[quote]mom-in-MD wrote:
Anonym- got the book!!!
Thanks again![/quote]
You are welcome!
And I don’t mean to hijack your thread and won’t continue to do so further, though I do appreciate PC’s points.
I have just picked up a particular vibe at times, occasionally with a lot of the STTM material, that MD’s are typically idiots who have little to no idea what to do or how to approach situations that aren’t strict, black-and-white textbook case studies… and that reading a book or a few articles gives one the equivalent education and experience of one who has gone to medical school and based their career around these particular areas of disease.
Again, though, I am not championing the intellectual infallibility of everyone who gets to write ‘MD’ after his or her name.
While I am positively certain you will come across more tactful than I fear some might after immersing yourself in such literature, I nevertheless thought I’d throw out that a discussion might prove more fruitful than a debate (though I am sure that is what you meant to begin with).
That would be hard to do. My daughter was born up in Maine so my records for up there would be hard to come by.
Even though I didn’t know anything about the thyroid at the time, I had a good Midwife and I trusted her. If things were really bad, she would have made a bigger deal out of it.
On a different note…what would your opinion be(and this goes for anyone who cares to respond) on me easing back on the lifting?
I’m already in a zero energy balance and it feels like every time I lift, it takes a lot out of me…there’s nothing left to recover/rebuild. I’m not talking about completely giving it up. Maybe 1-2x/week, full body compound lifts to maintain? It would be hard but I think I need this time to heal more.
My appointment was so so. He was nice enough. Sympathetic of my feeling crappy. But he believes I am “normal,” (as far as thyroid lab values go)and is encouraging me to look into other underlying issues that may be making me more symptom-y. Feritin, progesterone, cortisol and even a celiac test. Just one of em though that measures the antibody produced by the intestine. (transglutaminase) Does anyone know about that here??
The part that has me fired up is WHY why WHYYYY aren’t these Docs even WILLING to prescribe something that just MIGHT help there patient??! Just let them try it. I mean REALLY!!! I DON’t GET IT!!
I asked him in a nice way and his response was “he doesn’t believe in it, so he doesn’t prescribe it.” Plain and simple.
He told me to pick out my top 5 worse symptoms and explore ways to fix them.
The Endo clinic at the hospital IS actually doing a ‘study,’ on patients using synthroid and I think switching them to (Armour).
So I’m DEFINITELY going to be contacting this Doc to get in on that!!!
I’m kind of out of luck with Dr’s other than that. I only get ONE MORE ‘opinion,’ if I decided not to stay with this new Endo and after that I’m cut off. But all the Dr’s are the same so how can I win???!
Well, I am a part of this study. I called me back right away…
But I just wrote him back asking if he could just be my new Dr instead! This Dr. has prescribed (ARMOUR) and reported that his patients felt much much better(duh)
hmmmm
so I asked if he was accepting new patients and if I can just skip the study!
you do a bunch of labs and answer a bunch of questions beforehand, then you take a medicine only you nor the Dr. know which one it is, for 3 months…retest/answer more questions…then you SWITCH meds for three months.restest/answer more questions…
Then I get to pick which one makes me feel better…eek!
I have been reading your thread with interest as my wife and I are both dealing with similar issues now. Our RT3 is at the high of “normal” just like yours and body temps are low. Mine this morning were 95.7 and never over 98!
We are convinced that until you stop the RT3 dominance and get your body temps close to normal, then treating all other symptoms is almost impossible because RT3 dominance and low temps can screw everything up. I should add that we both were put on Armour to increase our metabolism and that compounded the problem.
We are off armour now and start a T3 only program today. This should quickly shut down T4 and reverse T3 production, use up existing rt3 and reset my adrenals. I am praying this works and works fast. My doctor works at a clinic that specializes in HRT and weight loss. This makes him open minded but also he makes money off selling his stuff.
We use a thick filter when listening to his recommendations to avoid spending too much money. However, he also is the one who initially suggested reverse T3 issues. My point is that maybe you’ll have better luck if you find a similar clinic that specializes in weight loss. They deal with weird thyroid issues all of the time.
I don’t mean to imply that you aren’t into something but just sharing our experiences. You know those things (RT3 and temp) are definitely off at the moment and they are very measurable.
The downside of going to one of these clinics is that it costs out of my own pocket. Insurance doesn’t help. Key is an open minded doctor. But internet reading (which can be dangerous) is confirming that there is a good chance that we are moving with the right approach. Time will tell.
One theory is that stress brings this on. My wife and I have had many periods over the years when stress was huge. Cortisol tests now look fine so if we can drop the RT3 we may beat this.
can you find out what tests they want to run? there are two ways to deal with RT3 (that I can remember) one you can take T3 only medications or two, you can support your adrenals which will help clear your RT3 and help the conversion of T4 to T3.
I would guess that going on T4 would do you more harm then good given your levels of RT3 since more T4 would simply feed into more RT3. Armour may or may not be any better.
you can get IsoCort over the counter (i.e. amazon). each pill contains 2.5mg equivalent of hydrocoritsone. so if you have blood tests showing low cortisol and you can’t get a doctor to prescribe adrenal support, then you could take IsoCort (and slowly build up to a maximum of 8 pills a day (3am, 3noon, 2pm - or something like that).
This will be a little out of left field. But my girlfriend was suffering badly with Endo symptoms, massive cramps and pains, tired, no motivation. All the signs! Her Mother also went through this & resulted in a hysterectomy. Not something i want my girl to girl through.
I had been suffering low T for a long time, without knowing & finally sorting things out bit by bit.
I have a big interest in nutrition & what the healthy “junk” we eat today consists of. I have read many books & watched many docos on what we are being fed these days. So i decided to change the way we live and eat (not an easy thing in South Florida i tell you!).
We basically went vegetarian (NO processed foods or drinks) for a few months & found my girlfriend’s crippling cramps went away. Among other things. My libido, energy, well being, depression & many other things was much better.
The saying “you are what you eat” is so true & todays doctor has no idea about nutrition & is never taught this in university.
All i can suggest is check out some of the current, very simply told doco’s about medicine & nutrition. It’s a cheap eye opener for all of us. No woman deserves to have gods gift taken away from her.
Some doco’s i can suggest are: Food Matters, Forks over knives, Fat sick & nearly dead, Dying to have known & The Gerson Miracle, especially. Among many others with a common story. You tube “Sugar, The bitter truth” All of these take some attention & best to take notes. But i swear, it is so simple & true. I have helped a lot of friends also since paying attention to these. A lot refer to how things affect your thyroid.
The choice is yours, but this is a cheap one compared to the “doctors” path.
I work hard to “eat healthy.”
I don’t think I could go the vegetarian route being married to a son of a dairy farmer and having two kids. He’s become open to many of my ideas over the years though. We mostly eat ‘primal.’ I could see going the veg route if I was single.Totally.
The fact remains though, if you don’t have thyroid hormone then you don’t have thyroid hormone. It is not going to be replaced by food.
I work hard to “eat healthy.”
I don’t think I could go the vegetarian route being married to a son of a dairy farmer and having two kids. He’s become open to many of my ideas over the years though. We mostly eat ‘primal.’ I could see going the veg route if I was single.Totally.
The fact remains though, if you don’t have thyroid hormone then you don’t have thyroid hormone. It is not going to be replaced by food.
[/quote]
Mom we specialize in male and female issues especially dealing wtth thyroi and adrenal related cases. WE deal with alot of male and female chronic fatique related cases. Veg is a big no no causes too much damage to GI lining.
I work hard to “eat healthy.”
I don’t think I could go the vegetarian route being married to a son of a dairy farmer and having two kids. He’s become open to many of my ideas over the years though. We mostly eat ‘primal.’ I could see going the veg route if I was single.Totally.
The fact remains though, if you don’t have thyroid hormone then you don’t have thyroid hormone. It is not going to be replaced by food.
[/quote]
Mom we specialize in male and female issues especially dealing wtth thyroi and adrenal related cases. WE deal with alot of male and female chronic fatique related cases. Veg is a big no no causes too much damage to GI lining. [/quote]
Veg is a big No no? I am interested in where that fact would come from?
Mom, There is a doctor in Forks over knives, who came from a dairy farming background & promoted Dairy for many years. His story is well worth a look for you. I understand the difficulty of going Veg & it is extremely difficult for me, being Australian and loving a bbq too.
I merely suggest watching them for some very valuable facts and information. Our bodies are the best designed machine in the world for healing themselves, when given the correct nutrients it needs for allowing this process.
The difference it made to our lives was amazing & i can only pass it on.
Cheers
Roo
One very important thing, our Thyroids are damaged by the chemicals in our everyday life. High Fructose Corn syrup being one nightmare.
VTb- thanks for that link! Would have been helpful to have jotted all those tests down…but I was caught off guard. I didn’t know it would come up. All he did was the Transglutaminase Antibody. It will be interesting to see if anything comes up.
Roo- it was a food documentary marathon in my house yesterday!
I watched forksoverknives, Food Matters and Fat sick and nearly dead
It definitely gets you thinking, no doubt! I was ready to go vegan without a question asked.
I plan to do all my own reading about how to safely and edibly make the transition. Maybe not %100…but I’d really like to see our plates filled up with more veggies and fruits FIRST and not as much reliance on animal protein.
Good on You Mom! The American way for a pill for every ill makes us forget what our bodies are really designed to do themselves. I’ve made it a hobby to study nutrition and am loving all the new doco’s that are coming out about it. Maybe one day some people will put together some about Thyroid and Testosterone truths & make our lives easier.
[If you get weepy with a doctor, you may end up with anti-depressants.][/quote]
Boosting Neuros up is a great way to improve several symptoms of an overall age related decline in health (and actually might be a root cause of many of them).
Although I would opt to boosting levels of Pregnenolone up to top range before I would look into pharm grade Neuro Boosters like Deprenyl, Wellbutrin.
