Sorry about your diagnosis, but you are at the right place!

I got diagnosed many years ago and suffered on levothyroxine for quite a while, then tried a combination of synthetic levothyroxine (T4) and liothyronine (T3) and did better, but I still wasn't "there". I got a new doctor a little over a year ago, and she put me on Armour, and we've been tinkering with my dosages (I currently take 120 mg in the morning, with a 5 mcg Liothyronine supplement in the afternoon - I am still having a reverse T3 issue and an antibody flare-up from my hashimoto's, hopefully that calms down soon).

BUT, I feel GREAT. Like, "normal" great.

I feel that the first step is finding a doctor that will let you try NDT (Armour, Nature-throid, etc.), but the second step is going to take work from you. Without the proper nutrition to back up the hormone conversion, you still may not feel well, and may initially feel way worse, which is disheartening and super-annoying (helpful information here: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ndt-doesnt-work-for-me/), which was what happened to me - my iron and vitamin D and several of the different B vitamins.

Tons of other great information on the Stop the Thyroid Madness site. Let me know if I can help in any way. :-)

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in May of last year, Hashimoto's in December (once I found a doctor who would listen to me and actually tested me for it - my mom has it so I figured chances were good...). I'm just on Levothyroxine for now. My PCP had me on 25mcg, then 50mcg, and he actually wanted to bring me back down to 25mcg. My endo moved me from 50mcg to 75mcg, now on 88mcg. If my TSH is below 2.5 at my next visit (early March), he's going to put me on a T3 med (I guess a synthetic version of Armour as I'm vegetarian) assuming the Levo doesn't miraculously start working for me in the next few weeks. :-)

I've also heard doctors insist any value w/in the vast "normal range" means you should feel 100% healthy.

My endo says this to me every visit, and it drives me crazy! I want to switch doctors but I'd have to stay in the same practice, and I'm worried about getting a bad reputation like Elaine on "Swinfeld."

I'm not sure of the name, but I think it starts with "Nature." Maybe "Naturethroid"? I mentioned being a vegetarian in passing, and he looked almost mortified and said, "Why didn't you TELL me? I almost gave you pig!" To myself I thought "Well, I thought that was my only option..."

But then, I've also heard doctors insist any value w/in the vast "normal range" means you should feel 100% healthy,

Bull *kitten*!!!

Especially since the "normal range" varies from doctor to doctor--there are several out there. The old one is 5, many labs use 4 and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists recommends 3. Make sure you know what version of "normal" they're labeling you as.

If you don't feel OK, even though the number says you should, advocate for yourself. There's lots of legit research out there to back you up. Your quality of life is important--please don't let anyone convince you that it's all in your head!

Here's the not-from-pig version of Armour: http://www.rxlist.com/cytomel-drug.htm

I just got off of Cytomel (which was used in combination with Levo) because of the massive headaches it caused me. Unfortunately, Cytomel isn't a vegetarian substitute for Armour. Cytomel is a T3 only drug. Armour contains T4, T3, T2 and T1.
I had an objection to Armour at first because I've been a vegetarian my whole life, but not feeling any symptoms and overall health improvement kicked that feeling to the wayside. I'm back on NDT after almost 6 months off. I went back to Levo and Cytomel in Sept. and I'm a miserable mess. I've gained 40 lbs in 6 months and am officially heavier than I was at 35 weeks pregnant with my twins. Fingers crossed Armour gives me my life back again :-(

I was on Synthroid for ten years. At first it was ok, but it got worse and worse. I was more and more tired. More and more hair loss, weight gain, awful joint pain, foggy headedness, etc, etc, but I was on the right dose. At times I was on enough Synthroid to get my TSH down to a 1 or less and still just felt awful. Armour is life changing for me. I have only been on it for 6 weeks and I have not even had my dose correction yet, but I can tell you....I will NEVER go back to synthroid. The fog has lifted, my weight is budging, and my joint pain is gone. Stay with Armour at least until they get your labs in line and then see what you think.

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