Hypothyroidism Support Group

Hello All!! I'm new here. My story is not new to anyone on these boards, I imagine. I have suffered with symptoms of hypothyroidism for years. Each subsequent doc I have gone to has immediately done thyroid testing when I told them of my symptoms. They all thought, like me, that I was hypothyroid. Especially since there is a huge family history of it AND I was diagnosed with it as a kid, but never treated. My labs, according to them, have been "normal", so, even with nearly all imaginable symptoms of the disease clinically present, I have continually been told that I am "fine". It is my understanding that an "optimal" level of TSH is between 1 and 2. For the past 3 years, mine has been checked every 3 months along with A1c (I was dx with Type II diabetes in 2008 which is another story). Each lab test has shown a TSH of over 2, and I understand from doing a lot of research that some folks are more sensitive to fluctuations in TSH than others. Recently, I was finally able to get off of a beta blocker medication I was taking for blood pressure. I knew it was making me very sick, and wanted to do whatever I could to be well. It seems that the beta blocker is good at masking some test results, and now my TRUE labs are coming through. I had a thyroid panel drawn last week and my TSH was 3.7, which, IMHO is indicative of a not normal thyroid. My PCP, however, wants to wait until February, have more labs, and see if this number is still over 3. If it isn't, I still get no treatment. If it is, he said he would give me a small dose of thyroid medication to right it. I still am intolerant to cold. My hands and feet are never warm (nor is my butt, for that matter), my hair continues to fall out, my eyebrows are thinning, I go to bed tired and wake up tired, my skin is so dry it flakes off, my nails are brittle, I have gained 50 lbs in the last 5 years in spite of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle, and am unable to lose weight, regardless of how much I "cut back". My joints and muscles still hurt, although this has improved greatly since being off the beta blocker. I'm wondering if any of you out there are from the central Missouri area, and if so, can you recommend a good doc who will not look at me as a lab result, but take clinical symptoms into consideration as well? It would also be a plus if he or she were willing to prescribe a non-synthetic medication for this. Many of the links I have come across for docs who prescribe Armour or other natural medications are no longer working. (Imagine that!) Thanks in advance for any help!!!

Hi drgnfli!

I'm not sure where you live. It seems finding a dr that will treat "symptoms" and not just lab results is difficult. Many are threatened by empowered patients.

There are many good articles on About.com... http://thyroid.about.com/, And Mary Shoman, tho not a dr is an active thyroid advocate and has written many helpful articles.

Glad you found us and good luck!

Denise

Hi Denise! Thanks for your reply. I live in Mid-Missouri. I've been to Mary's website, and found the link to doctors in my area, but many of them have moved to a different area, or are too far away for me to see them on a regular basis. I think what I'm going to do is ask my Pharmacist for names of docs in this area who prescribe Armour. Who knows? I may hit the jackpot and find someone who actually treats people!!! Thanks for your suggestion and for the welcome!

Becki

have you ever had you vitamin D level checked? I would strongly recommend you take a supplement if you are not getting much sun.

becki -- if you can't find a doctor to prescribe the armour's -- please consider going to a naturopath-- they WILL write the prescription for the armour's.

one of the best things about living in WA-state is that we have LOTS of naturopaths and LOTS of compounding pharmacies. i got my nature-throid from my naturopath and it was specifically compounded for me.

the only difference between nature-throid and armour's are the fillers [armour's has corn in it, while the nature-throid does not].

I get my vitamin D level checked regularly and it's fine. I take a multi-vitamin every day that has plenty of D3 in it. Thanks!!

Thanks! We have quite a few naturopaths in a larger city about 30 miles from where I live. I would prefer to use them for everything, but my insurance doesn't recognize them as "real" doctors, so I'm limited as they are fairly expensive here. I do know of a doc who prescribes Armour, but she seems to be Armour happy, and prescribes it to women who are not necessarily hypo, but just over weight. They use it for weight loss. Not sure I would be comfortable going to someone like her, but, she may be my only choice. Still researching though!

hi,drgnfli. Do you know that a person diagnosed with one auto_immune, especially hypothyroidism, can easily be diagnosed with another or even more, esp diabetes II? Do you also know Tsh has a testing range of 0.3 to 3.0 and a treatment range of 1.2 and 2.2, and while those are deemed good levels, most "good" doctors" will try to get you to a testing range of just under normal to control your symptoms, which is just at .01? Especially if you have symtoms of another auto-immune disease? Another issue is, if you do have Hashi,most patients who aquire other auto-immune diseases as a result, or just supplimentally, will not tolerate desiccated thyroid?

Post edited by: bee2tris, at: 11/30/2011 06:03 PM

Hi bee2tris. I am aware of the possibilities of multiple dx of auto immune disorders. I was dx with type II diabetes in 2008. I am also aware of the testing range for TSH...our lab here still goes by the old range and, as I've said before, I'm just a lab result around here so unless I get over their reference range, nobody is going to think much of it. I wasn't, however, aware of the statement you make concerning intolerance to dessicated thyroid in Hashi patients with other auto immune diagnoses. I'll have to look into that. I'm interested in the natural stuff more because it IS natural, and because it is both T3 and T4...as I'm sure you're aware, the synthetics are just T4. In the meantime, my Cardiologist has referred me to an endo, so hopefully, I can at least get someone to look at ME and not just the numbers.

from march of this year to the beginning of september i was on iodoral -- that was working really well, only taking the full dosage for 4 months of 2 iodoral twice a day was WAY too much for my system to handle. then i ate something i was allergic to and that shot my TSH into the ozone layer, so the endocrinologist told me to stop the iodoral, which i did.

a bit over a month later, i started nature-throid and that's when i discovered the hard way that i'm allergic to pig.

so after de-toxing from that for almost a month, i started in on a hypo-allerginic form of levothyroxine. i still take a wee dosage of the iodoral each day -- 1/2 pill twice a day.

a good way to test to see if one is iodine deficient -- go to the pharmacy - i went to walgreen's -- and got tincture of iodine. one swabs a patch on an arm or on the thighs, then check the colour. if the colour absorbs into your skin within a 24 hour period of time -- then one is iodine deficient.

i also eat lots of seaweed. the japanese have low incidences of thyroid disease because of all the iodine that they consume.