"Low Range of Normal" and trying to decide whether to take medication - input welcome :)

ladybug77707

Hello, everyone. I am new to MFP and also new to some health issues I haven't ever had in my life. I am a 48 year old female, 5 6", 130 pounds, who has been an active exerciser and generally healthy eater all of my life.

Up until the last year, I had always weighed 124 and didn't really think about what I ate. I started feeling really run down, cold, gained 6 pounds while changing nothing, and a few other symptoms. I thought I was just getting old or it was hormonal. I went to an endocrinologist who did all of the usual tests and said all of my thyroid levels were normal (he did the TDH, T3, and T4), so I went about trying to figure out. what was wrong elsewhere.

Next stop was a Family Medicine/DO months later who I asked to check my hormone levels. She actually checked that and everything else under the sun including thyroid AGAIN. The levels were pretty much the same, BUT, she said something different than the other doctor. She said even though my levels were in the normal range, that I was in the 'low normal' range (suboptimal thyroid is what she called it) and said that after taking a vitamin regime that she prescribed if I didn't do better in 3 months, to come back and she wanted to consider Armour thyroid.

Here are my values:

TSH 1.57 (she said should be around 1)
T4 1.2 (which she said is fine, should be .8 - 1.8)
T3 2.8 (which she said for me should be around 3.5 with normal range of 2.3 - 4.2) She felt like this was the root of my issues more so than the other numbers.

FYI, I also had low testosterone of 3 - should be between 10-35, so she prescribed T cream which I have been taking for several months now.

The issue is that I am unsure whether or not to take the Armour. I had heard and she even said that once on thyroid meds, you can't stop or your thyroid will not work any more at all on its own. This scares me! What if I take it, have horrible side effects, yet I am stuck taking it since I have obviously started it and can't stop. My symptoms aren't HORRIBLE, but yet they do impact my life. I also hate that I am gaining pounds after a lifetime of never having to worry about it - granted it's six pounds, but it's totally out of the norm for me. And who knows if it is my thyroid to blame that it won't gradually get worse and worse??

Any thoughts on my situation? I would certainly appreciate them .

VastBreak

My doctor recommended me trying additional thngs before I started on meds. I backed off exercise for awhile. Also tried eliminating dairy and sugar to see if it helped me feel better. I wasn't sleeping great but was always exhausted. Also took out caffeine. It wasn't long though before I was feeling worse and my labs reflected my hypothyroid worsening so I started the Armour.

ladybug77707

Vastbreak, how did you do with Armour?? Trying to make a decision as to whether to just live with my symptoms or to try and feel better. I'm 'borderline' so it's not as awful as the symptoms others have, but I would so much like to feel good ALL of the time! Curious about your experience with Armour?

shvits

I would consult with another endocrinologist for a 2nd opinion if you were not happy with the first one. I would NOT take any thyroid medicine that an internist or GP suggests when it comes to the thyroid. They think they know what they are doing, but THEY DON'T. I have had some not so good experience. Thyroids are very special and you need to take the advice of a specialist.

Fuzzipeg

I find Stop the thyroid Madness, site invaluable for information. In the US they are able to say which endocrinologists are well versed in thyroid issues in any given area.

The site also gives possible reasons for low thyroid hormone problems, one is not consuming enough iodine and related minerals selenium for one. Most references suggest that 150 mcg is the amount of iodine needed on a daily basis. People who are vegetarian or vegan or living on a restricted diet are more likely to become iodine deficient. Foods rich in iodine are dairy, eggs, many dark green veg, a variety of fish species and some fruits though the soil conditions can make a difference. 100 ml of milk provides apx 30. A medium egg about 24.

It has been shown where there is a good supply of iodine and selenium even those who have immune issues experience improvement in their conditions. The presence of selenium facilitates hormone production and can block excess iron which can prevent t4's being converted into t3 which is the active hormone it also reduces the inflammation.

Please do your own reading and I suggest you ensure you are achieving at least the regularly quoted guidelines. Thyroid UK says up to 300 is safe. I read somewhere, 600 is too high. This would be unless you were being treated by a qualified person who will sometimes treat to higher numbers.

ladybug77707

Thank you, friends! I am going to check out the Stop the Madness site and continue to do more reading, research, and possibly WILL get a second opinion. I have learned so much from this board already! ))) Thank you ALL!

bharatirats

confused condition of thyroid...

editorgrrl

Get a second opinion from an endocrinologist. And ask for an ultrasound (of your neck) in addition to bloodwork.

If your thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones, then you have hypothyroidism. You can take either Armour (dessicated pig or pig & cow thyroid glands), synthetic T4 (Synthroid), or a combination of Synthroid & Cytomel (synthetic T3).

An antibody test is needed to diagnose Hashimoto's, which is autoimmune thyroid disease. Your body attacks your thyroid, causing it to produce too much &/or not enough hormones. A good endocrinologist will adjust your dosage(s) based on both blood tests & symptoms. "Normal" is just a range where most (but not all) people feel best.

I don't get on the forums much, so I encourage anyone who's struggling to PM &/or friend me. I was diagnosed with Hashi's in 2012, lost 30 lbs. in a year & a half, and have successfully maintained my weight for six months.

sallychristmas84

I've taken "Thyroid Armour" before and liked it. I had an adverse reaction to "Levothyroxine" (water (?) weight gain of 20+ lbs in a couple days). I like that Thyroid Armor is a better rounded thyroid replacement. Recently, however, due to cost, I have started taking "Nature Thyroid" which seems to be equivalent to "Thyroid Armour". I've heard of physicians treating those on the outer ranges of "normal" that are symptomatic, and honestly, agree with it. It's taken some time to titrate my meds to a therapeutic dose, but I won't go without my thyroid meds (if i can help it). It's made a world of difference in so many things (skin, sleep, mood, etc).

katoato

My TSH was only 2.55 when I started taking Nature-throid (Natural Desiccated Thyroid or NDT, like Armour). I don't remember what my other levels are but they were not normal and I was diagnosed Hashimoto's. Lots of doctors are very touchy about medicating when you have subclinical hypothyroidism (research hasn't yet caught up to patient care), so just know that you may get a completely different approach if you go to someone else (your Family Medicine/DO sounds very open-minded and wonderful but I had a hypothyroid friend go to of the 'best' endos in my city who refused to prescribe at even worse numbers and diagnoses than mine). I was hesitant to start on the medication for the same reasons as you - I didn't want to be dependent, I wanted to fix everything naturally, etc. etc. But luckily my endo was pretty cutting-edge, and suggested I try it, and I didn't really have a choice b/c my body was having so many problems - terrible joint pain, intractable neck pain, and the worst, worst, worst heart palpitations, so bad that I couldn't sleep at night. Nature-throid fixed the palpitations, which were my scariest (to me) problem. It also improved other less critical conditions such as acne. I was on Levothyroxine for a stint but I lost half of my hair on it - literally, and the hair loss stayed for a year - and then switched to Nature-throid instead. I've been really happy on Nature-throid and can't imagine going back But I have to add a grain of salt in that every body is SO different and we react in such different ways to medication, continue with your research and do what feels right to you!

lindsey1979

A couple things come to mind -- and I'm in the low normal or low group -- depends on when the test is done as my readings have been all over the place.

First, as someone else said, you should have the antibody test done -- TPO and Tg -- for Hashimotos. If you have Hashi's (and it's the most common hypo condition out there), it will impact how your tests are read. When you have the antibodies, it's literally iimpossible to know how much they're impacting you -- they could be blocking 20% of our sites or 80% of your sites. So the raw numbers aren't as helpful because you don't know what is the truly effective numbers. Docs then should look at the tests but also give considerable weight to your symptoms. I've got Hashi's and my symptoms don't go away until I'm in the upper third of the "normal" range. I've found this to be super common among us Hashi's people -- because some amount of our hormones are rendered ineffective from the antibodies. When we have flare-ups, much more so.

Also, has your doctor checked your DHEA and other adrenal hormones? This has a huge interplay with your thyroid. Almost all women that have hypothyroid issues have low DHEA and when you get your DHEA in line, you can often lower your thyroid dose.

Lastly, has your doctor checked some of the other common culprits associated with similar hypo symptoms -- iodine, magnesium, Vitamin D, A1C (for insulin resistance)? I personally had very low vitamin D, magnesium and insulin resistance -- very common for those that have a long untreated thyroid condition.

Unfortunately, a lot of endos suck at thyroid. Many tend to be very good with diabetes, but few focus on thyroid. Really make sure that you're speaking with a thyroid specialist -- whether it's an endo or functional MD. In my experience, there are more thyroid savvy functional MDs out there than endos. I was told I was "fine" or "within range" for 10 years by 5 different docs (including 2 endos) before I finally got hooked up with a true thyroid specialist (and he's educated my GP considerably -- and to her credit, she's been very embracing of the new information, especially since she was one of the people that told me I was "fine"). The results have been night-and-day. The vast majority of my hypo symptoms are gone and I was finally able to lose weight like a normal person -- it felts so awesome not to feel like I was going totally nuts with weight loss/maintenance. It's also awesome to not be cold all the time, tired/fatigued (probably my worst symptom), constipated, and sleep through the night (before treatment I don't think I'd ever slept through the night completely before -- likely linked most closely with the low DHEA levels). Now, it all makes sense and works just how it's supposed to.

HappilyDistracted

I was low normal and basically unable to function, so the meds allowed me to function again. I'm now on synthroid, which is better than generic, but I'm not 100%. For now, I'm stable enough that I'm going to focus on weight loss and see what difference that makes. Then focus on some of the finer details. Personally, I think a lot of it has to do with trying things out until you figure out what works best for you.