Re: Please explain...How can somebody be on 200 mcg of Synthyroid

November 13, 2004

Many people cannot convert the synthetic T4 only meds to T3...you are

probably one of them....hope the Armour helps you......sue

~~~~~~~~~~~

>

> and 10 mcg of Cytomel and STILL be HYPO?

November 13, 2004

Unfortunately you wouldn't be the only person who has said this, after being on

$inthroid, which is only a T4 supplement.

If the Armour works for you, I think you'll be much better off. Your body will

get what it normally would if your own thyroid was working. How much armour did

you get a prescription for? Also, if the dr doesn't test TSH, FreeT3 and

FreeT4, then he is testing the wrong things.

SandyE~Houston

Please explain...How can somebody be on 200

mcg of Synthyroid

and 10 mcg of Cytomel and STILL be HYPO? I started on the Synthyroid

journey three years ago and when I went to see a new doctor last

week, he said I'm still hypo. I just don't understand that. What

would be keeping me hypo after three years of adjustments on the

Synthyroid? I started generic Armour on Friday, btw. No more

Synthyroid for me!!

Just wondering out loud -

Molly

November 14, 2004

Easy - Synthroid and/or Cytomel were not right for you. The goal of

thryoid meds is to make yo feel 100% better - if you don't feel 100%

better you are on the wrong medication for you.

Louise

PS Also don't rely so much on your blood test results - go by how you

feel.

>

> and 10 mcg of Cytomel and STILL be HYPO? I started on the

Synthyroid

> journey three years ago and when I went to see a new doctor last

> week, he said I'm still hypo. I just don't understand that. What

> would be keeping me hypo after three years of adjustments on the

> Synthyroid? I started generic Armour on Friday, btw. No more

> Synthyroid for me!!

>

> Just wondering out loud -

>

> Molly

November 14, 2004

and 10 mcg of Cytomel and STILL be HYPO? I started on the

Synthyroid

> journey three years ago and when I went to see a new doctor last

> week, he said I'm still hypo. I just don't understand that. What

> would be keeping me hypo after three years of adjustments on the

> Synthyroid? I started generic Armour on Friday, btw. No more

> Synthyroid for me!!

________________-

10mcg of Cytomel is pitifully low and pretty meaningless if your

overall dose is far too low, which it probably is. People on all

Cytomel generally take between 90mcg and 180mcg. I took 90 when I

was on all T3.

The thyroid makes between 4-1/2 to 5 grains of Armour equivelent a

day or 333 to 370 mcg of Synthroid equivelent a day. It is not

possible to overdose on any dose less than what your body needs for

health. This is because when you take a tyoid pill, the pituitary

senses that and adjusts production of TSH (thyroid stimulating

hormone) down to tell your thyroid to make that much less. So, in

theory, if you take 100mcg of synthroid, your pituitary will drop

production of TSH to tell your thyroid to make 233 to 270 mcg more

to get the total at or below 333 to 370 or whatever you need to be

healthy.

In reality, low dose thyroid therapy seems to cause most people to

become more hypothyroid. This is because, for some reason or

reasons, taking a pill once or twice a day seems to overy suppress

pituitary output of TSH. Then the thyroid does not get the message

to make up the difference between what you are taking and what your

body needs. So, you can become more hypothyroid on thyroid therapy

than on nothing. In this situation, thyroid doses need to be much

higher to compensate for this. Typically, thyroid doses in the past

before over reliance on the TSH test were 3 to 5 grains or 300 to

500 mcg of synthroid. Since the fixation on the TSH test, thyroid

doses have dropped to 1/3 of what they were from the late 1800s up

untill around 1975. There is not one study done with Armour and

osteoporosis as Armour has calcitonin to protect bones. The

Osteoporosis didn not start showing up untill Synthroid arrived on

the scene. In the early days of Synthoroid, doctors found that

patients needed 400 to 500 mcg to become free of hypothyroid

symptoms. At these doses, osteoporosis began to show up. I have not

been able to find one mention of osteoporosis in old papers on

Armour or natural thyroid therapy. The osteoporosis and thyroid

treatment issue has yet to be solved, since all the studies with

synthroid seem to add up to " inconclusive " . Doctors have latched on

to this as a way to further get control of patients and to keep them

comming in and keep them in fear.

So, your problem may also be that your dose is far too low. In my

opinion, Armour is better, but if you are having pituitary over

suppression then a little Armour is not likely to change much for

you because it still won't be enough. I was never right untill I got

up over 3 grains. If you would like to read more about this, check

out Dr Derry's article:

http://thyroid.about.com/library/derry/bl11.htm

Tish

November 14, 2004

I have a couple of dear long time lady friends who're both very ill, one with

pituitary dysfunction, diabetes, stroke & heart attack victim. The other with

heart trouble, breast cancer, no adrenal function at all on prednizone for years

& extremely fatigued, depressed & with chronic pain all over.

Neither one of them is on any thyroid hormone at all, never have been, not even

Synthroid or Levothyroid. I've been trying to educate them on thyroid from what

I'm learning, proper blood tests, symptoms, self-medicating, etc.

Both had " normal " blood tests for that they've said. Tho their symptoms they've

complained of tell me they've likely got thyroid dysfunction. But they won't

believe me about how to treat for symptoms & not for blood tests or based on

most doctor's recommendations.

They keep telling me *not* to self-medicate but go strictly by what the doctors

prescribe for me. They're saying they & their doctors have known or treated

people with bad heart problems who got that way from self-medicating with too

much Armour just to " feel " better.

And that Armour is a drug & not to take too much as it's like any other drug

that makes a person feel better but is dangerous if not monitored or prescribed

by a doctor. They're trying to scare me into not self-medicating. I should stop

talking to them about my symptoms I guess. but I also care for them & want them

to get better too.

C

Re: Please explain...How can somebody be on

200 mcg of Synthyroid

Easy - Synthroid and/or Cytomel were not right for you. The goal of

thryoid meds is to make yo feel 100% better - if you don't feel 100%

better you are on the wrong medication for you.

Louise

PS Also don't rely so much on your blood test results - go by how you

feel.

November 14, 2004

Yeah I know. I'm going to stop talking to them about what I'm doing anymore.

Lost cause there. They both think they're going to get better doing what they're

doctors are telling them. Tho the friend with diabetes does do some

self-medicating on her own but not with thyroid or other hormones at all. Don't

want the arguments with them either so might as well drop the subject.

Same with my daughter who called Saturday to say she's having serious spinal

surgery tomorrow. She's been so depressed, suicidal, chronic fatigue, aches &

pains all over, lots of weight gain, lost all her teeth, etc. for years now. But

she keeps saying her thyroid blood tests are all " normal " . I have a hard time

believing that. But she's disgusted with her doctors too & still trying to find

better ones since she's been getting worse on their treatments & been told " it's

all in your head...take some prozac, get some rest & exercise more, stop eating

so much, etc etc. ... "

All I can hope for is that her spinal surgery helps her feel better & she'll

eventually find a doctor who knows what they're doing. She lives in Oregon, I'm

in California, so not much I can do for her anyway anymore nor she for me. Not

much I can help my friends with either. I've got my own health problems

consuming me right now & that's enough.

As for lethargy, not-caring anymore, giving up, that's where I've been this past

year as I stopped doing everything I thought was " right " for me to be doing to

get healthier & it wasn't helping. I'm still not doing anything & don't care

much about my diet, exercise or other healing modalities I know of so aren't

doing any of them at all.

But I'm willing to try the Armour & self-medicate if necessary. That's about all

the desire I have to do much of anything else to help myself anymore. If the

Armour doesn't help me, well I guess I can kiss my life goodbye then & I still

don't care if that happens either. I've never been this " not caring " way before

in my whole life, not even when I've been severely depressed, but I am now. So I

know how it gets.

C

Re: Re: Please explain...How can somebody be

on 200 mcg of Synthyroid

Caroline, in a case like this, you are fighting a losing battle. My mom does

wonderful on Armour, yet she has refused to take it. She has convinced herself

that she does not need it, so anything I say can and will fall on deaf ears. My

Mom also has stated that she is 70, and does not want to outlive her children?

That comes from my brothers upcoming surgery, for Nov 29th. She is scared to

death that if she takes care of herself, that will be a possibility for her.

She is also worried that he will not make it through his surgery, which will

leave her 'alone'.

If you're friends do indeed have thyroid issues, then the only thing that will

make them want to do anything about it, is the desire to learn about the disease

and how it affects us when left untreated. If the things that happened to me

had not happened to me, I'd not have thought it possible, but these were dr's

with degrees, and it didn't mean their treatment of me was superior by any

means. It's very hard to not tell people when we find out how much better we

can feel on something that was never offered to us before. But, thyroid also

causes depression and lethargy and uncaring of outcomes for some who are

stricken with it. Getting them to care about how much longer they are around

and acting as if they truly are living is another different ballgame. You can

lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. My mom is there, and for

me to assume that she'll pay attention to anything I say is futile. The desire

just has to be there, otherwise it's a moot point. I think those of us who seek

out answers for why we feel so bad are much better off, but my mom would never

take this approach. She is set in her ways and just sees no point. :-(

SandyE~Houston

November 14, 2004