# Newbie Here and Freaking Out



## Spedie (Sep 27, 2017)

Sorry for the long post, but here goes!!!

I was diagnosed with Hashi's in May 2002. My arms and legs felt like dead wood if I didn't move them often, like way beyond numb and I was initially misdiagnosed (no doctor looked at my thyroid until it swell up). My doctor put me on .2 mcg synthroid and my TSH dropped dramatically (over a few months time) when I brought it to my doctors attention that my thyroid gland was very swollen and was very noticeable. Ultimately, I ended up on .15 mcg of Synthroid. The initial TSH test the doctor used only went to 50 max. I came in at 50 twice as the doctor ordered a second test because she thought the first test was a mistake. It could have been 500 as far as I know. I tried my best to be logical but it didn't work in the end. I was a mess.

I then went on and on and on for many years on Synthroid. Weight gain (I stopped weighing myself at 220 pounds), brain fog, no energy, bad sleep, bad mood (anger easily and go wayyyy beyond normal with my fat mouth) etc. I finally found a doctor about 5 years ago who put me on a combo of Armour and levothyroxine. She was watching my numbers (but it wasn't the most important thing to her), she cared, asked me about how I felt (more important than my numbers) and we finally ended up with a dose of 100 mcg daily of the levothyroxine and 60 mg of Armour. This second doctor was a good and caring doctor, but she didn't have much experience with Armour. She retired. For the first time in a long time, I started to feel like myself again with her caring treatment. My sleep improved. My anger stopped.

I then found another doctor in her place, an MD naturopath (this doctor was so good that thyroid patients flock to him and it took me 5 months to be seen the first time). He kept me on the same dose for a bit and started to treat me like a person and did lots of tests, didn't care about the thyroid numbers and did other tests on me. I lost 39 pounds. Apparently my adrenals are very fatigued and my dopamine levels were nearly nonexistent (spit test). Too bad I lost my job and had to move out of state. Me and this doctor kept the Armour the same and slowly reduced initially, in steps, the Levothyroxine. I got down to 4.5 tabs a week of the Levothryroxine (100's). That is where I am at until last Friday. Our goal was to get on Armour alone, heal over time, and eventually try to reduce the Armour. I went gluten free, and it has been a blessing.

Fast forward to today. I had an appointment at a local doctor office a week ago today and the appointment was with a licensed practical nurse. I explained all of the above to her. She had blood drawn and her assistant called me on Friday to tell me that bad news, but was given no numbers. I was told I am running too fast, to drop the Armor immediately and now I have a prescription for .88 mcg daily of Levothyroxine to be taken all by itself. When I was in the appointment, I told the LPN that if we had to cut something, to please cut the Levothyroxine and leave me on the Armour. She has refused.

The assistant called me on Friday with this news and had not followed up with me since, even though I requested a review by the LPN of the Armour. I asked to be on only the Armour several times now.

I am scared. Really scared. Not only did Synthroid not help me much, but generics are worse when I tried them for a few months way back when. The current LPN cut my Armour completely. I do not have blood work numbers to give you all, but I know she ran TSH, free whatever. The LPN is cutting my daily dose of thyroid meds in nearly half in one step! I think this a BAD idea. I will not be getting T1, T2, T3 and the Calcitronin that I thrived on for several years now.

I am afraid the brain fog, no energy, not sleeping well, etc., will all return. I only have about 14 days of Armour left. I am alternating one tablet of Armour every other day, the other day I am still taking the 100 mcg of Levothyroxine. I order from Costco and it takes a bit for my stuff to arrive.

My sanity and health is at risk. I am searching the internet for another doctor. I have a very high paying, responsible job. I am single and my kids are grown and gone. I need my mental clarity. I can address the weight gain later. I am already over 200 pounds and am only five foot four. I am a fat girl. But, most of all, I need my BRAIN. My job requires I think fast, multi task and train other people. I need my BRAIN most of all.

The only other script I take is for high blood pressure, and it is not that bad of a dose.

I am afraid of going crazy again and getting emotional. I am afraid I will get angry due to lack of sleep and Thyroid Madness and I will lose my job. I do not make good decisions, have a hard time keeping my mouth shut when I am in Thyroid Madness.

I already lost one job (I left myself) when my TSH and blood work was undiagnosed. It was embarrassing what happened. I went too far. That is what I do in Thyroid Madness.

~Spedie


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Welcome! Where are you located? I would strongly encourage finding another doctor, you already know what happens on Synthroid and one LPN should not get to dictate what medicines you take. Can you get copies of your labs and post them here with ranges?


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

Please post labs with ranges to
Include the FT-4 and FT-3 of they were run


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## Spedie (Sep 27, 2017)

Here are are my blood work numbers:

Report Result Ref. Range Units Status Lab

TSH 0.127 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL Below Low Normal Final 01

T4,FREE(DIRECT) 1.37 0.82-1.77 ng/dL

Report Result Ref. Range Units Status Lab

TRIIODOTHYRONINE (T3) 120 71-180 ng/dL

The darned clinic did not tell me to fast. The glucose was taken after eating normally all day and the appointment wasn't until 1pm:

COMP. METABOLIC PANEL (14)-322000-P 09/20/2017 (#1780876, Final, 09/19/2017 2:24pm)

Report Result Ref. Range Units Status Lab

GLUCOSE, SERUM 105 65-99 mg/dL Above High Normal Final 01

BUN 9 6-24 mg/dL Final 01

CREATININE, SERUM 0.55 0.57-1.00 mg/dL Below Low Normal Final 01

BUN/CREATININE RATIO 16 9-23 Final 01

SODIUM, SERUM 141 134-144 mmol/L Final 01

POTASSIUM, SERUM 3.8 3.5-5.2 mmol/L Final 01

CHLORIDE, SERUM 101 96-106 mmol/L Final 01

CARBON DIOXIDE, TOTAL 23 18-29 mmol/L Final 01

CALCIUM, SERUM 9.5 8.7-10.2 mg/dL Final 01

PROTEIN, TOTAL, SERUM 6.8 6.0-8.5 g/dL Final 01

ALBUMIN, SERUM 4.2 3.5-5.5 g/dL Final 01

GLOBULIN, TOTAL 2.6 1.5-4.5 g/dL Final 01

A/G RATIO 1.6 1.2-2.2 Final 01

BILIRUBIN, TOTAL 0.3 0.0-1.2 mg/dL Final 01

ALKALINE PHOSPHATASE, S 74 39-117 IU/L Final 01

AST (SGOT) 28 0-40 IU/L Final 01

ALT (SGPT) 14 0-32 IU/L Final 01


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> Report Result Ref. Range Units Status Lab
> 
> TSH 0.127 0.450-4.500 uIU/mL Below Low Normal Final 01
> 
> ...


Have you had TSI and TPO as well as thyroglobulin antibdodies tests run?

Your labs don't look too far off, how long have you been at these levels?

A Free T-3 would be best.


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## Spedie (Sep 27, 2017)

Lovlkn said:


> Have you had TSI and TPO as well as thyroglobulin antibdodies tests run?
> 
> Your labs don't look too far off, how long have you been at these levels?
> 
> ...


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## Pamzilla13 (Sep 9, 2013)

Spedie,

Call some pharmacies in your area and ask what doctors are prescribing Armour. Search for a compounding pharmacy in your area and call them and ask who is prescribing Armour.

Research these doctors. If there is a doctor that specializes in women's hormones and prescribes bio-identical hormones call them. They generally prescribe Armour or Naturethroid.

I hope that helps.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

If you are switching to Armour than you should be stopping the levo.

Your antibodies were run 15 years ago. I suggest
You have them run again


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## Spedie (Sep 27, 2017)

Pamzilla13 and Lovlkn: I shall do what you say. I think both your statements are highly valid. It is ridiculous that no doctor has ran my antibodies in a long time. I am stopping the Levo right now and going just with my 60 grain of Armour. My prescription is already on it's way from Costco and should be here in a few days. I have 7 tabs of Armour left in the bottle.

I will also ask for Free T3 to be ran as soon as I can, in addition to the antibodies. OMG, what if my antibodies have highly increased or decreased? I don't remember the exact numbers when they were ran 15 years ago, but they were in the thousands.

I am so lucky I found this board!


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

> OMG, what if my antibodies have highly increased or decreased?


You've been diagnosed for a long time - it's just a good idea since you are having issues, therefore something has changed.


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## Spedie (Sep 27, 2017)

Hello everyone: It has been a couple of months but I finally found a good doctor. Here's what happened: After stopping the Levo and taking only the 1 grain of Armour I became very tired. The tiredness took 2/3 weeks to truly kick in. One day I missed work because I simply had a hard time getting out of bed. I started to take the Levo again, but only 2.5 pills a week. That at least got me functional again.

I made an appointment with my new doctor. He listened to my brief story and just shook his head in amazement. He immediately told me to drop the Levo and increased my Armour to 90mg (1.5 grain, I think) per day. He is having me take my morning temperature upon waking.

He tested my antibodies. I don't have the test sitting in front of me right now, but I remember seeing something like 225 or 235 on the results. This is in the very high range. So, yep, I still have Hashimoto's.

He did not run any more thyroid tests. He said the results I brought with me were good enough for him to start my treatment. He also tested my magnesium and Vitamin D levels and they were low. I will start taking supplements soon after I pick them up.

He also recommends I start LDN (low dose naltrexone) to see if it helps my antibodies drop. I had never heard of LDN. I did some research and it holds promise.

He also gave me a simple diet to follow to help get some of this weight off. It is basically gluten free, natural type diet. Not hard to follow. I have dropped 16.4 pounds.

I like this guy.


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