- thank you!

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Thank you for that wonderful information!!! First, I'd like to sympathize with you about the doctors knowing so little (it's frustrating when I'm the one with all the information and have to tell the doctor what we should be testing/trying). Some doctors are either threatened or annoyed by patients armed with information. Luckily, I've found finally found a couple who don't seem to be, yet I still have to PUSH for tests my GP should have already considered and then PUSH again when her answer comes back "normal."

I've read great things about Armour, but refuse to try. As a vegan, I'm one of those crazy people who won't take pills encapsulated in gelatin or which contain pieces and parts of animals. (My doctors love THAT about me, too! hahaha In fact, when the Rheumatologist (the bad one!) wanted me to take Celebrex with the Methotrexate, I refused, telling him that Celebrex was made by Monsanto and I refused to suppor them. He was dumbfounded, and so were friends and family, that I would even consider not taking something that might help me regardless of the nature of the company that produced it, or whether or not pieces and parts of animals were used. But, I'm resolute... In fact, a lot of people want to attribute any illness I have to my being vegan. Of course, I developed RA when I was a fervent carnivore and it wasn't until a year later that I gave up meat. I felt an immediate improvement, and once I gave up dairy and other by-products I felt further improvement in my health. I'm a whole-foods kind of person now, and all organic.) I imagine I will get to try my share of synthetics and at varying dosages before we hit on the right one (if that ever happens). I did hear that Thyrolar will not be back on the market until possible October.

I had not read that EBV could be the cause of Hashimoto's. That's very interesting! I did read that Prednisone and sulfa drugs might well contribute to it, however, and since I've had both, my money was on those. Of course, since I have had all three - EBV, Prednisone, AND sulfa drugs... who knows? On top of that, I also have a mouth full of amalgams! It might simply be THAT. I now have a wonderful holistic dentist who is going to begin removing them (properly) in stages. I'll probably start that process next year.

Thank you for the "take/don't take" list! That's something that I just recently read about, too, and still need more information! I appreciate it!

I just recently stopped having calcium fortified orange juice after learning about calcium inhibiting absorption, and I'll have to wean myself off of soy in a hurry, too, because as a vegan I have depended on soy for everything from milk to burgers. Now I realize I'll have to make some big changes... but, I'm willing to do what I need to there. This morning I had oat milk. Wasn't bad. May take some getting used to. hahaha

Thanks again for all the info, and I hope you are feeling better!

Suzy

-----Original Message-----From: Sent: Thursday, September 09, 2004 11:23 PMTo: Thyroiditis Subject: Re: Introduction

Ahhhh, the wonderful up and down thing with Hashimoto's! We just love the confusion of it. If the gland never gets eaten alive by the antibodies, then it goes on a roller coaster ride for yrs to come (encouraging huh?). I take Armour, and I news on the Thyrolar from Forest Pharmaceuticals is that production won't be into full swing again until sometime in the fall because of a change of some sort in production methods. I made the change to the Armour myself a yr ago, the end of this month. I have Hashi's too, and my antibodies are in the thousands, so they may have been pummeling away at my thyroid for yrs and me not knowing it until around 6 months ago, when I finally ordered my own labs and tested it myself. I was on Synthroid, then Levoxyl for 10 yrs before that, getting sicker and sicker. I never quit my job, just kept going like a robot. It was about 4 yrs ago that I started getting ill, though I'd done fine on the synthetic treatment for a few yrs before that. I'll never know how high the antibodies got before that, as I was rather ignorant about that part of it until a couple of yrs ago. I worked on doing my own investigation for the last 3 to 4 yrs, then started seeking support on various thyroid group sites, and it has has been astounding at what help I've gotten from the Groups, including this one. It is very rare when someone does not need thyroid hormone for the rest of their lives with this disease because the antibodies are formed to thyroid and they continue to destroy it until they accomplish their goal. All the various forms of thyroid diseases have come from various breaks in different chromosomes, as an accident waiting to happen, brought into being by various physical, emotional, and mental stressors, EBV being one of them. It is also quite common to go into adrenal fatigue or exhaustion, particularly when life stressors have been very heavy and the thyroid disease has been very chronic. It's sort of one of those things where it's which came first, the chicken or the egg. That's why all the inserts on various thyroid meds always say that, before thryoid treatment, have the adrenal glands checked to see if that could be at the bottom of it being brought into being. They believe that, when the antibodies are formed, viruses, stressors, pollutants, mercury, and other chemical sensitivities may be responsitble. There are so many angles to this, I would think it might be impossible to figure out exactly how we "came down" with it. I still don't feel completely well, and feel worse sometimes than at other times, but I would probably be dead, if I hadn't gone and started my own treatment, as the doctors in my area just don't know enough about how to treat it, and I have no insurance either, so that's another cause of that. I do some people who have good doctors, but it seems that the ones who feel their best have had a doctor who not only puts them on natural dessicated thyroid, but also balances the other hormones and substances, like all the adrenal things, with the female hormones and testosterone, cortisol, DHEA, progesterone, estrogens, and the like, plus a good diet and supplements. Some people have more trouble converting T4 to T3 than others, then other people can convert it, but the antibodies in the blood can keep the T3 from entering the cells and working properly. If the thyroid hormone is blocked at the receptors at the entrance to the cells, it floats around in the bloodstream, unused. Thus, the false thyroid hormone lab readings, of a higher Free T3, and the Free T4, in this case, is usually lower than it. My labs show a suppressed TSH, at .005, a Free T4 between the mid to upper range, and a Free T3 just over the top of normal. I have to take them with a grain of salt though, because of the very high antibodies of Hashi's, both antithyroglobulin and antithyroidperoxidase. I've recently gotten some info that says that, because I have both major antibodies, I may also have had Graves Disease. That would fit, because I had such a prolonged period of time where I was hyperthyroid, eating anything I wanted to, but very skinny, nervous, and bipolar, at that time for several yrs. Meanwhile, I had doctors diagnosing me with everything except the right thing, feeding me tranquilizers, antidepressants, and the like, without ever running any of the thyroid tests on me. The story is more detailed and longer than that, so I'll stop here. The vitamins you may want to take are the antioxidants, plenty of the B vitamins, especially more than usual of B5, B6, B12, folic acid, and selenium (for conversion of T4 to T3). There are many more, but I can't think of them at this moment. Oh yes, never take your iron with thyroid meds, take it 4 hrs apart. Same applies to calcium. Take thyroid meds one hr before eating, or 2 to 4 hrs after eating. Armour can be taken sublingually, so it's not as much of a problem for this.

Introduction

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the group, and it was suggested that once a person joins an introduction should be made.

Well, I don't want to overwhelm anyone with my laundry list of maladies, but I'm happy to provide a brief rundown on how I arrived at a diagnosis of Hashimoto's.

I'm 40 years old next Friday. I was looking forward to this birthday several months ago. Things are looking less exciting now. :0/

At any rate, I was very active when I was younger. I played tennis regularly, rode my bike everywhere, and was into body building for a period.

At the age of 27 I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis after undergoing a knee surgery. I began gold treatments and Feldene.

At that time, I was barely able to walk and even touch my face with my hands... the joints most affected were knees and elbows.

My days of playing tennis were over.

*Note: Information is freely exchanged on this board based on patient experiences, and should not be considered a medical recommendation.