Oprah's Bad Medicine: Oprah Winfrey's Disservice to Thyroid Sufferers
Three cheers to physician and writer Rahul Parikh, MD, who says that given her influence, it's a shame that Oprah Winfrey offers unbalanced health and medical advice. Dr. Parkih's written a must-read article over at Salon.com. He touches upon the thyroid controversies, as well as bioidentical hormones. Again, don't miss this article!I also felt it was important to add some additional perspective regarding the thyroid issue. You can read my response at Salon, or here below.
The Truth About Thyroid Disease, Hormones and Oprah
As a thyroid patient advocate/activist, I've written about Oprah's tortured relationship with thyroid disease for a decade. Thyroid problems affect as many as 60 million Americans -- the majority are women in middle age and beyond. The majority are also UNDIAGNOSED.
All this time, while her program featured women's health issues, Oprah did show after show about fatigue, fibromyalgia, infertility, low sex drive, weight gain, depression, postpartum problems, menopausal symptoms, high cholesterol, and other ailments, and NOT ONCE mentioned the fact that an underactive thyroid -- hypothyroidism -- could be the direct, treatable cause of these symptoms in some women. In fact, she seemingly avoided mentioning thyroid. Why she refused to discuss thyroid issues was a question I raised publicly as an advocate, and directly to her staff.
One time, on a weight loss show featuring Dr. Phil, a woman said she had trouble losing weight because of her thyroid problem. Dr. Phil gleefully berated her, saying something along the lines of "So, should we put a big ole sign on yer back that says 'I'm fat cause I have a thyroid problem?'" He was heartless -- and clueless -- showing no understanding of the metabolic impact of hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism, by the way, if undiagnosed, or if not treated aggressively and properly, can make weight loss impossible, despite the most rigorous diet and exercise program.
Did Oprah once suspect that a thyroid condition might be contributing to her weight battle, but test negative? Did she get the idea somewhere -- perhaps from Dr. Phil -- that it was merely a lazy, embarrassing excuse, and refuse to allow it to be discussed on her show? I have my theories.
Fast forward to a few years ago. Oprah appeared fit, and healthy, and a normal weight. It seemed like she had finally conquered her life-long weight struggle. But then, she started to gain weight. A few months later, she went "public" with the fact that she had been diagnosed with a thyroid problem, but claimed she'd solved it with a month-long Hawaiian vacation, and a diet heavy in soy (a known goitrogen which slows down and worsens hypothyroidism in many women.) The weight piled on. She had Dr. Christiane Northup on. Northrup claimed that women develop thyroid problems due to an inability to speak up. Northup also said that blowing kisses at yourself in the mirror and taking bubble baths were the solution -- along with more soy. The weight piled on. Oprah went on a 21-day vegan cleanse, at the direction of over-zealous Kathy Freston, eating a large amount of soy foods. Oprah gained even more weight.
Finally, Oprah had her big "reveal" last fall, when she admitted on tv and in her magazine that she was back over 200 pounds.
Oprah, who has access to best doctors, therapists, trainers, nutritionists, chefs, and counselors in the world, had gained it all back, and then some. So what was going wrong? It's no stretch to say it was likely her thyroid, given that millions of Oprah's viewers are going through the exact same situation -- they start out a normal weight, feeling well, and then suffer rapid weight gain along with the onset of a thyroid condition.
At that time, Oprah explained further: while she'd been diagnosed with Hashimoto's autoimmune hypothyroidism, she surprisingly chose NOT to take the prescribed medication. She even claimed her thyroid condition was "cured." (Though she never shared what that cure was.) She brought on her doctor du jour, Mehmet Oz, who said Oprah's thyroid condition was truly unique (despite the fact that it's the most common thyroid problem in the US and affects millions of women), and, ridiculously, he even claimed that the normal ups and downs in thyroid function that she was experiencing were a "frat party in her thyroid."
Ignoring the thyroid entirely, then, Oprah decided to head down the route of bioidentical sex hormone treatment. And rather than featuring one of the many reasonable MDs and clinics that work extensively with hormone balancing -- most of whom consider thyroid function essential to this balance -- she chose to follow and feature Suzanne Somers and the controversial "Wiley Protocol" -- created by a housewife with no medical background, who touts compounded hormones at high doses. (Newsflash, folks, but bioidentical doesn't necessarily mean "compounded." Generic prescription estradiol, the Vivelle patch and Prometrium are all "bioidentical," for example.)
It's not all negative of course. Thanks to Oprah, millions more women are now aware that the thyroid can cause fatigue and weight gain. Hopefully, some of those women are taking action to get their thyroid conditions properly tested and treated.
But sadly, Oprah also has an unfortunate thyroid legacy, because...
- Some women now mistakenly believe that there is a "cure" for autoimmune thyroid disease
- Some women will follow in Oprah's footsteps, and refuse thyroid treatment, thereby endangering their health in a myriad of ways
- Some women might think that bioidentical hormones like estradiol or progesterone are risk-free -- and they're not
- Some women might believe that bioidentical hormones are the right treatment for thyroid problems -- and they're not
- Some women might believe that soy milk and other soy foods are beneficial for thyroid function -- when they can actually harm the thyroid
- Some women might believe that their thyroid condition is their own fault for not "speaking out"
Read more about Oprah's ongoing thyroid saga
Photo:Getty Images Entertainment/Alli Harvey
Comments
Oprah is naive and very gullible. Unfortunately through her show she is spreading false information and that is a tragedy. Double unfortunately is that her side kick Dr. Oz has chosen to do the same. We as thyroid sufferers have to be aware that there are good thyroid doctors out there that can help through this voyage of pain, feeling unwell and find a prescription of dessicated thyroid that will eventually make us feel better. We must have faith in ourselves and seek the real truth. Oprah is not the truth!
I tried to read Dr. Parkih’s “must-read” article, but he was so busy slamming some of the best people and info out there, like The Secret, and Dr. Northrup…. he is a typical, blind, idiot mainstream doctor in my book.
Don’t know why you are endorsing him, Mary Shoman!
Not endorsing him, endorsing his opinion that Oprah is giving out bad medical advice. I also agree with him entirely about questioning Christiane Northrup’s recommended treatments for thyroid — blowing kissing, taking baths, etc. — and her claim that women get thyroid disease because they can’t speak out.
Please stop with the Oprah coverage and provide more useful information as you used to. I have stopped reading this site weekly because I am sick of this coverage. I used to really love this site.
I understand why you’re discussing Oprah, as she has such a large audience. Have you tried contacting her directly re: the subject?
Jennifer,
I’ve been in touch with Oprah’s producers, O magazine’s editors, and even Gayle King, many times.
Dear Oprah! If by any chance you can read this…Please follow this advice. Such as you living in Chicago you have absolutely amazing doctor, actually MD. His name is Dr. Mercola. He has a clinic in Chicago, I am sure you can find him. And he has his website Dr. Mercola.com. Go and see him He will help you.
Well hopefully you will bring some insight to Oprah. Denial is so powerful I sure wish a bubble bath would work seriously. It is a disease and a battle I just got on the thyroid wagon in august of08. The weight just wont come off but I know there is a workable solution I just need to be accepting. Once again I pray Oprah does a show to address this issue.
Okay, I know she’s famous and all, but I am SICK AND TIRED of hearing about Oprah. She spreads misinformation left and right. It’s disgraceful how she’s able to pull off that kind of public disservice just because she has a popular talk show. I can’t wait ’til she’s off the air. There have to be better ways to raise awareness about thyroid problems! Can we please just focus on something/someone other than Oprah for awhile, please?!
Wow. I have not been following the Oprah thyroid saga, but it’s very sad that someone with her influence is spreading misinformation like that. To say that you can “cure” Hashimoto’s by ingesting soy products (and whatever else she’s been doing) is an insult to women who are having fertility issues, weight problems, and the myriad of other thyroid-related health issues.
I had my Thyroid checked by my Doctor last year and the test came out good, but I felt that my Thyroid was weak anyway. Finally this year I took some Lugol”s (about 13 milligram’s per day) and my energy shot up like a bullet. After four days I reduced the amount to 5/6 milligrams per day.
Previous I had been sleeping a lot and taking naps Two to three times per day and was still tired. Now I get up early, walk 3 miles per day and work at lots of things. I was 300 pounds and now I am 280 pounds and reducing. I also had a skin pealing on my Feet and Hans for a year or so, but when I administered Providone Iodine to these places, the skin pealing stooped at once and has never come back. I also have far less allergies. Me and my family were in Utah in 1954 when all that Nuclear radiation swept our area and I am sure that is why so many of us have Thyroid trouble.
Sincerely, Robert
I am someone who cannot trust TSH, because my TSH reported a healthy 1.0, despite an ft3 that fell to the bottom of the lab’s reference range. Consequently, I am well aware that MANY (most?) doctors do not understand the thyroid or HPA axis.
I feel sorry for Oprah, because I know how these doctors are ignorant, and how this can send you down hill. So many doctors told me over and over ‘we have to rely on TSH levels’ to tell us the thyroid health. A horrible crock.
Dear Mary,
I am a big admirer of yours; however, you are entering dangerous ground with the support of this salon article.
The same arguments that the Dr. uses to dismiss biomedical hormones could be easily applied to the information you provide on thyroid medication.
Just because this Dr. agrees that Oprah is dispensing poor advice on thyroid disease does not mean he would agree with you on the necessity for some patients to be on natural thyroid hormones like armour thyroid.
He is arguing that patients should only be given the mainstream AMA approved advice on all hormone therapies and that would mean a narrow focus on T4 only medication.
I appreciate all that you do to advance thyroid education, but thyroid hormone works in concert with the other body’s hormones. You can not carve out an advocacy position on thyroid and divorce yourself from the reality that many patients need more than one form of bioidentical hormone replacement to get well.
If you are going to promote the idea that some patients require T3/T4 combo medications than there is no room for you to cosy up to the mainstream medical establishment that is adamantly against anything other than TSH testing and T4 treatment.
I am really disappointed that you would side with this Dr in order to continue to make a point about Oprah. Oprah is one voice, powerful yes, but just a voice in the crowd. It is the mainstream medical community that is doing the disservice to patients, not Oprah.
If she had you on her show tomorrow to discuss thyroid disease and you were able to say that some patients may need more than Synthroid, this Dr would be the first one to write another article about how you were another Oprah approved Quack! It wouldn’t matter how many people you had helped through your books or how ever handed your advice was- you would be the one vilified next. And I promise you that he would make reference to your lack of medical training as proof that you had nothing valuable to add to the discussion.
Lily
Lily,
I’m don’t believe I was cozying up to the mainstream medical establishment, by suggesting that yes, Oprah’s coverage of medical issues tends to be “bad medicine.” Because I believe her coverage is in fact, bad medicine, because Oprah presents Oprah’s chosen approaches in a positive light, but not the downsides or negatives, or the fact that there are other viewpoints.
I wasn’t clear, it seems. I agree with Dr. Parikh that Oprah offers misleading information about medical issues. But I also agree with Dr. Parikh that if to talk about use of hormone treatment and biodentical hormones, Suzanne Somers is not the person to feature.
But….that does not mean that I am at all opposed to the use of bioidentical hormones. I’m not. I think that women who have deficiencies or imbalances in hormones can benefit greatly from hormone treatment, and based on the research, I think it’s evident that the bioidentical forms are far preferable — and likely safer – -than the conjugated estrogen and synthetic progesterone (i.e., Premarin/Prempro) version. And I think that there’s a role for estriol, estrone (biest, triest), when administered by a knowledgeable
physician.
But here’s my take:
* Oprah refused to include thyroid as a factor for a decade on her show, despite it being highly relevant to many of her medical issue shows — her choice — but irresponsible
* Oprah got a thyroid problem but then claimed that it was cured — her choice — but irresponsible, because most thyroid disease is not curable, and she never explained how she cured it, and then came back and said she wasn’t cured, but still didn’t explain
* Oprah claimed/brought on experts to say that soy foods can cure her thyroid problem — her choice — but irresponsible, because there are plenty of experts who claim the opposite
* She claimed/brought on experts to say that thyroid problems develop because of women’s inability to speak out — her choice — but irresponsible not to explain that this is only one view of the problem
* She publicly states that she is refusing to get prescribed medical treatment for her thyroid problem — her choice — but irresponsible not to explain the pros/cons
* She chooses bioidentical hormone treatment instead of — rather than in addition to — thyroid treatment — her choice — but irresponsible not to explain the pros/cons of foregoing thyroid treatment, irresponsible not to explain the pros/cons of bioidentical treatment
Then she decides to follow and promote the most extreme and radical protocol for bioidentical treatment, based on…what? Suzanne Somers is a celebrity? Somers is slender and Oprah thinks this may make her thinner? Because Suzanne Somers and Wiley are the extreme version of “bioidentical protocols”, and they bypass discussion of dangers or downsides to hormones. They claim that it’s all upside benefits. There are many reasonable, wonderful doctors who are responsibly working with bioidentical hormone protocols who could have explained them in a more realistic way — including the fact that they do carry risks, and that it’s not optimal for a 60 year old woman to aspire to, and medicate herself to, the hormones of a 20 year old.)
I am not divorced from the bioidentical hormone issue. In fact, it’s a key factor in my new book, which is coming out this summer, called the Menopause Thyroid Solution. In my research, I’ve talked to hundreds of doctors — including many holistic and integrative physicians who regularly prescribe bioidentical hormones — both manufactured and compounded. I didn’t find ONE who thought Suzanne Somers and Wiley weren’t putting women in danger by not presenting the pros and cons. Even Diana Schwarzbein, who was Suzanne Somers’ doctor, has distanced herself from Somers’ and her book, because of the “hormones are all upside, with no risk” attitude of Somers and Wiley.
And the dozens of integrative holistic docs I spoke with, except for a few I can count on one hand, believe that we do not know enough to say that lifetime use of bioidentical hormones as an anti-aging preventative treatment is recommended or safe. They believe we need to be judicious about it. And I agree. (But Suzanne Somers does not.)
It’s in failing to ever present anything other than her own personal opinions about how to proceed with medical issues — and the opinions of her closest friends and celebrity advisors and in some cases “faddish” doctors — many who tend to embrace only the extreme positions on things — she does a disservice.
Ultimately, Oprah has such influence because women listen to her. If women listen to her on these issues, without getting the full story, I guess it’s the fault of the woman who thinks Oprah’s advice is infallible, or that it is balanced, or that it’s appropriate for everyone. And in the end, Oprah has the right to do her show the way she wants to — and it can be as extreme as she wants it to be. But in my mind, with her viewership, clout, influence and wealth comes responsibility to do the right thing.
Mary,
Thank you for your comprehensive reply to my comment. Clearly, your position is more nuanced than Dr. Parikh’s. He does little to hide his disdain for the supporters of bio identical hormone replacement lumping extreme proponents such as Ms. Sommers in with more thoughtful practitioners such as the ones you interviewed for your upcoming book.
Thyroid patients have been leading the charge for better diagnosis and treatment for years while they were dismissed by incredulous physicians who wanted to cling to out dated reference ranges and inadequate dosing schedules.
While our shock at Oprah’s misinformation may currently dovetail with Dr. Parikh’s disgust with celebrity based medicine , we mustn’t forget that it is doctors like him who are most likely to ridicule natural thyroid medications in favor of Big pharma approved standards of care.
Best,
Lily
Its amazing that a person with Oprah’s connections could be so missled! It’s very sad that she is so unenlightened! Having to deal with throid is hard enough, let alone following the wrong advise. And “Dr. Northrup” saying she has trouble speaking out? Oprah? Hardly. What does that make the rest of us?
I am the publisher of the Herbal Collective magazine and we did an article on how weight is connected to hromones, thyroid issues and the liver.
What most women don’t realize is that the liver plays a huge role in balancing hormones as the liver helps manufacture hormones.
So doing a herbal cleanse at least once a year can help prevent a thyroid imbalance.
Taking a wholistic approach with herbs and other supplements (which is discussed in our free newsletter) helps prevent these issues from becoming a problem