Is there something else I can take besides Synthroid!!!!!

[gma4]

I am a 57 year old female.  I was diagnosed hypothyroid about 6 years ago.  I have been on Levothyroxine and for the past few years Synthroid ever since my diagnosis.  I am on 50 mg Synthroid.  I have a history of anxiety, thus the low dose.  Five weeks ago my blood work showed that I now have Hashimotos.  My doc prescribed compounded T3 to be taken with my Synthroid.  I am feeling better on the T3, no brain fog and lots more energy.  However, I am lightheaded, my feet ache constantly, and I am wondering if Synthroid is the right choice for me.  My biggest complaint is that I feel very lightheaded most of the time.  I also have feelings of mild depression and gloom.  this is not normal for me.  I have times when I feel great that last for half a day and I think ok, I am feeling great and then it hits me again, anxious, sad, paranoid.  I would really love to go off synthroid and see if that's causing me issues.  Can I do that?  Is there something else I can take?  Your input would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance.

[goolarra]

It is a bit of a guessing game, but if you get a copy of your labs (and they include FREE T3 and FREE T4, not just TSH) you will have a much better grasp of the situation.  Note on your lab reports symptoms and meds just before the draw.

Since your T3 is slow release, splitting the dose wouldn't be an issue.  However, I have heard the comment on this forum that slow release isn't as good as it sounds like it would be.  You might also consider, with your doctor, if regular T3 split into two doses might work better for you.

T3 is effective much sooner than 6 weeks.  It takes T4 4-6 weeks to reach full potential, but due to the fast nature of T3, it effects your blood levels sooner.  However, symptom relief might still take some time as our bodies need time to heal and rebalance after being hypo.

The goal of meds is symptom relief, so, yes, you do need to be treated according to symptms with lab results only as a guide.

This is a ptient's forum.  We are all fellow patients, not doctors of any kind.

Endos are not the be-all and end-all in thyroid care, especially since many of them only care about diabetes.  If you trust your doctor and she's willing to work with you, there's no reason she can't treat your hypo.  Learn all you can and become your own advocate...if you do that, all you'll need a doctor for is to write the scripts!

[gma4]

I take my T3 in the morning only at the same time I take the Synthroid.  I take it right when I wake up and eat at least an hour later.  The T3 is T3-E4M 2.5 mcg.  I get it at a compounding pharmacy.  they told me it is a slow release pill. I have only been on the T3 for 6 weeks.  I was told it takes 3 months to  be completely effective in your body.  I have been monotoring how I feel during the day.  My symptoms are really  up and down.  I feel like my body is always trying to stabelize but never really gets there.  I have read that with Hashimotos it's difficult to keep everything balanced.  I called my doc and told her that I was still having significant symptoms so she ran blood work and called and left a message that the blood work looked good and would I please call her back to discuss.  I am going to call her back today and request the bloodwork results so that I can see what tests she ran and what the numbers were.  I have read that you can't always dose by blood results and you should dose by symptoms.  How do you feel about this?  Are you an endocrinologist?  My doc is an OB/GYN MD.  she does not deliver babies and has more of a Womens Wellness practice.  Do you think it's necessary to see an endocrinologist?  I have been with this doctor for 5 years and feel that she has good handle on the situation, but she does not specialize in Thyroid issues.  It has always been my nature to go to a specialist but she is very knowledgeable and I feel she is willing to work with me to stabelize my situation.  Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.  Thank you for the information on alternatives to Synthroid.  I will discuss what you have said with my doctor to figure out the best approace.  I must say, I feel somewhat overwhelmed trying to figure out what the right thing to do is.  It seems like a bit of a guessing game to get everything balanced and keep it there.  

[flyingfool]

Some  questions:

When to you take the T3 medication?  Do you take half in the morning and half in the early afternoon?

Depression/gloom etc as well as anxiety are all consistent with being LOW thyroid.  Meaning that it is POSSIBLE that the reason you have those symptoms is that you are not medicated enough, and not due to the synthroid itself.

Also you report that you feel well in the morning and it gets worse towards the evening.

T3 medication is VERY fast acting.  As in hours where as T4 medication takes WEEKS to build up and stabilize.  If you take all your thyroid med in the morning including all of the T3 medication.  It is possible that as you use up the T3 you then get symptomatic during the evening as there is little T3 left from the medication.  By splitting the medication in half (and possibly needing a dosage increase) this will help level off the amount of T3 available in your blood to stay more constant and thus alleviate the "crash" later in the day.

Finally there are all kinds of things you can do.  It is true some people are sensitive to different manufacturers of thryoid meds. This is usually a function of the different fillers, buffers and dye coloring that the different manufacturers use.  It usually is NOT the T4 hormone itself.  So if you really believe that Synthroid is the problem, you could try different generic versions of T4 that are available.  Also thre is a liquid gel cap T4 medication called Tirosint that uses no fillers and dyes etc that many people have found they could tolerate when they could not tolerate other T4 medications.

Finally there is Natural Dissected Thyroid (NDT).  T his is derived from pig thyroid and is a manufactured product that has BOTH T4 and T3 in it.  This medication has been used successfully for over 100 years although many Dr's now seem reluctant to use it.  

Since you take both a T4 and T3 medication, you may want to discuss trying NDT with your Dr.  Two common names for NDT in the USA are; Armour and Nature Thyroid there is also Canadian manufacturer Efra.