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Opinions on WTS

Opinions of doctors and patients on the treatment for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome pretty much range from,

• "I've tried it and I know it works so you might want to try it" to
• "I'm not convinced that it will work so I'm not going to try it and I'd recommend you not try it either."

Those with negative opinions typically have not read the Doctor's Manual and have not tried the treatment. Those with strongly positive opinions typically have read the Doctor's Manual and have seen great results with the treatment.

Those who have tried the treatments have either,

• tried the treatment correctly as described in the Doctor's Manual, or,
• tried the treatment incorrectly and not in accordance with the Doctor's Manual.

Doctor's and patients who have tried the treatment much differently than the way described in the Doctor's Manual haven't really tried the treatment. That's why we emphasize the importance of reading the Doctor's Manual, because doctors who follow the protocol in the Manual in a number of patients will very likely see amazing results. Those who don't probably won't.

The doctors' comments you see on this website are typical of doctors who are following the principles in the Manual closely. We've been hearing such comments for years about their successes with treating Wilson's Temperature Syndrome, and what a difference it's making for them and their patients.

Media and Medical Conventions

Dr. Wilson's been asked to share his findings at several medical conventions, and hundreds of doctors throughout the world are treating Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and duplicating his gratifying results.

Medical Conventions

Continuing Medical Education

In order to keep their licenses current with their state medical boards, doctors must get a certain number of credits per year of Continuing Medical Education (CME). Typically, doctors get their credits while attending lectures at Medical Conventions that are put on by medical associations.  But in order for the credits to count, the Associations' conventions must be approved for CME purposes by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME). This is what is meant by "CME-approved Medical Conventions."

A number of medical associations have invited Dr. Wilson to speak on Wilson's Temperature Syndrome and its treatment.  Hundreds of doctors have gotten CME credit by attending Dr. Wilson's lectures on Wilson's Temperature Syndrome at the following CME-approved medical conventions:

American College for the Advancement of Medicine;
Nov. 1993; 20th Anniversary Convention
(morning lecture and afternoon workshop)
American Academy of Environmental Medicine;
Oct 1993; 28th Annual Convention
Great Lakes Academy of Clinical Medicine;
1994
American Academy of Naturopathic Physicians;
August 1997
Northwest Naturopathic Physicians Convention;
April 2003
International Restorative Medicine Conference;
Annually, Fall 2003-2008
American Academy Anti-Aging Medicine;
April 2009

The word has spread quickly on WTS to the delight of thousands who are now obtaining relief. Here are just a few more places Wilson's Temperature Syndrome has been referenced:

Books:
Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 2nd & 3rd Editions; James F. Balch, MD; Phyllis A. Balch, CNC; Avery Publishing Group; Available in any health food store.
Reclaim Your Health; David & Anne Frahm; Pinion Press; Colorado Springs, CO; 800.746.6624
Return To Joy of Health; Zoltan Rona, MD, MSc; 800.661.0303 or Available in any health food store.
The Yeast Connection and the Woman; William G. Crook, MD; Professional Books; Jackson, TN
The Downhill Syndrome; Pavel Yutsis, MD, Morton Walker, DPM, Avery Publishing Group.
The Fat Burning Diet; Jay Robb, Loving Health Publications.

Rebuttal To ATA Statement

Certainly, the WT3 protocol for Wilson's Temperature Syndrome doesn't work for every patient. No treatment does. And not everyone is in favor of this treatment approach. Years ago, in November of 1999 the American Thyroid Association issued a statement on Wilson's Syndrome in response to patients' and doctors' requests for information about it. The American Thyroid Association Statement on "Wilson's Syndrome" is quoted below in red and our comments are in blue.

Before we begin, we would like to point out that we don't feel that everyone needs to agree with our points of view. We recognize the benefits of a divergence of opinions. We also respect the ATA's interest in the public welfare. Perhaps this interest is what our different points of view have most in common, though we may have different ideas on how to go about it. Below are presented two different ways of looking at things, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

The ATA Public Health Committee and Council have reviewed the material presented on the "Wilson's syndrome" website, considered relevant studies from the medical literature, and offer the following advice.

It's not clear whether or not they got a chance to read the Doctor's Manual and to try the treatment approach in a few of their patients.

Summary

"Wilson's syndrome" refers to the presence of common and nonspecific symptoms, relatively low body temperature, and normal levels of thyroid hormones in blood. Dr. E. Denis Wilson, who named the syndrome after himself, contends that it represents a form of thyroid hormone deficiency responsive to treatment with a special preparation of triiodothyronine (T3).

The ATA's thorough review of the biomedical literature has found no scientific evidence supporting the existence of "Wilson's syndrome." The ATA also has specific concerns about the following issues.

The ATA's statement above is from May, 2005.

In March, 2006 an artcle about Wilson's Temperature Syndrome (WTS) was published and it is indexed on PubMed (click here).

Also in 2006, the treatment of Wilson's Temperature Syndrome with T3 became "standard of care" medicine (click here).

In addition, there is a great deal of scientific evidence and reasoning supporting the existence of WTS as explained in this review article (click here) and the Doctor's Manual.

First, the proposed basis for this syndrome is inconsistent with well-known and widely-accepted facts about thyroid hormone production, metabolism, and action.

The basis for this syndrome is consistent with well-known and widely-accepted facts about thyroid hormone production, metabolism, and action.

T3 is one of the two natural thyroid hormones. Normally, it is mainly produced in target tissues outside of the thyroid gland from metabolism of thyroxine (T4).

As explained on website and Doctor's Manual.

This production of T3 from T4 occurs in a highly regulated manner.

Our review article and Doctor's Manual point out that peripheral metabolism does indeed appear to be under some form of regulation.

This is one reason that T3 is not currently recommended for thyroid hormone treatment in most patients with thyroid hormone deficiency. T4 therapy allows T3 to be produced, as it is naturally, by the regulated metabolism of the administered T4 medication to T3.

First, it's not clear here how the ATA is defining "thyroid hormone deficiency." Presumably, it is in the prevalent way which is low thyroid hormone production by the thyroid gland (hypothyroidism) as diagnosed with low thyroid blood tests. Inadequate thryoid hormone production / supply is the only prevalently recognized reason for inadequate thyroid hormone expression, but it is not the focus of the WT3 protocol, and is not the circumstance for which WT3 is primarily recommended. We agree that T4 therapy is preferable to T3 when hypothyroidism is the only reason for a patient's low thyroid system function.

Second, The ATA points out the prevalent belief that T4 produced by the body or taken by mouth will almost never be improperly converted to T3 and that thyroid hormone stimulation will almost always be properly expressed.

We agree with the ATA that this is the prevailing belief. But we don't agree with the belief. The prevailing belief is that there can be something wrong with the thyroid gland (hypothyroidism) that results in low thyroid hormone production, but that there can't be anything wrong with thyroid hormone conversion or expression.

That belief goes against what we see in other endocrine systems and goes against what we see in patients.

For example, we believe that there is more than one cause for low thyroid hormone activity just as there is more than one cause of Diabetes. To us, saying that there can't be a peripheral form of low thyroid system function would be like saying there can't be a peripheral form of Diabetes.

Similarly, Irregular Menstrual Cycles can be thought of as a peripheral form of female hormone problems because it's not a matter of the glands not making enough hormone (as in menopause, or complete hysterectomy) but more a matter of improper regulation. Why would a peripheral form of thyroid dysregulation be impossible when there are very common peripheral forms of Diabetes, and female hormone dysregulation?

In addition, we believe that Wilson's Temperature Syndrome can be a reversible form of low thyroid function just as women can have a reversible form of female hormone imbalance that can cause irregular menstrual cycles.

Second, the diagnostic criteria for "Wilson's syndrome"--nonspecific symptoms and body temperature measurement--are imprecise.

Actually, our literature has always explained that "the treatment is the test," (click here) the symptoms and temperature merely help indicate whether or not a therapeutic trial of T3 may be indicated after other possible causes have been ruled out.

Third, there is no scientific evidence that T3 therapy is better than a placebo would be for management of nonspecific symptoms, such as those that have been described as part of "Wilson's syndrome," in individuals with and normal thyroid hormone concentrations,

That's true, just as there is no scientific evidence that the WT3 protocol isn't better than placebo. Studies haven't been done yet.

Fourth, T3 therapy results in wide fluctuations in T3 concentrations in blood and body tissues. This produces symptoms and cardiovascular complications in some patients, and is potentially dangerous.

As explained in the Doctor's Manual, T3 can provide for more unstable T3 levels than T4 does. That's why Dr. Wilson recommends that the T3 be given with a sustained-release agent, instead of the instant-release form with which most doctors are familiar. Unsteady T3 levels can produce cardiovascular side effects in some patients and can be potentially dangerous. Every effort should be made to minimize unsteady T3 levels, but some risk will remain as with any medical treatment. The risk should be weighed carefully with the potential benefit.

Complete Review

The "Wilson's syndrome" website lists 37 symptoms as well as "others" that can occur as part of the condition. All of these symptoms do cause suffering, distress, and functional disability in millions of people. Some of these symptoms can, in fact, be due to true hypothyroidism. In hypothyroid patients, they are typically responsive to thyroid hormone therapy.

And in Wilson's Temperature Syndrome they are typically responsive to the WT3 protocol.

Other problems, such as asthma, are not associated with thyroid hormone deficiency.

Almost all the 60 or so symptoms listed in our literature can be found in thyroid textbooks under symptoms of hypothyroidism. You can search the Internet and see for yourself. It's true that there are a few listed (such as asthma, migraines, PMS, panic attacks and others) that aren't commonly thought of as affected by low thyroid states. Nevertheless, these are symptoms that Dr. Wilson and others have seen to often respond well to WT3 therapy.

Interestingly, studies are appearing that support such observations.

“Continuing deficiency of thyroid hormones influences the development of the inflammatory component of asthma”

--Manzolli S, Macedo-Soares MF, Vianna EO, Sannomiya P - "Allergic airway inflammation in hypothyroid rats" J Allergy Clin Immunol 104(3 Pt 1):595-600 (1999) (click here)

Which explains why T3 supplementation has shown great benefits in the treament of asthma. In one study of 23 asthmatic children treated with T3 for 30 days, nearly one third of them were able to discontinue their regular asthma medications, being supported with T3 alone.

abdel Khalek K, el Kholy M, Rafik M, Fathalla M, Heikal E - "Effect of triiodothyronine on cyclic AMP and pulmonary function tests in bronchial asthma" Asthma 28(6):425-31 (1991) (click here)

The study doesn't mention changes in body temperature and whether the patients' symptoms remained improved off treatment. Since the patients were euthyroid, it's possible that many of them were suffering from WTS (especially the one third that responded so completely to T3).

Many of these symptoms are present from time to time in virtually everyone. In addition to hypothyroidism, they may be due to a variety of illnesses or life circumstances. In other words, they are nonspecific.

The "Wilson's syndrome" website states that Dr. Wilson named this concept after himself "because it had not been previously described." In fact, for more than a century, the same set of symptoms has been given different names and attributed to a variety of causes by others, including the syndromes of neurasthenia, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic Ebstein Barr disease, and chronic candidiasis.

In one paragraph the ATA says that a variety of different illnesses can cause the same nonspecific symptoms, to emphasize the idea that similar symptoms don't necessarily constitute one condition. And in the next, it says that WTS has been described before because it has symptoms similar to other conditions, implying that similar symptoms do constitute the same condition. That seems inconsistent.

Hypothyroidism has the same set of symptoms, but we don't think they would say that hypothyroidism is no different than neurasthenia, chronic fatigue, figromyalgia, and the like. Why? It's because hypothyroidism has a proposed mechanism (inadequate hormone production), and often responds well to the treatment aimed at that mechanism (hormone replacement).

Many of the conditions they list above have no known cause, no diagnostic test, and no effective treatment. Without a cause, test, or effective treatment, it's hard to be sure a condition even exists.

Fortunately, WTS does not share that unhappy circumstance because there is a proposed mechanism, and WTS often responds beautifully to the treatment aimed at that mechanism. Furthermore, the symptoms often remain improved even after the treatment's been discontinued. This particular problem and how to fix it has not been previously described, that's why it's important that doctors and patients become aware that many of these often baffling symptoms can often respond dramatically well to normalization of body temperature patterns using the WT3 protocol.

The frequency of complaints attributed to "Wilson's syndrome" have been recently reviewed (Barsky AJ, Borus JF. Functional somatic syndromes. Ann Intern Med 1999;130:910-21) At any time, more than 20% of adults report significant fatigue and 30% have current musculoskeletal symptoms. Furthermore, the typical adult has one of the symptoms every 4 to 6 days, and more than 80% of the general population has one of these symptoms during any 2 to 4 week period.

The advocates of "Wilson's syndrome" view the cause, diagnostic evaluation, and treatment of these symptoms very narrowly. Their viewpoint does not acknowledge that when these symptoms are persistent, they may be due to a number of different subacute and chronic medical conditions, psychological or social stress, or mood disorders, including depression and anxiety. Some of these symptoms may also simply be a part of life. "Wilson's syndrome" attributes them all to a biochemical theory, which is unsupported by laboratory or clinical research. It does not consider the impact of other potential illnesses and psychosocial factors on how we feel. In doing so, attributing one or more of these symptoms to "Wilson's syndrome" may delay recognition of treatable medical illnesses and potentially addressable life stresses.

We have not indicated in our literature that WTS is the only possible explanation of such symptoms. Indeed, we describe it as a "diagnosis of exclusion" which means that identifiable causes should be ruled out. We recognize that different circumstances can cause symptoms similar to WTS. We also recognize that other conditions can bring on or contribute to WTS, and that WTS can bring on or contribute to other conditions. We don't think the symptoms are always due to WTS, just when the symptoms resolve with the WT3 protocol and remain improved off treatment.

The ATA has the following specific concerns about "Wilson's syndrome" and its recommended treatment.

The diagnosis of "Wilson's syndrome" is based on an incorrect definition of normal body temperature: that it is 98.6ºF. (Mackowiak, et al. JAMA 1992;268:1578-1580) measured oral temperature in 148 healthy persons. Average temperature varied throughout the day. At 8 AM, the average temperature was 97.6ºF with more than 50% of all the measurements less than 98.6ºF, and many less than 98.0ºF. This study concluded that "thirty-seven degrees centigrade (98.6ºF) should be abandoned as a concept relevant to clinical thermometry."

In this statement the ATA has implied that the symptoms attributed to WTS are so commonly found in typical adults that they could almost be considered normal. This is a very prevalent viewpoint among doctors. Many of the patients that have responded extremely well to the WT3 protocol have been told that they were normal and healthy because their blood tests were within the normal range. They had low temperatures and normal blood tests and were considered healthy.

That sounds a lot like what we know about the 148 healthy persons in this study, they had low temperatures and presumably normal blood tests. It would have been interesting to see how many of them had significant complaints the researchers either didn't ask about or considered to simply be a part of life. It would have also been interesting to see how many of their complaints would have resolved with the WT3 protocol.

All we're saying is that we've seen patients'

• symptoms improve and often resolve completely when their lower temperatures were raised to 98.6 with the WT3 protocol
• temperature and symptoms often remain improved even after the treatment was discontinued

What researchers decide to call "normal" won't change these exciting and promising observations.

The prescription of T3 for "Wilson's syndrome" is inconsistent with normal physiology and represents a potential hazard.

It's consistent with normal physiology. The body delivers T3 and the medicine delivers T3. The body delivers it a little at a time around the clock, and the medicine with a sustained release agent is designed to also.

The ATA probably means that the T3 in the medicine is not coming from T4 the way they'd like it to be, the way it does in the body. We'd like the T3 to be coming from T4 too, but that's where we feel there is often a problem. It appears the body is not converting T4 to T3 very well, that's why we often recommend giving the T3 directly, carefully.

Recent research (click here) published In February 1999, in the New England Journal of Medicine supports the idea that some patients may not be getting enough T3 from the conversion of T4. The article showed that adding T3 to patients' thyroid treatment can often be beneficial. The article also mentioned that the favored regimen would involve sustained release T3.

There is no question that T3 is an active, effective thyroid hormone. However, in most vital organs, much of the T3 is produced by removal of an iodine atom from T4 delivered by the blood to sites of thyroid hormone action. The extent of T4-to-T3 conversion varies from one organ to the other, but in some organs, like the brain and pituitary, this process provides most of the T3. Treatment with T3 produces an unnaturally large amount of T3 in some organs. This may be inappropriate, especially in times of illness or nutritional deficiency. Long-term T3 treatment may cause harm. Excessive T3 treatment can affect the heart and skeleton. These effects can be serious and even life-threatening.

There are some unknowns and risks involved, as with any medical treatment. But WT3 has been in use for over 10 years and appears to be generally well tolerated.

The sole clinical evidence supporting T3 therapy offered by the "Wilson's syndrome" website is in the form of testimonials from people who feel better after taking T3. Evidence of this kind, based on anecdotal reports of an unblinded intervention is potentially erroneous. Such reports fail to take into account two well established facts. First, many people who suffer these symptoms, even for months, get better without any treatment. Second, as many as one-third of people with nonspecific symptoms have a so-called placebo response, i.e., they get better when they are given any treatment, even an inactive capsule or sugar pill. The appropriate way to assess a new treatment is to perform a clinical trial in which patients are randomly assigned to receive either the test drug or placebo. Furthermore, the response to treatment should be assessed in a double blind manner, keeping track of what gets better, what does not change, and what gets worse, with neither the patient nor the doctor knowing which treatment the patient is taking. The ATA has been unable to find any such studies of any treatment, including T3, for "Wilson's syndrome." The Wilson syndrome website reports only success stories. Responsible medical research into a new treatment keeps track of, and reports, not only successes, but also success rates, and how often there are inconclusive responses, failures, and side effects.

We agree. We recognize the existence of placebo effects, though it is remarkable that many patients have reported excellent results with the WT3 protocol but not with all the other treatments they had tried. It would seem that if they were having placebo effects, they would have had placebo effects with all the other treatments as well.

Nevertheless, we recognize that things aren't always as they seem and that careful, controlled scientific research needs to be done. That is the whole reason we have reported the success stories we have, to report what we have seen so that doctors and patients can see the potential of such research.

Conclusion

The American Thyroid Association has found no scientific evidence supporting the existence of "Wilson's syndrome." The theory proposed to explain this condition is at odds with established facts about thyroid hormone. Diagnostic criteria for "Wilson's syndrome" are imprecise and could lead to misdiagnosis of many other conditions. The T3 therapy advocated for "Wilson's syndrome" has never been evaluated objectively in a properly designed scientific study. Furthermore, administration of T3 can produce abnormally high concentrations of T3 in the blood, subjecting patients to new symptoms and potentially harmful effects on the heart and bones.

The ATA supports efforts to learn more about the causes of somatic symptoms that affect many individuals, to test rigorously the idea that some as yet unidentified abnormality in thyroid hormone action might account for even a small subset of these symptoms, and to pursue properly designed clinical trials to assess the effectiveness of lifestyle, dietary, and pharmacological treatments for these common ailments. However, unsupported claims, such as those made for "Wilson's syndrome," do nothing to further these aims.

We don't agree we've made all the claims the ATA says we've made but we applaud their intentions and their desires for the public good. Perhaps that's one thing that we can agree on. Getting safe, effective, and well-researched help to the people who need it is what's most important.