Thyroidectomy, now feeling hypo- no help from doctor

[crystal35]

I had thyroid cancer in 1997 and had a total thyroidectomy. Since then I have been taking levoxyl and my blood is within normal range for thyroid cancer (tsh 0.208, free T4 1.47) according to my endo. However I have the following hypo symptoms- no sex drive, depression, irritability, forgetfullness, less organized, tired, loss of interest in daily activities etc. I have been reading about T4/T3 therapy and T3 bloodwork. Going back in my records I do not think I have ever had my T3 tested, I never even knew my blood should be looked at for that nor that there were other medications besides levoxyl. I do remember taking cytomel before one of my scans and I felt normal again on it. I did ask my endo about it once and she said no I could not go on cytomel, no explanation.I think I may be able to benefit from T# therapy, what do you think?

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

The problem here is that the medical literature does not support that T4/T3 combo offers any benefit over T4 alone -- this is why some doctors have this black & white view of things that your doctor seems to have.  That being said, I have a few patients who go on cytomel in combo with levoxyl and do quite well.  I certainly would not suggest armour as the thyroglobulin in the pig thyroid can confuse the thyroid cancer follow-up and it is simply not as stable a thyroid replacement -- esp in cancer patients who require tight TSH regulation.

The cytomel dose for an otherwise healthy person would be 5mcg in am and again in early afternoon -- you would need to decrease the levoxyl by about 40mcg to keep the TSH in the 0.2 range.

[cosmicsoul]

I think you need to find another doctor who will listen to you and try different medicines. You can try synthetic T3 to be added or get on the correct dose of Armour thyroid and keep your TSH around 1-ish to be in the healthy side. Actually you should get a full thyroid panel every so often - T4, T3, FreeT4, FreeT3, TSH and possibly TPO antibodies. There are other antibodies that a good endo is familiar with. Bottom line - doctors who refuse to treat us despite we are feeling crappy need to be fired. Good luck to you!

[1547]

Crystal, I would listen to your medical doctor.  Inflammatory posts such as "doctors should be fired" if they don't listen to us are not helpful.  I mean, why don't we all just self treat ourselves then if the doctor just won't listen to us and give us what we want!  They have only had 7 or more years training and years of experience, but what do they know?  Us armchair, frustrated wannabe doctors HAVE to know better because after all, this IS the internet.  Do I sound sarcastic?  Yeah.  Am I attacking anyone personally?  No.  I am just tired of the confusion that the armchair experts are causing in sick people on here.  

Keep searching and try to find the best treatment for you.  It may mean changing docs, it may mean something else.  

Thyroid woes are a journey, and for many, often there is no easy solution; for others, it is a cakewalk.

[hypogirl80]

Let your body decide if you should find another doctor. Like fixing a car, find some one can fix your car/problem, who cares about how many years experience they have or how big the repair shop is. What you want is a smooth running car.  I hope you get the point.

[albert2011]

I WAS FEELING HORRIBLE

SEE MY POSTING ON 7/11/07 ALBERT2011

I WAS SWITCH FROM SYNTHOID TO ARMOUR AND I FEEL GREAT AGAIN

BUT I DONT KNOW IF IN YOUR CASE BECAUSE OF THE THYROID CANCER IF YOU CAN TAKE IT

I LIKE TO SHARFE MY EXPERIENCE WITH PEOPLE BECAUSE I KNOW WHAT IS FEEL LIKE TO FEEL LIKE THIS

BUT THANKS TO GOD AND ARMOUR MY LFE CHANGE

GOOD LUCK

[penelope12]

A related discussion, Thyroidectomy/T3 testing was started.