Buskila, Sarzi-Puttini and Ablin in their paper The genetics of fibromyalgia syndrome (Pharmacogenomics, 8(1) 67-74) say it is probably polygenic, so perhaps there is significant overlap in the genes making people more likely to get either of the disorders. (I only read the abstract.)
Damn, I can only see the abstract. I’d like to see that paper if anyone has a copy.
They seem to be fingering endocrine genes, but adrenal rather than thyroid. A lot of alternative medicine people talk about ‘adrenal fatigue’ in this context, but I hadn’t been paying much attention to that since ‘real’ doctors don’t think it’s a thing.
But I don’t know what I’m talking about! Can anyone who does read that paper and tell us what it means?
Meh, I don’t think you are wrong, I just think you will have to incorporate genome sequencing in recommendations for future research (even if you won’t conduct it yourself). Maybe some of the genes they found should go into the confounder bin?.. And of course, they mention ‘additional comorbid conditions’ (cretinism?), so it will be a very convoluted question. Not to mention that you should also look up any studies on 1) whether pig-thyroid-eating people had better or worse outcomes when compared to what is expected from an equivalent dose of pure hormones, and 2) what substances are found in the preparation (preferably something with mass-spectrometry as the method ofidentification) & how it was made (I don’t know a thing about pigs, but they do have parathyroid glands—could those be included, too?), 3) how well do the respective forms of hormone store (under such freeze-drying conditions) - I bet that they decompose at different rates, which means… I can’t even say what it wouldean right now, except that standardization of doses should be difficult.
1) Can’t find any data on this. 1970s experiments concluded pig-thyroid much worse than pure T4, but they were using very large doses of T4, and when they swapped some of it for T3, it might have over-ridden the conversion mechanism and produced hyper symptoms. Also I suspect that only a small number (ballpark 16% notice, 2% notice strongly) of people would be happier on T4/T3 mix. Also there’s too much T3 in pig-thyroid, it is thought. T3 monotherapy generally believed to be a disaster. And I would suspect that to be right if I didn’t have John Lowe’s posthumous word that it works well for some people including him.
2) I’d love to see that if you know where it might be found.
3) Christ alone knows. One of the original concerns with pig-thyroid was inconsistency. I think they do it better now. Synthetic T4 also has a slightly patchy consistency record, according to some sources.
Buskila, Sarzi-Puttini and Ablin in their paper The genetics of fibromyalgia syndrome (Pharmacogenomics, 8(1) 67-74) say it is probably polygenic, so perhaps there is significant overlap in the genes making people more likely to get either of the disorders. (I only read the abstract.)
Damn, I can only see the abstract. I’d like to see that paper if anyone has a copy.
They seem to be fingering endocrine genes, but adrenal rather than thyroid. A lot of alternative medicine people talk about ‘adrenal fatigue’ in this context, but I hadn’t been paying much attention to that since ‘real’ doctors don’t think it’s a thing.
But I don’t know what I’m talking about! Can anyone who does read that paper and tell us what it means?
Both the paper and an update to it can be found quite easily on Library Genesis.
Ooh, that is an interesting site. Thankyou. Paper downloaded and will read.
Thanks, I’ll have a look! Other minds finding reasons why I’m wrong is exactly why I stuck this on Less Wrong. (Also it’s just quite a fun puzzle)
Meh, I don’t think you are wrong, I just think you will have to incorporate genome sequencing in recommendations for future research (even if you won’t conduct it yourself). Maybe some of the genes they found should go into the confounder bin?.. And of course, they mention ‘additional comorbid conditions’ (cretinism?), so it will be a very convoluted question. Not to mention that you should also look up any studies on 1) whether pig-thyroid-eating people had better or worse outcomes when compared to what is expected from an equivalent dose of pure hormones, and 2) what substances are found in the preparation (preferably something with mass-spectrometry as the method ofidentification) & how it was made (I don’t know a thing about pigs, but they do have parathyroid glands—could those be included, too?), 3) how well do the respective forms of hormone store (under such freeze-drying conditions) - I bet that they decompose at different rates, which means… I can’t even say what it wouldean right now, except that standardization of doses should be difficult.
Er, hope that helps.
1) Can’t find any data on this. 1970s experiments concluded pig-thyroid much worse than pure T4, but they were using very large doses of T4, and when they swapped some of it for T3, it might have over-ridden the conversion mechanism and produced hyper symptoms. Also I suspect that only a small number (ballpark 16% notice, 2% notice strongly) of people would be happier on T4/T3 mix. Also there’s too much T3 in pig-thyroid, it is thought. T3 monotherapy generally believed to be a disaster. And I would suspect that to be right if I didn’t have John Lowe’s posthumous word that it works well for some people including him.
2) I’d love to see that if you know where it might be found.
3) Christ alone knows. One of the original concerns with pig-thyroid was inconsistency. I think they do it better now. Synthetic T4 also has a slightly patchy consistency record, according to some sources.