Freethought & Rationalism Archive

SimplyAtheistic · 05-20-2003, 08:55 PM

First let me state I have taken one year of sophmore biology and I plan on taking an advanced course my senior year. Forgive me if my understanding is a little "shallow", as we had to cover the entire human body from celluar functions to complete systems in one year. Anyways, when studying the endocrine system, it mentioned the thyroid gland secretes thyroxine to stimulate the metabolism. The more thyroxine, the more energy you burn. Well, obviously this let me to think about a weight loss pill or injection. Why not simply induce more thyroxine into the bloodstream for a steady amount of time to lose weight? Our book stated the only side affects of too much thyroxine were lack of concentration, being hyper, and weight loss. Those seem acceptable to me. Anyways, could someone please tell my why this isn't used today, as I am sure scientists looked into this subject a looooong time ago.
Jake

Undercurrent · 05-20-2003, 09:23 PM

This is quite possibly the reason. To wit:

Quote:

The symptoms of hyperthyroidism include nervousness, irritability, increased perspiration, thinning of your skin, fine brittle hair, and muscular weakness especially involving the upper arms and thighs. Your hands may shake and your heart may race. Your bowel movements may increase in frequency, though diarrhea is uncommon. Usually you will lose weight despite a good appetite and, if you are a woman, menstrual flow may lighten and menstrual periods may occur less frequently.

I doesn't say specifically which symptoms are due to too much thyroxine, as opposed to other hormones the thyroid might produce, but stands to reason some of them would show up under your proposed treatment (probably Dr. Rick or SciGirl will have better info than little ol' me.)

The human body is a complex and messy thing. Relations of the form "doing X causes Y and nothing else" are hard to find.

MyKell · 05-21-2003, 12:04 AM

Thyroxine has been tried as a weight reduction pill in the past. I think some people still use it in the less developed part of the world. The main problem with Thyroxine is that it burns the perinephric (around the kidney) brown adipose tissue which usually holds the kidney in place. The kidney drops from its place and the ureter is kinked causing hydronephrosis and acute renal failure.

Godot · 05-21-2003, 03:54 AM

Grave's Disease is a medical condition where there is an increase/excess in thyroxin being secreted (usually as a result of a thyroid/pituitary malfunction).
Symptoms include: weight loss, nervousness, exopthalma (bulging of the eyes), hunger, heat intolerance, sweating, goitre, and an increased metabolic rate.
It's not a bad thought Jake, but it sure as hell isn't worth the hardship when you think of the negative consequensces! As Undercurrent alluded to, both excessive and insufficient levels of circulating hormones have detrimental effects on the human organism.

05-20-2003, 08:55 PM	#1
SimplyAtheistic Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Omaha, Nebraska Posts: 503	An idea about weight loss First let me state I have taken one year of sophmore biology and I plan on taking an advanced course my senior year. Forgive me if my understanding is a little "shallow", as we had to cover the entire human body from celluar functions to complete systems in one year. Anyways, when studying the endocrine system, it mentioned the thyroid gland secretes thyroxine to stimulate the metabolism. The more thyroxine, the more energy you burn. Well, obviously this let me to think about a weight loss pill or injection. Why not simply induce more thyroxine into the bloodstream for a steady amount of time to lose weight? Our book stated the only side affects of too much thyroxine were lack of concentration, being hyper, and weight loss. Those seem acceptable to me. Anyways, could someone please tell my why this isn't used today, as I am sure scientists looked into this subject a looooong time ago. Jake

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

05-21-2003, 12:04 AM	#3
MyKell Regular Member Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Amman, Jordan Posts: 258	Thyroxine has been tried as a weight reduction pill in the past. I think some people still use it in the less developed part of the world. The main problem with Thyroxine is that it burns the perinephric (around the kidney) brown adipose tissue which usually holds the kidney in place. The kidney drops from its place and the ureter is kinked causing hydronephrosis and acute renal failure.

05-21-2003, 03:54 AM	#4
Godot Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Calgary Posts: 1,335	Grave's Disease is a medical condition where there is an increase/excess in thyroxin being secreted (usually as a result of a thyroid/pituitary malfunction). Symptoms include: weight loss, nervousness, exopthalma (bulging of the eyes), hunger, heat intolerance, sweating, goitre, and an increased metabolic rate. It's not a bad thought Jake, but it sure as hell isn't worth the hardship when you think of the negative consequensces! As Undercurrent alluded to, both excessive and insufficient levels of circulating hormones have detrimental effects on the human organism.

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.