Armour and LoW TSH

[mandy30]

Ok I had a total thyriodectomy in 1999, for treatment of Graves disease. I was on Levothyroid till 2004, then switched to Armour after having severe depression and anxiety, with hiar loss and fatigue. I was doing well till last year I started to gain weight, a total of 34 lbs. in the last year. I went to my doc and my tsh came back at .001, I asked him to test adrenial, cortison, ft3 and ft4 etc.... I am also not having my menstural cycle but once every other month, but I am bloated and cramping on schedule. My test results were all in the normal range includind estrogen fsh and lsh and the only numbers they would give me were TSH 0.09, and FT4 0.9. I am feeling hypo with the excepton of I am always hot! Can anyone tell me why my FT4 was almost to low and my TSH is to high? My doctors nurse told me to increase or decrease my Armour it was up to me? Please any suggestions would help me out alot here. I currenty take 60mg in the am and 45mg before bed.

[stella5349]

What would be helpful here is the Free T3 test results. Was that done? A low FREE T4 should be present -IF the Free T3 is high - if your Free T3 is high then a TSH on the lower side would be normal.

Why are you splitting  your  dosages so far apart? Usually it is best to take them 4 hours apart. and in small quanitites.  60mg - 7am 22.5mg - 11am - 22.5 1 or 2pm. Your adrenals need to get tired in the evening and if you are taking your thyroid meds very late they don't get the rest needed for the next day.

What time of the day did you take your test? and were you on your Armour at the time the test was taken? To get an actual reading your should be tested in the early am everytime without taking your meds and I believe fasting too.  What came about with the adrenal testing?  

You may be swinging hyper to hypo with the time between taking your meds and nothing actually stabilizes to get balanced.  

If you keep swinging on your Thryoid hormones your adrenals and sex organs become unbalanced and fatigue of these glands start to happen. Then when they are exhausted you now have more problems to correct than just the thyroid. This would be especially important since you are totally dependant on thyroid meds due to not having a gland anymore b/c of TT

[mandy30]

my labs were taken at 8pm after taking my meds at 9am. I was never told how to take the armour, just to split the dose into 2 times a day. my doc did test my female, adrenial and cortisol functions and they were all perfect. in reading I have discovered many people on Armour have a considerably low tsh. In reading how to treat with Armour it says  to get the TSH below 0.4 then adjust off the ft3 and ft4 and keep them above the median line? it does not say how or when to tested though. I am waiting for my doc to get back to me with all my test numbers. I was also told if the t3 is normal and the t4 low I should supplement with a synthetic t4 as well, have you heard of this? I will start today spreading out my meds in 3 doses 4 hours apart to see where that gets me!
Thank for youe advise it is appreciated

[stella5349]

My TSH at my last test was 0.04 and I am not hyper. My Free T3 is at 5.7 at a range of 2.3 to 4.2.  My Free T4 is at 1.1 with a range of .7 to 1.5. I am very very close to where I want to be. My doctor has given me the sources to increase when needed and decrease if necessary. I am so much better than I was 3 months ago.

Is the weight gain in the middle? If so as that is where my weight is - you are binding cortisol and it needs to be circulating. The only way to move that stuff around is to support the adrenals. Cortisol needs to flow around the body and hypoT's have the on going problem of it binding.

A solution to this could be to supplement with sea salt and Vit C - magnesium and Zinc.

[mandy30]

when i took my second dose of armour 5 hours after my morning dose I got a little shaky is that normal? maybe my body is just adjusting to the change in times. I am very afraid of changing the meds as i get bad anxiety attacks. i have still not increased my dosage as I don't know what time of day to add to. Please help!!!!!