second opinion part 2 lol

[kelle619]

Hi guys.
I am going for a second opinion for my thyroid. I will post my labs when I get them. I was just wondering, I know everyone is different, but I was wondering, what medication do you prefer? Synthroid, Armour, something else???

[goolarra]

I take Levoxyl, which is a brand of levothyroxine like Synthroid and other smaller brands.  You can also get generic levothyroxine.

I had the usual symptoms:  fell asleep if I dared sit down for 10 minutes, carpal tunnel syndrome, lower back pain, fluid retention, etc.  

[kelle619]

Thank you. When you say you take T4, what is the name of the med?? Also, what were your symptoms before you were diagnosed/treated?

[goolarra]

As you said, we're all different, and what works for one of us doesn't necessarily work for the other.  Also, which meds work depends on your thyroid profile.  All have advantages and disadvantages.  Personal preference also comes into play.

T4-only (Synthroid) is arguably the easiest, cheapest and least susceptible to supply issues.  As you know it relies on the theory that your body will convert that T4 to T3, the more active form of the thyroid hormones.  For some people conversion is an issue and a direct source of T3 has to be added to meds.  

T3 can come from a synthetic source (Cytomel and generics).  The advantage of combining synthetic T4 and T3 is that you can manipulate the dose of each separately and get a "custom fit".

For some people, that still doesn't work.  Desiccated (Armour, et al) is from the thyroid of a pig, and the T4 and T3 you get from it is fixed, can't be manipulated separately.  Unfortunately, the pig has a lot more T3 in its thyroid than we typically do.  For some, that's a huge advantage, others can't tolerate all the T3.  

I take T4, and I'm quite happy with it.