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I agree with foods that heal, but it's more than than when it comes to thyroid support. Although I know iodine and selenium are necessary for healthy thyroid function also.
Dosing is important and many have to be dosed up with time. I stayed at 90mg for 5 yrs and finally started tweaking and now I'm on 135mg NP thyroid. 14 yrs on desiccated. No problems, no heart palps nothing negative.
No, it isn't. Not in the case of thyroid disease, it isn't.
One of my endos, who was very good and received her thyroid training outside of the Mayo system, got a call from insurance telling her to cease and desist ordering so many thyroid-disease-specific tests. When she balked, they told her how to interpret the initial basic test, and to tell her patients they're fine. She was shocked, and said she couldn't lie to her patients, so Blue Cross Blue Shield sued her for fraud, for ordering too many thyroid tests in her practice. And they won. Which mean that she got booted off their roll, and lost her staff, because without her insurance income, she couldn't afford to have a staff. In the end, she managed to keep her practice going, but this story is alarming, and it proves that the system is rigged against thyroid patients.
So if you need to get diagnosed, you need to find an MD who operates outside of the insurance system, pay his/her higher fees, and pay for the blood tests yourself. It's expensive, but at least you'll get the care and diagnostic work you need. Once you have a diagnosis and the blood tests to back it up, you can go back to your regular doc, and they'll treat you for thyroid disease. All they need is the diagnostic test proving you have it, and then insurance will pay for treatment and follow-up monitoring tests. But they won't pay for the testing required for diagnosis in the first place. You have to pay for that on your own.
That is depressing! And not even foolproof, sadly.
I have yet to find an endo in my area that's any good, so I really stay away from them. 2 years ago I saw a guy who was a well known expert in hormones. I called him and "interviewed" his office over the phone. I was assured he believed in NDT and was told he also did compounded meds.
I really loved him when I saw him. Probably spent 2 hours with him, never felt rushed. He completely listened to me, my labs, my symptoms. I'd had labs run recently and he was happy with them, though did ask me to do some deeper hormone testing.
At this time I had been on NDT for about a year and was addressing my adrenals. I was hoping for some revelations in my hormones and an increased thyroid dose. I had to see an ND who can't prescribe, and the lady that did prescribe was holding me steady at 2 grains. The 2 of them went back and forth and I felt stuck in the middle and really wanted to find one person who would do it all.
When he finally came to discussing my meds, it turns out he believed that Hashi's patients do NOT do well on NDT!! I never asked that. So he did a compound, not covered by insurance, of Levo + T3. I had been on Levo originally and I always felt great for about a week and then crashed again. After spending $800 out of pocket with him for the visit and additional testing, I agreed to give it a try since it had T3 in it. This cost $45/mo and a trip to the compounding pharmacy vs $5 for NDT.
Anyone who has switched from synthetic to NDT knows that in MOST cases, NDT is stronger. Yet he took me from 2 grains NDT to 1.5 compounded/synthetic!!! I gained 8 lbs in less than a week and bloated up so badly that I could no longer see the veins in my feet. And this was in the summer when I am continually outside, working out and sweating. I called him and begged to be put back to at least 2 grains where I had been. He said he was shocked that happened to me. I should have bailed then but again, all that money.....
I finally stabilized and stuck that out for a year before begging to be put back on NDT. In the meantime, he moved out of state but agreed to continue to treat me. I have a multi-noduled goiter, and he insisted that I see a specialist for an ultrasound (I had done so 3 years earlier and it was fine). He insisted I see one particular specialist who is in a PITA location and who actually wanted me to come see him at 4pm on New Years Eve. After I stopped laughing, I declined that. He would ONLY give me an appointment on a Friday afternoon, 2pm being the earliest, saying that was when he saw new patients. I begged the thyroid dr for another person and he said I HAD to see this guy else he wouldn't treat me anymore, and that he was "progressive" and believed in NDT etc. I finally agreed to a visit (losing an entire afternoon shift at work). Turns out the guy was a complete ass, only does NDT if the patient insists, but does NOT believe in it at all, and laughed when I asked him if he tested for RT3. His assistant proudly exclaimed that he learned that RT3 was NOTHING, TSH was king. I was absolutely appalled. I made an appointment for the following year just to get out of there (got one at a time I was happy with, but 2 months before the appointment was supposed to happen, they sent me a letter saying they had to change it - to a Friday at 4pm. Sorry, no one randomly changes an appointment without asking me first).
I finally get back on NDT last year and am still dealing with this guy remotely, though it's his wife now, not him. I set up a phone conference with him, they cancel last minute and say my labs are good. On the phone with his wife, I hear my testosterone and estrogen are low, so let's supplement progesterone. Well ok, you tried that last year and it didn't do anything for me. Then she wants me to do a 30 day estrogen saliva test. You have to start on the day of your cycle and at certain days after that, do the saliva test. Filling a tube can take 20 minutes or more for me, and I was working an event job where there was no way I could pull myself away to do that. I told her I wouldn't even be able to consider it till the season was over in December, yet 3 weeks later (summer) she calls me upset that she hadn't received my test kit yet. I haven't talked to them since.
I'm back with the natural GYN who I really like, but she's a bit timid and has changed the way she handles insurance, so I'm paying $135 just to walk in her door. A few weeks ago she told me that due to new insurance regulations, it may be best to not do all the tests I was doing, like the B12 or homocysteine. I feel I'm still tweaking my dosages on these, along with D, and getting tested twice a year isn't going to hurt anyone. Especially as I spend $450/mo for insurance that covers lab work.
My GP is just insane. I had thyroid labs piggybacked onto my annual labs with him a couple of years ago. This was before Quest had the online program where I could get my results right away. When I went to his office, he told me most of my labs were "witchcraft". Last fall I asked him to please add B12, thyroid and iron labs onto my CMP. He sends me a new requisition by mail with a note that says "I added TSH. If anything is abnormal we'll talk about the rest". Right, because an out of range TSH will tell you that my B12 needs looking at?! This is after explaining to his assistant that my B12 had been dangerously low in 2012 and I liked to keep a close eye on it. Needless to say, I'm looking for a more progressive GP now - and this is the one I had loved because he discovered my enlarged thyroid.
It's just crazy trying to find someone you can have a partnership with, and everything that's happened since ACA is not helping. I feel so much better than a few years ago but I am certainly not optimized and continually struggle with my weight, despite my food intake and exercise level.
It's tough to get optimized I believe, we age and change and may or may not need more NDT. I had been taking a little more from another tablet before bed and did this for about 3 weeks or so and then stopped...don't know if I felt better or not.
I also take at least a drop of Iosol Iodine daily. Selenium also.
I'd never see another endo ever. The 3-4 or I saw for my miserable years were worthless.
Love the STTM info and Janie who is in charge of the blog and author of the books.
A couple years before the 2002 armour script, I had gone to 2 endo MD's...What jokes.
One touched around my throat and said "your thyroid is fine", but you have Fibromyalgia. He began to show me tender points etc and then started talking about the drug he pushed for Fibro, guaifensen. I was in shock and now I have a label. I have Fibro...but I did NOT start on the drug. I still believed it was thyroid.
Went to another endo on the suggestion of a friend, he had me drink a glass of water and checked my throat and said your thyroid is fine. HUH.....
Then enter the call to my D.O. in 2002 and the Armour script. During the time I started on Armour and was feeling so much better and not depressed, I still had questions...so while in a dentist office and talking about thyroid, the dentist told me about his great endo cousin....so I went to see this MD. What he did was take labs again and do his best to get me off Armour...gave me samples of Synthroid and while trying to take the Synthroid was falling over with fatigue...he got a strong letter from me and I refused to pay my portion of his bill. Synthroid and I do not get along...some folks in the desiccated world, call it Syncrap.
So after 2002 and joining a FM/CFS group since I have a new health condition??? I learned a lot. And also joined thyroid support groups and learned more. Read books by Mary Shomon and Janie Bowthorpe, I learned SO MUCH but I am feeling better finally and off the A/D drugs.
Then on a thyroid support group members were telling me Fibro is a dsyfunctional thyroid condition...doctors don't know what to do, so call it Fibro. Also adrenals and hormones are involved in this Fibro dx.
I have a great integrative MD who works with me and when I got to 90mg Armour I stayed there for 5 yrs and then started moving up dose. Today I'm at 135mg generic armour NP Thyroid by Acella and feeling good in that department. Also take a few drops of Iodine daily and Selenium as Hashi was mentioned along the way over many years.
So it's been a long road from 1991 but I was right all those years, it was thyroid...
Here is some good info from the Stop The Thyroid Madness folks.
Wow so your depression was caused by your Thyroid issue interesting indeed I have depression and anxiety as well .my mom does to and she had a thyroid problem once years ago this connection is very interesting indeed.
I can appreciate what all of you are saying because my wife was diagnosed with a thyroid autoimmune disorder about 25 years ago. Her thyroid was hyperactive but has been hypo for about the past 5 years. She hasn't experienced depression but I am not surprised some do.
She takes the med which keeps her in the normal range but she still has some of the hypo symptoms. None of her doctors, including the endo specialists, told her about nutrition for her disease even though it's well known in the medical profession. Since she discovered the information, she has had success with easing her symptoms a great deal which is all she can do. Nobody knows what else to do. Look up the foods that help to support thyroid function and take vitamins if you need to.
Foods, some meds and supplements can interfere with thyroid function. All of these are the first things to check. Goitrogen foods can interfere with thyroid function; also the usual suspects like sugar, highly processed foods, junk foods, etc. Iodine deficiency is almost never an issue because most people get enough. The problem is that the gland isn't uptaking it properly. Ingesting too much iodine can cause problems.
If you have hypo symptoms but your thyroid test results are in the normal range, the test could be wrong or the problem may be something else. Adrenal is one possibility as many of the symptoms are the same. If you suspect adrenal insufficiency is the cause, you may have to insist that your doc test for it, however, some say that test may be inaccurate also.
Just want to say that I overcame thyroid/depression issues.
Some of you mentioned adrenals and a good diet. Those are a great start!
I wanted off thyroid meds because they can actually atrophy your own thyroid gland. I wanted my thyroid working on its own.
Anyway, basically what I did was the following:
- Cleaned my liver - nothing intense, all I did was put half a dropper of liquid digestive bitters on my tongue, which stimulates the vagus nerve which stimulates bile production and liver cleansing ***made sure to drink plenty of water the days I did it.
- Highly limit my sugar intake, eating very few things with added sugar.
- Worked on my adrenal glands through vitamin C (a natural food source like Acerola or Amla, since the common supplement (ascorbic acid) can be highly unstable) and B vitamins (again, food source is better such as bee pollen, or nutritional yeast) and adaptogenic herbs (such as ashwaghanda and schisandra supplements)
- Took a thyroid supportive supplement called Gaia Herbs Thyroid Support [worked absolute wonders] which also helps the adrenals
- For depression, took TMG (derivative of beet leaves) which also converts to glycine. Again worked great!
Please PM me with any questions you may have. I hope your path to wellness can be even quicker than mine was!
Reports from the American Thyroid Association, WHO and others say it is still uncommon in the US but I expect it to become worse as so many people eat primarily fast food, processed and junk food.
Iodine deficiency is self-inflicted through an extremely poor diet. That is one of the reasons I suggested that anyone suffering from thyroid issues look up foods that support thyroid function.
Just want to say that I overcame thyroid/depression issues.
Some of you mentioned adrenals and a good diet. Those are a great start!
I wanted off thyroid meds because they can actually atrophy your own thyroid gland. I wanted my thyroid working on its own.
Anyway, basically what I did was the following:
- Cleaned my liver - nothing intense, all I did was put half a dropper of liquid digestive bitters on my tongue, which stimulates the vagus nerve which stimulates bile production and liver cleansing ***made sure to drink plenty of water the days I did it.
- Highly limit my sugar intake, eating very few things with added sugar.
- Worked on my adrenal glands through vitamin C (a natural food source like Acerola or Amla, since the common supplement (ascorbic acid) can be highly unstable) and B vitamins (again, food source is better such as bee pollen, or nutritional yeast) and adaptogenic herbs (such as ashwaghanda and schisandra supplements)
- Took a thyroid supportive supplement called Gaia Herbs Thyroid Support [worked absolute wonders] which also helps the adrenals
- For depression, took TMG (derivative of beet leaves) which also converts to glycine. Again worked great!
Please PM me with any questions you may have. I hope your path to wellness can be even quicker than mine was!
Did/do you have a diagnosed thyroid disease?
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