Response to rtanner

[Guest guest]

Hi Ruth and everyone,

Rapid heartbeat upon first awakening in the morning seems to me to be the

most sensitive indicator of hyperthyroidism. I don't mean to imply that you

are going hyper, just that you are getting the symptoms of hyperT.

From my understanding of thyroid hormone production, you are taking

everything which seems to be essential for your thyroid to grow new hormone

producing cells and begin production. Usually chromium is required but your

trace mineral supplement has some in there. Generally you need about 150-200

mcg of chromium (or possibly a little more if you're overweight). You could

check your trace mineral supplement to see how much is in it.

Once your thyroid starts producing the necessary amount of hormone for your

body it doesn't seem to recognize the replacement hormone. Consequently you

may go hyper because of the excess. If these hyper symptoms continue, you may

want to talk to your doctor about reducing the amount of replacement hormone

to see if this is the cause of those symptoms.

Since you are only taking one kelp, you also have the potential to increase

your hormone production further by increasing the amount of kelp you are

taking. Although one tablet in theory has all the iodine that you should

need, for some reason taking more kelp seems to increase thyroid production.

Whether that is driven by the extra iodine or other trace elements in the kelp

(possibly manganese) I don't know.

You obviously don't need to try that now, but keep it in mind if in the

future you are now longer taking replacement hormone.

You said your blood tests showed normal thyroid functions, but normal is a

wide range. Possibly your hormones are on the high side. I don't think you

are in danger of becoming hyper as long as you are taking 4 mg of copper

daily. But I do think that your thyroid may (or has already) recover from the

RAI. Just think of the ramifications showing other people that recovery from

RAI thyroid damage is possible. Other people have told me that it's happened

for them.

I do not know if the Atavan could be responsible for your symptoms, because I

know nothing about the drug at all. I'm assuming that it's an over-the-

counter drug. You know me: I'm for a drug-free America. And that's all

drugs, prescription or otherwise. You could try not using it. Maybe we

should be looking at why you're having trouble sleeping. Maybe if your

thyroid is recovering the total amount of hormone in circulation is keeping

you more awake. Other people report that as they recover from copper

deficiency, they are more awake and need less sleep. Perhaps your sleep

requirements have decreased and you are in the PoweringUp phase!!

Keep us informed!

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