low TSH, still have brain fog

[hawkfan]

I am 28 and was diagnosed with papillary and follicular cancer in March.  I've had my thyroid removed and had I131 treatment.  I've been on Synthroid ever since.  I am currently on 225 Mcg of Synthroid.  My latest labs had my TSH at less than 0.03.  My problem is that I have begun having serious brain fog like I had ppost treatment before I started my Synthroid.  I want to be myself again, but it is like I cannot make my body function properly.  I feel like I'm screaming on the inside, but just can't function.  Please help!

[Maggie76]

I have been a papillary thyroid cancer survivor for more than 15 years now.  It seems like doctors push Synthroid on their patients instead of Armour Thyroid or Thyrolar.  Many patients taking Synthroid including myself seem to feel sick a lot. Synthroid has T4 only.  Armour Natural Thyroid on the other hand has T1, T2, T3, & T4. Thyrolar is a synthetic containing T3 & T4. I took Armour Natural Thyroid several years ago for awhile and felt so much better on it than with Synthroid plus my hair even looked healthier. The great feeling though was short lived since an endocrinologist immediately refused to allow me to stay on Armour claiming that as a thyroid cancer survivor, I can only take Synthroid.  He didn't care whether I felt good on Armour or not.  It was his way or no way.  Luckily, my insurance carrier changed and so I had to change doctor(s) as well.  I have had to stay on Synthroid since then though since I couldn't find a doctor willing to prescribe anything other than Synthroid.  Several months ago while searching for a doctor listed on my insurance plan, I found finally a doctor who prescribes Armour to other thyroid patients.   He suggested that my labs need to improve first before he changes my medication over from Synthroid to Armour.  I will ask my doctor to prescribe Armour.  Armour is much better than Synthroid as treatment for Hypothyroidism.    

I do agree that a combo with T3/T4 is better than taking Synthroid.  You'll feel so much better getting off of Synthroid. If you stay on Synthroid, you'll notice soon that not only do you feel lousy, but your hair will thin out noticeably.  My opinion is to find a doctor who will prescribe either Armour Natural Thyroid which has T1, T2, T3, & T4 or synthetic Thyrolar which has T3 & T4.  Armour is probably your better choice since it has all the T's.

Good luck and feel better!

[lazydog]

T3/T4 combo is far superior to T4 only. It fixed the brain fox and the best thing was it also got rid of the "white rabbit" sydrome as I call it - where you feel you're always in a hurry and there's never enough time to do what you need to do!

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Talk to your doc about a trial of synthroid & cytomel combo -- I would start at 175 synthroid in am & 5mcg am & pm of Cytomel.  If the docs are concerned about persistent thyroid cancer, the dose may need to be higher to keep the TSH low, but if there is low risk of thyroid cancer at this point then you should be okay with the suggested dose.