Re: Suppressed tsh

[Guest guest]

Gosh. That is totally

insidious!

Thank you--

Courtenay.

I've tried to find an osteoporosis study done with Armour and have

not been able to. The only thing I can think is that it was never

a

significant problem. It is very rarely ever mentioned in any old

texts and papers. All osteoporosis studies done with thyroid are

done with Synthroid. I think it is because of several things. When

they first started using Synthroid, they found that patients

required high doses to feel good, usually between 300 and 400 mcg.

I

thin that this is when they started to see some cases of

osteoporosis. Today, they treat at much lower doses and I think

they

see more osteoporosis because patients are undertreated, which

disturbs adrenal function. When the adrenals are not working

right,

calcium is leached from the bones as the body's way to try and

compensate for the consequences of low adrenal output. The other

more cynical possibility that we hear more about it is because it

can be used to prevent patients from taking control of their

treatment and is a good fear generator. Barry Durrant Peatfield

has

written that he thinks this is used as a tool for doctors to get

control of patients.

Tish

[Guest guest]

And, it's not as convenient, but I've found that, even though I've

been feeling BETTER on the Armour, I still can't tolerate taking

over 30 mgs at a time of it.

_______________

Maybe this will get better with time. It did for me. I could only

tolerate a tiny amount every two hours and I did this for probably 4

months. Then, I worked up to every 3 hours and finally I am on once

every 8 hours and this seems to be ok.

Tish

[Guest guest]

And, it's not as convenient, but I've found that, even though I've

been feeling BETTER on the Armour, I still can't tolerate taking

over 30 mgs at a time of it.

_______________

Maybe this will get better with time. It did for me. I could only

tolerate a tiny amount every two hours and I did this for probably 4

months. Then, I worked up to every 3 hours and finally I am on once

every 8 hours and this seems to be ok.

Tish

[Guest guest]

My TSH at four weeks was 3.5

________________

This is considered hypothryoid. Anything above 3 is hypothyroid.

This is because the ranges have changed in the last two years from

0.5 to 5.0 to 0.5 to 3.0 as the result of an excellent huge study

done in the UK. However, labs in the US have fallen behind and have

not updated the ranges even though it has been recommended by

medical organizations.

________________________

my Free T4 was at the bottom of the range, at .9

My Total T3 was somewhere in the

> middle.

______________________

This is clasic low thyroid. The body increases conversion of T4 to

T3 so that T3 stays near the midline even though T4 goes very low.

__________________

Ask for all you can get. At least another 30 mg. This would be a

normal dose increase, 30 mg every two to 4 weeks. You will probably

need more later. Good luck.

Tish

[Guest guest]

My TSH at four weeks was 3.5

________________

This is considered hypothryoid. Anything above 3 is hypothyroid.

This is because the ranges have changed in the last two years from

0.5 to 5.0 to 0.5 to 3.0 as the result of an excellent huge study

done in the UK. However, labs in the US have fallen behind and have

not updated the ranges even though it has been recommended by

medical organizations.

________________________

my Free T4 was at the bottom of the range, at .9

My Total T3 was somewhere in the

> middle.

______________________

This is clasic low thyroid. The body increases conversion of T4 to

T3 so that T3 stays near the midline even though T4 goes very low.

__________________

Ask for all you can get. At least another 30 mg. This would be a

normal dose increase, 30 mg every two to 4 weeks. You will probably

need more later. Good luck.

Tish

[Guest guest]

> On top of that, not everyone can tolerate their optimal dosage. I

would feel much better on 270-300 mg of Armour, but if I increase my

dose by as little as 15 mg, my blood glucose goes up. (I am on 240

mg of Armour plus 75 mcg of levothyroxine [Lannett])

_________________________

You know it doesn't matter that the normal person puts out 4-1/2 to

5 grains a day. Why I tell people this is so they know that they

have the freedom to go up quite high if they need to in order to

feel good. And, that they need not suffer from the fear that thyroid

hormone is like dynamite that the doctors use as their tool. People

need to adjust their thryoid dose to where they have a life that is

worth living. What good does it do to worry about osteoporosis if

you spend your life almost bedriden with fatigue and illness. I'll

choose osteoporosis in exchange for a decent life. But, I don't

think I have to.

Tish

[Guest guest]

> On top of that, not everyone can tolerate their optimal dosage. I

would feel much better on 270-300 mg of Armour, but if I increase my

dose by as little as 15 mg, my blood glucose goes up. (I am on 240

mg of Armour plus 75 mcg of levothyroxine [Lannett])

_________________________

You know it doesn't matter that the normal person puts out 4-1/2 to

5 grains a day. Why I tell people this is so they know that they

have the freedom to go up quite high if they need to in order to

feel good. And, that they need not suffer from the fear that thyroid

hormone is like dynamite that the doctors use as their tool. People

need to adjust their thryoid dose to where they have a life that is

worth living. What good does it do to worry about osteoporosis if

you spend your life almost bedriden with fatigue and illness. I'll

choose osteoporosis in exchange for a decent life. But, I don't

think I have to.

Tish

[Guest guest]

I am pretty certain that my endo will go as high as fifteen

before my next appointment in November, maybe even 30.. Up until

now, I have been seeing him every four weeks, as my symptoms were so

intolerable. During the worst of it, I had a standing free phone

appointment once a week. As a safety net, he said that I can

always, always, schedule an earlier appointment. Thanks for the

advice.

What is still incredible to me is that at 2.5 TSH, when I was on

Levoxyl, I felt as though I was going to die. And at 3.5 TSH on

Armour, I am fatigued, but if I pace myself, I can do a variety of

things at home. Even when I was in a " perfect " range

on Levoxyl, my family was having to do practically everything for me,

I was that sick.

Thanks for the advice; it's much appreciated.

Courtenay.

My TSH at four weeks was 3.5

________________

This is considered hypothryoid. Anything above 3 is hypothyroid.

This is because the ranges have changed in the last two years from

0.5 to 5.0 to 0.5 to 3.0 as the result of an excellent huge study

done in the UK. However, labs in the US have fallen behind and

have

not updated the ranges even though it has been recommended by

medical organizations.

________________________

my Free T4 was at the bottom of the range, at .9

My Total T3 was somewhere in the

> middle.

______________________

This is clasic low thyroid. The body increases conversion of T4 to

T3 so that T3 stays near the midline even though T4 goes very low.

__________________

Ask for all you can get. At least another 30 mg. This would be a

normal dose increase, 30 mg every two to 4 weeks. You will

probably

need more later. Good luck.

Tish

[Guest guest]

(I posted this earlier but I don't know why it didn't show up!) My

idea: an Armour (or levothyroxine if your prefer) patch you can wear

on your skin. That way we can get all the calcitonin and parathyroid

and all the other goodies without worrying whether to suck on that

little sucker or swallow it -- AND we'd get a nice, steady dose, more

like what the healthy thyroid would pump out, like Jan was saying.

Who wants to contact Forrest????? Or should we patent this ourselves

and become millionaires? :-)

Oink!

>

> > I wonder if Armour could be compounded to be timed

> > released?

>

>

[Guest guest]

(I posted this earlier but I don't know why it didn't show up!) My

idea: an Armour (or levothyroxine if your prefer) patch you can wear

on your skin. That way we can get all the calcitonin and parathyroid

and all the other goodies without worrying whether to suck on that

little sucker or swallow it -- AND we'd get a nice, steady dose, more

like what the healthy thyroid would pump out, like Jan was saying.

Who wants to contact Forrest????? Or should we patent this ourselves

and become millionaires? :-)

Oink!

>

> > I wonder if Armour could be compounded to be timed

> > released?

>

>

[Guest guest]

(I posted this earlier but I don't know why it didn't show up!) My

idea: an Armour (or levothyroxine if your prefer) patch you can wear

on your skin. That way we can get all the calcitonin and parathyroid

and all the other goodies without worrying whether to suck on that

little sucker or swallow it -- AND we'd get a nice, steady dose, more

like what the healthy thyroid would pump out, like Jan was saying.

Who wants to contact Forrest????? Or should we patent this ourselves

and become millionaires? :-)

Oink!

>

> > I wonder if Armour could be compounded to be timed

> > released?

>

>

[Guest guest]

You mean a compounding pharmacy would prepare a skin patch with time-

release Armour?

-- In Texas_Thyroid_Groups , Jan

<texasthyroid@y...> wrote:

> You can have either of those forms prepared for you by a

compounding pharmacy. I do not think Forest has any interest in

developing new delivery systems for Armour. They can sell all they

make as it is.

>