Woo Hoo!! 3 Grains! (and a question)

[Guest guest]

((This is a copy of a post I originally posted on the Thyroid

forum...thought I would post it here, too, to see if anyone has any

feedback for me...))

Woo hoo!! As of this last Friday (Mar 21), I am on 3 grains of Armour

with no noticeable problems! This is good, no?

Started my switch from 200mcg levo Jan 25 and ended up needing to

raise 1/4 grain every week (vs 1/2 every 2 weeks) in order to keep

the hypoT symptoms manageable. I never had a problem with any

raise...and for that, I am SO SO SO thankful!!

Here is my question: Do I really have to wait 6 weeks to raise now

that I am at 3 grains? What do I do if I feel my hypoT symptoms

flaring? And, if 3 grains is roughly equivalent to the 200mcg I was

on and not doing well on, wouldn't it stand to reason that I will

need more than 3 grains to be optimal? I am really worried about not

being able to raise at all for so long...I really feel like the last

3 months of weaning off the levo and raising the Armour have actually

set me back some (for instance, I gained 20-25 lbs during those 3

months with no change in diet or activity, my feet are CONSTANTLY

KILLING me, I have TERRIBLE muscle/joint aching, heart palps are a

daily occurance- all of which were pretty stable/taken care of with

the 200mcg levo). I know that switching to Armour was the right thing

to do...I just feel like, in this intial period, I have sacrificed

feeling 'ok' and I am scared that waiting the 6 weeks will set me

back more.

(I guess that was more than one question...)

((Some on the thyroid forum have suggested that I have high cortisol.

Some have suggested the symptoms I note here could be from low

cortisol. Here are my saliva results again, in case anyone wants to

look at them...

Jan, 2008

Free Cortisol Rhythm

7:00-8:00am 26 Elevated 13-24nM

11:00-Noon 6 Normal 5-10nM

4:00-5:00pm 4 Normal 3-8nM

11:00-Midnight 2 Normal 1-4nM

Cortisol Burden 38 23-42

DHEA 7 Normal Adults (M/F):3-10ng/ml

--I read some about phosphytidalserine and high cortisol tonight and

a lot of it made sense to me...thoughts on that, anyone? I was

especially intrigued by the mention that high cortisol can lead to a

kind of thyroid hormone resistance.

Anyway, feel free to share your thoughts with me...I am SO confused

and feeling really hopeless right now. Like I will never get this

figured out and will never feel well again!!))

Thanks!