Dr. Walter Pierpaoli speaks out!

Since I graduated in 1960, I have been deeply involved with endocrinology. Hormone functions are basic for body control and they have always attracted my passionate interest. In addition, my focus on the thyroid sharply increased when I developed myself a De Quervain thyroiditis in 1989 and the doctors gave me levothyroxine (T4) to control the resulting deep hypothyroidism.

I became a victim myself and I experienced the horror of T4 when I started swallowing the ill-omened pill.

In the 60’s, Vister Pharma produced in Italy a thyroid dried extract from pigs, it was used at that time to compensate for thyroid deficiencies. It contained T1, T2, T3 and T4, namely thyroid hormones with 1, 2, 3 and 4 atoms of iodine attached. Now we know that the main active hormone is T3, triiodothyronine. Thyroxine, the molecule with 4 atoms of iodine is simply inactive unless a de-iodination is taking place thanks to the hepatic enzyme deiodinase, resulting into conversion to triiodothyronine (T3), the biologically active molecule. This enzymatic process takes place easily in children and young people, but unfortunately hardly and insufficiently in adults and old people. This results in chronic thyroid insufficiency.

Suddenly, for reasons unknown to me, the dry thyroid extract disappeared in Italy and was replaced by levothyroxine, carrying different names such as Eutirox®, or Synthroid®, but always and only it’s T4!

On the contrary, in the United States, the dry thyroid extract from pigs such as the well-known Armour® and others are still produced and prescribed. Nobody would dream to limit the care of thyroid deficiencies to T4 only! The mystery of the inactive European T4 deserves urgent explanation!

Levothyroxine, (T4) is very largely and almost universally prescribed in the EU and also at extremely high dosages, but it still maintains severe thyroid and metabolic insufficiencies. Furthermore, aside from the ruinous condition of the patients, T4 lowers TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and thus deceives both the doctor and the patient, suggesting that their thyroid values are within the “normal range”!) Yet, the doctor says to the patient who is sitting in front of him all swollen and hydropic, depressed with tachycardia and with extreme muscle weakness; “you’re all right!”

For the poor patient, metabolic oxygen is lacking to the brain and to all cells of the body. He is anoxic! Such a state of hypothyroidism, certainly not compensated with T4, is also the cause for the development of a great number of pathologies, such as tumors and atherosclerosis. In fact, immunity, which is totally under the control of thyroid hormones, then totally collapses!

In Italy, as an example, doctors prescribe Eutirox® (T4) in different dosages. This drug is refunded by the National Health Service to the producers and given free of charge. My pharmacist friend Phil Micans says it is the same situation in the United Kingdom. This is very strange because a product based on a combination of T3 and T4 (in Italy and Switzerland known as IBSA) is NOT refunded! Apparently T3 is an enemy of health! The doctors and even the endocrinologists ignore it. In fact, they only follow the indications of the World Health Organization.

I have been using for over 15 years IBSA thyroid with full success. It is a combination of T3 and T4 providing to the body the necessary hormones able to regenerate the metabolic rate, to reduce sugar blood and also to help the liver to produce the enzyme able to convert T4 (inactive) into T3 (active).

Human and pig thyroid are identical; in fact dried thyroids like Armour®, ERFA® and Nature® are given upon prescription of hypothyroid patients in the Unites States. In the IBSA thyroid the right concentration of synthetic T3 and T4 allows a perfect compensation for thyroid deficiencies.

It remains to me a mystery why doctors have been taught to prescribe only T4, since alone it generates a huge variety of very severe metabolic alterations. In addition to this fantastic story, it must be remarked that the laboratory values and parameters given to the doctors by the WHO are, to say the least, wrong and misleading, thus driving the doctor to create a misguided diagnostic and consequently create a metabolic disaster.

This story is afflicting millions of patients; it is at the same time incredible and almost unbelievable.

I have been deeply hypothyroid from 1989 and I know enough of this global pathology. I am perfectly healthy and my metabolism, which is based on thyroid function, is under my own control with my own criteria and parameters. I apply my knowledge to thousands of patients.

This story is complex and I think many would not appreciate it. To me it seems like a plot suitable to create and to maintain all kind of diseases. The drug companies know it.