Is This Why You’re Having Thyroid Issues?

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In 1992, Spanish researchers studied a fungal poison, (a “mycotoxin”), called aflatoxin, and its affect on broiler chickens. This is NOT a mycotoxin anyone would ever want to experiment with on humans, but the more it is studied, the more it proves to kill tissues that it comes in contact with. Food contaminated with aflatoxin was fed to the chickens, and the tissues affected were later found to be the spleen, the liver and thyroid gland.

Six years later, Japanese physicians were successfully treating a 41-year old man who had leukemia. Things were going well until he subsequently developed a lung infection, later found to be due to the fungus, Aspergillus. This fungus makes several poisonous mycotoxins, one of which is aflatoxin, the same one that damaged the chickens’ thyroid glands. The man died of the fungal infection, but it wasn’t until the autopsy that they discovered that this fungus had damaged not only his lungs from inhaling the fungus, but also his heart, brain, kidneys, skin and thyroid gland.

Swollen Thyroid…From Cheeseburgers and Beer?

There’s a real medical condition called Fungal thyroiditis, which is an inflamed, swollen thyroid due to fungus. It’s most often caused by a fungus called Aspergillus.

You’re thinking, “OK…why would I care about this??”

Simple. Because you may be eating it, or the poisons Aspergillus left behind.

Ever eat cheeses, season your food with soy sauce, or drink beer, whiskey, or wine?  Aspergillus and it’s poisons has been known to contaminate these and many other common foods.

What Many Doctor’s Don’t Know

Unfortunately, physicians likely won’t attribute your thyroid issues to mold exposure. It’s not because they’re trying to hide something from you. It’s because physicians are not extensively taught about mycology (the study of fungus) in medical school.

Doctors tend to grab a prescription pad when they suspect an infectious agent (which fungus and bacteria both are) is the reason for their patient’s medical problem. They often prescribe an antibiotic. Of course, that can backfire on the patient, because penicillin, itself, is a fungal metabolite, and tends to fuel fungal infections. In the case of fungal thyroiditis, for example, I believe that using an antibacterial drug to treat a fungal condition may actually contribute to the rapid expansion of an illness like thyroid disease.

I’ve studied the fungus link to human illness for decades. I’ve noticed a trend that I touched on in the previous paragraph. When any medical condition is rapidly spreading across large portions of the population, yet the cause remains largely unknown despite thousands of scientific documents, I tend to suspect fungus immediately.

For example: How will we stop the two leading causes of death in America, (heart disease and cancer)? We must find their causes, rather than simply treating their symptoms!

Heart disease and cancer simply must be caused by something that doctors and medical researchers don’t learn in medical training. Doesn’t that seem reasonable? They typically don’t take a single full course in the study of fungus (mycology), yet thousands of research papers have concluded that fungus suppresses human immunity and causes serious diseases.

It was C.C. Kibbler, MD who, in the 1996 book, Principles and Practice of Clinical Mycology, wrote that with the exception of our teeth, fungus is capable of impregnating any human tissue. The thyroid is human tissue, but most physicians would never suspect fungus when it comes to diagnosing hyper- or hypothyroidism, (or any other thyroid disease for that matter).

I’m a firm believer that physicians should routinely consider fungus as contributing to any symptom or disease that their patients present with. It’s a very logical, simple, safe, and inexpensive approach, and it only takes a few weeks to rule out fungus as contributing to a thyroid problem, or any other health problem!

Most importantly, in many cases, it works. In my career, after learning about fungus, I took it upon myself to teach several doctors how to recognize fungus induced health problems.

New Questions To Ask; A New Strategy To Consider

Let me see if I can help you recognize if your health problems, (thyroid or otherwise), may be related to mold, mildew, yeast, fungus or the poisonous mycotoxins they make.

Prior to starting, I have only one request: I don’t know your medical history, but you doctor does. I don’t know how severe your thyroid condition is or what medications your doctor has you on, but he/she does. For this reason, please make an appointment with your doctor prior to making any changes in your current thyroid treatment program, and prepare notes from this newsletter to discuss with him/her before starting.

In short, this isn’t a treatment plan; it’s the beginning of a new way of thinking.

1. When did your thyroid problems begin?

Think back to what might have caused your thyroid problems. Was there any exposure to mold at that time? Maybe you moved before your symptoms began, and your new home has a mold problem. I do not think this is rare at all.

2. Have you taken many rounds of antibiotics throughout your life?

Since penicillin and its derivatives are mold in its purest form, did you begin to notice thyroid problems after taking a few rounds of antibiotics? Yes, antibiotics are often implicated in health problems.

3. Are you now craving pasta, bread, sugar and alcohol?

In a human cell/fungal cell relationship, fungus always becomes the dominant partner. Fungi parasitize humans, and they demand carbohydrates from our diets for food. Before you know it, you’re a pizza fan again for the first time since you were 14 years old

I have long believed that the disease alcoholism is often intimately related to a gut fungal condition wherein pathogenic yeasts in the intestines and stomach overgrow. Those yeasts crave things that help them grow and multiply.  Remember, alcohol is a mycotoxin! Those mycotoxins can be exactly what’s required to keep the yeasts – and you! – craving more.

4. Do you notice that your thyroid condition eases when you take nutritional supplements?

Most nutritional supplements, including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fatty acids have anti-fungal properties, and many people notice that their symptoms get better while on them. If you do feel better on supplements, this may indicate a fungal, (or a nutritional deficiency), component to your thyroid problems.

5. Are you sick more often now that you have had your thyroid problem diagnosed?

Disease-causing fungi emit poisonous substances called mycotoxins. These suppress immunity, so it is no wonder that people with fungus-fueled symptoms are sick so often, as their immune systems cannot work properly when fungi are thriving inside of their bodies.

If you’re like so many others who answered Yes to any of these questions, you may be ready to try a different approach: The Antifungal approach.

I’m the first to admit that perhaps not all thyroid maladies are due to fungus, but I’m also the first to admit that since it is easy to test “the fungus link” to thyroid disease, with your doctor’s approval, I’d investigate it for a month or two. Ask your doctor for his/her help in recording any thyroid improvement that you may be experiencing while on the Kaufmann Diet or taking anti-fungal medications that he/she may offer, or taking natural anti-fungal supplements.

Seeing Is Believing

25 years ago, I made believers out of physicians, who were unaware of the fungus link to symptoms and diseases, but I did it by showing these scientists absolute proof. One physician I trained, Dr. Weakley, saw his next four thyroid patients improve immediately. It then became standard office protocol with all new thyroid patients to simply (and safely) rule out fungus first.

Unfortunately, he died a young man, but during his final years he was also very excited by this new scientific approach he was sharing with his patients.

Imagine a day when all physicians will be excited to practice medicine again, because they will be free to do what is right for their patients without drug company involvement, and because so many of their patients get better.

Imagine!

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