Re: SYNTHROID ?

[Guest guest]

- HI!

It's important to get your thyroid levels stabilized before you try for another pregnancy.. as long as the body is out of whack you will not be able to carry to full term.

Synthroid is not as beneficial to your body as a Natural thyroid would be...

Some comments about how you are taking it though...

Are you taking it on an empty stomach? Synthetics must be exposed to full stomach acid to make them usable by your body... you have to take it no sooner than one hour before a meal.. and no sooner than 4 hours after a meal.

You have to keep your thyroid dose away from your calcium and iron. That is the same for both synthetic an natural. If you are taking synthetic (Synthroid) it must be four hours after the calcium and/or iron, or one hour before.

If you are taking naturals, and swallow them, same rule applies. If you are taking naturals sublingually (Under the tongue) you can eat or dose your other supps and meds an hour before or after... I actually will take a meal right after my thyroid med (natural) dissolves and have had no problems.

Since you have had a total thyroidectomy you would be in much better shape taking natural thyroid. Armour, the most popular brand, and it's generics are whole desiccated porcine thyroid gland.. you are getting all the elements that your own gland used to make. That is very important for those of us with no thyroid function of our own.

My thyroid was destroy by RAI about 15 years ago. So I am on total replacement.

Right now.. on Synthroid, you are totally dependant on your bodies conversion rate. That is the rate at which in can convert the T4, in Synthroid, to the T3 that your body uses for most of it's function. Cutting back too far on calories, skipping meals greatly reduces your conversion rate.. making you more hypo and less likely to safely carry a pregnancy.

Your best option would be to determine your correct caloric intake and then divide that into 5 to 7 mini meals a day.. this will help to increase your conversion rate, increase you energy level, increase your metabolic rate, and decrease your fat storage.

An underfed body drops the metabolic rate and starts storing calories as fat and not burning them as energy....

Weight gain and inability to carry a pregnancy full term are both common symptoms of undertreated thyroid....

Topper ()

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 23:10:53 -0000 "dreamingbags" writes:

Hi,I am new to this board. I am not sure if anyone has experiences withthis...but its worth a shot!I am 33 & had a total thryroidectomy 5 yrs ago w/ RAI. 2 clear scanssince. I take 1.88 mg of Synthroid.I am about, what docs consider now 20 lbs more than I should be. I have been trying to eat less, walk more, however despite my efforts, have been gaining at a rate of about 1 lb per week for the past 6 months! I have tried to tell my docs that something is not right. FINALLY, we test TSH & find out that its 2.9...then test again 3 days ago - its 3.7!I also take a prenatal, as we hope to expand our family. 2miscarriages in the past 7 months too. I was taking all medstogether, until the Endo informed me that the iron is absorbing allthe synthroid, so it is as if my body is getting none...nice, huh?He said it will take 6 weeks to hopefully get back to under 1.0.I am so frustrated. Asides from memory loss, loss of libedo, & feeling tired, the extra weight is making me depressed.Does anyone take Synthroid. Ever heard not to take it with othermeds? Any idea why I would be gaining at such a rapid weight. I thinkthat is one of the side effects.Your help is appreciated. Thank you in advance.Los Angeles

[Guest guest]

The healthy human thyroid makes 4-1/2 to 5 grains of thryoid a day.

This is about 333mcg to 370mcg of Synthroid minimum. In the past

before the TSH test, it took 300 to 400 mcg of synthroid to

alieviate people's symptoms. Doses have dropped to 1/3 of that since

the TSH test. Since you do not have a thyroid, it is essential that

you get all the thyroid a healthy thyroid makes replaced. I bet that

you have not been prescribed adequate replacement. Also, if you plan

to have more children, I definitely think Armour would be better.

Armour contains all 7 thyroid hormones the body makes and several of

these, T3, T2 and T1 play a role in proper hormone balance. Without

adequate thyroid, damage can be done to the child's brain

development, not to mention many problems occurring in keeping the

pregnancy. When thyroid is too low, estrogen goes too high and this

really increases the risk of miscarriage. Low thryoid also causes a

loss of progesterone, which needs to be very high during pregnancy

and is essential for the baby to get adequate oxygen. In fact in the

past doctors preferred to err on the side of a little too much

thryoid during pregnancy than a little too little. They found that

slight excess was not harmful at all to mother or fetus and was a

much better alternative to possible damage caused by too little.

Iron interferes with thyroid therapy by preventing reuptake of

thyoid hormone in the intestins. In healthy people, around 1000 mcg

of thryoid eliminated by the liver is re taken up in the intestines.

It is a normal recirculation process. (From Werner and Ingbar's, The

Thyroid) Iron interferes with this and causes an increased loss of

thryoid from the system. But, your low iron is the result of not

having adequate thyroid replacement in the first place. Low thryoid

causes changes in the digestive tract that prevents uptake of Iron.

So, if you were to get proper and adequate thyroid replacement, the

low iron problem should go away. If it doesn't then you may have

celiac disease also, which goes along with thryoid problems.

The trouble with Synthroid, asside from it's poor conversion to the

energy producing, hormone regulating, and metabolism regulating T3

and T2, is that it requires you have adequate stomach acid to take

it up and use it. Synthroid, which is only T4, has been altered from

from real thyroid hormone by having a sodium attached to it. This

was done to get a patent. In order for it to become the real T4

thing, the sodium must be removed by stomach acid. So, if you take

calcium, Iron or any other mineral or salt, this can lower stomach

acid and prevent Synthroid from working. Also, in hypothyroidism you

develope low sotmach acid because of the slowed metabolic rate that

prevents adequate digestive enzyne and acid production.

If you were to switch to armour and dissolve it under your tongue,

you would be able to absorb most of it. It does not require stomach

acid since there is no sodium to remove. It is the real thing and

can go accross tissue boundaries as is. Also, you need to replace

all the thyroid that the healthy thyroid makes. This means you need

pretty high doses. People who have their thryoids get some small

amount from their own thyroids that supplements what is taken. So,

we need smaller doses in general.

Tish

[Guest guest]

The healthy human thyroid makes 4-1/2 to 5 grains of thryoid a day.

This is about 333mcg to 370mcg of Synthroid minimum. In the past

before the TSH test, it took 300 to 400 mcg of synthroid to

alieviate people's symptoms. Doses have dropped to 1/3 of that since

the TSH test. Since you do not have a thyroid, it is essential that

you get all the thyroid a healthy thyroid makes replaced. I bet that

you have not been prescribed adequate replacement. Also, if you plan

to have more children, I definitely think Armour would be better.

Armour contains all 7 thyroid hormones the body makes and several of

these, T3, T2 and T1 play a role in proper hormone balance. Without

adequate thyroid, damage can be done to the child's brain

development, not to mention many problems occurring in keeping the

pregnancy. When thyroid is too low, estrogen goes too high and this

really increases the risk of miscarriage. Low thryoid also causes a

loss of progesterone, which needs to be very high during pregnancy

and is essential for the baby to get adequate oxygen. In fact in the

past doctors preferred to err on the side of a little too much

thryoid during pregnancy than a little too little. They found that

slight excess was not harmful at all to mother or fetus and was a

much better alternative to possible damage caused by too little.

Iron interferes with thyroid therapy by preventing reuptake of

thyoid hormone in the intestins. In healthy people, around 1000 mcg

of thryoid eliminated by the liver is re taken up in the intestines.

It is a normal recirculation process. (From Werner and Ingbar's, The

Thyroid) Iron interferes with this and causes an increased loss of

thryoid from the system. But, your low iron is the result of not

having adequate thyroid replacement in the first place. Low thryoid

causes changes in the digestive tract that prevents uptake of Iron.

So, if you were to get proper and adequate thyroid replacement, the

low iron problem should go away. If it doesn't then you may have

celiac disease also, which goes along with thryoid problems.

The trouble with Synthroid, asside from it's poor conversion to the

energy producing, hormone regulating, and metabolism regulating T3

and T2, is that it requires you have adequate stomach acid to take

it up and use it. Synthroid, which is only T4, has been altered from

from real thyroid hormone by having a sodium attached to it. This

was done to get a patent. In order for it to become the real T4

thing, the sodium must be removed by stomach acid. So, if you take

calcium, Iron or any other mineral or salt, this can lower stomach

acid and prevent Synthroid from working. Also, in hypothyroidism you

develope low sotmach acid because of the slowed metabolic rate that

prevents adequate digestive enzyne and acid production.

If you were to switch to armour and dissolve it under your tongue,

you would be able to absorb most of it. It does not require stomach

acid since there is no sodium to remove. It is the real thing and

can go accross tissue boundaries as is. Also, you need to replace

all the thyroid that the healthy thyroid makes. This means you need

pretty high doses. People who have their thryoids get some small

amount from their own thyroids that supplements what is taken. So,

we need smaller doses in general.

Tish