Thyroid Power: Ten Steps to Total Health

by Richard L. Shames, Karilee H. Shames

A comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide to curing America's most persistent energy crisis: low thyroid,  Thyroid Power  presents a ten-step program to conquer this energy-sapping illness. Low thyroid is one of the most misdiagnosed medical disorders, manifesting itself with a wide array of symptoms--from weight gain and chronic fatigue to severe depression and infertility--that are often dismissed or attributed to other conditions. A doctor-nurse team, the Shames present a proven holistic approach which first helps readers determine if they suffer from low thyroid and then reveals common environmental and emotional triggers as well as the foods, vitamins and natural remedies that strengthen the thyroid. The authors also reveal the connection between low thyroid and autoimmune disease and explain the best standard and alternative treatments, suggesting ways to work with health practitioners. By illuminating and simplifying a complex dysfunction that is all too common, this valuable book will help readers live a life of optimal energy and hormonal balance.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction, Medical

336 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2001

About the author

Richard graduated Harvard and University of Pennsylvania, did research at the National Institutes of Health with Nobel Prize winner Marshall Nirenberg, and has been in private practice for twenty five years. In addition to his medical office work, he has been a member of the Clinical Faculty of the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco, a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association, a participant in the Carl Menninger Foundation, and a member of Who's Who in California as well as nationally. He has served as Adjunct Faculty at Florida Atlantic University.

Karilee Halo Shames R.N., Ph.D.

Karilee is a Clinical Specialist in Psychiatric Nursing and a Certified Holistic Nurse with a PhD. in Holistic Studies. She has maintained a private practice in collaboration with Dr. Richard Shames for twenty years, specializing in comprehensive treatment aspects of energy-depletion illnesses."

Reviews

[Amie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thyroid Power is a well-written, highly organized guide for anyone interested in improving or understanding their thyroid disorder. The author does a great job of making clinical information accessible to anyone without a medical or human sciences background. I found the chapters on the auto-immune aspect to thyroid disorder and adrenal gland malfunction to be particularly interesting.

Explanation for 3-star rating:
While the book aims to empower patients by educating readers about the chemical processes and medical terminology related to thyroid disorder, practitioner participation is a huge factor in successful treatment. One of the "10 Steps to Total Health" involves finding a therapeutic balance/dosage of medication. This is a pretty major step that is heavily reliant on finding a doctor willing to work with the patient. Cooperation with primary care/specialist physicians can be difficult and this is totally beyond the control of the sufferer. To get to the point: I did not find this to be a true 'guide' to fixing all of my under-active thyroid woes. It did inspire me to find a new doctor and experiment with vitamins, supplements, and other holistic remedies. Not a great deal of new information for a person who is already knowledgeable about the subject.

A good first read for a person new to thyroid disorder.

[Bobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have found the vitamin/supplement info useful in this book. Some of the dietary info seems extreme and nearly impossible. I do not know of a city that does not have fluoridated water. Bottled water is also a no-no. I guess the authors do not think you should drink water at all if you live in a city. Take what you find useful out of the book and chuck the rest.

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think everyone over the age of 40 should read this book. Tired? Overweight? Those are just two of many chronic conditions discussed in this most insightful book. Easy to understand, even for Doctors. :)

[E.G. Bella · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative - if perhaps slightly outdated at this point? - volume on hypothyroidism, and quite useful for learning more about the symptoms that come with it. I didn't appreciate the later sections on 'harnessing your inner power to heal yourself' sorts of advice, but the medical advice and the self-assessment were useful. I wouldn't use it as the complete source of information on hypothyroidism, but it was a helpful piece of the puzzle.

[Linda Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

had some useful information that I was not aware of but book is 20 years old so there us probably much more updated information that is out there at this time

[Cassie Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the holistic health from someone actually educated that I’ve been looking for

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thyroid Power by Richard Shames. Since I have thyroid problems I am always reading or searching ways to keep my thyroid under control. This book has very good advice to those with thyroid problems or anyone who may be searching for some health answers about the thyroid. Foods to advoid, how it affects other parts of the body along with what to talk to your doctor about testing for the thyroid and medications, etc. This book reminded me of different things I should be doing but over the years have forgotten and also some new ideas to help with my thyroid and diet.

[Shauna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were extremely helpful. I skipped over a lot of the how and why but I definatly related to some of the symptoms of the authors patients. Their advice though was to push for test after test and I'm not that comfortable pushing my doctor. I have some natural remedies that they mention in the book so I'll try that first.

[Susan Howson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful in that it is really empowering to fight for your own health. Sad in that it is necessary to fight for your own health. Some of their tips are already working for me, so I'm pretty convinced to try more of them.

Easy, informative read for anyone who thinks they might be suffering from a thyroid issue.

[Katonda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full of information, and list of things to do, supplements to take. But with my first Endo. visit coming up, I'll wait for explainations of the tests that referred me to that Dr. and for any new test results before I'll think about taking any kind of supplements they recommended.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information to those people who are new to thyroid disease. I already am familar with most of the information in this book. I did enjoy reading about how the thyroid effects your adrenal glands and about adrenal exhuastion.

[Marie-France · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat useful; could've been made into a smaller book; there were a lot of anecdotes and stories; maybe a bit too much. But nonetheless helped me gain a bit more information about low-thyroid symptoms and options to help treat it.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat helpful. If you are at all researching this subject, the themes are a good reminder of what you may already know. If you know little about this immune disorder, then it is a very good book to read. I found the end of the book more helpful than the beginning.

[Mace · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you suspect issues with your thyroid,or someone in your family or even a friend, make sure to read or recommend this book. It's straight forward, to the point, helpful and informative.

[Elaine]

Excellent book written by a doctor who walks this talk because of his wife. Also, great reference tool for meeting with doctors!

[Blythe Burton-teed]

Definitely worth reading.

[Sarah Maxwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for anyone struggling with thyroid issues. Great advice on tests, direction for your doctor (if needed) and excellent resource list in the back.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be good for someone who knows very little about thyroid, but if you are already diagnosed with thyroid problems, you probably already know a good portion of what is in this book.