Sharon (Shayk) is absolutuly right when she said,
I've been reading more about thryoid issues lately and I do think it wouldn't hurt to ask your GP about it again.
This is something I intend to do after reading the book
The MS Solution by Kathryn R. Simpson.
Overall, the book has good ideas, especially about checking hormone and vitamin/mineral levels. I take exception to her statement on IGF-1 on pages 141-142.
Growth hormone production is highest at puberty and declines progressively after age 21. Made in your pituitary, it stimulates bone and organ growth. It causes increased production and release of a substance called insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), which travels to target tissues such as bones, organs, and muscles to trigger growth and repair. It has also been shown to promote growth of myelin and nerves.
I prefer to believe the research reported in
the recent Winter 08-09 issue of Momentum, publication of the NMSS (I am generally skeptical of this group and its projects), which addressed this idea with the following:
"The growth factor IGF-1 had shown some success in promoting myelin formation, so a Society-funded team led by Stephane Genoud, PhD (The Salk Institute, La Jolla, Calif.), injected it into mice with EAE. The injections actually worsened the disease. (Journal of Neuroimmunology 2005; 168:40-5) Such failures are important to pinpoint before they affect people with MS in clinical trials."
Here is the abstract of the work mentioned:
1: J Neuroimmunol. 2005 Nov;168(1-2):40-5. Epub 2005 Aug 24. Links
Targeted expression of IGF-1 in the central nervous system fails to protect mice from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.Genoud S, Maricic I, Kumar V, Gage FH.
Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute, 10010 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) has been identified as a critical molecule in the induction of myelination in the central nervous system (CNS). Systemic injection of IGF-1 has been shown to have a varied and transiently protective effect on the clinical course of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). Since systemic IGF-1 can also modulate peripheral immune lymphocytes, we examined whether a sustained and local delivery of IGF-1 into the spinal cord would have any influence on the chronic course of EAE in C57/BL6 mice. The capability of adeno-associated virus (AAV) to be retrogradely transported efficiently from muscle to motor neurons of the spinal cord was used to overcome the difficulty routinely encountered when attempting chronic delivery of molecules into the CNS. We demonstrate that AAV-mediated delivery of IGF-1 in CNS did not have any beneficial effect on the clinical course of EAE. Injection of AAV-IGF1 after induction of the disease worsened the clinical symptoms. Furthermore, CNS expression of IGF-1 did not affect the pathogenic anti-MOG T cell response, as examined by proliferation and cytokine secretion. Thus, enhanced expression of IGF-1 in the CNS during inflammation does not have a significant effect on myelination. These data have important implications for the potential use of IGF-1 in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.
PMID: 16120466 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE
It's another one of those areas that deserves more examination!