Functional Approach to Hypothyroidism: Bridging Traditional and Alternative Treatment Approaches for Total Patient Wellness

Provides a few medical pearls, but hardly functional medicine

It is a quality clinical approach with practical advice for the patient.

Dr Blanchard book is an eye opener for all the thyroid patients even after T.T. and THYROD Drs. who treat thyroid patients that T4 is not all . Healthy human thyroids have T4 and T3 . And Dr Blanchard explains it very well . One needs a small amount of T3 to the higher T4 . All Drs .should take a lesson from Dr Blanchard how to deal with thyroid patients and thyroid patients to be . TSH is not an indicator of thyroid problems . Dr Blanchard shows us in his wonderful book that SYMPTOMS of patients MATTER . THANK YOU Dr Blanchard for having our well being your very first consideration . Lets hope your massage spreads far so other Drs can treat us the way we need to be treated to our fullest and best health and well being .

While not a holistic approach to treating underactive thyroid conditions, Dr. Blanchard has, however, tapped into a brilliant perspective on appropriate dosing of thyroid hormone. Dr. Blanchard's book should be read by every primary care physician and endocrinologist as I'm finding that many patients who are conventionally treated for thyroid disorders do not get better, only to be told that they have psychiatric issues. By the time they come to me, they are a poly-pharmacy nightmare. The way patients are being treated for their endocrine imbalances is dreadful. Dr. Blanchard is a breath of fresh air. We need more caring, creative, functional doctors who will challenge the existing scope of conventional medical practice. Too many M.D.s are treating lab numbers (which they weren't ever taught to understand) and ignoring patient symptoms.

An endocrinologist who actually cares how his patients feel? This is hands down the best thyroid book I've ever read and I would compare it to the brilliant original work of Dr. Broda Barns. If you need to understand exactly how thyroid replacement fails and how doses should be optimized then this book is a must read! All physicians should read this book in medical school! The specific benefits include:1. Why TSH values can fail to reflect true thyroid status2. T4/T3 dose and ratio optimization3. Seasonal and premenstrual adjustments4. Taking with food or at night

Absolutely brilliant. I have suffered from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, POTS and dysautonomia and I tried many alternative approaches to thyroid, but always with disastrous results. But Dr. Blanchard's method works for me. Many will doubt it but take it from thyroid veteran - this works when everything else fails. I'm so grateful that in our society where most doctors are nothing more than trained monkey, one man dared to think for himself. This book has literally given me my life back!

While I can’t say that this will work for me, it certainly seems worth a try. Heaven know that too many of us don’t do well on the standard protocols and feel frustrated with options that are currently proposed and even with Natural Dessicated Thyroid (Armor, NatureThroid, etc) the path is fraught with pitfalls. I will certainly be passing this book on to my Doc to see if my situation can be improved and enhanced. Thank you.

Very informative. Explains about functioning of medications and treatment. The writer was my doctor who changed my health with healthy results post total thyroidectomy. Recommend for practicing endocrinologist who believe the functioning of their patients is not just based lab results. Author wrote this book after a lifetime of research.

I bought this book as I started to see a functional medical practitioner in London and I hoped this would give me a better understanding on how function healing works. My understanding of functional healing is looking at all aspects of the thyroid condition and working to eliminate the root cause as well as treating the thyroid through natural methods. This book however talks about patients who are taking T4 medication only, levothyroxine of Synthroid. Anyway Dr Ken Blanchland explains in detail why t4 only Meds don't work for thyroid patience and that even if they work in the beginning the patience get worse. He talks about being open minded and also stating that in order for thyroid conditions to get better T3 needs to be added into a person's medication for them to be treated adequately. He states that many doctors won't do this as they feel it dangerous (a big conspiracy by pharmaceutical companies) and also explains how all his patience under his care have followed t3 and T4 Meds and it had helped them eliminate other factors they were dealing with such as not needing antidepressants any more or their menstrual cycle was improving etc. He suggests taking t3 Meds with breakfast as t3 is the active hormone that helps your metabolism and the at night time with dinner to take the T4 meds as when you sleep your body has a better chance of working properly to allow the T4 conversion to take place as it's slow release and helps the conversion of T4 to T3 to the next day especially when taking the t3 Meds in the morning it gives thyroid patients the boost they need. It was a very informative book amd i feel like Endocrinologists and GP'S in the UK could benefit from reading this book and if they are adamant on give t4 Meds they may realise that the t3 added will help patients in the long run and they won't keep spiraling and feeling ill because they are inadequately treated!

This looks like the honest report of a brave empiricist. There is no higher praise. Even though I disagree with bits of it, I would love to have a man like this as my doctor or my friend. (And luckily for me, I do)

Well researched and wise, thoroughly recommend

Very informative

The book is fine if you’re planning on taking meds. Then I’d recommend this book because the author discusses everything about hypothyroidism meds, which can be useful. From the title I had fully expected a functional medicine approach (which it is not in the least) to hypothyroidism and to learn about alternative to medication to help manage the condition. The book was totally irrelevant at this point to me and I skimmed the whole thing looking forward to finding the non-existent chapter on functional medicine. The title should be something else-like the ins and outs of thyroid medication-without the word “functional”.