Think I might need some help...

[dottyhere]

I think I may need some help....I am having every symptom you can think of...but the chest pain and arm pain are the most troubling...along with the try to stand up straight and not look like a drunk walking..I had to give up walking the dog..weight is going up, vision off, fybromyalgia,osteo, several broken bones, feet, toes, back in a couple of places, if you can name it, I have been to the doc for it...brain fog..omg...do not want to go there....I have forgotten my own kids names at times and repeat myself all the time.can not remember a damn thing and it might cost me my job.feel like a senile old woman..I am 54 and that is not old enough to feel like this....My tsh is now at a 22.486.....have been hypothyroid for years..this snuck up on me and slapped me hard...Synthroid has been upped from 100mcg. to 150, then 175 and now 200..but the feelings are not going away and neither is the weight...what is next?????????  sorry I posted this in wrong place before....

[jkrl]

As we get older our bodies don't absorb nutrients like they should. I have to keep diet in check but it won't help what you eat if you aren't absorbing nutrients. A really good flora to take every day would help to insure absorbtion along with a diet low in sugar refined foods and preservatives. (Flora's can be found at Whole Foods or Fruitful Yield and are refrigerated.) Also organic. Pantothenic Acid and B12 along with a good B-complex helped me with the fog.

[tina999]

First Jimlow can you email me as I can't send stuff to your new email address.

Second concerning the addition of T3 to T4 treatment.

I am a very messed up hypo person so I have been doing a lot of reading about the diodinases that convert T4 to T3 among other things.   It turns out the amount of these enzymes in your body (the expression levels) are determined by how much T3 is in your bloodstream not T4.   There are two enzymes-Type 1 and Type 2.  The type 2 is in your brain and skelatal muscle and the type 1 is in your kindeys and liver.

If you are super hypo the type 2 enzyme levels get really high and the type 1 levels get low.  This is so that all the T4 floating around gets turned into T3 in your brain.  You let the liver and kidneys slow down thier metabolism with low T3 in order to keep the brain functioning at "top" speed.

So when you start supplementing with synthetic T4 to fix the hypothyroid condition, your body senses this and alters the levels of these enzymes in thoert bringing them back to "normal".   However the article I was reading actually said it makes more sense to supplement with both T4 and T3 as it's the T3 levels that tell your body to go back to a normal state with respect to these enzymes.

If you give T4 and expect the enzyme produced T3 (when those enzyme levels are all out of wack) to reregulate the amount of enzyme it may take much longer than if you also give a small dose of T3.  It may work for a lot of people but for some it may not work.

Just some thoughts!

[Mark Lupo, M.D.]

Getting the TSH back to normal - around 1 - is the first step.  Then see what symptoms remain.  The combination of osteoporosis, increasing synthroid needs and hypothyroid(presumbaly hashimotos, that is, autoimmune) brings up the possibility of Sprue -- inflammation in the intestine leading to malabsorption of things like calcium, iron, Vit D and medications --- also consider B-12 deficiency (pernicious anemia) with the "drunken gait".  

The chest pain and arm pain needs evaluation ASAP -- actually - that is the first step -- there is data to suggest that hypothyroidism is a significant cardiac risk factor -- get to a cardiologist or your primary doc to do an ECG or possible stress test.

[JDrake]

My doctor just had me start taking Cytomel (T3) today, in addition to my Synthroid.  It may be something you could look into?  I have severe brain fog and can't remember a darn thing along with a mulitude of other symptoms.  My kids think I am losing my mind and some days it sure feels like I am.  My doctor said that sometimes a person can't breakdown the T4 to T3, and T3 is the active hormone. Please keep me posted on how your doing!

Jenni

[doodlebug1]

Hi dottyhere. Dr. Mark will be replying soon, but wanted to add that I found treatment with natural dessicated thyroid, also called Armour, to be FAR superior treatment than Synthroid or Levoxyl. In fact, I am noting that LOTS of folks are switching to it, and getting much better results. You are only on a T4-only med, and Armour gives you exactly what your own thyroid would be giving you--T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. I found a doc to put me on it, and she tests my free T3, getting it to the top of the range, and she basically ignores the TSH, since it does become suppressed when folks get high enough on Armour to rid themselves of symptoms! Also, but the way, I've noted that a LOT of us hypo folks have low Ferritin. Mine was and it gave me very similar symptoms to being hypo. Perhaps your doc can get that tested? My doc wants mine to be at least 70 - 90.