Levoxyl has only one of the hormones?

[RozesofSharon]

I am 52 and my memory has been getting worse and worse with every year.  It is becoming more and more concerning as more and more important items are getting lost in my mind.  I have mentioned it to my doctor who suggested Alzheimer's and posed it as a question... Do you really want to know?  It has made me think ( no pun intended)  but decided I do want to know.  If I have to prepare myself, or more importantly preparing my family, for the results of this mind taking disease, I would like to.  But if it is my thyroid??? and just a change of medications??? This winter especially I am FREEZING all the time.  I never get warm.  I feel I am cold to my soul ( as I put it)  I am considerably obese (290 lbs) and have been since my teens when I was initially diagnosed and I gained a lot of the weight within a few months.  I hardly eat (and I know everyone says this) but I truly do not eat much, and definitely do not over eat yet I maintain this outrageous weight.  My doctor has me on .50 of Levoxyl.  I seem to function better at 0.75, but she took me back down to the 050 .  My question:  which medications should I talk to her about regarding a more true to form hormone replacement of all the hormones the thyroid produces?  


This discussion is related to Forgetfulness and Synthroid.

[gimel]

If you can post your blood test results and their ranges, that would be helpful.  Since you were on a higher dosage of Levoxyl and your doc reduced the amount I assume the doc is probably using TSH to determine your meds.  With your symptoms, I suggest that you need to get further testing done, to include not total T3 and total T4, but free T3 and free T4, along with TSH. Free T3 is the most important because it is the most active component and it largely regulates your metabolism.  People with hypothyroid problems seem to respond best when their free T3 is in the upper third of its range and TSH in the low end of its range.   If you want to get an idea of your metabolic state right now, you can check your normal temperature several times a day for several days and compare the average to the optimal of 98.6.  Average temperatures below 98.6 are usually an indication of low metabolism/low thyroid.  Here is a good link on temperature and metabolism.

http://www.drrind.com/tempgraph.asp

[Thypatient]

I’m not sure how I would take that posed question but probably would want to know myself.  At your age, wouldn’t the stats that it’s Alzheimer’s be low (?).

As for your thyroid, your dr can go over all your labs and explain exactly why she prescribed that med.

The med you were prescribed is a T4 only hormone replacement medication, which the body needs.  It also needs T3 thyroid hormone but has the ability to take the T4 hormone and covert it into T3, as needed.  Also, other organs in the body can make T3, as needed.

A dr can assess whether the body is making that conversion from T4 to T3 through a calculation.  If your body is not making that conversion from T4 to T3 and your other organs are not making enough T3, you might need to be prescribed a T3 hormone.

Assuming your dr is appropriately taking care of you, she's probably already done this assessment.

There is a lot written out there that implies taking in the additional T3 hormone is ‘always’ necessary.  This is not true.

I can share too, there is a lot written out there about ‘more true hormone replacement,’ ‘more natural hormone replacement,’ etc.  This all sounds appealing.  I know it was for me.  Even to the point of wondering whether my own drs were adequately taking care of me.  But there’s something I had to come to an understanding about in regards to endocrine disease: Just because something is ‘more true’ or ‘more natural’ doesn’t mean it’s better and more effective.

As for your weight, all I can say is that I have been overweight too and can totally sympathize.  That alone is a very trying issue.

Good luck with everything and take care.

[stella5349]

There are advantages of many varieties of thyroid medications. Some responf well om T4 meds alone - Some respond best on a dessicated T3/T4 combo med with a direct T3 in it.

Some may even feel better on a combination of both T4 and a T3/T4 - Some may just need a tweek of adding a T3 to their medication now.

There are choices out there - make yourself aware of them all and decide to use you labs and symtpoms together to see what med fits you.