Quotes: Thyroid, Estrogen, Menstrual Symptoms, PMS, and Infertility

Also see:
Estrogen, Progesterone, and Fertility
PUFA, Estrogen, Obesity and Early Onset of Puberty
Benefits of Aspirin
Ray Peat, PhD on the Menstrual Cycle
Ray Peat, PhD on Thyroid, Temperature, Pulse, and TSH

But the problem remains two fold: the need for recognition that low thyroid function very often can provoke menstrual problems, and the need for recognition, too, that hypothyroidism may be present despite laboratory tests suggesting it is not. -Dr. Broda Barnes

Impairment of fertility in both men and women because of hypothyroidism is firmly entrenched in medical literature…Miscarriage and fertility problems are a red flag for hypothyroidism. -Dr. Mark Starr

Certainly miscarriage is not invariably related to low thyroid function. There are many other possible causes. Yet soon after thyroid therapy first became available, it was found that patients with a history of miscarriages often had a history compatible with thyroid deficiency and that full-term pregnancies might follow treatment with thyroid. -Dr. Broda Barnes

In 1949, I published a report on 143 women with menstrual disorders whom I had seen in my practice and for whom, after taking a thorough history and carrying out a complete physical examination including examination of the pelvis, I had prescribed thyroid therapy. These were women without evidence of fibroids, ovarian cysts, or any other organic disease. In some, basal metabolism test indicated thyroid deficiency; in others, the basal temperature test was used.

• 48 of the women suffered from menstrual cramps. Only 5 failed to get some relief from thyroid therapy; 35 experienced complete relief.
• 45 of the women had irregular cycles. 43 benefited, with the cycles becoming completely regular in 41.
• 50 women suffered from excessive bleeding. 2 failed to benefit; two improved somewhat; forty-six resumed periods with normal flow. -Dr. Broda Barnes

Thyroid medication for sterility and miscarriage is often more efficacious than any other form of treatment. -Dr. Emil Novak

Forty years ago, after many years of successful use of thyroid therapy, leading gynecologists in this country and elsewhere were reporting thyroid had cured more menstrual disorders than all other medications combined. Unfortunately, that lesson seems to have been largely lost. -Dr. Broda Barnes

Thyroid secretions in adequate amounts appear to be essential for development of the egg and for proper ovarian secretions. If thyroid function is low, an egg may be discharged from an ovary but it may not be fertilizable or, if fertilized, may not be capable of nesting so that pregnancy is quickly aborted. -Dr. Broda Barnes

As stated before, hypothyroidism may cause premature or delayed puberty. The majority of normal and hypothyroid females begin their cycle at ages 12 or 13. However, a growing number of those with hypothyroidism start their cycle years earlier or begin their periods at age 15 or later. Premature or delayed puberty in males is also becoming more common. -Dr. Mark Starr

Many of the women who benefited from thyroid therapy provided added evidence that it was the thyroid which was responsible. There were the women who, upon being relieved of their {menstrual} problems, stopped taking medication only to return in a few months with their original complaints. Thyroid therapy again overcame their difficulties. -Dr. Broda Barnes

On thyroid therapy, more than 90 percent of those with painful menstruation were relieved, most of them completely. The results were fully as good in converting irregular periods to normal, regular ones. And in six of seven women with excessive flow, normal flow was established. -Dr. Broda Barnes

In my own experience, no patient has required a hysterectomy for pathological bleeding unless uterine fibroids were present. If organic problems could be ruled out, as they could in the great majority of cases, thyroid deficiency usually could be detected and treatment with thyroid solved the problem. The need for other surgery may be minimized by adequate thyroid therapy in women with low thyroid function. Cysts on the ovary are common in such women and correction of the thyroid deficiency often eliminates the cysts. Fibroid tumors have been rare in hypothyroid women who have been maintained on adequate thyroid therapy. It is possible to produce fibroids in experimental animals by injection of estrogen, and there is evidence of excess of estrogen in hypothyroid women. -Dr. Broda Barnes

It is generally assumed that recurrent miscarriage may be due to progesterone deficiency, hypothyroidism or vitamin E deficiency and should be treated in theses cases with progesterone, thyroid extracts and vitamin E respectively. In theory, thyroid therapy appears to be the least well-founded, especially when applied to women without manifest signs of hypothyroidism, yet among the measures mentioned above it is most frequently claimed to have been successful. -Hans Selye

Problems associated with the menstrual cycle are now commonplace. The majority of teenagers whom I have seen suffer problems such as PMS, severe cramping, and irregular or heavy cycles. Severe hypothyroidism may cause the menses to stop. Dr. Barnes noted his patients with menstrual problems usually suffered many other telltale symptoms of hypothyroidism. Mine do as well. A large majority of menstrual problems resolve after treatment with dessicated thyroid. -Dr. Mark Starr

In study at the Mayo Clinic covering fifty consecutive young women with hypothyroidism, twenty-eight has menstrual disturbances. Abnormally profuse menses was a common disturbance; frequent bleeding between periods was another; in some cases, both problems were present. Thyroid therapy relived the disturbances. -Dr. Broda Barnes

The sole endocrine preparation that has proved itself of real value for menstrual irregularities has been thyroid extract, which is of use in patients with lowered metabolism. -Dr. Robert Frank, OBGYN

I remember one of my earliest miscarriage patients. She was the wife of a psychiatrist and had been able to carry through to term three babies in the course of seven pregnancies. When I suggested that she might have a thyroid deficiency that could account for her miscarriages, she told me that she had actually been on thyroid several times in the past and when she got to feeling well would stop taking the thyroid. When, together, we went back over her childbearing history, we found that she had had her live babies during the times she was on thyroid and her miscarriages during the time she had chosen to stop taking thyroid. -Dr. Broda Barnes

The medical literature is full of reports going back many years that provide evidence that thyroid medication, used when indicated, is one of the most helpful measures in the treatment of infertility in both men and women. And not infrequently it may be needed by both partners in an infertile marriage. -Dr. Broda Barnes

From what has been said, it would appear that the possibility of thyroid deficiency should be considered, and if found, should be treated in any woman with a menstrual abnormality or a reproductive problem. It was generally agree that correction of thyroid deficiency solved many such abnormalities and problems – until about 1940. -Dr. Broda Barnes

My research showed that the probable mechanism by which estrogen excess causes infertility is through limiting the availability of oxygen. I showed that anti-estrogenic substances, such as progesterone or vitamin B, increased the oxygen content of the uterus. -Ray Peat, PhD

Two background facts are needed to interpret the JAMA article. The first is that hypothyroidism is a major cause of breast cancer, because of the chronic excess of estrogen and deficiency of progesterone. The second is that US doctors don’t correct hypothyroidism, because they don’t prescribe the active hormone T3, only the precursor T4, which fails to be converted because hypothyroid women’s livers aren’t efficient. T3 is needed for the storage of glycogen and the efficient use of glucose, and glucose is needed to form T3. Therefore, women in the US who “are treated for hypothyroidism” are still hypothyroid, and hypothyroid women are much more likely to get cancer. -Ray Peat, PhD

During pregnancy its important for the uterus not to contract; too much estrogen activates that system, and causes miscarriage if it’s excessive. An important function of progesterone is to keep the uterus relaxed during pregnancy. -Ray Peat, PhD

Many factors, including poor nutrition, climate, emotional or physical stress (even excessive running) and toxins, can cause a progesterone deficiency. Use of estrogens, birth control pills and even IUDs can also bring about a deficiency. Animal studies and clinical experience suggests that the prenatal hormonal environment (a mother’s excess of estrogen during pregnancy) can incline a person toward a deficiency of progesterone relative to estrogen. -Ray Peat, PhD

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Resources
“Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness” by Dr. Broda Barnes and Lawrence Galton
“Type 2 Hypothyroidism” by Dr. Mark Starr