Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Jamin has never had abnormal thyroid function studies. She found a doctor who was willing to give her thyroid medication with no evidence that she was hypothyroid.
How do you think all the MD's gave thyroid support to people before labs existed?
Symptoms, theraputic trials and patients went back to tell docs how they were doing.
Read Dr. Broda Barnes works. Many MD's went with body temps too. Basal and oral.
And thank the good lord my back MD knew more about health than just the back. Who knows where I'd be today, still on anti depressants and suffering.
You use the word "synthetic" to imply that the medication known as Synthroid and its generics are somehow different from and inferior to the levothyroxine produced by the thyroid. They are not. They are identical.
The vast majority of people who take levothyroxine convert some to T3 quite nicely. They do fine on just T4. A few cannot make T3 from T4, but testing the numbers will show if that is happening.
It is not necessary to replace T2, T1, and calcitonin. In fact, when calcitonin is used medically it is given by injection or nasal spray. There is currently no oral form of calcitonin, though one company is working on one. Calcitonin is a protein. It is digested in the stomach.
The irony is in the insistence that ground up pig thyroid is "natural" for humans and replacing the missing hormone with the chemically identical hormone is not.
All you ever wanted to know about treating hypothyroidism - and more:
So I have a question since we are having this discussion. Is there any difference in the way a person would feel having a TSH in the high-normal range (say 3.0) vs. someone (like my husband) with a normal of .5?
I have always been curious since my TSH is always "normal" but on the higher end.
Thank the good lord we have sensitive and specific blood tests now and do not have to rely on crude numbers like body temps.
Personally I would prefer having a repeatable, comparable lab test define something instead of being miserable for weeks or months while some "professional" dabbles around with theories. If that approach worked so well, why would anyone jump through the hoops to develop IMPARTIAL OBJECTIVE lab analysis in the first place?
I've had thyroid function testing occasionally because of a familial and personal history of depression. When menopause hit including hot flashes and weight gain, we tested again. It hadn't changed much at all compared to previous tests over the years. No surprise, just a confirmation, as I don't have any of the other well documented symptoms of thyroid deficiency.
I do not want speculation from my providers for something so easily tracked. I want facts upon which I can make my own informed decisions thank you very much. If a lab test tells us I have a deficiency and to what degree, we can design a supplement, then compare the results. What is so wrong about that? How I feel is nice to know, but pretty subjective and susceptible to (horror of horrors) false expectations and the placebo effect.
I'm sure others here have noticed that the less scrupulous always focus on the same nebulous ailments and stick to the same terms; "sluggish" being a favorite.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-14-2018 at 03:30 PM..
I am on thyroid medication even though mine was only low-normal, but I also have a fibrosing thyroiditis so my endo put me on levothyroxine as part of the treatment.
I've never had hot flashes, though, not even when going through menopause.
There are low, med, high normals.. I have worked with Stop The Thyroid Madness people for some yrs and the author of book and owner of blog, have done mounds of work on this subject and believe for optimal thyroid health, TSH needs to be low low at range, and T3/T4 at high ends of those ranges. I'm not totally there but closed enough as I don't want to take more support meds. This group are major advocates of desiccated thyroid meds.
What is fibrosing? One endo years ago said my thyroid was find by touching around the neck but said "you have fibro".
So I have a question since we are having this discussion. Is there any difference in the way a person would feel having a TSH in the high-normal range (say 3.0) vs. someone (like my husband) with a normal of .5?
I have always been curious since my TSH is always "normal" but on the higher end.
The STTM people believe for best optimal thyroid help, the lower the TSH the better. Almost 0 for many...
I just posted about this at the end. But too, the STTM people use MOSTLY desiccated meds which contain much more than just the T4 in Levo.
So many just don't know and many have spent years working on it and have their theories from many on their blogs etc.
So different medicines will do different things. Some I've read over years don't convert well with T4 only. I did horrid on it years ago...I was on it for a short time and the fatigue was falling down fatigue.
Years back when I was trying to get it "right" I had docs trying T4 only, then adding T3 Cytomel and still I was NOT finding the "sweet spot" of feeling good. For me it took desiccated which contains many ingredients...not just one.
MANY/MOST go to allopathic doctors and they work primarily with synthetics and if they are feeling good enough then that is fine for them. It was not for me.
Last edited by jaminhealth; 01-14-2018 at 03:51 PM..
So I have a question since we are having this discussion. Is there any difference in the way a person would feel having a TSH in the high-normal range (say 3.0) vs. someone (like my husband) with a normal of .5?
I have always been curious since my TSH is always "normal" but on the higher end.
If the TSH nudges toward the higher end then the full thyroid panel would be a good idea. The trend of the TSH is also useful. Was it lower and gradually getting higher? Some people who reach the "bubble" where the TSH is right at the upper limit of the lab's test range may have very early hypothyroidism, termed subclinical.
Note that this is different from telling someone who has clearly normal thyroid numbers she should be on thyroid medication.
Deciding whether to start treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism requires collaboration between patient and doctor.
The STTM people believe for best optimal thyroid help, the lower the TSH the better. Almost 0 for many...
I just posted about this at the end. But too, the STTM people use MOSTLY desiccated meds which contain much more than just the T4 in Levo.
So many just don't know and many have spent years working on it and have their theories from many on their blogs etc.
So different medicines will do different things. Some I've read over years don't convert well with T4 only. I did horrid on it years ago...I was on it for a short time and the fatigue was falling down fatigue.
Years back when I was trying to get it "right" I had docs trying T4 only, then adding T3 Cytomel and still I was NOT finding the "sweet spot" of feeling good. For me it took desiccated which contains many ingredients...not just one.
MANY/MOST go to allopathic doctors and they work primarily with synthetics and if they are feeling good enough then that is fine for them. It was not for me.
Raising the hormone dose to suppress TSH toward zero does not help make patients feel better.
"Small changes in T(4) dosage do not produce measurable changes in hypothyroid symptoms, well-being, or quality of life, despite the expected changes in serum TSH and markers of thyroid hormone action. These data do not support the suggestion that the target TSH range for the treatment of primary hypothyroidism should differ from the general laboratory range."
Patients who have been treated for thyroid cancer are the exception, because the goal is to minimize stimulation of any remaining thyroid tissue by TSH.
MANY/MOST do superbly well on Synthroid. That is why real thyroid experts - physicians who have gone to school for many years and treated thousands of patient, not just internet bloggers, prefer to use it.
A few people do not convert T4 to T3 well. It's genetic. The gene can be tested for.
The "synthetics" are exactly the same chemical as that produced by the human thyroid. No matter how many times you say "synthetics" that fact remains the same. It's only "synthetic" because it is synthesized in a factory. It is the same hormone produced by a normal human thyroid gland.
And I know 2 friends who could not wait to get off Syn and get to a doc who worked with desiccated thyroid. I don't know MANY and I guess you do ...
And I can't get it how a med made in the labs can be identical to our human thyroid gland hormone...don't need any explanation. Leave me with my thinking as I have no desire for Syn product.
When synthroid came on the market place I read off and on so many issues with all this "new product"...for years it was NEVER approved by the FDA. Did you know that?
Last edited by jaminhealth; 01-14-2018 at 07:31 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
