Re: My friend is desperate.

[Guest guest]

Hi Sheila, I would love for your friend to see my doc in Georgia, Dr.

Milton . I recommend him more than highly. If she is going to be

in the U.S. for 2 weeks that will be more than enough time to get with him.

What her problem sounds like to me is adrenal.

I don't think increasing her armour maybe 1/4 grain would hurt either.

A lady that I sent to doctor Milton the other day, came back yesterday and just

loves him...she has searched and searched and searched for a good doc and now

she swears by him. I think that Dr. Milton would do your friend a world of

good. Let me know what ya think.

Hugs..PattiSue

My friend is desperate.

Hello everyone,

I have an American friend who is hypothyroid and who now lives over here in

north Yorkshire (UK). I met up with her yesterday for lunch and found her

rather depressed. I feel that she is completely knocked out because

somewhere along the line, through self-treatment, things have got out of

line with her. I asked her to send me an e-mail so that I could post it

here to see if any of you good people could help her. She is starting work

on the 2nd February at an American Finance Company and on the 6th February,

they are sending her to Georgia (US) for a two week training course.

She is suffering tremendous lower back pain, and she could hardly sit or

stand without constant pain. This has come about over the past 3 weeks and

it will not go away. She is about 5.8 " and the majority of the weight she

has put on is all around her hips and thighs,it appears out of proportion to

the rest of her body and is very solid.

The following is what she sent me today. Please can somebody reply so that

I can send your advice on to her. She desperately need somebody to guide

her in all this.

Luv - Sheila

----------------------------------------------------------

I remember back in the early nineties, after having bloodwork, my GP telling

me that I was just over the level of hypothyroidsm (HT), that it was worth

checking it every so often. At that time, I felt healthy physically-working

full time, going to the gym etc. I was and still am being treated for

depression, but I wonder if this has anything to do with my thyroid. First

of all, I have been on the large side since my late teens, I've never really

been an over eater, in fact until I move over here 4 years ago, I ate very

little (salads, fruit, occasional bagel with cream cheese) . My friends

(most of whom are skinny little things and eat like hogs, used to say they

didn't know why I was so big since I never really over ate). But I just

assumed that I had a slow metabolism. Anyway, I managed to workfull time

(usually tired toward day's end, but who isnt?)

I moved over here 4 years ago, had Aleyna 2 1/2 years ago (Aug 2001) and

suffered the loss of friends, colleagues and clients in the 11 Sept 2001

terrorist attack at the world trade center. Aleyna was only a month old, and

I think I felt ok post natally, but when 9/11 happened, I absolutely

crashed.

I 'd say for about 6 months I was so ill and my weight was ballooning. I'm

heavier now than I was when I was 9 months pregnant.

I kept tellling my GP in Edinburgh that I was exhausted all the time. That I

slept when aleyna slept and that when

she was awake, I kept looking at the clock for when it was time for her next

nap. I mentioned all this to my mother and she said, " maybe it's your

thyroid " went back to the GP and suggested a thyroid test, she reluctantly

agreed and when the blood tests came back, I was summoned to the office. I

was put on low dose t4 initially which helped mildly. I was sent to

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary endicrinolgy dept for further tests. I wasn't as

informed then, but I think they only checked my t4 level. They said I should

remain on my current dose of T4.

I was told to stop nursing Aleyna at 7 months, go on T4 and start taking

Prozac. I don't think this was enough. I was tired, depressed and weepy all

the time. I was having frequent nightmares about 9/11 and I was a nervous

wreck. Any strength and happiness I could muster when entirely to Aleyna.

We decided to move to North Yorkshire. The last year and a half, we moved 2

times and had this house completely renovated (downstairs only). It was

extremely stressful. Went to the GP here who increased my dose of T4. Mild

improvement. I went private to Dr Hammond of Harrogate, who increased my T4

again. Mild improvment. After discovering the Forums, I self medicated with

Armour (Oct/Nov 03?) and felt a world better. Then I went to see Dr

and was flabergasted when he asked me if I had exposure to ticks and

mosquitoes. Of course I did growing up in coastal New Jersey! I started

taking 4 grains about 2 weeks ago. Feel somewhat better.

Now, I havent a history of test results. I guess my GP must have them. I'll

request a copy when I go next. All I can say is that I'm not as tired all

the time like I used to be, but I still feel like sleeping in the afternoon.

I think I will try your taking doses of armour twice daily.

Other complaints: I am more ill than healthy. I get frequent colds,

bronchitis, back ache, heel spur on left foot and low motivation. I used to

be somewhat active, 5 mile walks daily, tennis with friends and swimming in

the summer. I went for a long walk along the river this past weekend, and I

think that's how I got this chest infection/cold. This completely depresses

me because I hate being ill, mainly because it impacts my wanting to be a

good mother. I don't know what it's going to be like when I return to work.

I don't want to jeoapardize my career.

At present, I am taking:

4 grains of armour, all at once when I first awake.

20 mg of Cipralex (SSRI antidepressant, on the advice of Dr )

DHEA 1 perday 25mg

Vit C

Vit E

Omega 3

B Complex

Multivitamin

stopped taking Samento for the borrelia a while ago, mainly because I'm lazy

and because I was feeling dizzy.

I guess my main complaint these days is my frequent bouts of colds, flus,

brochitis, weight gain, low back pain etc... Last year I was more ill than

not.

My last thyroid function test results are thus (Nov 03 based on urine

analysis)

Volume 1900

T3 717 range 800-1800

t4 1813 range 1800-3000

t3/t4 ratio 0.40 range 0.63-1.00

Cortisol:

result range

8am 34.00 6.00-33.00

noon 22.00 4.0-28.0

4 pm 32.2 4.0-11.8

midnight 10.8 1.0-5.0

(Dr. didn't say anything about this. Looks like I have a cortisol

problem. Is this something I can address?)

Dr W sent me a letter dated 27 aug 2003 listing all the tests I was to

undertake. Aside from stool, adrenal stress and urine thyroid, to which I've

received results and reply (finally!) from Dr W. I did do the PCR estimation

of borrelia genus as well as IAG test from University of Sunderland. I

havent heard anything about these test results. I'll need to sit down and

write a thorough letter to Dr W (along with the £85 I still owe him) and

hopefully request a full profile again sometime soon. I'd really love to get

to the bottom of all of this. Maybe it is just depression that causing all

my problems, I don't know.

I wish I had the time and energy to take a decisive and direct approach. I'm

amazed that I've sent you all this info.

I have to run. I apologize for the length of the note. I'd welcome any

advice you can offer.

[Guest guest]

Chock full of opinion and observation here....

The urine tests for thyroid show only what hormone is being expelled from

the body.. it has nothing to do with what is in the system and is

available for use by the body tissues.

She's been under a lot of stress, staring that really got aggravated on

9/11... that's YEARS ago... this is not good. I would do three things

IMMEDIATELY:

First.. I would start taking the thyroid in 4 doses per day. Why? I have

a suspicion that the back pain is related to poor sleep. Since the

adrenal tests are not showing stress there, why I don't know.. but they

aren't... I'd suspect that her body is thyroid hormone deficient during

parts of the day.. With my super sensitive system... I have trouble

taking higher doses just once or twice and do remarkably better doing in

smaller amounts taken during the day. It's possible that she may have a

similar problem.

Start taking Selenium (up to 400 mcg per day are safe) to help with the

conversion of T4 to T3. T4 is the storage hormone... T3 is the hormone

most used by our bodies. T3, taken in Armour, has been used up in just a

few hours... if you dose only once per day... you spend most of your day

dependant on what your body is able to convert, if you are a poor

converter that means that your T3 levels could be severely inadequate for

a large chunk of the day AND over night. Our bodies do a majority of

their repair and healing (from illness and injury) while we sleep. If

sleep is poor and/or T3 levels are insufficient for the body to do that

work... we stay sick and we end up with other ailments... like Plantar

Fasciitis.

Personally I had a remarkable improve the very first day that I started

taking a small dose of thyroid at bedtime, a small dose upon waking and 2

more doses during the day. I currently dose 5 times per day... upon

waking, 3 times during the day, and when I go to bed. No more pain.

The heal pain.. could very well be Plantar Faciitis. It's an inflammation

of the sheath of the tendon that runs over the heel and under the foot.

The most pronounced difference between it and a heel spur or other injury

is that it feels remarkably worse when first getting up from a sitting or

laying position... and no matter how you try to rest it, it's at it's

worse when you first stand, and never fully goes away... but can be

slightly less painful after laying around. Proper thyroid treatment can

make that go away... Mine had gotten so bad that I had to use crutches to

walk.

Things to help the pain of the foot until then inflammation goes away

through proper thyroid care include the use of an anti-inflamatory, like

ibuprophen (Advil). Taking a tablet at a time from the moment you get up

and then every few hours through the day....It may not take the pain away

completely but it will reduce the inflammation and make it less pain ful.

While sitting... use a plastic bottle - I used a 20 oz pop bottle. Fill

it about 2 inches from the top with water. Squeeze out the air and then

put the cap on.. Freeze the bottle overnight. By doing this, when the ice

expands you end up with a full bottle of ice and not an exploded/cracked

bottle due to the expansion of the ice. Now with a thick sock on your

foot put the bottle on the floor and put your foot on the bottle...

gently roll your foot over the iced bottle... the ice will help to reduce

the inflammation of the tendon sheath, reducing the pain.... You do the

ice treatment for up to fifteen minutes at a time... then allow your foot

to warm for 15 to 30 minutes and then you can repeat on the ice.

She's gonna need proper thyroid level testing... that means Free T4 and

Free T3 to find out what is available in her blood.

Food.... If we, as folks with hypothyroid, do not get in enough calories

it works in a very negative way for us.... it can reduce our metabolic

rates causing us to gain more weight even though we hardly eat anything.

Also, with insufficient calories our bodies go into starvation mode with

further complicates our bodies ability to convert T4 to T3. You can

actually diet yourself to become fatter. These urine thyroid tests are

actually proving that out.. the numbers look high... (If I'm reading them

correctly) which would mean the body is passing out hormone that it is

unable to make use of.... leading to a suspicion that the body is simply

getting rid of what it can't use. I would suggest some close attention be

paid to the number and type of calories consumed to see if that may be

the case.

I'll stop... I'm sure others will be adding more suggestions.....

oh... one last thought.. since she's gonna be here in the states for

training.. if her own doc in the UK will not test the frees... she can

check with www.healthcheckusa.com to see if there is a clinic in the area

that she will be in while her and get some testing done on her own?

Prices for the tests that include they thyroid tests that she needs run

from about $75 to $100... then she'll have the info that she needs.

Topper () *14 years post RAI, have been self medicating with Natural

thyroid for 18 months, feeling fantastic and losing weight - finally*

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 07:39:36 -0000 " Sheila "

writes:

> Hello everyone,

>

> I have an American friend who is hypothyroid and who now lives over

> here in

> north Yorkshire (UK). I met up with her yesterday for lunch and

> found her

> rather depressed. I feel that she is completely knocked out because

> somewhere along the line, through self-treatment, things have got

> out of

> line with her. I asked her to send me an e-mail so that I could

> post it

> here to see if any of you good people could help her. She is

> starting work

> on the 2nd February at an American Finance Company and on the 6th

> February,

> they are sending her to Georgia (US) for a two week training course.

>

> She is suffering tremendous lower back pain, and she could hardly

> sit or

> stand without constant pain. This has come about over the past 3

> weeks and

> it will not go away. She is about 5.8 " and the majority of the

> weight she

> has put on is all around her hips and thighs,it appears out of

> proportion to

> the rest of her body and is very solid.

>

> The following is what she sent me today. Please can somebody reply

> so that

> I can send your advice on to her. She desperately need somebody to

> guide

> her in all this.

>

> Luv - Sheila

[Guest guest]

Hi, Sheila,

It sounds like your friend is feeling the effects of prolonged

stress -- big time!

I found a link to some interesting information related to " High

Cortisol Levels " by using that term in the Google search engine. The link

is: http://www.health-truth.com/articles/hormonal01.asp

There are a number of things that make me want to tell her to find

a compassionate counselor to talk things over with. Many people are still

having a terrible time recovering from 9/11 and if she lost close friends

in that event, then she may need to do some work on healing from the trauma.

Stress would seem to be the cause of a number of ailments that

plague humankind. Have your friend check out the information at the link

above. After reading it, she will be better able to formulate a plan to

address the symptoms and the cause(s).

From what she wrote, she is already doing some of the things that

are helpful for reducing high cortisol. She may need to add some

additional supplements or increase what she is taking. However, I believe

that between being a new mother and a survivor of 9/11, she may have

additional issues to address.

Hope some of that is helpful,

Dianne

At 07:39 AM 1/28/04 +0000, you wrote:

>Hello everyone,

>

>I have an American friend who is hypothyroid and who now lives over here in

>north Yorkshire (UK). I met up with her yesterday for lunch and found her

>rather depressed. I feel that she is completely knocked out because

>somewhere along the line, through self-treatment, things have got out of

>line with her. I asked her to send me an e-mail so that I could post it

>here to see if any of you good people could help her. She is starting work

>on the 2nd February at an American Finance Company and on the 6th February,

>they are sending her to Georgia (US) for a two week training course.

>

>She is suffering tremendous lower back pain, and she could hardly sit or

>stand without constant pain. This has come about over the past 3 weeks and

>it will not go away. She is about 5.8 " and the majority of the weight she

>has put on is all around her hips and thighs,it appears out of proportion to

>the rest of her body and is very solid.

>

>The following is what she sent me today. Please can somebody reply so that

>I can send your advice on to her. She desperately need somebody to guide

>her in all this.

>

>Luv - Sheila

>

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

>

>I remember back in the early nineties, after having bloodwork, my GP telling

>me that I was just over the level of hypothyroidsm (HT), that it was worth

>checking it every so often. At that time, I felt healthy physically-working

>full time, going to the gym etc. I was and still am being treated for

>depression, but I wonder if this has anything to do with my thyroid. First

>of all, I have been on the large side since my late teens, I've never really

>been an over eater, in fact until I move over here 4 years ago, I ate very

>little (salads, fruit, occasional bagel with cream cheese) . My friends

>(most of whom are skinny little things and eat like hogs, used to say they

>didn't know why I was so big since I never really over ate). But I just

>assumed that I had a slow metabolism. Anyway, I managed to workfull time

>(usually tired toward day's end, but who isnt?)

>

>I moved over here 4 years ago, had Aleyna 2 1/2 years ago (Aug 2001) and

>suffered the loss of friends, colleagues and clients in the 11 Sept 2001

>terrorist attack at the world trade center. Aleyna was only a month old, and

>I think I felt ok post natally, but when 9/11 happened, I absolutely

>crashed.

>

>I 'd say for about 6 months I was so ill and my weight was ballooning. I'm

>heavier now than I was when I was 9 months pregnant.

>

>I kept tellling my GP in Edinburgh that I was exhausted all the time. That I

>slept when aleyna slept and that when

>she was awake, I kept looking at the clock for when it was time for her next

>nap. I mentioned all this to my mother and she said, " maybe it's your

>thyroid " went back to the GP and suggested a thyroid test, she reluctantly

>agreed and when the blood tests came back, I was summoned to the office. I

>was put on low dose t4 initially which helped mildly. I was sent to

>Edinburgh Royal Infirmary endicrinolgy dept for further tests. I wasn't as

>informed then, but I think they only checked my t4 level. They said I should

>remain on my current dose of T4.

>

>I was told to stop nursing Aleyna at 7 months, go on T4 and start taking

>Prozac. I don't think this was enough. I was tired, depressed and weepy all

>the time. I was having frequent nightmares about 9/11 and I was a nervous

>wreck. Any strength and happiness I could muster when entirely to Aleyna.

>

>We decided to move to North Yorkshire. The last year and a half, we moved 2

>times and had this house completely renovated (downstairs only). It was

>extremely stressful. Went to the GP here who increased my dose of T4. Mild

>improvement. I went private to Dr Hammond of Harrogate, who increased my T4

>again. Mild improvment. After discovering the Forums, I self medicated with

>Armour (Oct/Nov 03?) and felt a world better. Then I went to see Dr

>and was flabergasted when he asked me if I had exposure to ticks and

>mosquitoes. Of course I did growing up in coastal New Jersey! I started

>taking 4 grains about 2 weeks ago. Feel somewhat better.

>

>Now, I havent a history of test results. I guess my GP must have them. I'll

>request a copy when I go next. All I can say is that I'm not as tired all

>the time like I used to be, but I still feel like sleeping in the afternoon.

>I think I will try your taking doses of armour twice daily.

>

>Other complaints: I am more ill than healthy. I get frequent colds,

>bronchitis, back ache, heel spur on left foot and low motivation. I used to

>be somewhat active, 5 mile walks daily, tennis with friends and swimming in

>the summer. I went for a long walk along the river this past weekend, and I

>think that's how I got this chest infection/cold. This completely depresses

>me because I hate being ill, mainly because it impacts my wanting to be a

>good mother. I don't know what it's going to be like when I return to work.

>I don't want to jeoapardize my career.

>

>At present, I am taking:

>

>4 grains of armour, all at once when I first awake.

>20 mg of Cipralex (SSRI antidepressant, on the advice of Dr )

>DHEA 1 perday 25mg

>Vit C

>Vit E

>Omega 3

>B Complex

>Multivitamin

>

>stopped taking Samento for the borrelia a while ago, mainly because I'm lazy

>and because I was feeling dizzy.

>

>I guess my main complaint these days is my frequent bouts of colds, flus,

>brochitis, weight gain, low back pain etc... Last year I was more ill than

>not.

>

>My last thyroid function test results are thus (Nov 03 based on urine

>analysis)

>

>Volume 1900

>T3 717 range 800-1800

>t4 1813 range 1800-3000

>t3/t4 ratio 0.40 range 0.63-1.00

>

>Cortisol:

> result range

>8am 34.00 6.00-33.00

>noon 22.00 4.0-28.0

>4 pm 32.2 4.0-11.8

>midnight 10.8 1.0-5.0

>

>(Dr. didn't say anything about this. Looks like I have a cortisol

>problem. Is this something I can address?)

>

>Dr W sent me a letter dated 27 aug 2003 listing all the tests I was to

>undertake. Aside from stool, adrenal stress and urine thyroid, to which I've

>received results and reply (finally!) from Dr W. I did do the PCR estimation

>of borrelia genus as well as IAG test from University of Sunderland. I

>havent heard anything about these test results. I'll need to sit down and

>write a thorough letter to Dr W (along with the £85 I still owe him) and

>hopefully request a full profile again sometime soon. I'd really love to get

>to the bottom of all of this. Maybe it is just depression that causing all

>my problems, I don't know.

>

>I wish I had the time and energy to take a decisive and direct approach. I'm

>amazed that I've sent you all this info.

>

>I have to run. I apologize for the length of the note. I'd welcome any

>advice you can offer.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>