Re: A Topper ramble on OTC and taking a close look at self about what compromises are 'worth it'

[Guest guest]

Eve,

Short answer, yes.

Long discussions here in the past about the OTC.

So far only one source in the US that has actual hormone in it... that's Nutri-Meds ( www.nutri-meds.com ). If you go looking at health food stores for it thyroid, you may find all kinds of stuff. BUT, look at the ingredients.. if there are any vitamins or minerals in it, and herbals.. the temps of the manufacturing process have killed off the hormone.. made it unusable by your body.. so those pills, with the additional ingredients are actually thyroid stimulators, they will make you feel better, until your gland fries....

What we need is to add hormone back into our bodies to bring our hormone levels up to allow our bodies to function normally.

I have no gland function. Mine was killed off by RAI and then I went through testing every two weeks for the next six months to see if the gland worked at all... it didn't... then I started on hormone replacement.

Long story short.... in July of '02 I started on Nutri-Meds thyroid, cuz it was the only thing I could find at the time without prescription. I took it sublingually, a quarter pill a day, that's how I started. I was on crutches at the time... and in really really bad shape... In a couple of months I was walking better.. and not long after that was off the crutches.... there was enough hormone in the low dose that I was on.. by then up to half a pill a day, that my tendon issues, that caused me to need the crutches were improving... Over the first year, gradually building my dose... I was off the crutches, didn't even take them with me anymore when I left the house... and had tons of other improvement... from hair growing again (I had 'Alfalfas' on the top of my head cuz the new hair was coming in so fast that it grew straight up for more than an inch before it would lay down and be good like the rest of my hair).

Over that year I checked basals (waking temp and pulse, and spot checking resting pulse during the day) I watched my basal counts come up.... from a pulse rate of 50 and a waking temp below 97.... And as I told last night.... I could see the temp come up after an increase then drop a bit.. consistently with each dose adjustment.... My body is hyper sensitive to adjustments... so I consider it a fair barometer on whether or not something works. Why only a year? cuz I found a source for prescription grade that was MUCH cheaper. I was able to get 100 count bottles of 2 grain pills for $3.50 each.. including shipping... so I changed brands/source until that one dried up...

Now, to be fair... others tried Nutri-Meds and found them to be so weak they didn't feel much from it... and I can't argue that... I've seen too many folks in the four plus years that I've been talking and listening about thyroid stuff not to realize that each of us responds differently to things... Some folks do very well on a particular brand and not so well on others. I, personally, believe that it has to do with the fillers in the pills.. that some of us have bodies that are very particular about fillers, and others don't care about the fillers (by fillers I mean the different ingredients that are used, along with the desiccated thyroid powder, to actually make the pills) My body, even though sensitive about changes, seems to not care much about the fillers, as long as it can get to the hormone.

I also think it can, for some folks, make a HUGE difference not only in how you take the thyroid pills (sublingually or swallowing, or if you single dose or multi-dose). Along with that, if your adrenals are fatigued, that can make your body have a tougher time handling getting thyroid hormone back into your body.. so you may also need adrenal support.

The best way to find out if they will work for you, is to give them an honest try. And if you find another source, share here, currently we're having trouble importing pills of the prescription grade.. .

I happen to love Nutri-Meds... I don't work for them, I have no affiliation with them, I didn't even sign up as an affiliate to make a commission on sales when they started that program, not cuz I dont' need the money, cuz gosh, I do, and bad.. but because if I start doing that the question comes up as to whether or not I applaud them to make a sale or if I'm sincere... I make no commission, I am sincere.

An additional thought... I think it also makes a difference, more for some, less for others.. of what other things that you help your body with once you are hypo... nutritionally, diet, mini-meals... so many things that our bodies do automatically when they work well, don't work automatically if we're bad hypo.. and for some of us seem to be broke and don't get fixed after being bad hypo....

I've made huge changes in my life... and sometimes I get really ticked off that I can't do things like before... but I've come to a realization... If the changes that I've made (mini meals, multi-dosing, sticking to schedules) means that I feel well... that I can walk on my own, and sleep, and poop, and be PAIN FREE!!!! Is that not worth some changes? There was a time when my pain was so bad that I bought Ibuprophen by the 1,000s and took 20 and 30 of them AT A TIME just to control the pain enough to not scream... that's a lot worse than taking my hormone dose every couple of hours and not hurt at all.

It's all stuff that you have to sit down and discuss with yourself... what are you willing to compromise with to be able to feel well, and have a life? What is it worth to you? No one can answer that for you, only you can.

Sharing here what others have done, I admit I've gone to some extremes, I'm the queen of multi-dosing... currently 9 times a day... you will get ideas for things that might work for you... it takes some experimentation.. not everything works for everybody.. some things won't affect you at all and others are 'wow, cool'... but unless you learn, and understand, and listen to your body (the symptoms that you feel.. that's a language, of sorts, that your body is using to tell you it needs help... being cold, or brain foggy, or hurting... all calls for help from your body) you'll never know what silly thing will be your WOW.

Okay.. being quiet.. It's time for me to do breakfast.. my first dose is dissolved.. and breakfast is a HUGE thing for conversion and for the adrenals.....

Topper ()

*the wordy one*

On Sun, 4 Feb 2007 23:56:38 EST kaneve@... writes:

linda does the OTC brand work? I cant seem to get diagnosed as hypo with my low FT's and a TSH of 2.3 and am wondering if i should try the Nutri med stuff.

Thanks

-Eve-