# You'll never guess the conversation i just had with Dr.



## mccreel (Apr 13, 2010)

I had a pretty serious allergic reaction over the weekend. I tried some whey protein powered due to me trying to loose weight but trying to hold on to muscle as well. Had a serious allergic reaction. I have always had small allergic reactions to milk. Had to be taken off milk products as a baby but it did not cause swelling or hives, it gave me kidney infections, etc. My mother took me to a specialist in Birmingham and found out it was an allergic reaction to milk and took me off milk and I quit having the infections. I can have it from time to time but if I have too much, infections. Anyway, I think the concentration of the protein powder cause a severe reaction because I bloated up, itched, full blown allergic reaction. I have been on Benadryl the last 2 days. I had an allergic reaction to the Dyazide I had been taking and I looked up the ingredients and it had lactose in it. My dr switched me to a different kind that didn't have lactose and I was better after that. But it seems after my reaction Saturday, the allergic reaction keeps getting triggered. I looked up the ingredients on my other medications and I have been taking Topamax for migraine prevention and it has lactose in it ( called my family Dr. and the sprinkle caps that Topamax makes does not have lactose in it so they are going to switch my rx to the sprinkle caps) and the Synthroid has lactose as a filler in it. So I called my endocrinologist. The one that diagnosed me, for the people that have read my posts remember, did not even want to put me on thyroid medication even though my tsh levels was 5.4. He wanted to wait 6 month's and see how I felt when I was feeling awful.
Anyway, I told him about my allergies and he said he was not aware of Synthroid having lactose. I said the pharmacist also said so and all he had to do is look at the insert that came with the drugs or to the companies own web site that gave the ingredients. He still said he was not aware of the lactose. He was not even willing to go find out for himself. I told him about the allergic reaction and I have been holding more fluid over the last couple of weeks since I started on synthroid. He said I was swelling when I came to see him. Can you believe that? I said I know I was swelling when I came to see him but not this bad. It is worse. I will gain 5lbs from the time I go to bed to the time I get up. When I take Benadryl, the water will start to come off. That is allergic reaction. And I would not have called if it was normal swelling. I have dealt with swelling a long time and I know what my normal swelling is. I woke up yesterday and could barely open my eyes. They were almost swollen shut. I pushed and pushed about changing brands to a brand that does not contain lactose. I found out that levoxyl does not contain lactose and he finally agreed to call me in an rx for it. I also asked about cytomel, if he would prescribe that to help go along with levoxyl. HE SAID HE DOES NOT PRESCRIBE CYTOMEL. What if someone does not convert well. He does not even consider prescribing it? That's crazy. 
But I at least got another medication that does not have lactose in it that I can try until I get to Dr. Rosenthal at the Kirkland Clinic in Birmingham. 
Now how hard headed and stubborn and stupid and closed minded and idiotic and insert own words, is that.
I have just recently started developing allergies to medications. I don't know if it is due to my thyroid messing up or something else but medicaitons I used to could take, I can't anymore. used to take estrogen and had an allergic reaction to all kinds generic and name brand and now can not take any. But don't think I need any now anyway since I had endometriosis. But my mother went for years without allergies and all of the sudden she developed an allergy to red die and certain food seasonings. She has anaphalactic reactions and has to carry an eppi pen becasue her lungs start filling with fluid with seconds and can die withen minnutes. And her's didn't start until her late 40's. No allergies until than. Now that I think about it I wonder if it may be her thyroid. Anyway, now all of the sudden I am developing medicaiton allergies. It may not be the lactose in the medications but since I do have an allergy I would like to get off of all medications that contain them to rule out those are the cause of my reactions. Then I can move on to something else as the cause. To me that only makes sense. But I can't believe he would not even look up the ingredients. Even my family Dr. Does that.
Sorry guys, just had to vent.
Melissa


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## GD Women (Mar 5, 2007)

You are in a tough place. I know about the red dyes in food and clothing first hand. Gravers are very susceptible to browns as well and I found out first hand its true.

I ask my doctor what color meds. are when he prescribes a new one and guess what! he doesn't know. Soooo, its purchase and find out after. I also look up ingredients of meds. before I accept taking them and in some cases I have suggested replacement ones in which doc agreed.

I knew about synthroid. I take levoxyl with no issue they come in very pale pastels and haven't had any side effect from them.

I agree with you. Ruling out meds. that you think might give you issues. How else are you going to find out. Most likely its lactose giving you all the problems but also could be dyes in the medications too. Or who knows, might be other ingredients along with all the rest. Trial and error. Expensive but worth it in the long run.

Good Luck!


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## mccreel (Apr 13, 2010)

Yeah, after my hysterectamy I was on low doses of estrogen for a while, but after my gallbladder was takin out I started haveing allergic reactions to estrogen. all kinds. I always had allergic reactions to estrogen patches, creams and capsule inserts, always broke me out. Could not ever use. But pills I could use until after gallbladder out. i wonder if that is when my thyroid went super crazy as well because that is when I started feeling yucky. Because I had been taking a pill form of estrogen for a while,and my rx insurance company changed generics on me and the color was different and I had an allergic reaction, hives, itchy palms, swollen face, eyes swollen shut, 8lbs of fluid fell off when I pumped myself full of benydrell. Changed to another kind, white pill, no color, no reaction. But then started having small reaction with it but I think it is because my body was telling me I didn't need the estrogen any more. Estrogen dominance. But my mother started having allergic reactions in her 40's and started having anaphalactic reactions and I am trying to get rid of things that give me allergic reactions because I do not want to have anaphalactic reactions because I have seen her almost die from those. She has gone from eating something all her life to the next time she ate it, ended up in the hospital with here lungs filling up with fluid the next time she tried to eat it. 
I don't know if allergic reactions go along with thyroid problems, but in the last 6 month's it has gotten worse. having allergic reactions I have never had before. I have always had the allergy to milk products, given me kidney problems, etc, but not full blown hives, swelling, itching. But after the protein powder incident that is made with whey, from milk products, My husband wonders if it made me more sensitive to products made with lactose. Especially after I had the allergic reaction to dyazide and it had lactose in it and I changed to another medication without lactose in it and it is working much better and no reaction.
Anyway, I would much rather get rid of these things and be wrong than keep taking these medications and have the allergy and make myself more sick.
also I still can't believe he does not even consider prescribing cytomel. won't even talk about. Nurse says he does not and has not. That just blows my mind. I may not even need it, but the fact that he would not even check to see if I need it or the chance if I do that he would not give it to me, I am so glad I am going somewhere else now.
Sometimes specialists to me don't seem so special.


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## hillaryedrn (Dec 14, 2009)

Whew! That sounds like a real winner of a doctor! So, this is the last time you are going to deal with him, right? You have got to find a different doctor. This guy is rediculous. That is SO dangerous that he wouldn't even begin to look up the ingredients of a medication. I wasn't aware that Synthroid contained Lactose, but I sure wouldn't refuse to look! That's just insane!! I'm so sorry you have such a horrid doctor. Vent away, girl! Sometimes it's all we have to keep on to our sanity!


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## mccreel (Apr 13, 2010)

Yeah, that's the last time. The only reason I am dealing with him now is it will be the end of May before I can get in to my new Dr. , Dr. Rosenthal and he is my only resource to change my meds at this time. My family Dr. is in the process of moving offices and was not in his office. He probably would have changed brands for me if he would have been available because he knows about my reactions. He is the one that changed my Dyazide to something else that didn't have lactose. I think it may be a lactose thing because after having my gallbladder out, stomach problems pop up from time to time and I have to take imoddium but I would end up taking pepto with it because for some reason immodium by itself would not work when everyone else I know it would work almost immediately. I looked at the ingredients and one of the main binder ingredients is lactose. Had a problem last night, didn't take immodium, only pepto, and problem solved faster. So I am going through all my meds, rx and over the counter and clearing out and changing over away from anything that has lactose in it. It may not be what is causing all of my sudden allergic reactions but at least it will be eliminated as a suspect. I have always had problems with milk products as far as eating. I could eat a little but a lot would give me infections. But something lately has flipped a switch and I have started having MAJOR reactions where I have to EAT benadryl like candy to stop the reaction. I am going to talk to my Dr. about getting an Eppi pen in case of a bad reaction. My mother has anaphalactic reactions. Not saying I will but her reactions didn't start until she was in her 30's and they were bad allergic reactions and one day, Bam, hospital with lungs filling up with fluid. I am hoping these allergies will calm down when I start getting my thyroid under control. 
I still can't believe the Dr. I talked to yesterday does not even test to see if someone may need the t3 hormone. That is just beyond me. His nurse said straight up he does not prescribe cytomel at all. Now how closed minded is that.
Anyway, can't wait for May 25th. I have heard a lot of good things about this other Dr. and they quote and reference the aace web site which states the new numbers for TSH being no higher that 3 I believe it is. So he is at least using good numbers. So yeah for that. And they talk about doing auto immune tests, ultrasound exam of thyroid gland, ◦to measure levels of hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3), and to measure a protein called thyroxine-binding globulin, •thyroid scans using radioactive iodine or technetium (a radioactive metallic element) - to reveal any physical abnormalities of the thyroid, and •functional stimulation tests - tests that help differentiate whether the problem lies with the pituitary gland or the thyroid gland. One such test includes injecting thyrotropin-releasing hormone and measuring the pituitary's response. so it sounds like they really look into things.


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## GD Women (Mar 5, 2007)

The so called "TSH of 3.0" is only a suggested target range for already diagnosed and treated thyroid patients and it has been around since 2000 so not so new considering a 2004. Not too many Labs are using "TSH of 3.0". Mine isn't, either is the* big one *in San Diego and I don't see it when others post their Labs reference ranges. Each Lab uses it's own way of measuring levels, so where my, your or someone else's Lab TSH 4 is limit, might be the suggested "TSH 3.0" due to their procedure in measuring.

Lot of people are shooting the (their) doctor when it's the Labs that set the levels and doctor have to go by them or else they are opened up to possible law suits. Also Insurance Co have their regulations on procedure of testing and doctor know this and influences the way s/he orders test.

If your doctor tested FTs, s/he can tell if you have a t4/t3 conversion problem. This is very rare and if it does happen its only temporary. The FTs will also relate autoimmune, which autoimmune and therefore antibodies are present. But first they test the TSH and go from there with testing if deemed necessary.

Also TSH can fluctuate during the day, as well as by other means. They suggest hyper be tested as early in the AM as possible and hypos be tested as late in the PM as possible.

Below is ACCES guidelines this is long and takes adobe. Read it carefully and you will see the TSH 3.0 suggested as a target range. http://www.aace.com/pub/pdf/guidelines/hypo_hyper.pdf

Good luck with new doc - May is almost here.


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## mccreel (Apr 13, 2010)

I understand each lab has it's own number. But the fact he didn't want to listen to me when I was telling him I was having some allergic reactions to dairy and the pills had lactose and he would not check, and he did is not interested in running any other tests at all but tsh and I have had allergies that have started popping up all of the sudden, had endometriosis, gallbladder problem with gallbladder removed, etc and he does not want to run any other tests at all. Would not even check himself on the drugs that would not cause me an allergy, I had to tell him and he just took my word for it. Didn't even bother to look about the lactose. What if he has other patients that have lactose allergies and ask him about it. He does not know and did not take the time to look. I know he has a lot of patients but he should know, especially about lactose since so many people have lactose allergies, what thyroid drugs have lactose in them. Especially since getting the right dose with no variations is so critical to getting you where you need. And if you are having an allergic reaction to the drugs, even small, there is no way you are getting all you need out of the drug. You couldn't be. I also found out it has Acacia in it which is from a family of shrubs and trees. God only knows why they put that in there. I have severe spring allergies and have been having chronic sinus infections and allergies and living on allergy medication for at least 10 years. So the Acacia probably was not doing me any good either. I found out about the Acacia after i had already got my other Rx for Levoxyl. Levoxyl extra ingredients are a lot more simple. 2 or 3 things besides the coloring. Synthroid 3 or 4 besides the Acacia and lactose. No wonder some people talk about some swelling with it. They may be having an allergy to the binding ingredients. But that is only my opinion. 2 days off of synthroid and 2 days on the other I am already not swelling as much. Super early I know but I think it will be better. I hope so anyway. I plan to continue to get all the lactose meds out of my routine and replaced that I can and see how that helps.


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## mccreel (Apr 13, 2010)

Well I am 2 days off of synthroid and on Levoxyl, I am feeling better, not swelling as much, and I had been having breakouts on my face that I had not thought about until I saw that it had the Acacia in it and since I have come off of the synthroid and have been taking benedryl due to allergic reactions to lactose in other medications I had been taking, the breakouts have been going away. I am now off of all medications that had lactose in them and I think it is going to make a big difference. I had been taking topamax for quite a while for migrains, had never had kidney stones before and I started getting a lot of kidney stones and started getting a lot of sinus infections that would almost always turn into bronchitus and would have to go through at least 2 different types of antibiotics to get rid of anything. And my potassium would all of the sudden just dissapear and drop to like 2.3 and have to go to emergency room to get potassium through arm. I receintly learned that taking potassium together with Dyazide will make your potassium drop. Something they just released information on. And just now when I realized that I was having reactions to the lactose and whey in things, changed from the dyazide to aldactone for fluid and changed from regular topamax to the topamax sprinkle caps because those are the only topamax that did not have lactose in them. And any other medications that worked for migrains either did not mixed with the thyroid meds or had lactose in them. but since coming off all meds with lactose in them, along with taking benedryl for the reactions, I have dropped 8 pounds of fluid and it has only been 3 days. So I am hopeful now on the new thyroid medications will start working a lot better since I don't have to deal with the allergic reactions.


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## GD Women (Mar 5, 2007)

Glad you are doing better and it should even get better. I believe Synthroid has some form of sugar where Levoxyl doesn't. Maybe that helped contribute to some of your weight loss too.

Keep healing!


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