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MEDICAL TREATMENTS FOR HYPOTHYROIDISM AND HASHIMOTO'S THYROIDITIS

SYNTHROID OR LEVOTHYROXINE SODIUM

The basic medical treatment for hypothyroidism is the administration

of replacement thyroid hormone. Most doctors will insist on

prescribing Synthroid which is a brand name for levothyroxine

sodium. This is the monosodium salt of the levo isomer of the

thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4). Therefore Synthroid or other brands

of levothyroxine sodium will provide the same chemically identical

hormone that our thyroid hormones make.

While there are other manufacturers of levothyroxine sodium, doctors

seem to insist on prescribing Synthroid which is much more costly.

My suspicion is that the doctors are getting kickbacks, perhaps in

the form of free trips (which is a form of kickback in the

pharmaceutical business), for prescriptions written for Synthroid.

(Someone could look into this and report back.)

Levothyroxine sodium will work for many people with hypothyroidism

and will alleviate some of the symptoms. However, many hypothyroids

will not respond well to levothyroxine sodium.

In my experience, most hypos are deficient in selenium and zinc.

These two minerals are critically important for converting the body's

supply of thyroxine (T4) into triiodothyronine (T3), which is the

hormone that the body uses at the cellular level. Thyroxine is known

as a " prohormone " because the body has to convert it into another

hormone for use.

Therefore taking levothyroxine sodium or Synthroid is the same as

taking a prohormone. The body has to convert it into the active

hormone (T3) for the effects to be felt. If the hypothyroidism is

due to a breakdown of the conversion of T4 to T3, the person will

feel little benefit from taking T4 (thyroxine or Synthroid).

ARMOUR THYROID HORMONE

Another way to get thyroid hormone is to extract it from animals

slaughtered for meat consumption. The packing company Armour

produces such a hormone and the hormone is also called Armour. The

advantage of Armour is that in addition to T4 it contains some T3

which has already been converted from the T4. Also there are some

references in the literature to other forms of thyroxine, such as T7

(there might be T5 and T6 also). I don't know if these are very

important, but there is the possibility that they have some minor

functions, if they exist at all).

Hypos who are suffering from an inability to convert T4 to T3 (and

these persons usually also have low production of T4) benefit from

Armour more than from Synthroid. More than likely Synthroid might be

found just as beneficial as Armour if sufficient amounts of selenium

and zinc are provided through supplementation, but it could take a

period of time (days or weeks) to replenish these minerals if they

are seriously depleted.

Some people might object to the use of Armour for other reasons.

There was a time when the potency of Armour varied, but it seems as

though the company has corrected that problem. Also, some people

object to taking something from animals but that is just a fear and I

don't see any justification for that fear.

Overall, I think that hypos will do better taking Armour rather than

Synthroid or another manufactured form of levothyroxine sodium.

HOW MUCH HORMONE?

Many people feel that since they have to take thyroid hormone then

their thyroid glands must be " shot. " Doctors do their best to

perseverate this myth by telling patients that their thyroid

has " burned out " or will burn out. I think this is nonsense.

As an approximation, our thyroid glands produce about 300 mcg of

hormone a day. Therefore the thyroid gland of a hypo taking 100 mcg

of replacement hormone a day is producing about two thirds of the

hormone that is needed. Very, very rarely will you see a person

taking over 200 mcg per day. As you can see, most hypos thyroids are

producing more than half of the thyroid hormone needed. To me this

is not " burned out. "

I am not the only person with the belief that by providing the body

with the proper nutrients the thyroid will be able to produce all the

thyroid hormone needed. It's not a matter of taking a " dead " thyroid

and bringing it back to life. It's a matter of taking a thyroid that

is under producing and getting it to produce more. It's possible and

people are doing it.

Some people wonder if they take less hormone than they need will that

stimulate the thyroid to produce more hormone. I tried this when I

was hypo and also looked into this. I've seen no evidence that this

strategy will work. I believe the thyroid gland is doing the best

that it can and will produce more hormone when it has the raw

materials to do so.

WHEN YOU THYROID RECOVERS

If you take the supplements that your thyroid gland needs to produce

hormone you may experience a sudden increase in the production of

thyroid hormone. I experienced this in my recovery from

hypothyroidism.

I had recently had my silver amalgam (mercury) filling replaced and

was supplementing zinc and selenium along with other supplements.

One morning about an hour after breakfast when I took my Armour

hormone and my nutritional supplements, I got very hot, sweaty, and

shaky. After a short period of thinking that I was really sick or

dying, I reasoned that my thyroid gland may have recovered. I

stopped taking thyroid hormone and within a couple days I was feeling

much better.

While thyroxine has a half life in the body of about 7 days,

triiodothyronine (T3) has a half-life of about 10 hours. This means

that if your thyroid suddenly starts producing hormone or your T4 to

T3 conversion suddenly increases, you could have high levels of T3

for a day or two, but these levels will soon return to normal.

There have been other members of the group who have experienced this

sudden increase in thyroid production who have gone through

this " hyper episode. " That period can be frightening but it passes.

The best strategy is to discontinue the replacement hormone to see if

it passes. You can call your doctor to tell him or her what you've

done. You may find that your thyroid gland has completely recovered

and you no longer need replacement hormone or you may find that you

need to resume replacement hormone at a lower dosage.