Over Medicated Armour Thyroid

[trudyanne]

In December 2013 I showed a bit hypo thyroid.  I had been taking 90mg for many years.  Dr. put me on 120mg daily. July showed my tsh to be 0.060. I was cut back to 120mg 6 days a week, in Sept. tsh was 0.297.  I was cut back to 120mg 5 days a week.  The hyperthyroid took its toll.  I have terrible ringing in my ears, my hair all fell out, people say I look like I aged 20 years....My question is once the dose is regulated will these problems correct themselves or not?

[Red_Star]

I've seen various videos/articles of those no longer suffer symptoms of Crohn's disease due to changing their diet such as switching to a Specific Carbohydrate Diet, Low Carb High Fat Diet, or Vegan Diet. I know my ex neighbour's brother almost died from Crohn's disease and changed his diet radically to get better.  Not sure what diet he switched to though.

[trudyanne]

I have mal absorption because of crohns disease.  I have tried enzymes etc. but did not find relief.  I believe there is something that can help but continuing to try and find the right thing was like finding a needle in a hay stack.  My doctor was no help.  I believe simply because he does not know anything about them.  As with most doctors I have found they know little about supplements or seeing anything but what is in a book.  It has been been frustrating yet helpful to see so many posts that so many have doctors that do not take the time to see each person as an individual and listen.

You seem to know a lot about t3 and t4.  Can you give me opinion on my numbers I put up?  I should be getting more results this week to compare from 2 months a go.  Thanks so much for your help....

[Red_Star]

I've read you can have pre diabetes and diabetes without any symptoms. One of the possible symptoms of pre diabetes/diabetes is fatigue after eating. It's usually due to higher than normal blood glucose after eating carbs. In some cases it's due to blood sugar dropping too low after a meal. I think that is called reactive hypoglycemia. I'm no longer insulin resistant or pre diabetic. :)

[Barb135]

Yes, I'm still pre-diabetic, as is one of my sisters and a brother, plus a couple of friends.  As I said, I've never heard of such severe symptoms as those mentioned, attributed to pre-diabetes, neither have I been able to find scientific studies supporting them.  There's a huge difference between pre-diabetes and full blown diabetes.

Lest we scare other members, symptoms of pre-diabetes are, typically, increased thirst, frequent urination, some fatigue or blurred vision.  Many people with pre-diabetes have no symptoms at all.

[Red_Star]

I haven't come across much in regards to chronic hyperthyroidism. I started taking my B, C and E a year after I was no longer hyperthyroid. I just just wanting something to help with the fatigue.  Just assume everything is deficient lol.

Why do I always get the severe symptoms~!? lol Barb, are you still pre diabetic? There is an article on Diabetes UK worth checking out: 5:2 Fasting Diet.

[Barb135]

Have you tried taking Betaine HCl?  I have issues with protein absorption, as well and I find that taking Betaine with HCl with each meal containing protein seems to help with absorption.  You might want to do some research on that.  Betaine HCl adds acid, which helps with digestion. You might also look into digestive enzymes to take with meals.  They certainly help me.

I, too, have pre-diabetes, but fortunately, I've never heard of anything so severe as Red_Star's situation.

[trudyanne]

Thanks for your info...I have started Mega B's as per your suggestion.  Sounds like you have had a time of it.  Gratefully I have not had to deal with the diabetic issues.  If you should run across information on others with hyperthyroid symptoms and their recovery time hope you will let me know.  Low albumin (protein) is also a problem for me but I think it is the absorption as I do eat a lot of protein, in fact I crave it.  Especially meat.

[Red_Star]

Sorry I mean I had pre diabetes with 10.7 mmol/L (diabetes over 11.1 mmol/L on the oral glucose tolerance test).  The symptoms of pre diabetes were terrible. One of my symptoms was fatigued after eating a meal. One time it was so bad I staggered to bed fully dressed with the computer still running and woke up 15 hours later.

[Red_Star]

I was hyperthyroid for a year. I also worsened my insulin resistance and developed diabetes too. I believe my fluid retention with hyperthyroidism was due to insulin resistance.  Who knows what other damage was done.
Also, I didn't know how down I was until I started B vitamins. It's like a switch. Two days later I was happy. I thought about it for a moment then it clicked. B vitamins. I love B vitamins. :)

I still have muscle atrophy. One area of atrophy is ahem...behind. lol.  I'm sitting on bone basically which is uncomfortable! I don't have much of an appetite and I just read 0.7 grams of protein per pound of body weight is needed to gain muscle. For me that is 109 grams. A DAY. O_O This is not going to be easy.

[trudyanne]

Thank you for your reply.  I was on the high medication for 9 months.  Had a blood test Friday and will see if it is still high.  I also have had muscle wasting.  Very weak and painful in legs.  Lots of swelling.  The rest of your reply is interesting and I will look into that.  How long did you have the hyper thyroid?

[trudyanne]

thank you for your reply.  T3 was 241   Reference 71-180 T4 was 4.9 Ref: 4.5-12.0.  I have been hypo thyroid for years.  I know the symptoms well and know there are some similarities but this was definitely Hyper.  I listed only a few of the symptoms and they all started after the increase in medication.  The information you gave re: t3 and t4 is helpful.  My doctor does not always take them and relies on the tsh.  

[Barb135]

Simply having a low TSH does not make one hyper.  TSH is a pituitary hormone that signals the thyroid to produce thyroid hormones.  It becomes pretty much useless in many of us, particularly, when taking a medication with a T3 component, such as Armour Thyroid.

You're only hyper if your symptoms are caused from excessively high levels of Free T3 and Free T4, which are the actual thyroid hormones and I don't even see your levels.  If you have them, please post them, along with reference ranges, which vary lab to lab and have to come from your own report.  

Some symptoms are shared with hypothyroidism, such as ear ringing and hair loss.  My own TSH has been at < 0.01 (recently came up to 0.01) for the past 6 years and I've never once been hyper.  My hair loss only stopped once my thyroid hormone levels were allowed to rise, in spite of low TSH.

[Red_Star]

You should see improvements in some of those symptoms. However, it depends on how much damage was done and how long you were hyperthyroid as well.  No amount of correcting my thyroid levels will fix up my cracked off tooth enamel or muscle atrophy.

I also had a lot of deficiency states since my stomach acid depleted and I was in major oxidative stress (hello skyrocketing thyroid peroxidase antibodies!).  My appearance improved drastically taking B/C and E vitamins just to add. I just found this yesterday: "CoQ10 levels in hyperthyroid patients were found among the lowest detected in human diseases." Honestly, if it's not one deficiency it's another. lol.

Excerpt from the article: What thyroid patients should know about Oxidative Stress...

"When Oxidation become “Oxidative Stress”

On the negative side, sometimes your body can lose the ability to take care of all the free radicals caused by the constant oxidation. (Collectively, all these free radicals are called “reactive oxygen species” (ROS).) The body then becomes overwhelmed by the excess of oxygenated free radicals, causing all sorts of damage. And this is all termed “oxidative stress”.

Alarmingly, oxidative stress can cause the loss of one of your key and internally-natural antioxidants: glutathione. Glutathione is a powerful antioxidant produced by your own cells, and it neutralizes those free radicals/reactive oxygen species. It also works expertly with antioxidants vitamin C and E. And as your glutathione levels fall, a cascade of toxic deterioration and damage can also begin, from cells to tissues to organs.

Scientists theorize, and studies propose, that this is what leads to conditions like:

chronic inflammation
cognitive dysfunction
Alzheimers
premature aging
Parkinson’s
Sickle Cell Anemia
autism
heart disease
atherosclerosis
renal disease
lung disease
cancer

Oxidative stress may also be negatively affecting your methylation process, such as the MTHFR enzyme.

Some Causes of oxidative stress

There are quite a few situations mentioned in articles and studies which can cause your body to be overly stressed from the results of oxidation and all the reactive oxygen species. They include, but are not limited to:

excess endurance exercising
excess weight lifting
lack of key antioxidant nutrients like Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Selenium, Magnesium and other minerals
excess radiation or sunlight
smoking (huge cause of oxidative stress)
excessive drinking or drug use
over-exposure to toxins in our air, water and foods like pesticides, chemicals, heavy metals and more
prescription medications
processed foods with all their artificial dyes, additives or flavorings
excess physical trauma
Graves disease aka hyperthyroidism
excess copper levels from the MTHFR defect"