Can I get some advice please?

[Guest guest]

Hello all

I don't know where to start or what to say. i have re-written it several times

and this is what i've ended up with.

The thing is this basically: i have had thyroid symptoms for some time, and

know my adrenals weren't working very well, so have been on HC. my tsh was 0.72

before HC, and went up to about 0.86 after acouple months on HC. I suspect a

pituitary or HPA disfunction, after much stress and being on various

antidepressants before.

when i first started armour about 13 months ago i felt very well indeed

(normal!) but as soon as i put up my dose from 2.5mg hcx2 a day to 5mg x 2 a

day, and armour up from 1/2 grain to a grain, i felt awfully anxious (this was a

year ago) and i then lost the ability to tolerate thyroid- i wonder if it was

because of rt3 or a thyroid dump, i don't know.

Because nothing has worked consistently (eg losing ability to tolerate Armour) i

have experimented with thyroid hormone for want of a better word over this time,

and at times found that t4, t3, armour etc all affect me slightly differently

but do have an effect on my mood and quickly within in an hour or two (if not

sooner) begin to lift my mood-it's not always consistent what has worked though,

hence needing to change it all.

eg, Today, i was very depressed (suicidal thoughts, when i could think straight)

to say the least and just felt very not 'right'. cautiously i tried 5mcg t3 and

this is starting to lift now- i started to feel better within about an hour of

taking it. last week was the same, i was in the depths of despair at the

weekend and early part of the week but managed to pull out of it after taking

thyroid hormone - what really seemed to help this time was taking 5-htp with t3

- i read that t3 increases serotonin uptake, so wondered if that was leaving me

low on serotonin and then taking 5-htp enabled my body to make more. anyway,

taking 5-htp does seem to have helped me tolerate t3.

previously i've been somewhat dismissive of RT3 issues in myself (not others),

but i am wondering now if this is what i should consider looking at now. when i

first took armour i felt really well,again within a few hours,b ut then felt

all hot and not right after a week or so and being on a higher dose (1 grain);

Dr P said i wasn't converting properly and to try some cytomel, which i did but

i was allergic to it, and felt crap on it anyway.

i am basically thinking - are my symptoms and problems just psychiatric ones or

am i right to carry on with thyroid hormone (if i can find a suitable dose) ?

my mood is very responsive to thyroid, that is the thing - nothing else has ever

helped me like thyroid did and as quickly. it is hard having these mood swings

though. i cannot tolerate anti depressants -either thru sensititiy or because

they're not what i need and i need more thyroid? last week i posted a link on

how a psych was using thyroid for mental disorders, and there seemed to be links

to HPA or pituitary malfunction because he pretty much stabilised people with

bipolar and personality problems by using thyroid hormone, and these people had

tsh of around 1 say.

i'm thinking should i get an RT3 test?

last week was in part good for me (latter part of it-first part was horrendous),

i felt much more outgoing, and got in touch with people i'd not been in touch

with in a long time, i even bought some new clothes-something i'd not done in a

long time too. then i ended up in a mess again, a very very big mess mentally

(very bad thoughts), which taking t3 is starting to clear up. incidentally, the

getting in touch with people and buying new clothes again was what i exprienced

when i first started armour-it was like my brain wwas trying to catch up where

it left off (say, 2003).

what should i do regarding dosage? should i start low (is 5mcg low enough?) and

hold it there and see what happens? i've said this brefore but previously i

could not tolerate t3 mentally at all, but adding 5-htp in seems to make all the

difference. gluten seems to really affect me, and make me feel ill mentally,

i've read there are tentative links to thyroid problems and gluten too - i

wonder if it somehow upsets the ability of t3 receptors.

Any suggestions on how i should proceed or what tests i should get done or do

would help, though i'm mainly going by symptoms and temp, and fact that i'm

'obese' and have ' severe sleep apnea' both of which could be linked to thyroid,

i gather.

thank you

chris