Hi Kaya, thanks for the great article. I’m looking into getting on the desiccated thyroid myself (as you have recommended in other articles too). I am also reading your work to figure out how to help my 69yo husband who has Hashimotos. Should Hashimoto patients take desiccated thyroid? You didn’t address that in your Hashimotos article. His TPO is 104 and his Thyroglobulin abs is 2.80. His other thyroid numbers are in range (except T3 uptake which is 26). I’m confused about this.
Are you familiar with the work of Dr. Tom Cowan exposing the lack of evidence for viruses, and the germ theory more broadly? What are your thoughts on it?
Yes, I am familiar with his work. I disagree with his arguments undermining viral isolation (as studies have cultivated and sequenced viruses, which need cell cultures to replicate), and that the cell death seen in experiments using viral inoculation of cell cultures could instead be caused by toxins or nutrient deprivation (a control group of cells is always used to screen for that and rule it out as confounding variable).
I do, however, agree with some of his general sentiments, which I think is reflected in this article. For example:
1. I agree that not every organism that comes in contact with a virus (or harbors a latent virus) will fall ill. Their general health (and yes, nutrition very much plays into it) dictates how resilient they will be to the virus and whether or not they will fall ill at all.
2. I agree that, as a society, we focus far too much on avoiding exposure to viruses and fearing coming in contact with them. Again, a person’s/animal’s general health dictates their resiliency, and, in my opinion, we would be in a much better place as the human race if everyone understood that as far as protecting yourself from viral infections goes, there are no shortcuts: you have to have good metabolic health and robust nutrition, as that’s what makes ur more resilient and guards us against falling ill. That being said, a person who is sick (metabolically, nutritionally) probably has a good reason to be afraid, as they are susceptible. Still, making oneself healthier (and thus more resilient) is the only solution here.
3. Cowan argues that it’s toxins and nutritional deficiencies that makes us ill, not viruses. I think a more accurate representation would be that toxins and nutritional deficiencies make us ill AND they weaken the body’s systems, making us more vulnerable to viruses.
4. Yes, exposure to certain environmental toxins can produce symptoms similar to the flu. However, this includes bacterial and mold toxins (which fall under the “germ” umbrella), and yes, viruses can also cause these symptoms. They all activate the body’s “damage protection” system (immune system), which can result in similar symptoms as similar mechanisms (such as sneezing) are employed to get rid of the “offender.”
The germ theory and the terrain theory are often pitted against one another, but they aren’t mutually exclusive. The terrain dictates our resilience to the germ. Or, in other words, the people who fearmonger viral infections claiming that anyone who comes in contact with a virus will surely fall ill (and that vaccination is the only solution), and the people who claim that viruses aren’t real, are both wrong.
Hey Flo, I think the alternative in this case would be synthetic T3, or a T3/T4 mix, such as cynomel or cynoplus. I haven't used these products myself (had some issues getting my hands on them, and didn't bother trying a second time as I'm pretty satisfied with the desiccated thyroid results), but many in the Ray Peat sphere swear by them entirely. Danny Roddy has some content on how to use those products.
Hi Kaya, thanks for the great article. I’m looking into getting on the desiccated thyroid myself (as you have recommended in other articles too). I am also reading your work to figure out how to help my 69yo husband who has Hashimotos. Should Hashimoto patients take desiccated thyroid? You didn’t address that in your Hashimotos article. His TPO is 104 and his Thyroglobulin abs is 2.80. His other thyroid numbers are in range (except T3 uptake which is 26). I’m confused about this.
Are you familiar with the work of Dr. Tom Cowan exposing the lack of evidence for viruses, and the germ theory more broadly? What are your thoughts on it?
Hey Nat,
Yes, I am familiar with his work. I disagree with his arguments undermining viral isolation (as studies have cultivated and sequenced viruses, which need cell cultures to replicate), and that the cell death seen in experiments using viral inoculation of cell cultures could instead be caused by toxins or nutrient deprivation (a control group of cells is always used to screen for that and rule it out as confounding variable).
I do, however, agree with some of his general sentiments, which I think is reflected in this article. For example:
1. I agree that not every organism that comes in contact with a virus (or harbors a latent virus) will fall ill. Their general health (and yes, nutrition very much plays into it) dictates how resilient they will be to the virus and whether or not they will fall ill at all.
2. I agree that, as a society, we focus far too much on avoiding exposure to viruses and fearing coming in contact with them. Again, a person’s/animal’s general health dictates their resiliency, and, in my opinion, we would be in a much better place as the human race if everyone understood that as far as protecting yourself from viral infections goes, there are no shortcuts: you have to have good metabolic health and robust nutrition, as that’s what makes ur more resilient and guards us against falling ill. That being said, a person who is sick (metabolically, nutritionally) probably has a good reason to be afraid, as they are susceptible. Still, making oneself healthier (and thus more resilient) is the only solution here.
3. Cowan argues that it’s toxins and nutritional deficiencies that makes us ill, not viruses. I think a more accurate representation would be that toxins and nutritional deficiencies make us ill AND they weaken the body’s systems, making us more vulnerable to viruses.
4. Yes, exposure to certain environmental toxins can produce symptoms similar to the flu. However, this includes bacterial and mold toxins (which fall under the “germ” umbrella), and yes, viruses can also cause these symptoms. They all activate the body’s “damage protection” system (immune system), which can result in similar symptoms as similar mechanisms (such as sneezing) are employed to get rid of the “offender.”
I haven’t gone down to actually read all of the studies that he references in his book, but the authors of this article did, and they point out that he may have misrepresented some of the publications/research articles that were covered in his book: https://www.natureinstitute.org/article/craig-holdrege-and-jon-mcalice/some-comments-on-the-contagion-myth
The germ theory and the terrain theory are often pitted against one another, but they aren’t mutually exclusive. The terrain dictates our resilience to the germ. Or, in other words, the people who fearmonger viral infections claiming that anyone who comes in contact with a virus will surely fall ill (and that vaccination is the only solution), and the people who claim that viruses aren’t real, are both wrong.
Thanks for this great write up! Is there a vegetarian alternative for desiccated thyroid with similar effects?
Hey Flo, I think the alternative in this case would be synthetic T3, or a T3/T4 mix, such as cynomel or cynoplus. I haven't used these products myself (had some issues getting my hands on them, and didn't bother trying a second time as I'm pretty satisfied with the desiccated thyroid results), but many in the Ray Peat sphere swear by them entirely. Danny Roddy has some content on how to use those products.
Thank you for the fast response. This helped!