Re: questions on Mexican generics

[Guest guest]

I checked into the generic thyroid offered by MyRxFor Less and it

was made by Time- Cap Labs, Inc., Farmingdale, NY. This company has

been written up by the FDA for bad manufacturing practices on some

of their medications in the late 1990s. None were it's thyroid

generic. However, somebody wrote into the Natural Thyroid Newsgroup

calling people's attention to this thyroid not being natural but a

combination of T3 and T4 that approximated the natural. I don't know

how to verify it other than to order some. If this is so, you

wouldn't be getting calcitonin and the other Ts. Calcitonin would be

important, I think.

Tish

[Guest guest]

I posted info the I got from Time-caps over the weekend on the site yesterday.. it's Natural Desiccated.. Just like Armour... I've been on it for a year and I'm doing just fine.

It's not synthetic.. I did lousy on that stuff... and there is no mistaking the 'meat' taste.

Before I started on Time Caps I was on another whole desiccated thyroid through Nutri-meds.. same 'meat' taste... but not as potent as Time-Cap... about half the strength.

Was on T4 onlys for a hair over 10 years.

Topper ()

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 00:30:21 -0000 "lkwetter" writes:

I checked into the generic thyroid offered by MyRxFor Less and it was made by Time- Cap Labs, Inc., Farmingdale, NY. This company has been written up by the FDA for bad manufacturing practices on some of their medications in the late 1990s. None were it's thyroid generic. However, somebody wrote into the Natural Thyroid Newsgroup calling people's attention to this thyroid not being natural but a combination of T3 and T4 that approximated the natural. I don't know how to verify it other than to order some. If this is so, you wouldn't be getting calcitonin and the other Ts. Calcitonin would be important, I think.Tish

[Guest guest]

The lab that makes it is American, and subject to the same laws as any

other American lab. It is just sold through a website in Mexico because

of laws.

Topper, our group owner, has been on this medication for years and she

is doing fine. If it were no good or if there were potency problems, she

would know.

Jan

edumom wrote:

> how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or

> always good?

>

>

> sincerely, edumom, mother of boys ages 13-15

> NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Tish,

Topper wrote to them and it is indeed natural, and porcine. She forwaded

their email to the group.

I'd wanna read more about the FDA problems, do you have any links?

Jan

lkwetter wrote:

>I checked into the generic thyroid offered by MyRxFor Less and it

>was made by Time- Cap Labs, Inc., Farmingdale, NY. This company has

>been written up by the FDA for bad manufacturing practices on some

>of their medications in the late 1990s. None were it's thyroid

>generic. However, somebody wrote into the Natural Thyroid Newsgroup

>calling people's attention to this thyroid not being natural but a

>combination of T3 and T4 that approximated the natural. I don't know

>how to verify it other than to order some. If this is so, you

>wouldn't be getting calcitonin and the other Ts. Calcitonin would be

>important, I think.

>

>Tish

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I live on the mexican border and they have many problems with meds there

that come across the border. Many of the pharmacies order out of date meds

as well as those left in open containers. There is a pharmacy right by me in

TJ that was always good. Even they as one of the biggest suppliers to here

in CA and mail order are falling down due to orders, or rather supply and

demand. Many of us get meds from there and I will let answer, but she

was not on meds for many years and any strength would be better than how she

lived for a long time. When you go to another country, they are not

regulated the way we are. i get my hormones for female stuff from France. I

get my florienef or did from Mexico. The last 2 were bad. I am now trying

Canada. Many of us go to overseas because the US has raised the price above

what we can aford, but it is a crap shoot when you go out of country and

thyroid meds goes bad fast.

>

>Reply-To: The_Thyroid_Support_Group

>To: The_Thyroid_Support_Group

>Subject: Re: questions on Mexican generics

>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 22:59:44 -0300

>

The lab that makes it is American, and subject to the same laws as any

other American lab. It is just sold through a website in Mexico because

of laws.

Topper, our group owner, has been on this medication for years and she

is doing fine. If it were no good or if there were potency problems, she

would know.

Jan

edumom wrote:

> how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or

> always good?

>

>

> sincerely, edumom, mother of boys ages 13-15

> NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

The medicine they gave is made by Forest Pharmaceticals. It's cheap

and felt the same as the med from the local pharm.

Chris

>

> >I checked into the generic thyroid offered by MyRxFor Less and it

> >was made by Time- Cap Labs, Inc., Farmingdale, NY. This company

has

> >been written up by the FDA for bad manufacturing practices on some

> >of their medications in the late 1990s. None were it's thyroid

> >generic. However, somebody wrote into the Natural Thyroid

Newsgroup

> >calling people's attention to this thyroid not being natural but a

> >combination of T3 and T4 that approximated the natural. I don't

know

> >how to verify it other than to order some. If this is so, you

> >wouldn't be getting calcitonin and the other Ts. Calcitonin would

be

> >important, I think.

> >

> >Tish

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Thanks for another show of support for it. I am about to order, so it is

good to hear positive testimonials.

Jan

wrote:

>The medicine they gave is made by Forest Pharmaceticals. It's cheap

>and felt the same as the med from the local pharm.

>

>Chris

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Did you talk with Tim, too? I never mentioned where I was getting it as it's also available in the states...

Topper ()

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:58:50 -0700 "JAMY " writes:

by the way, that guy Topper spoke to was not selling to Mexico and seemed surprised that she got it from there!

[Guest guest]

I can't attest to storage.. but the expiration dates on the bottles that I've gotten so far have been at a year or more down the road.

And for as sensitive as I am to changes in meds.. not a single problem when going from bottle to bottle. I've just opened number five. I might add that I'm picky about the time I have them shipped... I go for spring and fall when the temperatures are mild... not too cold, not too hot. And then I meet the mail carrier to make sure that the meds don't sit out in the mail box, in the sun. So the meds are not exposed to temps outside their storage ranges during shipping.

On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:57:44 -0700 "JAMY " writes:

much of it is not, it is a big issue, storage, age, etc

[Guest guest]

as long as you know there can be variances and that you do take the heat,

etc into consideration, you are doing like I do with my female hormones.

Many of the pharmacies down there and shipping places buy out dated stuff in

bulk. This one little place the owner opened it 2 years ago and he now has a

house in three places. He ships out to the USA. Hormones I will try, but

heart meds and stuff, I can tell you terror stories. There are no

regulations on this, so buyer be where! I also know some one that has never

had any issue on any meds including her asthma stuff. Go figure.

>From: topper2@...

>Reply-To: The_Thyroid_Support_Group

>To: The_Thyroid_Support_Group

>Subject: Re: questions on Mexican generics

>Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:09:10 -0500

>

>I can't attest to storage.. but the expiration dates on the bottles that

>I've gotten so far have been at a year or more down the road.

>

>And for as sensitive as I am to changes in meds.. not a single problem

>when going from bottle to bottle. I've just opened number five. I might

>add that I'm picky about the time I have them shipped... I go for spring

>and fall when the temperatures are mild... not too cold, not too hot. And

>then I meet the mail carrier to make sure that the meds don't sit out in

>the mail box, in the sun. So the meds are not exposed to temps outside

>their storage ranges during shipping.

>

>On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:57:44 -0700 " JAMY "

>writes:

>much of it is not, it is a big issue, storage, age, etc

[Guest guest]

yeah, you did mention it or something. He was surprised where you were

getting it or something. Do you still have the letter? Very few companies

send to Mexico to sell a product, they lose money! I have been working to

find which companies sell down there with a group so we can reccomend how to

save money but better still so people without money can get new products.

>From: topper2@...

>Reply-To: The_Thyroid_Support_Group

>To: The_Thyroid_Support_Group

>Subject: Re: questions on Mexican generics

>Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:05:36 -0500

>

>Did you talk with Tim, too? I never mentioned where I was getting it as

>it's also available in the states...

>

>Topper ()

>

>On Wed, 21 Jul 2004 17:58:50 -0700 " JAMY "

>writes:

>by the way, that guy Topper spoke to was not selling to Mexico and seemed

>

>surprised that she got it from there!

[Guest guest]

I'm very careful. I check packaging and labeling closely and did a comparison of the tabs themselves with the pics posted on the manufacturers web site.

I also check the last tab on one bottle with the first tab of the next bottle.. to make sure that they are identical....

I may be cheap.. but I try to be responsible too!

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:33:02 -0700 "JAMY " writes:

as long as you know there can be variances and that you do take the heat, etc into consideration, you are doing like I do with my female hormones. Many of the pharmacies down there and shipping places buy out dated stuff in bulk. This one little place the owner opened it 2 years ago and he now has a house in three places. He ships out to the USA. Hormones I will try, but heart meds and stuff, I can tell you terror stories. There are no regulations on this, so buyer be where! I also know some one that has never had any issue on any meds including her asthma stuff. Go figure.

[Guest guest]

I have all the posts between us.. maybe I did mention mexico.. I'm not sure.. I'll check later..

Did you talk to him on the phone or email?

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:39:09 -0700 "JAMY " writes:

yeah, you did mention it or something. He was surprised where you were getting it or something. Do you still have the letter? Very few companies send to Mexico to sell a product, they lose money! I have been working to find which companies sell down there with a group so we can reccomend how to save money but better still so people without money can get new products.

[Guest guest]

I am almost positive you did, which is what made me sit up and take notice with his response. I don't keep the papers and notes for the group, so I am not sure if I am one of the ones that actually spoke with them before or not. I have been doing a lot of long distance stuff. Double check the archives, I am sure you said he was surprised that you got his meds there. You have been on this brand about 6 months now, right? Have you noticed a change in bitterness?

Re: questions on Mexican generics

I have all the posts between us.. maybe I did mention mexico.. I'm not sure.. I'll check later..

Did you talk to him on the phone or email?

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 06:39:09 -0700 "JAMY " writes:

yeah, you did mention it or something. He was surprised where you were getting it or something. Do you still have the letter? Very few companies send to Mexico to sell a product, they lose money! I have been working to find which companies sell down there with a group so we can reccomend how to save money but better still so people without money can get new products.

[Guest guest]

I've been on it a year this month. I've not noticed any changes in bitterness or flavor. I do take them sublingually (under the tongue), there aren't a lot of taste buds under there! heheheh

I found the email that you were referring to.. It began with:

"I thought I'd share this with you guys after seeing that the Thyrolar production issues are still ongoing and Armour products are still getting back ordered. I wrote to the makers of Thyroid USP, the generic that I've been getting from Mexico, just to make sure that they were a natural product and not... "

That might be what you saw... I could find a reference to Mexico in any of the correspondence with them......

Hmmmmm....

I'm am getting older and feeble minded.. maybe I'm missing emails.....

hehehehehehehe

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 07:53:55 -0700 "Jamy " writes:

I am almost positive you did, which is what made me sit up and take notice with his response. I don't keep the papers and notes for the group, so I am not sure if I am one of the ones that actually spoke with them before or not. I have been doing a lot of long distance stuff. Double check the archives, I am sure you said he was surprised that you got his meds there. You have been on this brand about 6 months now, right? Have you noticed a change in bitterness?

[Guest guest]

I'll dig through later, don't let me forget... right now I'm running back and forth between the kitchen and the computer...

.... but having a ball doing it!!!!

Three years ago I was on crutches.. there was no way that I'd be doing what I am today... I have my butt planted in a chair and there wouldn't be all these luscious smells wafting through the neighborhood!!!

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 08:33:10 -0700 "Jamy " writes:

I believe that is the one and there is a comment in there that you said he was surprised I was getting it from there

[Guest guest]

I believe that is the one and there is a comment in there that you said he was surprised I was getting it from there

Re: questions on Mexican generics

I've been on it a year this month. I've not noticed any changes in bitterness or flavor. I do take them sublingually (under the tongue), there aren't a lot of taste buds under there! heheheh

I found the email that you were referring to.. It began with:

"I thought I'd share this with you guys after seeing that the Thyrolar production issues are still ongoing and Armour products are still getting back ordered. I wrote to the makers of Thyroid USP, the generic that I've been getting from Mexico, just to make sure that they were a natural product and not... "

That might be what you saw... I could find a reference to Mexico in any of the correspondence with them......

Hmmmmm....

I'm am getting older and feeble minded.. maybe I'm missing emails.....

hehehehehehehe

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 07:53:55 -0700 "Jamy " writes:

I am almost positive you did, which is what made me sit up and take notice with his response. I don't keep the papers and notes for the group, so I am not sure if I am one of the ones that actually spoke with them before or not. I have been doing a lot of long distance stuff. Double check the archives, I am sure you said he was surprised that you got his meds there. You have been on this brand about 6 months now, right? Have you noticed a change in bitterness?

[Guest guest]

when we first started talking you could barely get around. It was around 6/2002 when I was dxed

Re: questions on Mexican generics

I'll dig through later, don't let me forget... right now I'm running back and forth between the kitchen and the computer...

.... but having a ball doing it!!!!

Three years ago I was on crutches.. there was no way that I'd be doing what I am today... I have my butt planted in a chair and there wouldn't be all these luscious smells wafting through the neighborhood!!!

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 08:33:10 -0700 "Jamy " writes:

I believe that is the one and there is a comment in there that you said he was surprised I was getting it from there

[Guest guest]

I've come a long way.. all because I've finally learned how to take care of myself... I need to multi-dose the thyroid... every three to four hours. I need to take it the minute I wake up for my first dose.. and the last dose goes under my tongue as I fall asleep.

I take small meals every two to three hours... I have NO ulcer or reflux symptoms at all anymore... over 25 years of dealing with that stuff, watch what you eat, when you eat, how much you eat or barf your guts out... or risk a bleeding ulcer again. I was on blender food for two years after that sucker started bleeding in my early twenties.. that's all gone now.

It's all in learning how to care for your body when I can't do the hormones on it's own anymore.. find that balance, stick to what your body's schedule needs to be.. and you can come back.

Yeah. I still have a long way to go.. this hasn't been an over night thing for me, not in the getting so debilitated or in the coming back.. but it's sure awesome to find that as the weeks go by you can do more....

Not like all those years when I was on synthetics.. then it was what do I add to the list of things that I can't do this month? As the years past that list got longer and longer...

Enough of that... I'm feeling GOOD and tired today.. I had a ball in the kitchen.. baking and cooking.. the cake is all fancied up and waiting for the folks to get back from town to cut in to.... I've already licked out the bowl - chocolate rum truffle... Y.U.M.

* sssslllllurrrrrppppp*

Sorry about that I got some on my chin when I licked off the beater....

Topper ()

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 08:47:17 -0700 "Jamy " writes:

when we first started talking you could barely get around. It was around 6/2002 when I was dxed

[Guest guest]

from company product literature inserts i've found anyway it doesn't list anything but T3 and T4 anyway - no T1,2 or calcitonin

visit our website

www.geocities.com/tanyarn96/countryside.html

www.poncetihomes.com

-- Re: questions on Mexican generics

The medicine they gave is made by Forest Pharmaceticals. It's cheap and felt the same as the med from the local pharm.Chris> > >I checked into the generic thyroid offered by MyRxFor Less and it > >was made by Time- Cap Labs, Inc., Farmingdale, NY. This company has > >been written up by the FDA for bad manufacturing practices on some > >of their medications in the late 1990s. None were it's thyroid > >generic. However, somebody wrote into the Natural Thyroid Newsgroup > >calling people's attention to this thyroid not being natural but a > >combination of T3 and T4 that approximated the natural. I don't know > >how to verify it other than to order some. If this is so, you > >wouldn't be getting calcitonin and the other Ts. Calcitonin would be > >important, I think.> >> >Tish> >> > > >

[Guest guest]

<<how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or > always good?>>

as far as my enddo says you ddon't know and the board of endocrinology ddoesn''t approve it for the reason that from batch to batch its incconssistent b/cc you ddon't know how much each animals thyroid was putting out at the time. she said besides T3 is T3 regardless of where it comes from and the same with T4 andd the said she has never knowwn of T1 T2 and calcitonin being in it anyway.

i'm not knocking it but just saying one my enddo says. i really wanted to try it but........

visit our website

www.geocities.com/tanyarn96/countryside.html

www.poncetihomes.com

-- Re: questions on Mexican generics

The lab that makes it is American, and subject to the same laws as any other American lab. It is just sold through a website in Mexico because of laws.Topper, our group owner, has been on this medication for years and she is doing fine. If it were no good or if there were potency problems, she would know.Janedumom wrote:> how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or > always good?>>> sincerely, edumom, mother of boys ages 13-15> NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

But here's the REAL thought of the day----I don't see how anyone is any worse off ordering it than anything that over here that has been recalled and never was approved until they were FORCED into approval, then tried to get OUT of it! That would be $ynthroid, folks. Between them and the Levoxyl people, it's really scary to think how many times they've both been recalled, due to stability of strength issues. And we all know how tight and precise the dosing has to be on a thyroid med. Gosh, if I couldn't get the Armour, then I sure wouldn't feel any less safe ordering from another country, frankly, because we're being screwed over here in the States anyway, from pharmaceutical companies who claim thei products are safe, when they aren't. People are being poisoned to death right here in the United States because some pharmaceutical company and our FDA here (whom everyone KNOWS is in bed with these companies) said that the drugs were safe for human consumption. We're just walkin' guinea pigs! Do I feel unsafe ordering from an overseas pharmacy or from Mexico? No more unsafe than taking a prescription into my local drug store!

Re: questions on Mexican generics

The lab that makes it is American, and subject to the same laws as any other American lab. It is just sold through a website in Mexico because of laws.Topper, our group owner, has been on this medication for years and she is doing fine. If it were no good or if there were potency problems, she would know.Janedumom wrote:> how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or > always good?>>> sincerely, edumom, mother of boys ages 13-15> NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Guest guest]

Well, ponder this...

They take the glands from a thousand animals (I'm guessing at the number, the glands are small and I'm sure that they do a big batch) they are cleaned and chopped and dried and processed and all mixed together. Then that powder is put into barrels, then those barrels are spot checked, for consistency.

The hormones are bio Identical and have been in use this way for over a hundred years with never a single recall or lawsuit. While this product was in use Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia didn't even exist.

In the 1950s a product comes out on the market consisting of a chemical replication of the T4 hormone. All the chemicals that make it up are measured by someone and mixed together and then they do what they do to make it the hormone molecule. I've never read where the do a consistency check, maybe they assume the person doing the measuring does it right. Anyway, they make it into pills and mass market it, using an aggressive style that includes cash and prizes to the docs that prescribe it the most.

It's been recalled, I have no idea how many times, and a class action lawsuit was filed and the plaintiff's won, the checks are being sent to those who signed up.

Before the synthetics, the ones that keep getting recalled for:

inconsistency, mislabeling (which includes veterinary formulas being released for humans) and others that I can't think of right now, doctors prescribed the tried and true natural desiccated thyroid (Armour) based on the symptoms of the patient.

In the 1950s, the folks that invented the synthetics started to promote a new test, for TSH, with this test they could convince the doctors that with this simple test they no longer had to be concerned with how the patient felt. They made a study of a hand full of folks, in Norway, I believe, that have now been said to be all men, to come up with a 'normal range'. And then determined that as long as someone was within this 'normal' range for this one hormone that nothing more needed to be done.

[And for those with Hashi's, testing for TSH has so little to do with how they feel that it's criminal!]

So now folks were no longer treated according to their symptoms and now folks were coming in without symptoms even being recognized but because they fell into the 'normal range' they were told to go home, grow up, become responsible, stop being lazy, quit eating so much and labeled hypochondriac. After all, it was mostly women coming in with these silly complaints, it wasn't the men. So we'll just ignore all these stupid women.

Well, the stupid women continued to get worse and the symptoms started falling into recognizable groups. But they were within "normal range" so the new diseases were invented. We'll call this one 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" and we'll call this one "Fibromyalgia". And all was good.

But now there were still more women coming in with symptoms. They fell into normal ranges too. But we can't label EVERYONE with Chronic Fatigue or Fibro... so we'll just say they are depressed. So the people that made the synthetic T4 hormones that don't work decided that they would make all kinds of antidepressant drugs. So that the docs could try one and when it didnt' work they could try another and when it didn't work they could try another. Then, when the patient kept getting worse and worse and finally fell into the pit far enough to be labeled Chronic Fatigue or Fibro they could get that whole round of fancy fake things too.

The drug manufactures smiled and said 'this is good, we're making lots of bucks. Let's make even more, we'll give prizes to the doctor's that prescribe all this stuff. They'll go crazy handing it out if we give them trips to Hawaii, and have 'training' conventions in Florida."

Hmmmm, some docs are telling us their patients aren't getting better, Hmmmmmmm. Lets get involved in medical education. Lets contribute money to the medical colleges and provide all this information on this fake stuff that we make. We'll teach all the new docs that the ONLY way to treat this stuff is to go by this test we came up with for TSH, tell them that it saves money to not use any of the other tests. And then tell them about this whole list of antidepressants that they can prescribe when the fake stuff doesn't work.

Yeah, they found out it worked great.. as the old docs died off and the new ones moved in, they'd never heard of the old medicine, they'd only heard of the new one. The one that they kept getting all the free samples of. The one that they could earn points with. The ones that could get them to Hawaii, and Florida and get prizes like laptops.

So, gee... why prescribe something that they don't even teach about in schools when you can use this stuff and earn points too?

Hmmmmmm why do my patients keep coming back complaining that they still aren't feeling better?

Hmmmmmmm why do they keep talking about this 'natural' stuff?

Hmmmmmmmmmmm but if I let them try that... I won't get that 20 points I need to get my two weeks in Hawaii!!!

Hmmmmmmmmm Well, you know how women are, they complain about everything. If I give her this anti depressant, and this one for the joint pain... lets see, carry the one, multiply by 4.. yeah.. it's gonna take me an extra two months.. but it's gonna work... I'll still be able to make it to Hawaii this season.. yeah... okay... that's how I'll do it... Just tell her to quit being such a hypochondriac and quit eating all the candy. I'll throw in a diet so that she's got something to get her mind off her bellyaching.

I was a woman the came it with classic symptoms of hyperthyroid. I didn't know that was what was wrong. What I knew was that my boss had just ordered me a set of uniforms because what I was wearing was hanging on me. What I knew was that I was soooo thirsty one day that I walked out of a clients office and couldn't wait to ride an elevator down 3 stories and walk a hundred yards to my truck for a drink of water I had to have it from the fountain by the elevator. I drank that icy cold water until my teeth hurt enough to draw tears and I was still thirsty.

I was not tested. I was told that I was fat (a body builder with 21% body fat for over three years that had just lost 40 pounds in a month was told that I needed to lose weight - as my bones stuck out).

I was handed a bottle of pain killers for the severe headaches and joint and muscle pain, not tested, and told to go home and that I was lucky that I could eat anything I wanted and still lose weight.

This was the first time that I'd ever gone into the doc on my own for something other than an accident or an illness that was identifiable, strep, tonsillitis or an ear infection. I was 32 or 33 at the time. I was considered a hypochondriac and ignored. I was considered fat and stupid.

When I got home I took the little pill, with an aspirin and went to sleep, right after I ate, can't go long between meals.

I had flash back nightmares that night. I relieved a beating/assault/rape from 10 years before. I woke terrified. I could feel every kick. I called my mom and told her that I'd had bad dreams all night (I've never told my family of that assault). Still felt like crap. She looked up what the doc had given me in a book that she had on medications.

I don't remember the exact wording, something about nightmares and hallucinations and that you were not supposed to drive or operate machinery while taking this medication. I was to take it every four hours, with an aspirin, for pain.

Oh, did I tell you what my job was at the time? I drove truck, I was a money courier. I spent 10 hours a day behind the wheel driving in city traffic.

Over the next ten months I continued to eat, and lose weight. I finally stopped sleeping because I had to stay up to eat. If I didn't eat I got pain in my head so bad I couldn't even stand up.. so I ate. And my boss kept ordering me new uniforms.

How bad was my eating? Take a one pound package of sausage links. Cook them just long enough to think they are safe to eat. Now take two slices of bread. Slap a big scoop of Miracle Whip on both pieces. Now take the sausages and put half of them, side by side on one piece of bread, now take the other half and stack them in a second layer on top of the first, put them cross wise to hold them all together.. or when they fall out you'll be eating them off the floor... Now squish it together and start eating. While you are eating that, dump another 1 pound package of sausage links in the pan, don't drain the grease, no time. Put the bread out and glop on the mayo... get impatient after you finish the first sandwich and wait for the next one. Assemble the sandwich and burn your mouth cause you forgot to blow on it to cool it, you were too hungry. This one is a bit more pink in the middle than the first one. You decide to watch tv a minute so that you don't have to look at the sandwich. But the TV is boring so you switch it off again, you decide to head to the bathroom, you've not gone yet this morning cause you had to eat first. You pop the last of the sandwich in your mouth before you empty your bladder. Then you hurry up and get dressed so that you can go to a buffet and eat, you're hungry. After all you've already been awake for 30 minutes. But your pants won't stay up. You go grab some rope, you can't afford to buy another pair of pants, these are only 2 weeks old.

How about going to Baker's Square and getting a strawberry cheesecake. Carrying it out to the car and eating it, the whole thing, going back into the store and buying a second one. Going back to the car and after a moment of thought decide that you will eat this one at home. You can wait that long, you're not too hungry. You live 3 miles away.

Not sure if I was having problems yet? On weekends, to cut down on the cost of eating. I took the expired food from work home. I worked for a vending company. I got cases of chips and cookies and expired snack cakes.. I'd sit down and eat a case of stale chips while I decided which all you can eat buffet I would dare go to (the managers knew me by sight and cringed).

I went to the grocery store once, I'd just eaten at a buffet and thought I'd be okay... I needed TP and deodorant and some stuff for eating at home. I got as far as the rotisserie chicken thing. I bought a chicken and took it out to the car to eat, then I could go back in and shop. I got another chicken to eat after I was finished so that I could drive home. I lived about 4 miles away.

Everything hurt. Breathing, walking, chewing, until one day I was trying to open the side door on my truck and I couldn't lift my arm to pull it up. So I tried the other arm. I couldn't do it.

I went to the doc, an orthopedist this time, a woman. She asked me to take off my shirt. Now move your arms this way. Now this way. Are you getting periods? Have you been losing weight? (she picks up my chart and starts reading) How are you sleeping? You're hyperthyroid, your chart shows that you were when you were in here - 10 months ago!!!

She's storms out of the exam room and to the exam room of the doc that saw me last.

This is a family friendly group.. I'll not repeat what she screamed at that other doc for not even bothering to test someone that came in with classic text book symptoms of hyperthyroidism. His only reply? 'She was too fat to be sick'

I was in the hospital that day for RAI to kill off my thyroid so that I wouldn't die.

Because doctors are taught to not give a crap about a woman that comes in complaining about weight or how she feels. The only reason the woman doctor knew what was wrong was that she'd done her residency with an endocrinologist and knew the symptoms by sight.

My symptoms at that time? Resting pulse 160, walk across a room? over 200. Pumping out so much heat that I didn't wear a coat in sub zero weather. Eating non stop and still losing weight. The skin on my elbows so thin that you could actually see the bones through the skin. Hadn't had a period in a decade. Anxiety attacks, insomnia, paranoia, breaking teeth, on and on and on and on...

Over the next decade. Every doc I went to. Gaining weight? Eat less! Hurting more? Get more exercise! Constipated? Eat more fiber and exercise. Feet hurt? Lose weight.

Then, the one I dearly love. Oh... we need to increase your medication. I want you to increase to 200 mcg. But, doctor, I'm already taking 200 mcg, so 200 mcg is not an increase.

You're a smartass continue taking 200 mcg.

But doctor, you said that I needed an increase????

Here's another one. I had been without insurance and a job and had not been able to get my labs or a prescription. I get a new job and insurance and go in for my first checkup. The doctor informs me that my having gone without meds was due to my being irresponsible and lazy. He gives me a prescription for 30 days, for the dose that I SAID that I had been on, without giving me any tests or even asking me about symptoms, and then tells me that he's doing it that way because I'm too irresponsible to be trusted to come in for the next labs if he were to give me any more. I was never told about the results of the first labs he ran.

I go in for the next labs, they draw the blood, I wait a while to see the doc. He hands me a prescription for a year, at the same dose. This was at a little corner clinic, the size of a four car garage, in a suburb. Can anyone tell me how they got the results of that blood draw in less than an hour?

I went through years of that kind of treatment. Each year coming in in even worse shape than the year before. Always told that I was fat and lazy and irresponsible. Always on the exact same dose of the exact same synthetic. Never asked how I felt, never examined to check anything. Just the blood draw, and the new prescription issued, for the same dose.

I ended up on crutches. Unable to lift a case of pop. I used to be a body builder, bench pressing 250 pounds. Leg presses of 400 pounds. Worked at Mosquito control hauling a hundred pounds of insecticide on my shoulder while wearing hip waders and walking through cat tail swamps in knee deep water. I ended up on crutches and couldn't lift a case of pop!! At the vending company I used to put three of them on my shoulder and walk up a flight of stairs with them so that I didn't have to deal with a two wheeler and walk down the hall to the elevator... it wasn't worth my time and effort... just truck them up the stairs.

I had to use crutches to get to the bathroom. I couldnt' lift my arms long enough to wash my own hair. I had to sit on a stool to wash dishes cause I couldn't stand long enough to wash dishes for one person's meal. I had to use my stool to cook a scramble egg cause I couldnt' stand.

I had to rest a the bottom of the stairs. One flight of stairs, I had to stop and sit down.

Two years ago I started taking an over the counter natural desiccated thyroid glandular. Now.... I can stand to do dishes. I can lather, rinse and repeat AND put in conditioner. I can go up and down the stairs a half a dozen times.

I can take a shower, do the dishes, run a load of laundry, bake a half dozen loaves of bread AND a cake and wash all the dishes, dry them and put them all away. At the same time I'm cooking the food and setting up my mini meals for the next two or three days AND downloading virus scan and spyware updates on the main two Internet computers in the house and running the scans. And have ALL of that finished done with and back and sitting in here, to catch up on the emails that I missed or work on a computer that has come in for repair, in about three hours. And it only takes that long cause I have to give the bread time to rise - so I don't exactly rush.

So... on which medication did I do better? A decade of synthetics that landed me on crutches with dirty hair? Or naturals that had me off the crutches and being able to do chores again in less than a year?

I don't have a thyroid. They killed it off with RAI. So it's what I'm taking, not that my body is producing on it's own.

Which did better? Synthetics and labs with doctors? Or naturals, treating by symptoms, on my own?

OTC naturals for one year, July '02 to July '03. Generics out of Mexico July '03 to today.

Which did better? The name brand synthetics or the natural, - not even name brand?

I'm on my fifth bottle. I can tell within a couple of hours if I've missed a dose.. I'm that sensitive... I think I would know if I was having consistency problems between bottles.

I believe that my need to dose every 3 to 4 hours and all the other issues I have with how I dose, when I dose and the supps that I take are directly related to the amount of time that I spent in thyroid storm and then the many years that I was under dosed on the synthetics. With no thyroid production of my own (Killed off by RAI) I was totally dependant on what I was given, and that is what I'm suffering from now.

Comments?

Topper ()

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 01:26:25 -0500 (Central Standard Time) "" writes:

<<how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or > always good?>>

[Guest guest]

Very very good point !

Topper ()

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004 09:46:16 -0500 " " writes:

But here's the REAL thought of the day----I don't see how anyone is any worse off ordering it than anything that over here that has been recalled and never was approved until they were FORCED into approval, then tried to get OUT of it! That would be $ynthroid, folks. Between them and the Levoxyl people, it's really scary to think how many times they've both been recalled, due to stability of strength issues. And we all know how tight and precise the dosing has to be on a thyroid med. Gosh, if I couldn't get the Armour, then I sure wouldn't feel any less safe ordering from another country, frankly, because we're being screwed over here in the States anyway, from pharmaceutical companies who claim thei products are safe, when they aren't. People are being poisoned to death right here in the United States because some pharmaceutical company and our FDA here (whom everyone KNOWS is in bed with these companies) said that the drugs were safe for human consumption. We're just walkin' guinea pigs! Do I feel unsafe ordering from an overseas pharmacy or from Mexico? No more unsafe than taking a prescription into my local drug store!

[Guest guest]

Phen-Fen, some of the statins......come to mind as some of the dangerous drugs that had been prescribed when not safe! Come to think of it, these were prescribed for some very common symptoms of thyroid disease....

Feisty*getting some feistiness back*

Re: questions on Mexican generics

The lab that makes it is American, and subject to the same laws as any other American lab. It is just sold through a website in Mexico because of laws.Topper, our group owner, has been on this medication for years and she is doing fine. If it were no good or if there were potency problems, she would know.Janedumom wrote:> how do you know that the generic stuff from Mexico is any good? or > always good?>>> sincerely, edumom, mother of boys ages 13-15> NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!!!>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------