strange prescription

[kobrien971]

I am at end stage of Hashimoto's disease and really struggling to feel ok and get the right treatment. I even started to have neuromuscular symptoms along with pretty severe depression. I'm 36 and became like an old woman!  I was on 150 mg of levothyroxine and switched to Armour as I wanted to try T3. As I don't think I am tolerating Armour that well, I asked my doctor for an alternative. He wrote me a prescription for 50 mcg levothyroxine per day plus 20 mg of Cytomel. It seems too off-balance to me, when my T4 and T3 are both low normal. I haven't taken it yet because I am scared to. I just keep on with the Armour? What do you think of this?

[kobrien971]

Thanks, Niko. I know that my reverse T3 was over 250 and that my ratio was 10.9 on the last bloodtest. After I read about that reverse T3 problem I could see why perhaps I should go over to a therapy of more T3 and clear out that T4. Maybe that is why he wrote that Rx, but I wish he would have explained it better to me. However, that blood test reflected 90 mg of Armour which I could feel was way too low.  I'm going to see what the next one is on 120 mg in 2 weeks and I will let you know. Thanks for your help and support!
Best.

[TheLightSeeker]

Perhaps the Armour is putting too much strain on your adrenals.
Adrenal dysfunction must be addressed first before thyroid dysfunction
is addressed.
Situations like this should be monitored closely by your doctor/endocrinologist who may have to test you for adrenal fatigue/insufficiency.
If this is not ruled out, then depression, anxiety, irritability and all the symptoms of adrenal fatigue will wreak havoc.
There are of course other possibilities, as thyroid treatment is complex,
to put it mildly,and if your doctor is not on top of things, YOU have to be.
That means knowing and understanding your own condition with all the
changes and effects from the meds.
Unfortunately there are no easy and straight answers.
Sometimes there's thyroid hormone resistance from the reverse T3 (from T4 only) effect with an imbalance of free T3 to reverse T3, where T4 is where the originating issue lies.
And this is often overlooked, but T3 and reverse T3 need to be tested, and if
imbalanced  this has to be corrected, by cutting out totally the supply of T4-which takes a couple months- while increasing the T3 supply gradually and relying on T3 exclusively. For more info go to the "hormone and  longevity centre" (all one word) website.

You may want to repost also at the Thyroid Community,
as there are many knowledgeable members to answer your questions.

Take care.
Niko