By: Roger Zotti

Janie A. Bowthrope, M.Ed., author, Stop the Thyroid

Madness: A Patient Revolution against Decades of

Inferior Thyroid Treatment (Laughing Grape Publishing), believes

“there may have been some bad treatments going on for hypothyroid

patients for fifty years. Namely, we’ve been put on a kind of medication that

has not worked for us and left us with continuing thyroid symptoms, and

we’ve also been dosed with a lab test, called TSH [thyroid-stimulating

hormone], that has kept us sick.”

Her book is written from the pain of personal experience. “I got so bad I

was going to apply for social security disability,” she said. Resigned to stay

home for the rest of her life, she began doing research on the Internet and

discovered “there was a different medication out there all along” called

Natural Desiccated Thyroid— which “gives you exactly what your

own thyroid would be giving you.”

Janie started taking it, “and though I wasn’t optimal yet, my life completely

turned around. It was nothing short of a life-changing miracle.” At the same

time, she realized that “there are millions of people on thyroid medications

[that don’t work]. I didn’t want to see them suffer, so I began a journey to

educate them.”

Janie started a Yahoo group called Natural Thyroid Hormones: “On

it we began comparing notes, and it became clear to us we have a

worldwide problem.” Soon Janie realized such a group

“was not big enough  to let the world know what I believe

has been a scandal going on since the sixties about thyroid treatment, and I

was propelled to create the Stop the Thyroid Madness movement.”

Janie’s chronicles her life story in the Introduction of the revised edition

of her book. (To read the entire introduction, visit

www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/my-story/.) When she was 27—

after her second child’s birth—“I had eight illnesses in

nine months.” Two years later, after her third child was born, “the same

chronic illness scenario” recurred. At 31, what she describes as “a dubious

diagnosis of ‘borderline hypothyroid’ was discovered.” Put on Synthroid,

her TSH dropped to normal, but her condition didn’t improve.

For the next 17 years, “while on Synthroid and Levoxyl,” Janie’s

living hell continued. Though she spent huge sums of money seeking a

solution, “I was always ‘adequately treated’ with thyroxine (T4-only

medication) with a ‘target’ TSH.” During this time she saw numerous

doctors “and tested for every condition imaginable.” Nothing worked.

Then in 2002, unable to do much except sit for hours at her computer, her

extensive research began: “It became clear my problem was my thyroid and

being on an inferior medication called T4-only meds…and held hostage to

an inadequate lab called the TSH.”

Janie’s informational thyroid site began a few months later. Its goal is

to make patients aware of Natural Desiccated Thyroid’s existence. The

site and her book are, she emphasized, “Dedicated to the millions of thyroid

patients all over the world, struggling to feel better…in the face of

well-meaning but ignorant medical treatment with T4 meds…

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by Todd Perkins

I want you to do me a favor. Look to the upcoming year

and ask yourself—realistically—what lies in store in

2012? If you’re like most people, a huge portion of

your life will be spent anxiously plugging away at a job you

may or may not enjoy with coworkers you may or may not

like. Okay, yes, you work hard to build a better life for your

family. But here’s the question: Will you have time to enjoy

them? Will you be too exhausted to throw the ball with your

son? And how many nights will you get home too late to

tuck him in this year?

When I was thirty-six years old, I was successfully leading my family’s

auto parts business, I was well respected in my community, I had a wonderful wife and

son…and I also suffered a nervous breakdown. Yes, at that

point in my life, I enjoyed what I did and was truly proud of

my successes, but I was also pushing myself too hard and

prioritizing the wrong things, and eventually, it all caught

up with me.

For the past decade, I have taken a closer look at what

really makes people happy and unhappy, and I have seen

most of my goals and priorities shift. In the same way, it’s

in your best interests to shift your habits and focus in 2012.

Call it a New Year’s resolution to simply be happy.

1.) You have to choose and prioritize happiness—it

doesn’t just happen.

2.) Striving for work/life balance is worth its weight in gold.

3.) We are our own worst critics.

4.) It’s never too late to start living in the present.

5.) Focusing on what you’re good at is best for everyone.

6.) Exercise is worth its weight in therapy.

7.) You need to feed your mind healthy “food.”

8.) Surround yourself with positive people.

9.) Invest in your relationships—especially your marriage.

10.) Take control of what you can.

11.) Being friendly is a good investment.

12.) Helping others is the soul food of life.

13.) It’s important to connect with something bigger than

yourself.

14.) A grateful heart is a happy heart.

15.) Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness.

Ultimately, I’ve learned that the quality of your life is

largely up to you. If you’re anything like me—and if you’re

honest with yourself—you’ll have to confess that a striving,

stressful lifestyle is not making you happy. I’ll admit that

many of the changes I’m asking you to make in order to

avoid more unhappiness (and perhaps even a breakdown)

go against what society says you should do if you want

to be successful. But I have found out the hard way that a

“successful” yet stressed out and unhappy life is certainly

not, in reality, a truly successful life at all.

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by Diana Urban

Representative Diana Urban (D), 43rd Assembly District - North Stonington & Stonington, introduced HB5413 An Act Banning Cadmium in Children’s Jewelry to protect children from ingesting Cadmium, the seventh most toxic substance on the Center for Disease Control’s list.

In the midst of what is now being called “The Great Recession” with its concomitant  impact on our state budget and family well-being, a parent pointed out to me a recall of 55,000 pieces of children’s jewelry that contained over 55% Cadmium. The jewelry in question was based on the popular “Princess and the Frog” movie and was being sold at Walmart.

My first reaction was to be stunned that a highly toxic heavy metal was being used to produce children’s jewelry. In what universe is that acceptable?

Cadmium is a Grade One carcinogen (the most toxic classification) it causes kidney damage, bone loss, neurological developmental problems and is a hormone disrupter. It is listed #7 on the Center for Disease Control’s list of the 250 most toxic substances. That puts Cadmium ahead of Arsenic.

In 1990, the State of CT banned it along with Mercury, Lead, and Hexavalent Chromium from packaging material to prevent these toxic materials from ending up in our landfills. But it was okay to have it in children’s jewelry? Just what was going on here?

A little research revealed that after the Federal Government passed the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) which heavily regulated Lead, foreign suppliers started looking for a cheap substitute. Enter inexpensive and abundant Cadmium. Although the European Union bans Cadmium in all children’s products and extended that to electronic products as well, children’s metal jewelry is completely unregulated in the US.

There are very weak solubility standards for Cadmium in toys in the CPSA but jewelry is completely left out. Any parent knows how little kids like to suck on jewelry and often even taste or swallow it.

Bruce Fowler, Cadmium specialist and toxicologist from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said, “There is nothing positive you can say about this metal. It is a poison”

In 2006, a four-year-old boy died in Minnesota after ingesting a lead charm. In a particularly heart-breaking scenario, the child went on a play-date and when he got home began feeling ill. As his Mom had no knowledge of any small objects he might have swallowed, she thought it was a “tummy bug”

When he continued to get worse, she took him to the ER where they treated it as the flu. He became increasingly sick and then his body started shutting down. Desperate for answers, they did an X-ray and saw the object. It was too late. After four days of suffering, the child died.

His death was a major contributor to the Government regulating Lead. My point is that Cadmium is just as toxic, and in some cases more toxic than Lead. Unless we act this tragedy could be repeated!

Fortunately, some of our retailers are starting to demand that their suppliers get rid of Cadmium in kid’s jewelry. Walmart is beginning to label jewelry “Cadmium free.” In my mind, although it is a good start for industry to respond, it is not enough; so I introduced HB5413 An Act Banning Cadmium in Children’s Jewelry.

We have made the law effective in 2014 to give the industry time to adjust. That is where you come in. If consumers refuse to buy jewelry that contains Cadmium, manufacturers won’t make it. In the simplest sense, that is how a market works! My fervent hope is that during that time the federal government will step up and institute meaningful nation wide regulations for Cadmium. There is no excuse. There are acceptable substitutes that are not toxic.

We got the bill out of the House 144 to 0 but the lobbyists proceeded to work the Senate hard and succeeded in amending the bill on the last night of Session. The amendment killed the bill if I couldn’t get it re-passed in the House. At two minutes to midnight we re-passed the bill in the House and became the second state in the country to enact this ban.

It really comes down to this: Cadmium causes cancer – how much Cadmium do you want your children eating?

Dr. Michael Harbut, who treated adult victims of Cadmium poisoning and is director of the Environmental Cancer Program at the Karmanos Cancer Institute in Detroit, said “In my view, the answer should be none.”

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The prostate is the Rodney Dangerfield of organs: “It just don’t get no respect.”

by Dr. John C. McHugh

“I’m not a sexy guy. I went to a hooker. I dropped my pants.
She dropped her price.”

- Rodney Dangerfield

The reason why the prostate doesn’t get any respect has a little to do with the very nature of the organ and its disease and a little to do with the mindset of the male.  The perfect storm which is a gland that the male can’t see or feel and a cancer that doesn’t cause symptoms until it is too late is the reason for the tragedy of over 25,000 deaths a year in the United States a year. Look at the following reasons and see if a loved one, or maybe even you, isn’t guilty as well.

•   Unlike a women’s breast that gets all the attention an organ could ever want, the prostate lives a very isolated life. You can’t see it, you can’t feel it, men don’t know what it does, and they sure as heck don’t want a stranger probing around to disturb it or try to feel it.  Men feel unmanly with the very thought of a rectal exam and would just as soon not have the prostate checked.

•   Then the blood test PSA comes along and further complicates the prostate’s social life. Before the PSA was a test the only way to check on the prostate was a rectal exam. Now with the advent of this simple blood test, men and doctors will often substitute the PSA for the rectal exam. It is an easy sell; not doing a rectal exam makes a doctor’s visit much more pleasant for both the doctor and the patient. (One can have prostate cancer with a normal PSA.)

•   Even when the prostate tries to exert itself with prostate cancer it gets little attention both because of the prevailing belief that prostate cancer doesn’t kill people and that it often occurs only in older men.

•   Many patients, but particularly men, will only go to the doctor if they perceive a problem with an organ or if a symptom presents itself. Once again, for the wrong reasons, the prostate is left out and not invited to the party-it gets no respect.

•   The final insult to the prostate is what happens to the male if you mess with it. It is almost as if it is mad about being ignored throughout its life. Now that something has to be done to treat the cancer; the angry prostate exacts its revenge in the form of leaking urine and sexual dysfunction. These two maladies strike right at the heart of the male ego.

“Hell hath no fury like a prostate scorned.”

When men acknowledge the respect which prostate cancer deserves, there will be a heightened awareness, early detection, and treatment in a more curable phase of prostate cancer.

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For more than three-out-of-four Americans, apples and apple beverages fill the dual purpose of being a “better-for-you” food, and a fruit that integrates easily into hectic lifestyles, according to a groundbreaking report released today titled Apples: The Next Superfruit. The report is based on a poll conducted by SupermarketGuru.com, a leading online resource featuring consumer information about marketing issues and consumer trends.

Phil Lempert, a food, consumer and marketing trends analyst and CEO of The Lempert Report and SupermarketGuru.com, created the survey about apples on behalf of the U.S. Apple Association.

“Apples are a year round fruit and consumer willingness to buy, eat and serve more apples is a vast opportunity for retailers,” says Phil. “Merchants already display apples prominently as a stage-setter, but now they need to think further about how to tap into this mindset that apples are a ‘superfruit’ and great for a person’s health and overall wellness.”

Between December 2009 and February 2010, SupermarketGuru.com conducted a national consumer panel on its website. In all, 1,021 chief household shoppers detailed their beliefs about apples and apple products with regard to nutrition, health, eating habits, merchandising influences and more.

The SupermarketGuru.com consumer panel is an opt-in food-involved population of more than 94,000 shoppers that pre-registered with the site and submitted their confidential demographic information.

When asked to rate ten individual fruits separately on a scale of one-to-10 (1 is most healthful, 10 is least healthful), survey respondents showed their strongest conviction for three particular fruits: blueberries, apples and pomegranates. 64 percent rated apples a one, two or three on the scale of one-to-10.

Nine-out-of-10 consumers said a resounding ‘Yes’ when asked this question: If you or someone you know is trying to eat healthier in 2010, have you considered apples and apple products as a regular part a healthier diet?”

Once the survey disclosed that scientific evidence supports the health statements about apples, overwhelming majorities of adults who took this survey said they will buy and serve apples to their families and house guests more often.

Phil emphasizes, “The magnitude of their response reflects their desire to eat healthfully-and the ability of apples to help them do that because of their nutritional makeup, portability, affordability and accessibility.”

Phil says this is a message to retailers.  “There is a terrific merchandising opportunity here. They can put apples and apple products throughout the stores. 78 percent of consumers perceive the bountiful display bins as the number one way retailers promote the healthfulness of apples and apple products. Results also showed consumers were hard-pressed to name other tactics used to promote a healthfulness message.”

When asked about the survey results, Nancy Foster, President and CEO, U.S. Apple Association, states “This groundbreaking report helps the American apple industry connect with their customers by better understanding what they’re thinking and how to communicate with them about enjoying this delicious ‘superfruit’ in all of its forms-fresh or processed.”

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