Hypothyroidism is taking over my life please help!

[Kim]

I am not from Detroit, but Chicago and I am not sure why it says Detroit.....

[Elizabeth]

Mariam wrote:

Hello,
I am 46 years old , and on thyroid medication since 9 years, I kind of asked the doctor to chech my thyroid function after my younger brother was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, but I suspect that I had undiagnosed hypothyroidism since my late teens, had 2 children and all but no one linked my weight gain, puffy face, hair loss etc to this condition.
I stil get a plethora of relevant symptoms, and fatigue and hairloss along with a sore throat that has left me unable to sing all my favourite songs( my passion),
I have never tried any alternatives to better my condition the thyroid function as well as the negative effects of having the condition
I will really appreciate tried and true therapies or life style tips

Hi Miriam,

If you are serious about making lifestyle changes I would highly recommend Dr. Diana Schwarzbein's books, The Schwarzbein Program and the Schwarzbein Principle. These books will give you much needed insight on your entire metabolic situation and how to correct it. Best of luck.

[ABK]

Same boat. I found COCONUT OIL and Progesterone cream and they are melting the fat off my body. I kid you not - I've lost almost 10lbs. since I started. Yes, I still take the generic thyroid meds.
.
If you have a nutritional center near you (Not a vitamin store)- someplace that sells organic veggies, suppliments, herbal remedies, etc. Talk to the owner. They will help you the best (free advice) and help you get what you need. Also, checking on FORUMS for advice is really a good way to find success through others. Keep looking. I am and it's paying off!!!

[K Evans NZ]

After making sure that you do in fact have hypothyroidism and not secondary (where the function of the pituitary is impaired)Look for symptoms like the lateral one third of yr eyebrows is missing,weight gain with loss of appetite,yellowish cast esp soles & palms of feet, puffyness in face and swollen tongue among others...
If you have been taking goitrogenic agents such as lithium carbonate (common treatment for manic depression)Iodine containing drugs(e.g kelp tablets, iodine containing cough syrups,radiographic contrast media)be aware that they can also block thyroid hormone (TSH) production. Amiodarone (antiarrhythmic drug) which contains 75mg of iodine per 200mg tablet is being increasinly implicated in causing thyroid problems.
Stay ever vigilant, roam the net, look at alternate ways of treatment before letting anyone radiate or remove yr thyroid and causing you to be hypo for the rest of yr life, you don't need to be! Try and find the book Heal Yourself, Walter Last (australian)
everything from voice exercises to meridan tracing lines, herbs, homeopathy and diet recommendations. THIS BOOK BALANCED ME FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER.
Ps the things above are from my sixth ed of Essentials of pathophysiology, Carol Mattson Porth, Medical Science book.

[K Evans NZ]

Me again, here are a few sites that started me thinking...

www.soyonlineservice.co.nz
www.womentowomen.com

[Honey]

cindyann wrote:

Dear Rhonda,
I have had hypothyroidism for many yrs. Many doctors misdiagnosed me with depression. Finally, my OBG nurse pinpointed it: Hypothyrodism. To date, I am not responding to my meds and my endo doctor tells me there nothing more she can do. I stopped taking my meds and went in for TSH blood work. My endo doctor tells me that everything is "Within range". Well, I broke down and told my endo doctor that I had discontinued my meds 1 month ago just to show her that she is not treating my hypothyrodism right. She said well its not my fault your body is not responding to the meds. Today I am taking natural remedies for my thyroid and am doing fine. My weight has dropped 8lbs. I will be seeing a new doctor who uses natural remedies for hypothyroidism. Will email you the results.
[e-mail]

What natural remedies are you taking?

[Elaine]

I'm 36 Female, I had my thyroid removed in Feb of this year 07, I was hyperthyroid for 3 months or so. Prior to that I was hypothyroid and that started in Oct of 2003. After the removal I was fine, but since Aug 1st of this year I've been gaining weight, not eating much either. I've been working out but nothing. I was 115 just the beginning for Aug and now Sept 21st I'm 121lbs, makes me feel not good. Back in 2003 when I found out I was Hypo I was 115lbs and went up to 164lbs and that doesn't fit on a 5ft frame. I've been taking Armour Thyroid 120 milligrams does work but my metabolism is not running the way it should, I feel tired, no energy, gaining weight and just miserable. If I'm doing something wrong I need to know, I don't know what my diet is suppose to be meaning what should I avoid or what more should I have since I don't have a thyroid. I drink green tea like it's going out of style and I even take green tea pills to help speed up my metabolism, can someone give me some advise?

[e-mail]

Thanks
Elaine Mildenhall, AFB UK

[Candy]

I have had hypothyroidism for many years and had it under control. Now suddenly mine went CRAZY..normal range is 0.0-3.0 and as of my blood work this week mine is 171.667!!!
My Doc went nuts...She has me on a loading dose that is used for pts. who are in an acute stage and in a coma!! She is amazed I am even functioning if you can call it that. Blood work to be done weekly to monitor and try and get this rapidly back in control.
In the meantime I feel crappy, tired, my bones ache and man oh man am I cranky.
Hopefully life will get back to normal soon...Not sure how long I can take this.
C-

[Amy]

I AM ON CLOUD NINE! After dealing with hypothyroidism for about 5 years and only on Levothyroxine, I took someone's advice on this forum and got my physician to prescribe _Armour Thyroid._ I have been on it for about a month and I can tell you I am 100% back to normal. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to whoever you are that said something.
I have a lost weight, have energy, mentally sharper, Not depressed, and actually have a libido again. My periods haven't gone back to normal yet (used to be every 3 weeks) but it's getting there, I can tell. I can't tell you what this has meant to me and to my family.
I had some testing done before I starting taking it and it said that my T4 and T3 levels were normal. Please! Do yourself a favor and check this product out. Even Mary Shomon at About.com says that she felt the best on this product. It's worth it!
I'm just a mom and a band worship leader at a church. I don't sell the stuff. I just don't want other people to be sick from this stupid disease anymore. It's affected my whole family.

[dr mukund suvagia surat]

homoeopathy medicine has extreme potencial to get rid of u from this problem...

heena fathima wrote:

I was diagnosed for hypothyroidism five years back and I am on Eltroxin 100mg initially they gave me 125 mg and the medicine helped to reduce my moon face syndrome but the weight gain is a big pain. I am not able to eat normal food and my throat is giving me a lot of problem especially when I am teaching online. If someone could suggest some permanent solution I would be grateful to them

[C Filby NZ]

Hi there was the mention of natural progesterone cream Read the book called "What your dr may not tell you about menopause" by Dr John Lee. You dont have to be menopausal to read it! Many of us here on the pages are in our mid thirties. I have just recovered from adrenal burnout with hypothyrodism I am on 50 mg a day of thyroxine and take 500mg of a natural thyroid support in the afternoon to help with the t3 cells. Dr John lee believes that we are suffering from estrogen dominance Not necessarily too much estrogen but it becomes dominant when we are not producing enough progesterone. Progesterone is vital to so many bodily functions including the adrenals. Please read this book in relation to hypothyrodism. I am going to a dr very soon to do a saliva test and see if this is true of my condition. I was very encouraged by a post that said they had lost weight with the progesetrone and coconut. But i am also very encouraged by this book a must! When the body is balanced again he has had results of hypothyriodism and hashimotos clearing up.

[bonnie]

If you have thyroid antibodies, no matter how "balanced" you make your diet, the antibody attack on your thryoid will continue until it has completely destroyed all of the tissue. Waiting for the attack to stop and for things to "level out" again will not stop your body from eventually destroying your thyroid. Taking replacement hormones WILL reduce the antibodies and reduce/stop the attack.

Here are the tests you need to have run: anti-TPO, TgAb, TSI (to screen for Graves), FREE T-3, FREE T-4 (note the words "FREE"), Ferritin (low iron storage affects your body's ability to use the hormones, in addition to affecting your energy levels), B-12 (B-12 affects energy and mood), DHEA, testosterone, progesterone, estrogen, aldosterone/renin (these should be done after salt-fasting 24 hours and during the first week of your period), and saliva cortisol, as low cortisol affects your body's ability to get T-3 into the cell receptors.

In addition, many people report doing much better on Armour thyroid, as opposed to Synthetic T-4 only, as Armour gives you what your body should: T-4, T-3, T-2, T-1 and Calcitonin. If you have a bad reaction to taking Armour, chances are that your cortisol levels are either too low or too high and you should do a 24-hour adrenal saliva test, which you can order and perform yourself at home by going to www.canaryclub.org .

For more information on how to regain your life, visit: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com and www.realthyroidhelp.com .

[Crystal]

hi everyone I was wondering if anyone who has hypothyroidism is doing the herbalife program or knows anyone who is on the program. I wonder if the soy products would effect the thyroid?

[Patty]

Hi,
I have the book "The Thyroid Diet" by Mary Shomon. I have had hypothyroid for five years now and take 150 mcg of thyroxin daily. I just had baby #5 in May and have stayed at a plateau weight of 155. I'd like to lose 10 - 15. I am hesitant to do the Herbalife shakes because of the soy content. Author Mary Shomon says there's no secret bullet to dealing with weight loss and thyroid disfunction. One needs to get the right medication, eat properly, and exercise. Her book is a good resource for those dealing with thyroid disfunction.

vanessa wrote:

Hey guys, I am a 25yr old with hypothyroidism. I to am struggling to lose weight. I am right now on the herbalife diet and i am taking all the supplements that they recommend. I right now weigh 170 but it has been hard for me to lose weight. I just check my thyroid and i am in the normal range. I thought that the herbalife was going to throw my numbers off but i guess not. I still have something behind my mind that says that this diet isnt safe for me. I have only lost about 6 pounds but i have lost around 10 inches all over my body. I am also taking the synthroid 150mcg and an antidepressent. This thyroid issue really messed with my emotions, i suffer alot from depression and anxiety. Its funny how all this started after i gave birth to my twins. What do you guys suggest i do? Should i continue this herbalife, have you guys heard anything about it? please help!!

[DrJoe]

Amy wrote:

I have been hypothyroid for 11 years. I too was trying several doses of synthroid to help all the ugly symptoms of this disease. Nothing worked!!!!! I finally found a Doctor that uses bio-identical natural therapy. He put me on Armour Thyroid as well as progesterone and iron. I feel incredible!! I am able to keep up with my four children.

Great to see you found something that worked.

Just thought that I would mention a few things that might help you even more!

Make sure that you are taking your Armour on an empty stomach. Also, do not take your iron supplements with the Armour (or calcium supplements if you take them). These all compete for absorption.

Also, even though the Armour is natural (pig hormone), it is not created by the body. Your body has a natural tendency to down regulate what ever normally makes that hormone (like when men get smaller testes when taking steroids). This could make a low functioning thyroid function lower, or suppress the conversion of T4 to T3. It also has secondary attempts to slow down the hormone at the receptor sites (like when drug addicts need to keep upping their doses in order to get their fix). It is a checks and balance system that many people do not take into consideration. With that being said, I always feel it is better to do everything else to get your body functioning so it doesn't need the external source of hormones...if that is not possible, try to get it in as small of a dose as possible. You don't want this to kind of snow ball out of control (if you read other's post about how things "used to work" and now its not, that's all the proof you need). No matter what anyone tells you, no one truly understands the complete ramifications of using external hormone...it is actually very risky stuff (though very necessary in some cases).

Lastly, excess thyroid hormone (from taking the Armour or because your body has to kick in as well if just the conversion or receptor binding slows down) can lead to hardening of the arteries and dementia. Make sure that you are having your homocysteine levels measured (high thyroid hormone increases homocysteine). You want your Homocysteine levels <9.0 umol/L (ideal<5.0). Make sure you supplement appropriately if it is elevated.

You might already be doing these things and didn't mean to single you out. It was really a post for everyone to see. But with 4 kids you need to be on top of your game.

[DrJoe]

Crystal wrote:

hi everyone I was wondering if anyone who has hypothyroidism is doing the herbalife program or knows anyone who is on the program. I wonder if the soy products would effect the thyroid?

The simple answer is yes. Much of people's success is due to what they are NOT doing. I don't know that system, but if there is soy products in it, then it was not very well thought out (or it was and decided that making it cheaper is more important than effective). I would pass on something like that alone, personally.

[DrJoe]

bonnie wrote:

If you have thyroid antibodies, no matter how "balanced" you make your diet, the antibody attack on your thryoid will continue until it has completely destroyed all of the tissue. Waiting for the attack to stop and for things to "level out" again will not stop your body from eventually destroying your thyroid.

I have different thoughts on this one. For autoimmune type diseases, there is a totally opposite end of the spectrum approaches being applied. Western medicine stops the attack by giving immune suppressants. Your body becomes weak enough that it can't muster a good enough attack against the targeted organ (thyroid gland).
Then there is functional medicine that tries to figure out why the body is attacking itself in the first place, and address that issue. There are a number of things that you can do with testing, diet and nutrition that can address this issue.
Here's the thought on this one. If there is something foreign in the body (virus, bacteria, etc) then your body does its job to fight it off. It does this first by "tagging" it, then sending in the troops to destroy everything tagged. Sometimes these foreign invaders can have a similar protein structure to things in your body, so those things get tagged as foreign as well. Your body then starts to attack itself (AKA autoimmune disease).
What is it that is causing the problem?
How did they get there?
Can we prevent anymore from getting there?
Well, if you are drinking pond water with bacteria in it...then stop drinking the pond water.
People usually have a harder time pointing the finger at something like that. The list is long of how it got there, but here's an example. If you have a gut problem where things cross into the blood stream before its broken down into smaller pieces (AKA leaky gut), then your body sees the proteins that it is not used to seeing (proteins should be broken down into amino acids, that's what your body is used to seeing) and tags them and similar protein structures.
WOW! That means that it was the gut lining that was the problem, not the thyroid gland itself. The thyroid gland was the innocent victim. Treat the gut and the thyroid gland gets better (in this hypothetical example). Might Armour help restore the beat up thyroid...sure. I would consider that a nice adjunct to the main therapy of fixing the gut/problem. Once the thyroid is functioning better, my next goal would to get them off of the Armour.
This is functional medicine. Most diseases are caused because of some type of break down. That means a diagnosis is a good starting point...but not even essential in order to help you out.
Sorry for the long rant...I hope I didn't lose the point of my post in all of that.
Dr.Joe

[Bonnie]

Dr. Joe,

I appreciate your comments, and curing the gut to treat thyroid problems sounds like a wonderful solution and I would certainly highly recommend to anyone with thyroid issues to be tested for celiac and H. pylori, among other things, but the fact of the matter is that, to date, science and medicine have not found any cure for antibodies that attack the thyroid and don't fully understand the mechanism behind what triggers the attack either. As with most autoimmune diseases, once a person has it, it is for life. There are therapies and treatments and diet regimens one can follow to improve their quality of life, but I know of no person, myself included, living with autoimmune thyroiditis who can tell you that they are 100% back to the person they were before this illness took hold. Suppression therapy with Armour Thyroid (while treating any accompanying adrenal fatigue and vitamin defficiencies) is the only thing that has been found to be most effective in the treatment of autoimmune thyroiditis. If a person's hypoT is related to any other cause than antibodies, say, low iodine for instance, then yes, dietary changes could probably improve or even heal the hypothyroidism.

I completely respect functional medicine and the doctors who practice it and hold out hope that perhaps someone practicing FM might possibly even find a cure.:) I have the highest regard for the whole body approach, but I just want to be certain that there is no misunderstanding: the only real current solution for autoimmune thyroiditis, until a cure is found, is suppression of the thyroid function so that the antibody attacks stop or are suppressed to the point that the attacks slow down and the swings are less frequent occurrences, thereby saving the thyroid. And because most T4 to T3 conversion takes place in the liver and the tissues (70%), down-regulating the thyroid is not a problem for conversion issues. Obviously, treating any underlying liver problems would be a necessity to counteract any 5'deiodinase enzyme downregulation in the liver. I also strongly recommend to anyone taking thyroid hormone replacement to supplement with a minimum of 200 mcg Selenium to aid in the conversion process.

Please have a look at the patient to patient website www.stopthethyroidmadness.com for a better overview of patients' experience.

Warmest regards,
Bonnie

[SandiBlair]

Terri McCarthy wrote:

I am so tired I can barely function. I've had numerous tests done to no avail. I have all the symptoms of Hypothyroid and a family history but my tsh is in the normal range. No one will help. I am so desperate, I'm at my wits end. Please help. This is not living, I can barely sit upright.

My suggestion is for you to go to the website thyroid.about.com , locate 'How to find a Doc in your state', make a list of the Endocrinoligists near you, check with your insurance company to find which one's are covered on your plan and THEN make an appt. with an Endocrinolgist who THINKS OUTSIDE OF THE BOX. I began with Grave's Disease 32 years ago and just recently found that there REALLY ARE remedies to the horrible issues I've faced for all those years! Thank God I've had a husband for the past 15 years who loves me enough to live with me and continue loving me!!!

[i need help]

hello! i am a hypothyroid patient...had it since i was 12...my TSH has always been on the high end....currently it's 200!!! i know it's severely high and I was wondering if anyone here has a similar problem and what they're doing to tackle it...thanks your help is much appreciated.....

in need of desperate help =(