King of the Brain Hormones

ALLOPREGNANOLONE, produced from Progesterone by an enzyme called 5-alpha reductase and one called 3-alpha HSD, in both Neurons and Astrocytes, is the most important of the neurosteroids. Allopregnanolone production, facilitated by PEA (PalmitoylEthanolAmide), is the reason why PEA is recommended as a painkiller, as well as its sleep-promoting and mood elevating effects.

Wikipedia describes Allopregnanolone as (I quote) “stress reducing, rewarding, prosocial, anti-aggressive, pro-sexual, sedative, sleep facilitating, pro-cognitive, memory enhancing, analgesic, anticonvulsant, neuroprotective and neurogenic”.

I call Allopregnanolone“the brain’s housekeeper”, because it is the main actor in brain maintenance and repair.

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Type your email…

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

Titles are hyperlinked to posts. For easy searching, a few posts are “doubly linked” – for example, “cancer cured by DHEA” and “DHEA cures cancer” share the target post.

SUBSTACK Posts, ALPHABETICAL

All posts (F = Free, P = Paid) are carefully crafted – please subscribe!

About Dr. Harry – F

Addendum, to”cholesterol, statins, hemorrhagic strokes and IH – P

Addendum, To Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome – P

Adrenal Fatigue/CFS – Why some people can’t get off the couch! – Link #1

AGING – A parable on the benefit of good habits (two chimpanzees) – Link #3–F

AGING – depression and memory loss go hand-in-hand: P

Aging – due to DHEA deficiency: P

AGING: Parkinson’s disease and your thyroid – With Parkinson’s, comes IH: P

AGING slowed by HRT – A critique of a poorly stated study – link #1: P

Aging – the result of hormone loss – Slow aberration of hormone balance: F

AGING Slower in Menopause, With Hormone Therapy – link #2: P

AGING: An analysis of what the experts say, plus a potentially helpful idea: P

Allopregnanolone – Good-sleeper, memory-keeper, brain’s housekeeper

Allostatic load – The effects of wear-and-tear, on the body: P

Alzheimer’s Disease: an overview, for the layman – Alzheimer’s made simple

Alzheimer’s and Donanemab: something is missing in this report! – link #2: P

Alzheimer’s Drug – New, Expensive – Why not prevent, instead of treating, it?

Alzheimer’s is not caused by Amyloid – Alzheimer’s produces Amyloid!

Alzheimer’s, the great scam – a comment and a reminder, re. hormones – F

American Health: Dr. Calley Means and Casey Means talk with Tucker Carlson: P

Antiaging News – Markers, Hormones, Commonsense – P

ANTITHETICAL ATTITUDE – MDs treat Obesity without identifying cause – P

Apple cider vinegar – The magic medicine

Artificial sweeteners Erythritol, and other dietary errors

Atmospheric Anaesthetic: Xenon – The perfect anaesthetic! – link #2

Atrial Fibrillation – DHEA and Progesterone MAY help

Autism Epidemic – ? The result of Maternal LowT3 Syndrome ?

Autism, RFK, Stress and the Thyroid – The increasing prevalence of Autism

BAD ADVICE, from Mayo, regarding Reverse T3 – They deny the truth

Bioidentical HRT – Sine qua, non-!

Blogging on SUBSTACK – Is it worth it?

Brain cells form and function – Link #1

Brain Fog – Due to the LT3 syndrome, which can be diagnosed and treated: P

Brain Fog: Joe Biden’s problem? – Acute-onset IH, from unaccustomed stress: P

Brown fat and obesity – Let your brown fat go to work for you! – Link #1

Brown fat (BAT) More, about it – Activate brown fat, without expensive drugs

Brown fat made, from White – With CHEAP T3, or a new, EXPENSIVE DRUG ?

Burnout – Not just healthcare workers! – Link #1

Cancer, After Covid 19 Vaccination – An explanation, and a “workaround”

Cancer Care and Common Sense – Paying attention to the patient’s opinion – F

Cancer cured by DHEA – Only one case; but it is an interesting story! – Link #1

Cancer: is DHEA deficiency, and/or the LT3 S, a factor in turbo cancer?

Cancer – TurboCance: an addendum to Dr. Paul Marik’s post

Cardiomyopathy – Heart muscle weakness, caused by hypothyroidism

CFS-ME/Adrenal Fatigue – Why the couch potato just lies there – Link #2: P

Chat – You are entitled to join, comment, advise or criticise

Chimpanzee Twins – A parable, on healthy aging – Link #1 – F

Cholesterol, Statins, Strokes and IH – Prevention is better than cure – Link #1

Cholesterol, Statins, Strokes and IH – An addendum: – P

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – a.k.a. “LT3S ”, “ESS” & “IH”– P

Cognition and the Thyroid – one more erroneous “E-News” item

Collagen – The glue, that holds our parts together

Compounded Medication Ban – The FDA’s latest,”pro Big Pharma” ploy – F

Concussion, in Soccer – Girls affected almost twice as often as boys – link #1 – P

Corruption of evidence-based medicine – The “system”, Vs “real Doctors” – P

Cortisol – The dangerous healer: the anti-inflammatory poison

Covid 19 and Interferon – Treatment cost = US $1,120, to $1,962: I’ll take Vit D!

DEATH of the SEX DRIVE – can Testosterone revive it? -P

Death, within 180 days of a heart attack – IH, from stress, causes heart failure

DEMENTIA – 50% preventable, with “risk management” (? hormone balance?)

DEPRESSION (Major Depressive Disorder) – are psychedelics the answer? – P

Depression (Postpartum) – New, Expensive Medication- Link #2

Depression Postpartum (update) – A study of prediction & prevention Link #2

DHEA and Testosterone – You can’t have one, without the other! – Link #1 – F

DHEA and the Heart – A history of two friends, with the same problem – F

DHEA cures cancer (a single case) – A case of early prostate cancer – Link #2 – F

DHEA DEFICIENCY in Family practice – With details re 266 men – P

DHEA DEFICIENCY in WOMEN – 359 cases analysed – diagnosis & treatment – P

DHEA for your PET – my “Blue Heeler” has been taking it for 5 years – P

DHEA—HELP CANADIANS GET DHEA, OTC: CONTACT the MOH! -F

DHEA, Indispensable Hormone, A hormone for health: why it works- Link #2 – F

DHEA prevents cancer, Via TP53 – We get cancer oftener than animals do – F

DHEA testing – why it matters and why everyone should be aware – P

DHEA & Testosterone Deficiency, in FEMALES – DHEA in 359 Women

DHEA Deficiency Syndrome: a term for old age? -p

Dilated Cardiomyopathy caused by Hypothyroidism – Explaining heart failure – F

DISH, Heberden’s, Fibromyalgia & DHEA – DHEA for bones and tendons-Link #1

DMSO: Cure-all, or Curiosity? – An experiment, on Me – P

Doctors don’t innovate – Via “guidelines”, the “system” discourages new ideas!

Doctors get sick, too – My knock-down, drag-out fight with low T3! – link #2

Doctor-Patient disconnect – specialisation: part of the problem wit medicine

DOCTOR SHORTAGE – Retired MD is could help

Donanemab for ALzheimer’s – a Flawed mega-study – link #3

DRUG EVALUATION – Metabolic modifiers are being ignored

Eltroxin Doesn’t cure Hypothyroidism in 10–20% of cases (T3 Vs T4) – link #2

ENGLISH – We need an ambassadorial language (a requiem)– Link #1

ENGLISH – Requiem for the English Language: a Threnody, and a Plea – Link #2

Erythritol – (artificial sweeteners) Heart Attacks, and other Crimes! – Link #2

Estrogen – Background information on Estradiol, Estriol, Estrone

Evidence-based Medicine Corrupted – Link # 2

Fainting spells in girls and women (POTS) – link #2

FAKE NEWS, from a medical newsfeed – this time, Medscape – P

FEMALE Sexual Desire Disorder – What she needs is DHEA!

FIBROMYALGIA (Mine) – the root cause was IH !

Finasteride: Post-Finasteride Syndrome – PFS, Diagnosis & Treatment

Finasteride: a letter to PFS sufferers – 19,000 Side-effects, 97 Suicides – Link #1

Finasteride: letter to a stressed-out young man – synopsis of PFS and its Rx

Finasteride: Another Letter, to another young man – PFS, Again

Finasteride Another Note – Why is it still being prescribed ?

Functional (a.k.a. “Metabolic”) Medicine – An explanation of the discipline

Gervais Harry, MD: How I got here! – Jamaica–Toronto & SUBSTACK, via KSA!

Global warming: a plea, for trees! – Trees and energy storage

GLOBAL WARMING-the threat from CO2 – Affecting Noncommunicable disease P

Glomerulonephritis, post – vaccination – due to the spike protein

Hair loss in women – A result of DHEA deficiency ? =P

Health News Headlines – BEWARE! – A critique of “Health News Reports”

Healthcare, America –Kelly & Casey Means speak with Tucker Carlson – Link #2

Healthcare, Canada – Slavery and the Canadian Healthcare System – P

Healthcare, Canada – Addendum, Regarding the “Healthcare Crisis”– P

Healthy Aging – a parable – A smart Chimpanzee and his twin brother – Link#2

Heart Attack: (Death, within 180 days)– Stress, IH & Heart Failure – Link#2: P

Heart Attack, T3, Mortality & the LT3S Diagnosis & Rx speeds recovery: P

Heart failure: Dilated cardiomyopathy in hypothyroidism – link #2: F

Heart Failure and the Thyroid – A short note, linking to an interesting article

Heart Failure and the role of Low T3 – HF is the chicken, not the egg -F

Heart Failure Symptoms – A Scandal, in Portugal: P

Heart “Superfood” – Orange Peel (!) F

Heberden’s Nodes, Dish, Fibromyalgia & DHEA – (My DISH) – Link #2

History of a Doctor – My Own knock-down, drag-out fight with low T3 !

Hormones: what they are and why we need them – THEY ARE US! – Link #1

Hormone Restoration and Metabolic Medicine – an essential specialty – P

Hormone Tests – Hormone test ranges should be corrected (Example, Thyroid)

Hormone to keep us healthy: DHEA – Mother of the brain hormones – Link #1

Hubris, Faux Science & Arrogance – MOH, The College, MONOPSONY

Hypothyroidism diagnosis: T3/rT3 ratio-True, Vs Intracellular, Hypothyroidism #1

Hypothyroidism: T3 Vs T4 Therapy, the Debate – Why Eltroxin fails to cure 20%

Hypothyroidism (Intracellular), Undiagnosed – (Hypothyroidism) – link #4

Hypothyroidism – a RANT ! – A micro-post, but very IMPORTANT -F

Insomnia: Relieved by Progesterone (with PEA, to boost its action)

Intracellular Hypothyroidism – a.k.a. “Low T3 Syndrome”, “Nonthyroidal Illness”, ”Euthyroid Sick Syndrome”, etc.

Intracellular Hypothyroidism, Cholesterol, Statins and Strokes – (Cholesterol, Statins, Strokes and IH) – Link #2)

Iron Deficiency Anemia In Long Covid – Fatigue, dyspnea, aches, ‘brain fog’.

It’s not just (your) hormones, Ladies – We’re all in this together!

Joe Biden’s problem: Brain Fog? – Acute-onset IH, due to unaccustomed stress

LANGUAGE – English, for ambassadorial communication

Let’s prevent Postpartum Depression – Balanced hormones prevent depression

Long Covid – Chinese reporters prove 20% of Long Covid cases due to low T3

Long Covid and brain fog – an effect of brain inflammation, or IH?

Long Covid and Intracellular Hypothyroidism – A follow-up report, Dec. 2023

Long Covid Vs Nattokinase – nattokinase wins! – P

Long Covid Complications – Long COVID and mental distress: link, to an article

Long Covid & Iron deficiency anemia – (iron deficiency in long Covid – link #2

Low T3 Syndrome in pregnancy – its effect on the fetus – (Brain) link #2

Lupus & Hypothyroidism – ? Cause, ? Treatment

Lyme Disease and the Thyroid Hormone – Lyme causes low T3 – P

Macular Degeneration – Low stomach acid, or metabolic/hormonal decline?

Magnesium – Calcium supports bones, Magnesium supports your chemistry

Medical profession – An ode, to the medical profession, as it was: P

Medical Journal reports: The problem of Ever – Present Omissions

Medicine: Modern “Guidelines” – The “system” emasculates family doctors!

Menopause – Hormone supplements prevent disability

Menopause, an opinion – My comments, on a report from “The Vagenda”

Menopause: holistic management and therapy – comment re cardioprotection

Metabolic (a.k.a. “Functional”) Medicine – an explanation of the discipline

Mother’s low T3 causes Fetal Hypothyroidism: – Diagnosis and prevention

Multiple Sclerosis and meat eaters – Should MS patients eat less meat?

Multiple Sclerosis and PEA – PEA helps the brain to make Allopregnanolone

Nattokinase Vs. Spike Protein – Nattokinase wins – Link 2 – P

Neurons (Brain cells}: form and function – Link #2

News-Feeds: Caveat Emptor! – Take newsfeed headlines with a grain of salt

Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) & the THYROID – here’s a possible solution

NCD incidence is rising: I explain the cause and propose a solution

Normal: Why accepted “Normal” values may be wrong (very, very wrong!)

OBESITY – The Epidemic – The problem, the diagnosis, the therapy – P

OBESITY: MD’s treat obesity without Identifying & treating its cause – link #2

Obesity and Brown fat – Stimulating brown fat cures obesity – Link #2

OBESITY, Mirabegron and other Mistakes

Occupational Burnout – Chronic work-related stress: cause and cure – Link #2

Ode, to The Medical Profession, as it was – Link #2:

Ode, to Democracy – a Caveat, for our leaders – Link #2

OMISSION, in study on Alzheimer/s therapy

ORGASM: DIFFICULTY and FAILURE IN MALES – p

Parkinson’s Disease and your Thyroid – With Parkinson’s, you Always have IH

Payments to Cardiology Fellows and Early-Career Cardiologists, from Industry

PEA – Suggested for multiple sclerosis, PFS, depression and IH – link #2

Placebo Effect – A Real Thing, NOT “in your head”– P

Post-Covid Vaccine Disease – You guessed it – Intracellular Hypothyroidism! P

Postvaccination Kidney Injury – >13x the usual rate of Glomerulonephritis

Postpartum Depression (A study, prediction & prevention) – Link #2

Postpartum Depression Medication – New, Expensive – The whole story

Postural Hypotension -”POTS” – fainting spells and girls and women

Pregnancy with Low T3 syndrome – IH and the baby’s Brain, Link #1

Pregnancy Risks for Female Doctors – FMDs have High Pregnancy Risk: why?

Preventive care, as it could be – Proactive health surveillance and management

Progesterone – The body’s second-most-interesting hormone (Vitamin D is #1)

Propecia – (An open letter to Post-Finasteride Syndrome sufferers)- Link # 3

PSA: How PSA testing added 16 years to my lifespan (so far) – p

Restless Legs Syndrome – A subset of Intracellular Hypothyroidism (Low T3)

Reverse T3: BAD ADVICE, from Mayo – They choose to ignore the truth

Reverse T3 – 9.7 MILLION www “Hits” ignored by mainstream medicine – F

Reverse T3 – a most important parameter – should be included in checkups – P

Scandal in Portugal – Only 29% of heart failure cases diagnosed: many died – P

Schizophrenia in children of Caribbean Mothers in UK – And others, elsewhere

Schizophrenia: Missing Genes – 2 genes are missing in Schizophrenics – why?

Schizophrenia: there’s no genetic link, so let’s work on Prevention

SEX, LOSS OF SEX DRIVE, TESTOSTERONE THERAPY – see Testosterone – P-Link 2

Soccer and Concussion: – Girls are affected twice as often as Boys – Link #2

Sperm Counts Falling, Worldwide – My opinion, re. a 50-year-old question

Statins, Dementia & Mortality – Statins really aren’t a good idea

Stiff Person Syndrome and Intracellular Hypothyroidism – ? A cure for SPS?

Stress causes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – What stress does and how to fix it

Stress causes Hypothyroidism – Ask “why”, not “how”: the answer lies within

SUBSTACK: The Motive, and The Drive

Supplements: – Program for an 85-year-old Surgeon

Surrogate Motherhood – Make the SM a family member, for baby’s sake!

Sugar-Free Sweeteners – (Erythritol) Link # 3

T3 and Mortality in Heart Attacks – Low T3 promotes demise – P

T3/rT3 ratio Diagnoses Hypothyroidism – Low T3 & the T3/rT3 test

Testosterone – Male/Female Differences, “Low T” and ”T” supplementation

Testosterone and DHEA – Testosterone made from DHEA in the cells – Link #2

Thyroid Gland removal for Hashimoto’s symptoms – A bad idea: NIMBY!

Thyroid Hormones and Heart Failure – Report on, & link to, an excellent paper

Thyroid Hormones 3&4 cross the placenta – Proof: Fetal T3 is from Mother – F

Thyroid hormones increase risk of dementia – Fake News, from Medscape – P

Thyroid Tests Aren’t Done Right! – Should test ranges be reviewed? – P

TSH INADEQUATE as a solitary test: – You MUST test FT3 and rt3!

TSH – Meaningless, Without FT3 and rT3 – P

Turbocancer, Covid19 shots, + Questions – a free post, for the public interest

TurboCancer – (1) Dr. Marik’s treatise, (2) ? DHEA (3) ? LT3S (Link #2)

UWI (University of the West Indies) – Top 1.5% of Universities, worldwide

Vaccination (against Covid) and acute kidney injury – due to micro-clots

Vitamin D3 – It’s a Hormone, and your skin is the gland that makes it!

War: Israel & Hamas – a quote, from “XCRATH!” – “The strongest fears and angers of our ancient past dwell at the deepest levels of our consciousness and call forth the most irresistible emotion: approach the adversary on the solid ground of reason, not the shifting sand of politics and trickery” (Xcmorn, advising Xcnintorr): a quote from “XCRATH!”, written in1999

What Hormones are, & why we need them – Raison d’être of our chemicals: L-2

Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome – an example of ill-informed academic hubris

Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome – mainstream opinion (2005) defies the facts

XCRATH! – OUR NEW WORLD: high atmospheric Xenon and interesting natives!

XCRATH! – A note from March 2023, which I can’t resist adding to SUBSTACK!

XCRATH! – An addendum to “XCRATH! – an Adventure”

Xenon, the Atmospheric Anaesthetic – The perfect anaesthetic! – link #1

Your Hormones – A treatise on hormones and the male/female divide – Link # 2

Why prescribing a very effective drug is not enough.

A new cure (?!?), for obesity!

This just in, from Medscape medical news: an excellent article, entitled “Experts Aim to Use Brown Fat to Burn Fat More Effectively”, by Ute Eppinger, on March 29, 2024.

This is a very good article, which you may wish to read (click the link above). It claims that (more or less) all you need to do for obesity is to activate the brown fat. It goes on to suggest the use of Mirabegron, which is quite safe and actually, a very good medication.

However as usual, this is a synthetic medication, prescribed without any thought as to the origin of obesity’s underlying problem and with no effect on other aberrations, apart from obesity, caused by the underlying problem: this is the usual “tack” of Allopathic medicine: treatment to eliminate symptoms, without affecting the disease.

What causes “Underactive Brown Fat”?

The cause of underactive brown fat, and therefore of obesity, is of course, a reduction in the quantity of thyroid 3 (FT3) available to it. Brown fat is activated by a combination of T3 and Noradrenaline: Noradrenaline is supplied in adequate quantity by the sympathetic nervous system; but stressed humans develop “Intracellular Hypothyroidism”, a.k.a. “Low T3 Syndrome”, in which their cells convert T4, the thyroid Hormone, into reverse T3 instead of normal T3. When that happens, There is not enough T3 in the serum and the brown fat, starved of T3, stop working.

Re. Mirabegron

Mirabegron is safe and costs less than C$2/tablet. Big Pharma would like us to prescribe it, on the basis that it stimulates brown fat and reliably causes some weight loss. However the drug, as usual, treats symptoms, not cause: it is a treatment of the end result of a pathological condition, not a treatment of the condition itself.

So Mirabegron, although effective in getting rid of the obesity, does nothing to eliminate the T3 starvation which caused the obesity by shutting off the brown fat and it does nothing to help the other symptoms associated with Low T3.

Re obesity

The cause of obesity is explained in my two posts on brown fat (1) BF & O and (2) “More, on Brown Fat”. Brown fat is activated by the combination of T3 and Noradrenaline (from the sympathetic innervation of brown fat). Noradrenaline without T3 does not activate it and T3, without noradrenaline, doesn’t activate it either.

You can get a handle on whether an obese person has the low T3 syndrome by checking the thyroid profile, including TSH, FT4, FT3 and rT3: that is explained in another post: how to diagnose intracellular hypothyroidism (a.k.a. “subclinical hypothyroidism”, “Low T3 Syndrome (LT3S)” and “nonthyroidal illness”.

So if you examine an obese person and find that he or she has a low body temperature, you should test for FT3 and rT 3 together: if the ratio between serum FT3 and reverse T3 is over 20, you will have diagnosed the low T3 syndrome.

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Type your email…

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?

A chronicle, of 40 years with Intracellular Hypothyroidism

Abstract

Hereunder is an autobiographical report of my own medical history of chronic stress-related Intracellular Hypothyroidism (IH). I describe a 43-year history of steroidopenia and IH, which began at age 40. The step-by-step evolution of the syndrome is laid out chronologically, the eventual cure is explained with reference to detail via my “SUBSTACK” blog and a few supporting references are provided.

Caveats

This post is rather long, because the chronology and the step-by-step progression of the illness described, is of importance in understanding “the bottom line”. If you find it “too much”, scroll down to “retrospective analysis” and read from there, to the end.

This history is put forward without intent to compromise known and accepted methods of management and without a plan to profit in any way from its publication. My intent is to assist others in the prevention or alleviation of this condition. I offer it in the interest of furthering my colleagues’ knowledge of the syndrome from which I suffered for 40 years.

Introduction 

I was born in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 1939. I was blessed with an extraordinarily stable, supportive and appreciative family, who encouraged me to dependable self-confidence and self-reliance and rendered me extremely steady, stress resistant and subjectively tranquil. I am not subject to “anxiety” as such and have never been depressed. However as one bordering on the autistic spectrum, who instinctively examines all possibilities prior to conclusion and decision, I am admittedly subject to mild apprehension – “Id–perceived stress” – in uncertain times and in ill-defined circumstances.

Thus, as all humans do, I increase my cortisol production in response to perceived stress, thereby reducing the rate of (intracellular) conversion of thyroid 4 to thyroid 3, and I must suffer the consequences.

In my case, it took 40 years for chronic stress to “come to a head” and my eventual cure was a matter of good luck, in addition to good management.

The lesson here is that stress is responsible for many, if not most, Illnesses and that there is a way to circumvent and/or eliminate its effects.

Subscribe to continue reading

Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.

Type your email…

Subscribe

Already a subscriber?