There is sometimes a tendency for us to dismiss something out-of-hand even though we don't know anything about it. To save anyone any embarrassment, I'd like to point out that the treatment for Wilson's Syndrome works. It works predictably and reproducibly well. There may be some debate as to why it works, but it definitely does work very well in many cases. The most significant aspect to this treatment is that patients often remain improved even after the treatment has been discontinued! This "resetting phenomenon" is what sets Wilson's Syndrome apart.

Fortunately, over the last 12 years (since the first edition of this book) hundreds of other physicians have reproduced the results described in this book.

I have given presentations about Wilson's Temperature Syndrome at CME-approved Medical Conventions. Wilson's Temperature Syndrome has also been the topic of many radio shows, as well as TV, Medical Newsletters, Magazines, other Books, Textbooks, Nutritional Guides, the Internet, etc.. We also conduct Certification Training Seminars for physicians. The word has spread quickly to the delight of thousands who suffer from it and who are now obtaining relief. In this book, is the information that is bringing predictable and reproducible help to many who were told nothing was wrong, and nothing could be done to help them.

Best wishes,
Dr. Wilson
 

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is a condition that causes symptoms characteristic of decreased thyroid system function. Named Wilson's Temperature Syndrome in 1990, it is best identified by its reproducible and predictable response to normalization of body temperature patterns (with a special thyroid hormone treatment protocol developed by E. Denis Wilson, MD and/or WTSmed Supplements which are natural medicines). It is the cluster of often debilitating symptoms especially brought on by significant physical, or emotional stress that can persist even after the stress has passed (due to a maladaptive slowing of the metabolism). It is characterized by a body temperature that runs, on average, below normal and routine thyroid blood tests are often in the "normal range."

Classically, Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are going along fine in their lives, and then they go through some major stress, develop symptoms of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and are never the same.

They often develop numerous burdensome complaints, like those listed on the cover of this book. In this book, each symptom is characterized so thoroughly, that you'll get a good idea of what it feels like to have Wilson's Temperature Syndrome.

Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is especially brought on by stresses such as: childbirth (#1 cause), divorce, death of a loved one, job or family stress, surgery or accidents, excessive dieting, and others.

Some people are more prone to developing Wilson's Temperature Syndrome than others. Their symptoms may come on earlier in life and tend to worsen more gradually over time. They may not even know what it feels like to be normal. It seems that those who are most prone to developing WTS are those whose ancestors survived famine, such as Irish, Scot, Welsh, American Indian, Russian, etc. Most susceptible of all seem to be those who are part Irish, and part American Indian. But under severe circumstances people of any nationality can develop Wilson's Temperature Syndrome. It seems that about 80% of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome sufferers are women. In this book, Dr. Wilson gives a possible explanation as to why.

It's easy to predict whether or not a person has a low body temperature, based on his/her symptoms and how and when they came on. If people have a story that's just classic for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome then the chances of their temperature not averaging below 98.6 degrees is less than one in two hundred. In fact, most of them by far, will average 97.8 and lower (>92%).
 

The efficiency of all the chemical reactions taking place in your body vitally depends on your body temperature. Virtually all of these chemical reactions depend on properly functioning enzymes to take place as they should. How an enzyme functions depends on its temperature as well as its structure. When enzymes are too hot they get too loose and when they are too cold they get too tight, but when they are just the right temperature they are just the right shape and function with the most ease. When the temperature is too hot, too cold, or unsteady, the enzymes will spend less time in their optimal shape-which simply translates into having a less than optimal metabolism. So, for the body's enzymes to work at peak efficiency the body temperature has to be just right. Thus, the body temperature is like one critical card at the bottom that can't be moved too much without bringing down the whole house of cards. And in this way, low body temperatures are more than enough to explain numerous burdensome complaints.

(Of course, Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is not the only possible explanation for each symptom but because it can be so debilitating, and yet is so common, easily recognized, and easily treated, it should be considered first, not last).

Doctors have long been concerned about patients having very high fevers, because it is well known that high fevers (i.e. 106 degrees) can cause denaturing (malforming) of the enzymes, brain damage, and even death. Likewise, if a person is pulled out of an icy lake and has a temperature of less than 85 degrees, doctors consider it a medical emergency because warming will be necessary for survival.

It is also clear that body temperatures 1 to 1-1/2 degrees above normal [of 98. 6] can produce familiar symptoms of fever. Similarly, body temperatures that run 1 to 1-1/2 degrees below normal can also produce a very characteristic set of symptoms. So, it is obvious that the proper functioning of the body vitally depends on it being at the right body temperature.

POP QUIZ (Fill in the blank): If a very high temperature can be very bad, and a very low temperature can be very bad, and a pretty high temperature can be pretty bad, then a pretty low temperature can be?__________________. If you answered: pretty bad, you get an A+.

Unfortunately, medical schools have taught doctors not to pay any attention to a relatively low body temperature; perhaps because it is not immediately life-threatening or because the associated symptoms have been mistakenly considered psychological or attributed to other causes. In this book, Dr. Wilson shows how many different medicines are frequently used in an attempt to address patients' symptoms one-at-a-time, when they would be far more responsive to treating the underlying problem. Is WTS immediately life-threatening? No, only enough to make some feel "half-dead."
 

Take your temperature, by mouth, with a thermometer (digital thermometers can become inaccurate from low battery or being dropped) every three hours, three times a day, starting three hours after waking, for several days (not the three days prior to the period in women since it's higher then). For each day, add the temperatures together and divide by 3 to get the average.

Almost everyone's temperatures are low in the morning, but the temperatures go higher in the afternoon and lower in the evening. So, it's a better comparison to see if the temperatures are running low in the middle of the day when the temperatures are supposed to be at their highest. This is because the symptoms of patients with Wilson's Temperature Syndrome are, by far, most likely to resolve when their temperatures are brought up to average around 98.6 degrees during the day. NOTE: People can run consistently low temperatures even if they feel hot all the time or sweat easily- be sure to check it with a thermometer!
 

"Because I can't get these symptoms to improve with thyroid medicine, they can't be improved with thyroid medicine."-That's not necessarily so. This condition hasn't been so easily recognized in the past because doctors didn't have a way to get it better.

Because some patients' symptoms did not respond in the past to a certain thyroid medicine given in a certain way does not necessarily mean that their symptoms have been "found" to not respond to any kind of thyroid approach. To think so, is a little like concluding that since certain infection-type symptoms don't reliably clear with a penicillin shot, they can't be from an infection. Commonly, infections that wouldn't respond to a penicillin shot will respond to some other antibiotic, or even to penicillin given in another way (for example, intravenously).

"The people that are more likely to benefit from the thyroid method I'm using have low thyroid blood tests. Therefore people with normal blood tests can't have a thyroid responsive problem."-That's not necessarily so either.

This is like concluding that "The pay-phones that are more likely to benefit from a repair-man using his tools to replace their receiver cords are those having cords that have been completely severed, therefore pay-phones that don't have severed receiver cords can't have a problem that might benefit from repair [with tools]." As it turns out pay-phones with intact receiver cords may still not work properly, because something else might be broken, like the coin mechanism. In fact, the coin mechanism is far more commonly the problem, in pay-phones that are out-of-order, and it's certainly possible for them to be repaired [with tools]. So, just because a problem is more obvious doesn't make it more common or more important. In a similar way, doctors have overlooked a few more common thyroid-responsive problems by preoccupying themselves with the ones that show up on thyroid blood tests.

What makes Wilson's Temperature Syndrome so simple and so obvious is how typical the patients' stories are before treatment, and how reproducibly and predictably the symptoms respond to the WT3 protocol.

How can Proper T3 Therapy Help Normalize Body Temperatures Even When Thyroid Blood Tests Are Normal? -It's like understanding that there's more to making ice than just water.

The glandular portion of the thyroid system provides the raw material (what is measured by thyroid blood tests) needed by the peripheral portion (downstream to the glands) to deliver the right mix of the thyroid hormones T3, T4, and perhaps RT3, to provide proper thyroid stimulation of the cells in order to generate an adequate body temperature to prevent symptoms of unbalanced thyroid system function. If the glandular portion, or coarse tuning, wasn't working well enough, then insufficient raw material would be produced, which would show up on the blood tests, and the shortage would be felt all the way down the line, eventually resulting in symptoms. This is analagous to it being hard to make enough ice when there's not enough water. But if the glandular portion was perfectly fine, and there was a problem in the peripheral portion, you could still get symptoms as seen in Wilson's Temperature Syndrome. That's because it's also hard to make enough ice when there's plenty of water, but not enough cold. When trying to make enough ice, it's easy to see if there's enough water, but how do you know if it's been cold enough long enough ? That's a little tougher- but the best way is to see how much of it is ice. That's why the fine tuning of the thyroid system is best assessed by the temperature and the symptoms; because it's easy to see if you have enough raw material (normal blood tests), but the best indicator that things are regulated well is when your temperature is normal and you're feeling well.

Our medical system has been distracted by an observation that was made over 50 years ago - that the low-thyroid-type symptoms that were responsive to the thyroid treatment approach they were using at the time, seemed to correlate fairly well with findings on thyroid blood tests. They found that when you're having trouble making enough ice, and it gets easier when you add more water, then you probably weren't getting enough water; which they also found was an easy enough problem to recognize in the first place (with tests). So they decided: "To make enough ice, let's busy ourselves making sure we have plenty of water and the rest will take care of itself;" and that's essentially where our medical system has been ever since. They have been hoping, frequently assuming, and in some cases even pretending that by ensuring there are thyroid hormones such that there are normal blood tests, there would also be sufficient thyroid stimulation of the cells, good temperatures, and good health and well-being.- But that's not necessarily so. As we've discussed, there's more to making ice than just water. That's where it starts, not ends. This is how the treatment method for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome was developed. By being conscious of the entire thyroid system, including the peripheral portion, as well as the glandular portion while keeping an eye toward the resulting temperature and symptoms, plenty of ice was made far more reproducibly and predictably. A chapter of this book is devoted to explaining how Wilson's Temperature Syndrome was uncovered. In fact, it has been seen that of the people whose low-thyroid symptoms resolve with the right kind of thyroid treatment given in the right way, probably >95% don't have a problem with the glandular portion of their thyroid systems. In other words, for most people that are having trouble making enough ice, it's not because of a shortage of water; they have plenty of water, they're just having trouble making it ice.
 

Thyroid hormones do not have their action in the bloodstream, but in each cell of the body-which can't be measured directly.

The glands of the thyroid system (hypothalamus, pituitary, and thyroid) function to provide proper levels of the thyroid system hormones in the blood stream. Blood tests are very good at assessing the function of the glands of the thyroid system, because they are very good at measuring these levels. They aren't always conclusive, and frequently don't correlate well with a patient's low-thyroid-type symptoms because the hormones don't have their action in the blood stream but in the cells of the body, and currently there is no way to measure that action directly. Body temperature patterns correlate better with a person's low thyroid-type symptoms because rather than trying to estimate what will happen at the cell, they better reflect what has happened in the cells of the body. You know there's got to be something wrong with this picture: Upon hearing your complaints and history, your doctor's first thought is "low thyroid." In fact, your story is so classic for low thyroid function that he's positive your tests will be low, and he's getting excited about the benefit he's confident you'll get. He's just about to explain how you're likely to get a big improvement and how important it will be to take the thyroid medicine properly, as he flips to the results of your blood tests (which are in the "normal range"). And in the next instant he says: "Your TSH and T4 blood tests are fine, therefore you're normal-so, your symptoms are definitely not thyroid system related and can't possibly respond to thyroid treatment" (while perhaps adding in something about whether or not your symptoms are real [when they were real enough moments earlier] and he or she may even suggest psychological counseling). 100% total about face? Discouraged only by a less-than-conclusive blood test? So now you wonder, "Doctor, are you concerned at all about trying to help me with my problems, or are you satisfied with lining up numbers on that piece of paper? Is it possible that there could be a thyroid approach that might work beautifully under these circumstances that you're just not aware of yet?" These tests, like all tests, provide only limited information so why act like they provide more than they do? Besides, we all know that every test of any kind has false positives and false negatives. So, why jump past the mark, to make wide-sweeping conclusions (based on insufficient information) that aren't necessarily so, and to be inappropriately authoritative?

This book contains a common-sense discussion about how there is far greater variation in thyroid blood tests than in body temperature patterns, and why that's important.
 

Your body is designed to do two things:

1. Not starve.
2. Get things done.

When working properly, it will function appropriately somewhere between these two extremes:

1. Conserve as much energy as possible to protect against starvation and physical threat, even if some things don't get done.
2. Get as much accomplished as possible, no matter how much energy is consumed.

The first extreme would be more appropriate if there was a shortage of food, or if times were tough, but would be very inappropriate if not. The second would be more appropriate if there was an abundance of food and resources, but would be very inappropriate if there wasn't. Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is basically when a person's body gets stuck functioning inappropriately close to the first extreme.

So, it would be good to give your body reason to think that times aren't tough, that there is a sufficient supply of food with no threat of impending shortage, and that productivity is preferable. Such measures might be able to coax your body out of "conservation mode" and protect it from getting stuck there again. Inside this book such measures are described in good detail.
 

This book describes how one's symptoms could respond quickly and completely to normalization of body temperature patterns. The hallmark of low thyroid problems is that while few things can make folks sicker, few things respond as dramatically to proper treatment. This is what makes the area of thyroid so exciting. But, the trick has been determining, in any given patient, which is the right medicine, and how it should be given. And this challenging problem has turned a lot of excitement over the years into a lot of frustration, disappointment, failed assumptions, and faulty conclusions all based on insufficient information.

As it turns out, many people's low thyroid symptoms respond predictably and reproducibly well to their body temperature patterns being raised close to 98.6 degrees (on average) using the right thyroid medicine given in the right way. T3 (liothyronine or triiodothyronine) is frequently more useful in accomplishing this in more people. However, T3 has not been very well tolerated in the past because of it being strong but short-acting. But a sustained-release agent that is used in many sustained-release medicines on the market can be used with T3 medicine to make it far better tolerated. The method developed by Dr. Wilson involves using T3 incorporated with such an agent, to be taken every twelve hours by mouth.

Frequently, the patients' symptoms resolve and remain resolved even after the treatment (which sometimes consists of one or more "cycles") has been discontinued. In this book there is a detailed discussion (about 80 pages worth) about the principles of management, with some special notes. Because of space constraints it is not exhaustive, but it is extremely informative and will give you a very good idea of what's involved in the treatment of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome. It's always preferable to be able to get off medicine rather than to stay on, and this result is more often possible when the RT3 levels have been depleted. This also is accomplished with T3 more readily than it is with T4-containing medicines. Perhaps bringing down the level of RT3, by supporting the metabolism in the meantime with T3 for a time, interrupts a vicious cycle of impaired T4 to T3 conversion so that you can make T3 well on your own again. The WT3 protocol should not be undertaken casually, it must be done precisely and carefully, and is not completely without risk (before a therapeutic trial is prescribed, the potential risks and potential benefits should be considered and discussed on an individual case basis with your doctor). In many, many cases the right thyroid medicine given in the right way can make all the difference in the world in the lives of those who need it.

As discussed previously, our medical system has not been paying enough attention to what is happening in the critical portion of the thyroid system that is downstream from the glands of the thyroid system. Also, they're not concentrating on your temperature and symptoms. They're hoping that by controlling things upstream via your blood tests, that things will automatically work out well at the cell.

It often works out better to concern oneself more with what is happening closer to where the action is, in the portion of the system downstream from the glands (peripheral portion). By paying attention to things closer to "where the rubber meets the road"...near the cell, your resulting temperature, and your symptoms, one may often improve the symptoms more reproducibly. For example, imagine you were trying to write your name with a rubber pencil that was 3 feet long, while holding the end away from the point. You could press down, but it might wiggle this way, or that, and would be hard to manage. But if you held it down by the point, you'd have a lot better chance of being able to read your name when you were done. Likewise, when a doctor makes sure your T4 levels look about right on your blood tests, that T4 may get converted to T3 (which is 4 times more active than T4), or it might get converted to RT3 which is totally inactive. How much goes one way and how much the other can change readily (on the order of days or perhaps even hours) depending on the circumstances. In fact, in this book Dr. Wilson explains how and why patients with Wilson's Temperature Syndrome who are treated with T4 (levothyroxine) can actually get worse; or if they do get better, their symptoms frequently worsen again after 2-3 months. And if the dosage is then increased, and if the symptoms do improve again, they usually worsen again after another 2-3 months, or may worsen "right off the bat" with that increase or a subsequent one. To try to eliminate your symptoms by looking only at blood tests is like trying to write your name from three feet away with a floppy pencil. Although it is common practice, it is not proper to give thyroid medicine without regard to body temperature patterns.
 

Myth #1. Once a person needs thyroid medicine to improve low thyroid-type symptoms, or low thyroid blood tests for that matter, he/she will always need thyroid medicine for the rest of his/her life.

Even glandular insufficiencies of the thyroid system can be temporary. This makes it possible for people to be weaned off thyroid medicine sometimes, with their glandular function coming back up to normal. And very frequently, people without glandular insufficiencies can be weaned off treatment successfully after their symptoms have resolved with treatment.

Myth #2. If a person is given thyroid medicine when the thyroid blood tests are normal, or when the thyroid gland is normal, it will damage the thyroid gland.

Whereas, thyroid medicine can rest a person's thyroid system for a time (which can often "reset" things), much like birth control pills suppress a woman's own female hormone cycles (frequently useful when used for a time to correct irregular periods), no studies have ever shown that it can damage a previously healthy gland to prevent it from functioning normally again after the medicine is discontinued. The function of many patients' glands can come back up again after being suppressed for more than 20 years with thyroxin (T4).

Myth #3. Thyroxin or T4 is the most important thyroid hormone, and everything depends on its blood test levels being within a certain range.

Actually, there was once a boy who was born without thyroid function, and he was started on T3 instead of T4. He grew and developed normally and passed, without problems, on into adulthood without ever having a molecule of T4 in his body.

Myth #4. Thyroid medicine, T4 or T3 is absolutely necessary and something "you'll probably need for life" one minute if your blood tests are low, and then automatically become very bad for you if your tests are normal, the next.

Wait a minute. Thyroid hormone (T4, T3) has been floating around in our bodies since birth, and is absolutely necessary for good health. There is nothing inherently bad about the molecules; they can't and haven't directly damaged the tissue of your heart, brain, or other tissues. There is not a shred of evidence that suggests that thyroid hormones, when used properly, can damage the body in any way. But of course, thyroid hormones are medicine, and as with all medicines, should be used only under the thoughtful supervision of a doctor. Taking thyroid medicine is not completely without risk as nothing is.

Yes, it's not advisable to walk through an unfamiliar roomful of furniture at night with the light off. But that doesn't make it dangerous to walk through rooms full of furniture, especially when they can very often be negotiated quite comfortably when the lights are on. The problem has been that our medical system has been concentrating only on the problems affecting the glandular portion of the thyroid system which they were able to correct well using blood tests as a guide, but when the tests were normal they (not surprisingly) were not able to improve low thyroid system symptoms reproducibly with the treatment they were using. And since they did not have the principles of management recently developed (for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome), nor body temperature as a guide, they had virtually no way of monitoring treatment and consequently, more commonly encountered problems. Thus, generating very little benefit on one hand and some problems on the other, they gave upon that roomful of furniture, closed the door and decided/pretended it didn't exist.
 

1 . What's the purpose of the thyroid system? (See Chapter 2)

2. a. Where do the thyroid hormones have their action? In the cells of the body (at the nuclear membrane receptors).

b. How many thyroid hormones have any activity? Two, T3 and T4.

c. Which has the most activity, or is the active thyroid hormone? The active thyroid hormone is T3 and it has 4 times more activity than the raw material T4.

3. a. Where is most of the active thyroid hormone produced? Outside the thyroid gland.

b. What, if anything, affects its production? Stress, fasting, illness, cortisol, certain meds.

c. If it can slow down is it possible that something can cause it to stay down? Yes. If no, why not?

4. a. What do thyroid blood tests measure? Glandular function, levels of thyroid hormones in the bloodstream.

b. If the tests measure the levels in the blood, does that necessarily reflect what's happening at the site of action in the cells? No, blood tests don't measure whether or not there is adequate thyroid stimulation of the cells.

5. If you give me T4, or if I already have enough in my system to provide for normal tests, how do you know for sure it will be converted well enough to provide sufficient T3 to the active site? He/she doesn't, because that can't be measured directly at this time.

6. If very high temperatures are very bad, and very low temperatures are very bad, and pretty high temperatures can cause pretty significant symptoms, can pretty low temperatures cause pretty significant symptoms? Yes. If no, why not?

7. Would you please tell me if and how you know for sure? (Can be used sparingly with all of the above). Also, don't be afraid of, or afraid of asking for medical articles or medical literature on the subject. You can read. Make your own evaluation. If you feel what you're reading isn't logical, that very well might be because it isn't.

As you ask these questions, realize that this is one area of medicine in which doctors have had really no good reason for much of what they've thought, said, or insisted. This area has been neglected. There has been too little research done, and much of what has been done is poorly designed, with faulty conclusions being drawn from insufficient information. This kind of ignorance breeds confusion, which breeds insecurity. Many doctors feel uneasy about thyroid to begin with because they know it's important, powerful, and vital, but they know they haven't gotten a very good handle on it from what they're being taught by our medical system. So, understandably, they, and the experts who are teaching them, can be a little sensitive, and/or defensive. While in some cases, they can even be surprisingly easily provoked/ offended. Be on the lookout for "studies that have 'conclusively shown this' and 'definitely shown that,"' which have not necessarily shown anything of the kind-this is a favorite of those who love to draw faulty conclusions based on too little information in an effort to justify their point of view. But, doctors are people too, and they have feelings, so be kind.
 

Hypochondriac? Doctors not being able to find a physical problem necessarily means you don't have one? They should be quicker to consider their limitations than to jump to unfounded conclusions. (See Chapter 4).

Emotional and Social Implications. There are very typical emotional and interpersonal manifestations of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (short-suffering, end of the rope, out of resources, and even "not caring," etc.) This may give you and those close to you an explanation as to why (and how ) you're just not feeling, or acting yourself. (See Chapter 7).

More and more doctors are recognizing and treating Wilson's Temperature Syndrome. The theory behind Wilson's Temperature Syndrome is well supported by information already available in the medical literature.

There is also available a Wilson's Temperature Syndrome Doctor's Manual that is written for physicians but recommended to patients as well, that makes the treatment protocol easily and quickly understandable. It also includes forms, case studies, and management flowcharts.