Re: Re: Never give up, stand your ground, know that you are not alone anymore

November 5, 2004

Remember Debbie, there are quite a few of us now that are self medicating... if you have any questions, curiosities... or ideas.. share with the rest of us....

It's honestly not that hard to do... monitor yourself... keep your charts.. watch your patterns... I keep a diary, too.... It's a shareware program in the FILES section of the group home page... under COMPUTERS... handy little bugger....

Don't adjust your doses too fast (4 to 6 weeks is best) it seems like forever, sometimes... but letting your body adjust comfortably is better for you in the long run. And don't change too many things at once... I prefer waiting a week between adjust supps.. for example adding a new vitamin this week and a new mineral next week... keep notes as you how you are doing.. you can spot changes in your notes that you may not remember off the top of your head... like noticing that a couple of nights after changing something your sleep pattern changed... or your bowels changes.. that kind of stuff.

Our bodies are very communicative to us about what they need.. we just have to learn the language... and that isn't just for those that are heading off on their own, but those with docs too.... the more information that you can give you your doc (providing he is a listener and not a lecturer) the easier it his for him to see what is wrong too...

I was caregiver for a family friend with brain cancer.. I took notes and made charts and all that stuff for her doc.... he loved it!!! he could see at a glance what she was eating, her meds schedule, everything.... She was unable to speak, the cancer did a lot of damage.. so it was my observations and records that gave him the information that he needed to know how she was doing... there are great docs out there... but sometimes they are hard to find and we have to do what we have to do....

Just cause they are scarce doesn't mean the we have to pay the price by sacrificing the quality of our lives!

End of rant... sorry....

Now.. back to the kitchen.. I have bread dough rising... Garlic and Herb this time... yummmmmmmmmy

Topper ()

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:09:02 -0000 "Debbie" writes:

Topper - Thanks for the pep talk! I even had my husband read it. You know, you get to feeling bad for so long that you just accept itafter a while and even wonder why you have a right to be happy. Well,damn it, I do have a right to be happy and to enjoy life and be who Iused to be! (I'm usually not a cussing person, but this gets me riledup!)And if the drs won't help me, then I'm going to help myself. Somewhere, someone wrote that basically we're just an experiment tothe drs when they prescribe this drug and that one. Well, I'veresearched enough and experienced enough symptoms of both hyper andhypo and adrenal that I think I can handle the experiment on my own. Especially since I'm the one that has to live with the results, notthe uncaring drs. So, anyway, thanks for all you do to help us realize that we are worthit! I'm continuing my own experiment and am cautiously optomistic,but trying not to get my hopes up too much!Debbie

November 5, 2004

Remember Debbie, there are quite a few of us now that are self medicating... if you have any questions, curiosities... or ideas.. share with the rest of us....

It's honestly not that hard to do... monitor yourself... keep your charts.. watch your patterns... I keep a diary, too.... It's a shareware program in the FILES section of the group home page... under COMPUTERS... handy little bugger....

Don't adjust your doses too fast (4 to 6 weeks is best) it seems like forever, sometimes... but letting your body adjust comfortably is better for you in the long run. And don't change too many things at once... I prefer waiting a week between adjust supps.. for example adding a new vitamin this week and a new mineral next week... keep notes as you how you are doing.. you can spot changes in your notes that you may not remember off the top of your head... like noticing that a couple of nights after changing something your sleep pattern changed... or your bowels changes.. that kind of stuff.

Our bodies are very communicative to us about what they need.. we just have to learn the language... and that isn't just for those that are heading off on their own, but those with docs too.... the more information that you can give you your doc (providing he is a listener and not a lecturer) the easier it his for him to see what is wrong too...

I was caregiver for a family friend with brain cancer.. I took notes and made charts and all that stuff for her doc.... he loved it!!! he could see at a glance what she was eating, her meds schedule, everything.... She was unable to speak, the cancer did a lot of damage.. so it was my observations and records that gave him the information that he needed to know how she was doing... there are great docs out there... but sometimes they are hard to find and we have to do what we have to do....

Just cause they are scarce doesn't mean the we have to pay the price by sacrificing the quality of our lives!

End of rant... sorry....

Now.. back to the kitchen.. I have bread dough rising... Garlic and Herb this time... yummmmmmmmmy

Topper ()

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:09:02 -0000 "Debbie" writes:

Topper - Thanks for the pep talk! I even had my husband read it. You know, you get to feeling bad for so long that you just accept itafter a while and even wonder why you have a right to be happy. Well,damn it, I do have a right to be happy and to enjoy life and be who Iused to be! (I'm usually not a cussing person, but this gets me riledup!)And if the drs won't help me, then I'm going to help myself. Somewhere, someone wrote that basically we're just an experiment tothe drs when they prescribe this drug and that one. Well, I'veresearched enough and experienced enough symptoms of both hyper andhypo and adrenal that I think I can handle the experiment on my own. Especially since I'm the one that has to live with the results, notthe uncaring drs. So, anyway, thanks for all you do to help us realize that we are worthit! I'm continuing my own experiment and am cautiously optomistic,but trying not to get my hopes up too much!Debbie

November 5, 2004

Remember Debbie, there are quite a few of us now that are self medicating... if you have any questions, curiosities... or ideas.. share with the rest of us....

It's honestly not that hard to do... monitor yourself... keep your charts.. watch your patterns... I keep a diary, too.... It's a shareware program in the FILES section of the group home page... under COMPUTERS... handy little bugger....

Don't adjust your doses too fast (4 to 6 weeks is best) it seems like forever, sometimes... but letting your body adjust comfortably is better for you in the long run. And don't change too many things at once... I prefer waiting a week between adjust supps.. for example adding a new vitamin this week and a new mineral next week... keep notes as you how you are doing.. you can spot changes in your notes that you may not remember off the top of your head... like noticing that a couple of nights after changing something your sleep pattern changed... or your bowels changes.. that kind of stuff.

Our bodies are very communicative to us about what they need.. we just have to learn the language... and that isn't just for those that are heading off on their own, but those with docs too.... the more information that you can give you your doc (providing he is a listener and not a lecturer) the easier it his for him to see what is wrong too...

I was caregiver for a family friend with brain cancer.. I took notes and made charts and all that stuff for her doc.... he loved it!!! he could see at a glance what she was eating, her meds schedule, everything.... She was unable to speak, the cancer did a lot of damage.. so it was my observations and records that gave him the information that he needed to know how she was doing... there are great docs out there... but sometimes they are hard to find and we have to do what we have to do....

Just cause they are scarce doesn't mean the we have to pay the price by sacrificing the quality of our lives!

End of rant... sorry....

Now.. back to the kitchen.. I have bread dough rising... Garlic and Herb this time... yummmmmmmmmy

Topper ()

On Fri, 05 Nov 2004 15:09:02 -0000 "Debbie" writes:

Topper - Thanks for the pep talk! I even had my husband read it. You know, you get to feeling bad for so long that you just accept itafter a while and even wonder why you have a right to be happy. Well,damn it, I do have a right to be happy and to enjoy life and be who Iused to be! (I'm usually not a cussing person, but this gets me riledup!)And if the drs won't help me, then I'm going to help myself. Somewhere, someone wrote that basically we're just an experiment tothe drs when they prescribe this drug and that one. Well, I'veresearched enough and experienced enough symptoms of both hyper andhypo and adrenal that I think I can handle the experiment on my own. Especially since I'm the one that has to live with the results, notthe uncaring drs. So, anyway, thanks for all you do to help us realize that we are worthit! I'm continuing my own experiment and am cautiously optomistic,but trying not to get my hopes up too much!Debbie

November 8, 2004

I saw my temp go up after a dosage increase for a few days and then drop down a bit... but still be higher than what it was before the dose... So that seems normal, to me....

As far as temp... yes... It's not unusual for the arm pit temp to be less than the 'under tongue' temp. So which ever way you choose to test, be consistent with that location.

I was taught, and it's been my experience... that arm pit temp runs about 1 degree less than under tongue.

Keep in mind, too, that when you are dealing with a cold, flu or infection that it's normal for your body temp to come up... our bodies increase temperature (fever) to be able to kill the illness.. so you need to take that into consideration when you are tracking your temps...

It seems pretty confusing.. but after you've done it for a while and start to see the patterns, it makes more sense. A menstruating woman should be able to see the slight rise during ovulation as well... A chart will allow you to follow your body's normal cycles (temperature wise) as well as letting you know how your body is reacting to your meds.

Taking more adrenal than you need can also cause problems.. so can taking it at the wrong time... Personally I'd back off on the adrenal....

How much did you increase the thyroid for your cold?

Topper ()

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:35:38 -0000 "Debbie" writes:

Oh, gosh, I need all the two bits I can get! Orally, my basal temp inthe morning increased after I upped to 2 grain (last Sun). It was97.5 for 5 days and then yesterday dropped to 97.4.I've also been taking my morning temp under the arm just to see thedifference and it raised to 96.8 a few days after I upped the armour.Then has been between 96.3 to 96.5 since then. Yesterday it was 96.0. So I'm not sure what all that means. Is it normal to have that big ofa difference between orally and under arm? Also, 10 days ago I increased my adrenal glanular to 4/day because Ihad a cold and also was increasing my armour. Now, this morning (it's3 am now), I woke up with a hot flash and was wide awake. So I guessmaybe I need to drop back on the adrenal? I used to have these hotflashes when I was high in cortisol so that's what I'm going with. Debbie

November 8, 2004

Part of this I just did in another post... so I'll hit the 'new' stuff.

Healthy thyroid gland produces about 200 mcg of T4 per gram of gland... and about 15 mcg of T3. How much is put out, total, will depend on how much productive gland that you have, and how your gland is reacting to your body's needs. What your body is adjusting to when taking Armour, is having more T3 available at one time than it may have been used to. You have to keep in mind that up to 80% of the T3 your body uses comes from the conversion of T4 to T3, provided you are able to convert adequately.

Normally your body will be getting the T3 is regular amounts and normal cycles throughout the day.. Some directly from your gland, the rest from conversion. Usually higher in the morning and tapering off during the day. When we take meds, Armour, to supplement what our gland is not able to produce we are introducing a much larger amount of hormone to the body all in one shot, not spreading out. That surge is what your body is reacting to.... after that wears off you are once again dependant on your own body's conversion rate... if that is inadequate, or your dosage is too high for what your body can take at one time.. that is when you have the reactions.... Heart palps, sweets, anxiety... and then fatigue, depression... sort of like a roller coaster.

The T3 in your Armour is 95% used up within four hours of your taking it.... then your are running on your conversion rate.

That is why some of us have found that breaking up the dose during the day works so much better for us. I take mine every three hours or so... the first dose as I wake in the morning... the last dose as I crawl in bed at night... that is the routine that my body responds the best too... others are fine with one dose in the morning... and that's it... you may have to mess around with it for a while to determine what your body needs right now... and maybe change it later...

Just remember to give an adjustment a fair chance... sometimes the change doesn't show much of an affect right away... for others.. it shows up fairly quickly...

The best thing that you can do for yourself is to keep track of your body's reaction.... by charting, by diary.. whichever you are more comfortable with.. then you can look back to see what you have changed that caused a change in your body....

.... an increase in meds, the addition of a supplement.. a change in work hours... unusual stress in your life... etc.

It takes time.. and gets frustrating.. I know.. oh my gosh, how I know.. but once you figure it out and how it all works for you, it all makes sense and it's a whole lot easier to help your body... to feel better... and all the good stuff that we are working so hard to get back....

Topper ()

On Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:51:10 -0000 "Debbie" writes:

Hi Topper - I'm taking 1 grain sublingually in the morning and then 1grain about 3 pm. And actually the yesterday, the heart palps weremuch better so I hope it was just the adjustment to the armourincrease last Sun.I was taking 3 nutri-meds adrenal and 10 days ago I went to 4 becauseI had a cold and someone recommended increasing to help with that. Itdid seem to help. I then left it at 4/day to help handle the increasein armour. I didn't have any trouble until just a little while ago. I woke upwith a hot flash and was wide awake. I used to have these when I hadhigh cortisol earlier this year so I'm wondering if I need to dropback on the adrenal. I've been sleeping so good lately, that's it very discouraging to havethis start again. I sure hope it's just an adjustment thing. One other thing I wonder about -- if a normal thyroid makes about 200mcg T4 and 15 mcg T3, is there a problem with a body adjusting to thehigher amt of T3 in armour? Say I get to 3 grains -- since that's 27mcg T3 & only 114 mcg T4 -- would there be a time I might need to justadd some T4 to get more to what a healthy thyroid would be? Debbie

November 8, 2004