MY INTERESTING APPT. WITH MY DOC

[Guest guest]

(Hmmm. I posted this last night, and Yahoo ate it up. So here it is

again...)

Saw my doc yesterday (actually my Nurse Practioner, who is a peach

and a GREAT thyroid doc), and the information I got from her was

interesting, to say the least. She's a Top Doc and very open minded.

Here it is laid out:

1) FERRITIN: She has recently begun to see a connection with her own

patients between being hypo and having a LOW FERRITIN!! (we already

knew that, didn't we!!) And she is suspicious that an " absorption

issue " may go hand in hand with hypo, even though she knows of NO

studies to verify this. When I told her that many of us are on 325

mg. of Ferrous Sulfate 2-3 times a day, she was shocked....saying

most folks on that much would have EXTREMELY high iron levels...but

NOT hypo folks. Interesting. We also concluded that I may have to be

on some amount of iron my entire life, and the same can be true of

many hypo folks!!

2) B-12: She feels strongly that folks need to be on B-12, and

sublingually. She stated that many things deplete your body of B-12

(stress, smoking, alcohol, etc)...and in hypo folks, it also may be

an issue.

3) She is not concerned with the small amount of iodine (150 mcg) in

Fatigued to Fantastics Enfusion supplemental drink. Good news.

4) OSTEOPOROSIS and TSH: I'm not sure she is yet updated about this,

but she strongly feels that if your TSH gets below .35, you have a

higher risk of Osteoporosis. Yet..........in the same breath, she is

opened minded with my treatment that gets my TSH down to .009. I am

wondering if she is too focused on the TSH of a HYPERTHYROID person.

There is a difference!

AND....as far as those on this site who noticed a definite

improvement in their bones with Armour......she stated that

different changes in one's lifestyle can improve bone mass--ceasing

to smoke, ceasing to drink, better supplements........I think it's

the ARMOUR that changes bone mass, but she still needs proof. LOL

5) ARMOUR NOT FOR EVERYONE: Now here is a strange one. She herself

was on 30 mg. Armour for 6 months along with adrenal support...and

the entire time, she had nightmares. When she switched to synthetic

T4 and T3, they ceased!! She is now on 5 mcg. of Cytomel. CAN

SOMEONE FIND FOR ME HOW MUCH T3 IS IN 1/2 GRAIN (30 mg.) of

ARMOUR?? She thinks that some folks have bodies that don't accept

natural thyroid---but I am still wondering if that's still an

adrenal issue, or not being on enough...or what?

Janie aka ThyroDiva

[Guest guest]

What a great and encouraging post, Janie! And how fortunate for you to have the

NP

that you do. Good for you! Wish she were near me!

I found it interesting because of the ferritin and B12 issues. With my recent

discovery

that I'm low in both, plus my thyroid levels slightly decreasing despite a half

grain

dose increase, I'm leaning heavily toward the fact that I have an " absorption

issue. "

Was interesting that she's seeing this also in her practice. Once I get back to

work,

and therefore have money again, I'm going to get a stool analysis from Great

Smokies

just to see what's in there that shouldn't be. (Sorry if that's gross!) Just

another

reason for me to start sublinging the Armour. It just makes me cringe! Will

have to

work on the attitude, I guess.

I ordered my B12 supplement in subling form, too, so it's good to hear a Good

Doc's

confirmation that this is a great thing. Janie, I saw your enthusiasm for the

Daily

Energy Enfusion so I thought I'd mention to you, too, that I ordered some of

that. Am

anxious to see how it makes me feel given the fact that I sense this

" malabsorption issue " in myself. It was good to hear her comment about the

iodine,

too. Though I wasn't quite so concerned about this since I don't like salt,

rarely cook

with salt, don't add it and tend to buy low sodium products. If I crave it,

I'll eat

something on the salty side but otherwise, it's like " yuk! " Want to compare

responses to the DEF once you get it? I KNOW you'll be getting some! :-)

There's 4.5mcg of T3 in a 1/2 grain of Armour. Now isn't that interesting!

Personally, I think it's an adrenal issue. Perhaps from increased cortisol.

Anyway one

looks at it, nightmares are a brain chemistry issue. When I was researching

ferritin

deficiency, I came across this study and thought it interesting that nightmares

are like

an anxiety attack during a certain stage of sleep. Iron deficiency anemia/low

ferritin

was noted in the restless leg syndrome part. (Was wondering why I had a mild

case

of those!!)

http://www.emedicine.com/med/topic3131.htm

Did your NP happen to mention why she was on adrenal support? Perhaps it was

producing too much cortisol for her and hence the nightmares? I've had my share

of

them over the last few months but noticed an increase when I got on Armour. And

I've never had the cortisol problems like I have now until I started Armour.

But yet I

feel the synthetics (I was on both T3 & T4) just masked an adrenal fatigue issue

that I

know, from looking back, was already in full swing. With the Armour, I truly

feel

things are really HEALING and not just being kept at bay like with the

synthetics.

Yes..... I know I ramble. But hope someone can learn something..... maybe? :-)

Anyway, thanks for passing the info on, Janie. It was " good stuff. "

Janet

> (Hmmm. I posted this last night, and Yahoo ate it up. So here it is

> again...)

>

> Saw my doc yesterday (actually my Nurse Practioner, who is a peach

> and a GREAT thyroid doc), and the information I got from her was

> interesting, to say the least. She's a Top Doc and very open minded.

> Here it is laid out:

[Guest guest]

Hi Janie,

Your nurse sounds cool.

I don't take iron (is Ferritin iron?) or massive amounts of vitamin

B12 so I'm going to look into those. I don't feel as if I'm anaemic

though, is that what the Ferritin thing means btw?

Regarding her opinion on iodine, I've read that hypo patient's

response to iodine can be positive or negative, I don't remember the

reasons why but I can look it up if you're interested?

Yikes re the Osteoporosis thing - my TSH is >0.01

And re the 30 mg of Armour she was taking, maybe she needed to be on

more, that is a low dose isn't it? I get mental dreams too, but I

just accept it. Can't remember before Armour, think I had mad dreams

then too...

T3 in 1/2 grain of Armour = 4.5mcgs T3

I actually don't find the conversion tables of Sinthyroid to Armour

very helpful as I'm on 4 grains of Armour & was on much less

Sinthroid.

Fee x

> 5) ARMOUR NOT FOR EVERYONE: Now here is a strange one. She herself

> was on 30 mg. Armour for 6 months along with adrenal support...and

> the entire time, she had nightmares. When she switched to synthetic

> T4 and T3, they ceased!! She is now on 5 mcg. of Cytomel. CAN

> SOMEONE FIND FOR ME HOW MUCH T3 IS IN 1/2 GRAIN (30 mg.) of

> ARMOUR?? She thinks that some folks have bodies that don't accept

> natural thyroid---but I am still wondering if that's still an

> adrenal issue, or not being on enough...or what?

>

> Janie aka ThyroDiva

[Guest guest]

Fee,

Ferritin is the storage form of iron. So if one's ferritin level is down, the

only iron

your body is probably able to utilize on a day to day basis is from what you

take in in

your diet. Not a good thing. B12 is for your nervous system stability and

energy.

I didn't feel anemic either. I don't think anyone really knows what it will

feel like

unless they're actually there. Ferritin deficiency is another name for iron

deficiency

anemia.

Janet

P.S. Sorry, Janie. I'm just still up and online so I thought I'd jump in for an

answer to

Fee's question. Don't want to step on toes here.

> Hi Janie,

> Your nurse sounds cool.

> I don't take iron (is Ferritin iron?) or massive amounts of vitamin

> B12 so I'm going to look into those. I don't feel as if I'm anaemic

> though, is that what the Ferritin thing means btw?

> Regarding her opinion on iodine, I've read that hypo patient's

> response to iodine can be positive or negative, I don't remember the

> reasons why but I can look it up if you're interested?

> Yikes re the Osteoporosis thing - my TSH is >0.01

> And re the 30 mg of Armour she was taking, maybe she needed to be on

> more, that is a low dose isn't it? I get mental dreams too, but I

> just accept it. Can't remember before Armour, think I had mad dreams

> then too...

> T3 in 1/2 grain of Armour = 4.5mcgs T3

> I actually don't find the conversion tables of Sinthyroid to Armour

> very helpful as I'm on 4 grains of Armour & was on much less

> Sinthroid.

> Fee x

[Guest guest]

Armour Thyroid 1/2 grain (30 mg)

contains T4 19mcg

T3 4.5 mcg

Jane

> T4 and T3, they ceased!! She is now on 5 mcg. of Cytomel. CAN

> SOMEONE FIND FOR ME HOW MUCH T3 IS IN 1/2 GRAIN (30 mg.) of

> ARMOUR?? She thinks that some folks have bodies that don't accept

> natural thyroid---but I am still wondering if that's still an

> adrenal issue, or not being on enough...or what?

>

> Janie aka