tecallahan Member

Glad your adrenals are being checked... that's another reason why you may feel hypo even though your levels are good. If you have adrenal fatigue and not enough cortisol, then the T3 cannot properly enter the cells - and virtually every cell in our body has T3 receptors - they can be blocked by Reverse T-3 or they can not…

It depends on what your levels are whether you are really hyper -- if he's just counting TSH, he could be wrong. Does he test your Free T3 and Free T4? Your T3 should be on the high end of normal and your T4 should be on the low end of normal. If you still have hypo symptoms, it's likely that your T3 is too low - but if…

I do weight training and Pilates -- I agree with Debbie that your muscle cramping is probably from your thyroid. Just because your levels are "normal" doesn't mean you aren't hypo... doctors just don't know how to treat your symptoms.

If you are losing 1/2-1 pound a week with hypothyroidism you are doing AWESOME! When you plateau, just change it up - add more protein less carbs. For those of us with slow metabolism, I think it's as much what we eat as it is how much we eat. If we eat 1200 calories of empty carbs - I mean the white, processed food with…

I think some doctors adjust too slowly -- in the book it talks about that -- by raising too slowly, you have the same effect as synthroid. I took Synthroid for 15 years and had symptoms the entire time -- all symptoms. I've been on Armour now since January and have no symptoms... but I think I could have felt better sooner…

It could be lots of things - too much cortisol can cause a big stomach. Also, insulin resistance can cause you to keep weight around the middle. I had that last year, but did low carb for a while then gluten free and got rid of it. I went from size 14 to size 8 (some clothes I wear a size 6). All the weight I lost was in…

On VERTIGO - I've been to every ENT, had every test on my ears, even went to be studied at Emory. No one could figure out why I have vertigo and no one knew how to get rid of it. It would just come randomly -- nothing I did or didn't do made it happen. When I went to my ND for the first time in January, he did a 1.5 hour…

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…

Vertigo is probably my worse, followed closely by insomnia and constipation.

You are not supposed to be leaning on "down there" when you ride. You are supposed to be sitting up on your "sit bones" in your butt. You can ask your local bike shop to give you a fitting for your bike so that you aren't leaning on soft tissue. Also, paded bike shorts help, but a heavily padded seat may actually make it…

I take Natural Thyroid -- called Armour. 30 mg is pretty low dose, but I don't know what your T3 and T4 levels are. I take 120 mg a day and might go up in dose after my next doctor visit. You should be taking B12, Vitamin D, Vitamin C and Fish Oil minimally. Here's the doses I take every day: B12 - 250 mg daily Vitamin D:…

LOL - you have to kiss a lot of frogs if you know what I mean. I've been hypo for 15 years - and fired 4 doctors along the way because I was sick and they were telling me I was normal. I did some reading and educated myself about my thyroid disease and finally found a Naturopath that listened to me and was interested in my…

Lifting definitely helps -- it's slower and doesn't burn a lot of calories like cardio, but it makes you stronger and I do feel it helps in general with hypo symptoms. I've been lifting for almost a year - even though I am 60 years old, I've put on a LOT of muscle. I am a cardio freak as well -- and everything I've read is…

I take adrenal cortex - I get it at whole foods. But I only take it once a day in the morning.

It doesn't matter with synthetic T4 - it has a long half-life so taking it or not taking it won't matter. With Armour, which has a short half life, my ND wants me to take it several hours before blood work, but not right before.

Agree!! I've been gluten free and on Armour since January -- my antibodies were in the 800's... now in the 100's. I also got off of cholesterol meds and blood pressure meds since then. it was really not hard to get off of gluten -- I eat plenty of fresh food and somewhere around 1500-1800 calories per day - so I don't feel…

At the risk of repeating myself (I've posted this many times), no thyroid medication will work properly unless your Ferritin/Iron levels are correct as well as your adrenals (cortisone, aldosterone). The reason many people don't do well on synthetic T4 is because they have a problem converting T4 to T3. T4 is an inactive…

Agree with eating whole, fresh foods - we are not a calories in/calories out metabolism - most of us are insulin resistant, meaning we take processed carbs and sugar and convert it to fat and store it -- and never use it for fuel. You have to give your body good nutrition - that's vitamins and minerals -- and eliminate…

Yes - she overcame MS

Don't forget to take measurements too -- it's not all about the scale. I have not lost any weight in 5 months or so, but I recently dropped from a size 8 pants to a size 6. Without losing weight! So, I know my pilates and strength training and cardio is paying off. Also, go by how you feel.... more energy or less energy…

What is this supplement? Can you tell us the brand, description and dose?

Wow - that endo is a complete moron!! Unfortunately, most of them are! I don't know if you really need that much Levoxy if you are taking Cytomel. Don't forget that some/most of the T4 you are taking is converted to T3... and then you are taking more T3 with the Cytomel. Too much T3 can give you hyper symptoms - rapid…

No backlash here! I did it too and lost a lot of weight. I agree 100% that eating fresh and elimination of bread, rice, pasta (white food) is the way to go. Some people cannot sustain super low carb - so you could alternate -- do the 30-50 Net one week and under 100 next week. But what is key is getting rid of the sugary…

I have been Vitamin B12 deficient for some time now. I have taken it sublingually and intranasal. It's similar to our problem with Vitamin D. My body does not absorb the B12 from food. Years ago I was on Metformin and was told that it blocks the absorption of B12 -- but I haven't taken Metformin for about 5 years and I am…

This is a great site and they sell a fantastic book: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com -- they also have a very supportive Facebook group Stop The Thyroid Madness. Most doctors only test for TSH - Thyroid Stimulating Hormone -- but this is not produced by your thyroid and is not a good indication of your thyroid and metabolic…

It doesn't matter what time of day you take Synthroid.

NONE - :tongue: - took that stuff for 15 years and was sick the entire time. I have been taking Armour Thyroid since January -- I am now off of all cholesterol and blood pressure medicine and lost 16 pounds. When I was on Synthroid, I had bottles of it in every dosage in my medicine cabinet -- I had blood work at least 3-4…

Glad that antivert helps you -- I've taken tons of Anti-vert in my day, but it no longer does anything for me. I have debilitating vertigo periodically and nothing makes it stop - I just have to ride it out and it usually lasts about 6-8 hours. In my younger days, I used to have the dizziness/vertigo a couple of times a…

It does take some time to get used to Armour -- I started on it in January at 60 mcg a day -- 30 in the am and 30 in the pm. Then in March went up to 90 mcg a day - 45 in the am and 45 in the pm.... 2 weeks ago he increased me to 120 mcg per day - 60/60. Although my TSH, T3 and T4 levels were all in the "normal" range, he…

Woozy, dizzy, etc. can come from Adrenal Fatigue -- did he offer to test your cortisol levels? You would need a 24 hour saliva test to see how your adrenals are functioning throughout the day. Cortisol is the hormone that ushers T3 into your cells. I found out I have adrenal fatigue -- very low, flat-lined cortisol levels.…