I couldn't tell you the last time I had blood work done. I'm on Levothyroxin (Synthroid generic) and have been for almost 15 years. I take 150 mcg per day.

It's funny, I didn't even notice many of the persistent symptoms until I joined this group! I plan to have a full physical with blood work done this fall.

Synthroid (synthetic T4 only) did not work for me. Of course, my doctor started me out on it. For some reason, Synthroid is the go to medicine for doctors. Every 6 months my doc was having to increase my dosage. By the time we switched my medicine I was taking 125mcg of Synthroid. Now, I take Armour (all natural T1,2,3 & 4) (37.5 mcg I take two 15mcg and cut one in half) and I am finally seeing progress. I finally feel somewhat better. My doc does the cheap TSH test once a year and the expensive whole blood panel once a year (so basically I have blood work every 6 months). I am VERY happy with the Armour. But, everyone is different. Just because Armour works for me, doesn't mean that it will work for you. If synthroid isn't alleviating your symptoms try a different medicine, and don't let your doctor talk you out of it. If your doc won't let you switch, find a more open minded doctor. Good luck with your journey.

Oh, and I've been suffering from hypothyroidism for about 7 years now.

You really need to switch to armour

Google it and make your case to your doc and dont leave until you have been switched over.

I gained 38lbs before switching

So I have a question for those that have been moved to Armour or other natural thryroid. My wife's doctor says that her current synthroid and cytomel doses are too high for her to be switched and he is giving her other thyroid supporting supplements to wean her off of the synthetics.

Has anyone had this happen as well? You end up taking a smaller dose of the natural thyroid and it works better for you? If I remember correctly she's on 75mg of T4 and 17.5mg of T3 daily.

I take 250MCG of Levothyroxin. My doctor said I'm the only patient he has had on that high of dosage. I have no idea what my numbers run. Couldn't even tell u what they were when I was diagnosed more than 11 yrs ago.

So what do you do or take if you have adrenal fatigue? And how can I find out if that is the case? I was only diagnosed 3 weeks ago, so I am trying to learn as much as I can.

Thank you!!

I took Synthroid for 15 years - they changed my dose several times a year - because the nitwit doctors didn't know I had Hashimoto and that my levels would swing wildly on Synthroid. I now take Armour Natural Thyroid -- I take 120 mcg divided in two doses during the day.

When you look at your tests, TSH is meaningless and has almost nothing to do with your thyroid. Your T4 (inactive hormone) levels should be at the low end of the "normal" range or even below normal. Your T3 (active hormone) levels should be on the high side of normal or slightly above.

Note, that many of us have adrenal stress/fatigue and/or low Ferritin/Iron levels... if either of these conditions are present, you can take thyroid meds all day long and they won't work properly.

Sorry, actually after checking dosage it looks like she's on 25mg T4 and 17.5mcg of T3.

I have been wondering about all those who switched also. I'm up to 175mcg on synthroid and it seems like this level kind of works but I struggle with losing any weight despite low calories and moderate exercise. I moved from miami to tucson so hopefully the new doc at this base is open to using armour.

I take 250MCG of Levothyroxin. My doctor said I'm the only patient he has had on that high of dosage. I have no idea what my numbers run. Couldn't even tell u what they were when I was diagnosed more than 11 yrs ago.

I take that too! Diagnosed with Graves at 18, nuked at 25, stable for 5+ years now

I am on 1.12 of Synthroid. I definitely struggle with feelings of being tired and have spoken to him about it....but he has been practicing for over 40+ years and won't switch me to anything else.

TSH: .02
FT3: 3.5 Range: 2.3-4.2 pg/mL
FT4: 1.2 Range: 0.8-1.8 ng/dL

I take 100 mg of tirosint and 30 mcg of Cytomel per day. I feel really good now, but the switch from Levoxyl to Tirosint was awful. I'm 6 weeks in on the tirosint, and feel MUCH better on this than I ever did on Levoxyl. The addition of a T3 drug was what helped the most though.

So I have a question for those that have been moved to Armour or other natural thryroid. My wife's doctor says that her current synthroid and cytomel doses are too high for her to be switched and he is giving her other thyroid supporting supplements to wean her off of the synthetics.

Has anyone had this happen as well? You end up taking a smaller dose of the natural thyroid and it works better for you? If I remember correctly she's on 75mg of T4 and 17.5mg of T3 daily.

I have no gland and over the course of 2 years my meds were raised over and over again, finally reaching 200 of Synthroid and 20 of Cytomel. I've been on Armour for just 2 weeks at a dose that would be equal to about 76 Synthroid and 18 Cytomel. I don't have a long list of hypo symptoms, but dropping the T4 that much and that quickly made no difference in how I feel. I've never heard of weaning off synthetics, esp if one is already taking T3. But as long as she feels fine, there's no reason to do differently.

I have been hypo since about October 2009 (4 yrs). My dose of Eltroxcin was 50mcg for the first 3.5 yrs and I was getting tested every 6 months as I was going through a medical clinic. I started tracking my levels now that I have a doctor (no endocrinologist unless the doctor finds she cannot manage my case). When she first tested me in June my TSH was 5.34 and my T4 was 15.5. The doctor doubled my dose (ie. my dose went up to 100 mcg). She just retested me and it looks like they only did TSH and tested for antibodies. My TSH is down to 0.77 and the antibodies test is in progress as of when I was last in the doctor's office (the test was done a week ago). The funny thing is that the range for TSH differs so greatly, the lab within my doctor's office goes between 0.35-4.5 or so and the lab that did my test had normal range at 0.35-5.50...which explains why previous doctors did not change my dose (ie I presume they were using that second normal range).

I found when I switched dose my body took at least 3 weeks to adjust to the new dose. Now things are fairly stable and aside from BP dips I am doing well and maintaining weight except when I overindulge...ie things are normal.

We really need to be our own advocate when it comes to thyroid issues.