Posted by Barbara Cat on April 20, 2003, at 21:57:40
In reply to Have I got a NATURAL THYROID story 4 U! » Barbara Cat, posted by Janelle on April 20, 2003, at 20:34:39
Hi Janelle,
Hmmm, that doctor wouldn't be Dr. Ross, would it? I had one who sounds exactly like your doc, only he wasn't a pdoc. He put me on thyroid med without even testing me! But it turns out that in my case I was hypothyroid, even tho he gave it to everyone under the sun. I'm currently taking levothyroxine, a synthetic Synthroid at 137.5 micrograms and could easily go to 150. On Armour, before I was taking lithium, my TSH was about 2.5 which is great (even tho my T3 was too high). But since taking lithium it went up to 17 which is bad news. Please forgive me if you already know this, but the lower the TSH value, the more thyroid is in your system cause it's the pituitary that senses if there's enough thyroid floating around. If it senses that there isn't enough, it pumps out Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) which tells the thyroid to make more. A high TSH means that the pituitary is kicking the thryoid saying "Hey, you're not producing". Too low a TSH value, like yours was, means you're in the hyperthyroid range, probably because this quack was giving you too much. Too much thyroid med for too long causes the thyroid gland to shut down and leaches out calcium, and can cause osteoporosis and heart problems. What a jerk! I feel like going after him with a staple gun!The natural brands supply all the thyroid hormones and not just T4 like the Synthroids do. Cytomel is synthetic T3. T3 is the active form and most docs believe that T4 will get converted to T3, but that ain't always the case. Some people don't convert well and there's lots of research that says that some T3, especially for depressives, is needed. The only problem is that T3 can cause anxiety and jitters if it gets into the blood stream too fast and can exacerbate manic depression. I think that was what was going on with me for a while, too much T3. Jeez, I wish we could just get scanned instead of these hit or miss cures.
poster:Barbara Cat
thread:220659
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030417/msgs/220999.html