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CHAPTERThyroid Problems
S
unlight is the stimulus that makes it possible for the thyroid to
regulate the production of energy in the body. The stage is set for
this assembly-line process when the fi rst rays of sunlight in the morn-
ing are absorbed into the pigment of the brain’s pineal gland. This act
signals the pineal—the regulator of the sleeping-waking cycle of the
body—to pass on the message via the pituitary gland to the thyroid that
it must release additional thyroxin (T4) for the production of more
energy. T4 fl ows through the bloodstream to the cells and delivers the
message. (Before T4 can deliver this message, it must be converted by
the liver into T3.) With the increased fl ow of energy to the organ sys-
tems, their functions speed up. This enables man to begin his daily
struggle for existence.
The many diseases associated with defi cient energy—cancer, hard-
ening of the arteries, arthritis, diabetes, and obesity—make clear that
a lack of energy because of a low-functioning thyroid can cut short our
struggle for existence while we are still in our prime. Until I reached
middle age, I was unaware that my illnesses were symptoms of energy
levels so low that they couldn’t sustain normal body function. I was
lacking in energy even as an infant. I didn’t walk until eighteen months
and didn’t start talking until the age of three, at which time I began
getting very painful canker sores—another symptom of hypothyroid-
ism. My slowness was attributed to the “lazy baby” syndrome and the
canker sores to an allergy to oranges.