thyroid isn't functioning properly.

 

[preparedmama]

I also think that eating a healthy diet and living off the land would do wonders for ALLL of our health.

Wild Yam and Evening Primrose Oil are good to balance hormones.

 

[KarmaBaby]

I also think that eating a healthy diet and living off the land would do wonders for ALLL of our health.

Wild Yam and Evening Primrose Oil are good to balance hormones.

I completely agree with you, a little less McDonalds and a lot more veggies would work wonders. I am referring to myself too, those darn cheeseburgers are addicting. This subject of hormones and medications is something I've thought about and been concerned. I take BC right now and have tried to get more ahead of time; insurance will not allow it. Another thought was what about those pesky problems, let's say yeast infection or other female related issues?

 

[speedofl33t]

Thyroid from natural sources would be like in the olden days... Remove the thyroid gland from the animal (Killed for food) and dry it or whatever they did. There is no herb that will do this. Dosage? I haven't got a faintest idea.

Shelf life on synthroid isn't all that great!

 

[cabingirl]

I have done a lot of reading about low thyriod, I needed to stock up on something for the low thyriod . I found a produce on the web at www.nutri-meds.com
I order this but have not used it yet, still taking Armour thyriod at this time, saving the other for times I have to have it.

 

[speedofl33t]

Do you know the shelf life of the product?

 

[Straight Razor]

Wild Yam and Evening Primrose Oil are good to balance hormones.

Don't you think that should be qualified a bit? The original birth control pills were made from Dioscorea villosa, a famine food that may have led to the fall of the Aztecs. Another yam, Dioscorea bulbifera will make you very sick unless prepared correctly. The bulbils of several species of Dioscorea are toxic because the contain powerful hormones. "Wild Yam" from the health food store is a far cry from the wild yam in the field.

As for Evening Primrose oil that would have to come from the northern variety not the southern, for the southern have near to no oil.

 

[BudgetSurvivalist]

What's the difference between a vitamin and a hormone? You can't make a vitamin.

How do you make a hormone? Don't pay her.

 

[Hilda]

Thyroid from natural sources would be like in the olden days... Remove the thyroid gland from the animal (Killed for food) and dry it or whatever they did. There is no herb that will do this. Dosage? I haven't got a faintest idea.

Shelf life on synthroid isn't all that great!

Yep. Plan to research this in more detail. It's been produced for many years, and there has to be some data out there to go on.

Standardizing (or even a half-a**ed way of making sure you don't OD yourself) the raw material would be extremely difficult. I use the synthetic, but it and the natural both are measured in microgram dosages.

Going without is potentially fatal. I know from experience that even a year without the supplement can cause radical physiological changes.

Guess I've got myself another side-project...

 

[speedofl33t]

If you come up with any exciting data, please share.

 

[Hilda]

Ok, this wasn't too terribly difficult to find info on at all, and thankfully there is a source (pigs) that has a reliable active constituent that could be closely "guesstimated" by weight.:

"... Desiccated thyroid has been described in the United States Pharmacopoeia for nearly a century as: the cleaned, dried, and powdered thyroid gland previously deprived of connective tissue and fat... obtained from domesticated animals that are used for food by man (USP XVI). In the last few decades, pork alone is the usual source. Typically the potency has been specified only by iodine content ("not less than 0.17% and not more than 0.23%") rather than hormonal content or activity. The specifications of the British Pharmacopoeia (BP) are similar.

The best known American brand is Armour. Others include Forest Labs' Naturethroid, Westhroid by Western Research Labs/Time Caps, and Qualitest by Time Caps Labs. Canada's desiccated thyroid is made by Erfa and called simply Thyroid. All consist of desiccated porcine thyroid powder, differing only in the binders and fillers.

All brands contain a mixture of thyroid hormones: T4 (thyroxine), T3 (triiodothyronine) in the proportions usually present in pig thyroids (approximately 80% T4 and 20% T3).

One grain (about 60 mg) of desiccated thyroid contains about 38 mcg of T4 and 9 mcg of T3. Because the preparation is whole thyroid gland, each 60 mg tablet also contains over 59 mg of all of the other constituentsof pork thyroid glands. ..."

So, 60mg of powdered gland yields 38mcg of T4 and 9mcg of T3. I take 100mcg daily as prescribed (80/20 presumed) for example, so now I have some very simple math to do... and then there's the collection of pig glands :xeye:

More questions:

I wonder about drying methods. Slice it up and dehydrate then throw it in a coffee grinder or pestle/mortar?

Sure don't want to choke this stuff down raw, does the gland carry the same health concerns we'd have with raw pork flesh?

Cooking would most likely destroy the active constituents I want, but that's just an uneducated guess - perhaps they're retained (?)


*emphasis mine - Wikipedia "dessicated thyroid extract" for sources and many more references.

 

[cabingirl]

I called and asked what the shelf life is, the lady told me from 2 to 3 years shelf life.

 

[cabingirl]

the product I ordered from www.nutri-meds.com is desiccated porcine thyriod powder

 

[Hilda]

the product I ordered from www.nutri-meds.com is desiccated porcine thyriod powder

And they don't require a prescription as they maintain it's use as a dietary supplement! 90 caps/$22

Can you tell me the strength on it? I could barely make-out what it says on the label. Says 130mg of whole? So using the above math, I would need 3.42 capsules per day to equal 100mcg? Thats about .85 per day. Am I figuring that correctly?
My prescription (levothyroxine) alone costs about .50/day, but when you factor in the doctor visits, lab work, PITA because I hate seeing a doc, and the fact that they won't even prescribe 6 months at a time any more, well worth it imo.

TYVM for the info/link!

 

[DocYoung]

I'd presume, one could consume an animals gland (?)

Heres the problem with this idea. SHTF today, there is no more phones, no more internet.

Where on the animals body is the thyroid gland? What does it look like? How would you find it?

Get where I'm going with that?

Even if you found the animals thyroid gland how long would 1 thyroid gland help you? Would you have enough animals in your AO to survive for a week? month? year? What happens if that animal has a thyroid deficiency? What dose does a thyroid have? How would you regulate the dose?

This idea is a far stretch to say the least.

 

[speedofl33t]

Eh... If you don't know what's the thyroid gland and you plan to kill for food, learn it now! If you eat the glands with no problems to begin with, you might end up with severe sweating, anxiety, high blood pressure and maybe a stroke.

It's something everyone needs to know.

 

[DocYoung]

Eh... If you don't know what's the thyroid gland and you plan to kill for food, learn it now! If you eat the glands with no problems to begin with, you might end up with severe sweating, anxiety, high blood pressure and maybe a stroke.

It's something everyone needs to know.

The point is that the idea is unrealistic.

 

[Hilda]

The point is that the idea is unrealistic.

Not unrealistic at all. Closing-in on practicality, and educating ourselves about SHTF production of a vital supplement is why we're having this discussion.

Fortunately, in the case of thyroid specifically, the whole gland has been used to manufacture supplements for about 50 years, synthetics having gained popularity over the past 15 or so.

Since we have data on the constituents of whole glands, and presuming we know the dose we require via lab analysis, and prescriptions we've received, it's actually pretty easy. If you had read the posts thusfar, you'd see why.

If we can hope for a three-year shelf-life on meds we have available to us today, then we have some time. If we also know the weight of dry gland we need to dose appropriately (at least close) than imo, we are far better off than we would be knowing none of this and going without a vital medication.

I'd wager most folks with a thyroid condition know exactly where the gland is located. Assuming we know what a normal gland in the animal looks like, we also could easily spot one that wasn't working properly for the animal, as it would resemble our own (dessication or goiter for example).

The most important consideration is dose imo. Taking too little would be fine in a survival situation. Going without completely would be very bad. Those with the conditions, again, are familiar with the symptoms of taking too little, we know them all too well. This is a supplement that acts very fast. You will feel a difference in starting the medication on the very first day. Very easy to assess whether you are "getting enough".

Since the data is readily available, and the raw material has been used as-is for years, that is, pig's gland is very similar in amount to that of humans and can pretty safely be used whole, I think we're lucky to have it so easy.

 

[DocYoung]

Have you ever opened up an animal?

What your saying is unrealistic to the point its insane.

Post STHF/EOTWAWKI most will not have a vet on hand to find the thyroid in an animal, a lab clinician to test the thyroids of the various animals (Though I'm sure we will all have a massive farm to sustain 1000's animals need for our life time of one said patient), a chemist to isolate and synthesize the chemicals needed. Thats not including trails and follow up care. It is much more complex then you are giving it credit for.

Yes, there are specialist which can do these things but its a team of many members of highly educated people. If you can do all this, on your own now, I hope you are getting paid to reflect it.

Again the idea that this is something you can do, with a text book and a knife, is INSANE.