Can't read too much more... screen has my eyes burning and sight is fuzzy... how long have you been hypo? And no one has suggested you try Armour? Google that too, okay? The more you know and understand (print everything so you can study it, make notes) the more you will feel in control, calm and actually healthier because your worries go down as does your stress.
If I've made any mistakes here (*typos) sorry.... tired.\
Liu
I amso sorry I kept getting lost, reading and talking to others and checking my pulse and BP (not a good night) Okay, I'm going to risk sounding like a pain here but I feel you should do some research. The reason I say this is that with your info and the doc's responses to you, I feel you might not be on the right road. Have you ever visited the site StopTheThyroidMadness.com? Read up on Adrenals and also about TSH. I found out they were right on everything they posted in that community. (They no longer accept posts) TSH is an extremely poor indicator... MINE IS NOW 0.01! How do I feel > EXTREMELY HYPO! Low temps and my BP has been spiking dangerously due to adrenal stress they REFUSE TO TREAT. (I'm going to start treating myself in a few days, waiting for my TED to calm down and exit the hot phase). ALSO..... IN ORDER FOR YOU TO FEEL WELL you need the FT3 and FT4 in the TOP 1/3 of their ranges! Midrange works for some but not many (certainly not for me). PLEASE forgive my stupidity here... what are bc pills? I am NOT trying to be obtuse, but I honestly can't think tonight and need all spelled out.
LASTLY.... CORTISOL tests.... Blood is a very poor indicator. The most modern, most accurately proven test for Cortisol is a 24 hour saliva test. You can find CANARY CLUB under Adrenals at StopTheThyroidMadness. For little over $141 they will send you the kit. You simply spit into little tubes, at home on a stress free (I have NONE) day. You do it on a day that you can have it mailed the very next morning (or freeze it). It's all explained, very simple and, compaired to what my primary said it would cost thru a laboratory HE knew of it would have cost me about $800! Its the same darn test! For the same price your hormones and TSH, FT3 and FT4 are checked. You'll see clear results and can bring these to your ENDO and see if he/she can say she doesn't ACCEPT IT??!! I'm only trying to give you options here and something just seems off about your TSH and also your doc testing your Cortisol by blood which can only tell you the Cortisol level at that moment.... telling you, in short, nothing valuable. You need to see what the circadian profile of cortisol is from morning to midnight to see clearly the shape your adrenals are in and also your DHEA level (precursor to pregnenolone).
IF I've confused you at all.... not my intention Luv... DO take a peek at the StopTheThyroidMadness site and read read read. INFORM yourself on everything. Like I just wrote to Carman here, I swore I would try to help anyone and everyone avoid mistakes I made as long as I'm still here. I personally also find that without Armour I would have slit my wrists awhile ago. Many people who say they do NOT do well on it is because they ignore other problems.... i.e. Adrenal STRESS, NOT JUST FATIGUE.
One last point, luv, has your doc suggested you drink 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of SEA SALT (CELTIC IS BEST) in a glass of spring water for all the trace minerals? first thing in the AM? It detoxes and helps with pain and exhaustion. I tried it and couldn't believe they were right about this too! I'm NO DOCTOR, but I've had TO DO with docs all my life (sadly) and have learned that an informed patient is often disliked by a doctor (meaning you have the wrong doc) and is the most likely to avoid MISTAKES that their docs can and DO make.
KIDNEY DAMAGE! Honey, you are much too young to start thinking on those terms already. ONE point at a time, get the cLEAR PICTURE and then you will not only feel in control, you'll understand probably more than what your doc does! Trust me! I cannot think clearly often as I'm now much too ill and at a personal level things could NOT BE WORSE. Yet, I forced myself to inform myself after I had RAI (one of the bigger mistakes of my life) of everything wrong and of every test etc. I suggest to everyone to do the same. To me the cost of the saliva test at Dianos--Techs thru the Canary Club (order online and they send it free, you pay only when you return the saliva to them for testing and decide the day you want to do it) was very hard to save but WELL WORTH IT. My doc does not even BELIEVE in adrenal fatigue.... showed him my test and now he is quite docile and does practically anything I suggest if I explain it to him. Of course he's about as much help as a dead snail to me but hey better than nothing right?
G'night and best wishes to you, Liuu
i have to go for a few minutes - i will check back shortly
i am here what info do you need?
its no prob - i will answer almost anything! no, i am 36yrs old. ive been on bc pills for 19 years.
I promise this is the last question (I swear I'm sitting here sifting thru words on how to inform you of what I know ...) Are you past menopause? I do not like asking questions like this but I could not find any profile on you hon! Liu
answers for 2nd post: i have kaiser. it took from last july until now just to get an endo referral. my family thinks that i should let this endo run the tests and try to figure out whats wrong. my pcp ran a blood cortisol 02/25/08 and it was only 0.9 (range 0.6 to 1.1) with a GFR of 71. the creatinine urine was 48.6 (no range was provided) and the urine rate was 1.6 (range 0.8 to 1.8). when i took the information and put it into a creatinine clearance calculator it shows 121ml/min. so i am worried about a few things: 1) high creatinine clearance rate 2) GFR at 71 (shows kidney damage??) 3) my tsh went from 1.54 to 3.3 in one week and my endo is just concerned with the cortisol 4) i still have high tpo antibodies.
you like how thecarman started teasing me about my occasional chocolate habit!!! anyways, here are the answers to your post: 1) i am not on cortisol. i was on prednisolone for only 6 days last june for hip join pain - i occasionally use an albuterol inhaler for asthma (less than 5 times a year). 2) i am naturally hypo, dx last july never had any rai or anything like that. additional info: i take wellbutrin 150 2x day for anxiety/panic, levothroid 75mcg, yasmin, motrin and a varitey of meds to help with stomach issues (prilosec/pepcid/tums, etc). i also take multivitamins and eat a healthy diet & workout 5x week. i take the levothroid at 6am and the other meds are always at least 4 hours after the levo. i also want to let you know i never take meds the morning of labs and that before the 24 hour urine test for free cortisol and creatinine i did not eat meat and did not workout for 48 hours before and during the test. i also drank the normal amount of fluids i drink every day in order to not throw off the test by drinking too much/too little. any help would be greatly appreciated!!
ALSO, Do you have the opportunity to slow things down and see an osteopath, naturopath or simply a different endo? Blood tests for cortisol levels????!!! Please answer these 2 entries so I can offer you a different outlook here, different yet also valid info and YOU CAN CALM DOWN! I hate to hear people panicking when I know what that does to your health and it's really not necessary... really.
Me... Liu
Okay, I don't want to confuse the issues here but let me see if I understand and if I can helpl. ARE YOU ON CORTISOL? Important I know this first. Also, are you hypothyroid naturally or because of surgery or radiation therapy to the thyroid>? Reason I ask is that I comploetely disagree with everyone here but need to know these things before I put my 2 cents in, okay? I'm right here waiting for answer...
hate to bug you all for answers, but does anyone have any info regarding my question? thanks!
does anyone know about creatinine clearance???? i just got my 24hr creatinine results. i am at 121 ml/min. is that just confirming that i am hypo w/hashi? my lab did not calculate this for me. i took my results and used an online calculator. there seem to be many reference ranges, some say its high at 121 ml/min some say it's at high-normal. now i am just waiting for my 24hr cortisol results that should be in by next Weds.
I guess that was last week.
I just can't get it together for the past two days. I'm in hyper he11
thats what i meant...hehehe...
i guess im lucky that one of my side affects from all this is that i am never that hungry - yet i keep gaining weight even on the levo.
Nope........I was teasing you about your chocolate comment in this post!
hey - are you teasing me about my chocolate comment last week??? hehehe
hey - are you teasing me about my chocolate comment last week??? hehehe
i am stressed - but that is because im worried about my thyroid probs and getting my levels (tsh/t's/tpo ab) under control. so the endo doesnt care my tsh jumped from 1.54 to 3.33 in a week and im feeling miserable. he only cares that the tpo ab and cortisol are high. it makes me mad! should i just go with it and think that the endo knows what he's doing with this cortisol stuff?????
tomorrow i go to the lab and pick up the test kit and i wont know anything else until 5 days after i return it so i think that will be late next week. the waiting is going to make me stress more! i cannot stop thinking about this and it's really affecting my life. i hope that this gets resolved fast because i cannot take this much longer. rrrggghhh!!!
I can't resist..............mmmmmm chocolate!
Here's what I found on line:
Aside from *STRESS* - high levels of blood cortisol can be from:
- A high level of cortisol in the blood can mean Cushing's syndrome, a disorder that can be caused by overactive adrenal glands, a pituitary or adrenal gland tumour, some types of cancer, or long-term use of corticosteroids.
- One cause of Cushing's syndrome is Cushing's disease, a condition caused by a non-cancerous tumour of the pituitary gland (adenoma). An adenoma causes the pituitary gland to make too much of the hormone adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn causes the adrenal glands to make too much cortisol.
- A high blood cortisol level can be caused by severe liver or kidney disease, depression, hyperthyroidism, or obesity.
- Conditions such as recent surgery, illness, injury, or whole-body infection (sepsis) can cause high cortisol levels.
ok so the nurse just called me and said that my AM blood cortisol results are 34.8 (lab range for AM blood is 5-23). the endo wants me to do a 24hr urine and creatinine. i am freaking out. does this mean i have cushings????????? i'm scared...panicking now :-(
Glad you posted the Yaz thing - It makes total sense when all the pieces start to fall into place.
Good Luck and yeah - I find that I little harsh for your endo to brush the whole Yaz thing off to the OB and I have a feeling the OB will probably not have a concrete direction for you on the two meds too.:/
I think truly- you will need to decided if stopping the Yaz is right and you will have to inform THEM not them informing you.
Glad this helped. and really read up on that estrogen stuff not only for your thyroid - but later down the road - it really isn't good to be on it that long.
Thanks for the correction, kitty.
My bad. Don't know what I was thinking. :/
A TSH of 1.54 may still be too high.
I used to be on Yasmin/Yaz.
II d/c'd that 1 1/2 years ago. Even off birth control, my TSH varied up/down.
I didn't gain weight, either.
The TPO level may not change.
As stella said, being on any med with estrogen will increase your dosage of t4 meds.