Some Advice Please! - New Member

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Hi There,

I have been reading the posts for this group and the Thyroid group for

a couple of months now. I have two questions, and was wondering if had

any advice to share.

History

I have had many low thyroid symptoms for a very long time- years now

(fatigue, low energy, weight gain, in-ability to loose weight, some

myxedema, constipation and a whole host of others of which I am sure

you are all familiar <g>). Family history is that my Mother was

hypothyroid from her early 20's and my sister was diagnosed several

years ago also).

A couple of months ago I went to my doctor who has been treating me

with bio-identical hormones (even though I was only 36, my hormone

levels were similar to a post-menopausal woman). I asked him to do an

" experiment " and prescribe me Armour thyroid (my tests have always

came back " fine " ).

I started at 1/4 grain 2x a day and have been increasing 1/4 grain

every 7-14 days. I am currently at 2 grains a day. About two weeks

ago I almost choked on a huge magnesium pill <g> and really scratched

up my throat badly. It has continued to hurt me since then, switching

to a " lump feeling " high up in the throat (as opposed to low down

around the thyroid gland). Of course I feeling a little paranoid

about the lump feeling...my lymph glands are also swollen and a little

tender. I am not sure if I should be worried about giving myself a

goiter or not from the Armour - is this possible??? Would taking

Iodine help the process, or be bad (I have been taking Lugol's off and

on for a while now).

Also, I received my saliva cortisol results back last week, and I have

a high am cortisol (double optimal according to them). What does

this mean? I have read that it is the first stage of adrenal fatigue,

but as I raise my Armour, should I expect it to go back down to normal

as I increase my dosage? Is there anything else I should take for it?

Thanks so much for your input.

Alise ; )

Test Results:

Blood test results BEFORE starting ARMOUR are below (I know some

measures are missing):

TSH = 1.42 Range .4-5.50

Free T4 = 1.2 Range .8 - 1.2

Free T3 = 361 Range 230 - 420

Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies = 10 Range <35

Ferritin = 47 Range 10-232

Hemoglobin = 13.9 Range 11.7 -15.5

Hematocrit = 41 Range 35 - 45

Sodium = 138 Range 135 - 146

Potassium = 4.3 Range 3.5 - 5.3

My Saliva Cortisol test results from Aeron Labs(taken AFTER starting

ARMOUR -when I was at about 1 1/4 grain Armour split into two

sublingual doses a day:

8:00am = 12.5ng/ml Optimal Range 3.0-6.0ng/ml

12:00pm = 1.45 Optimal Range .5 - 2.5

4:30pm = 1.15 Optimal Range .25 - 1.25

10:00pm = .85 OPtimal Range .15 - .5