Re: 54 feeling 104

[Guest guest]

Get off the T4 and look for other treatments like armour or T4/T3 combination treatment, it obvioulsy isnt working for you after all this time, maybe an adrenal salivary profile might be a good idea to see how your cortisol levels are

I started taking thyroxine 20 years ago (1 year after the birth of my youngest child ) At first I lost weight and did not feel too bad. Then 15 years ago I had a hystroeatomy and ovary removal and have not felt well since. I have been told I have depression and treated with anti-depressants 7/8 times. I suffer from brain fog, bad back, muscle and heel pains I am not depressed! Been reading about the group, though it is at times difficult to take it in through the fog. See my G.P. next week any advice?

[Guest guest]

Hi

Kay

Glad

to see you here so quickly. A great big welcome and I hope you get all the

support you need here. There is a lot to read, but you really need to do this.

On the Home Page of this forum, you will see in the Menu list FILES, LINKS,

PHOTO'S amongst other things. First, go and have a look at the photographs of

some of us so you know who you are talking to, and then start to read the

information in the FILES and also in our LINKS. Anything you don't understand,

just shout and somebody will be along to find an answer for you. It is very

confusing at first, and this disease is not the easiest to grapple with, this

is why the majority of endocrinologists have diabetes as their speciality

rather than thyroid. However, you will find the more you read the more things

start to sink in and the more you start to understand what is happening and

why.

If

you go to our website www.tpa-uk.org.uk

have a look at the symptoms and signs under 'Hypothyroidism' and see how many

of those you have. Many doctors do not understand why we have 'brain fog' and

short term memory and are only too eager to give a diagnosis of depression and

prescribe you the necessary antidepressants. They don't know that your brain

and your muscles and every blooming cell in your body needs T3 (the dominant/active

hormone) and unless they are getting this hormone, it causes these problems and

causes serious muscle spasms causing terrible debilitating pain - and yes, I

too suffered badly with low back pain, pain under both heels and pain in my

shoulder. It was only when I started taking T3 in natural thyroid extract

(Armour) that it eventually disappeared. My doctor told me I had a prolapsed

disc - and that by never even examining me.

When

you see your GP, write her/him a letter. Put down all your symptoms and your

signs, take your basal temperature before you get out of bed in a morning and

if it is 97.8 or less, write these down for five days and put these in your

letter too. Low temperature is a sign of low metabolism and shows the dose of

levothyroxine you are taking at the moment is insufficient. You need to ask for

a full thyroid function test and these include TSH, Free T4, Free T3. Ask also

if you can have your ferritin (stored iron), vitamin B12, Vitamin D tested too,

because if these are low, no amount of levothyroxine will be able to be

properly absorbed. You need to test your Free T3 to see whether your

levothyroxine (T4) is converting. I think you might find that yours is low, and

this would mean you would need some synthetic T3 in addition to your synthetic

T4 - or better still, to have Armour thyroid which contains T4/T3.T2,T1 and

calcitonin for the bones. Ask in this letter whether she/he would refer you to

an endocrinologist of your choice at the hospital of your choice. You know who

to ask for, and insist that you see that particular endocrinologist and nobody

else - I cannot stress this strongly enough. Just point blank refuse to see

anybody else, and if you do get the appointment, ask the clinic nurse to write

this doctors name on your medical notes, telling them again, you do not wish to

be called to a clinic that is run by another doctor.. Last, ask that your

letter be placed into your medical notes.

You

have come to the right place, and please believe me Kay - there IS light at the

end of the tunnel.

luv -

Sheila

I started taking thyroxine 20 years ago (1 year after

the birth of my

youngest child ) At first I lost weight and did not feel too bad. Then

15 years ago I had a hystroeatomy and ovary removal and have not felt

well since. I have been told I have depression and treated with anti-

depressants 7/8 times. I suffer from brain fog, bad back, muscle and

heel pains I am not depressed! Been reading about the group, though it

is at times difficult to take it in through the fog. See my G.P. next

week any advice?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I went through an almost exact history, except that I refused

antidepressants telling my doc I felt there was a physical cause. Ask

Sheila for a list of docs in your area and then ask for a referral from

your GP as not all endocrinologists are thyroid experts- most specialise

in diabetes. Thyroxine just isn't enough for some thyroid patients as

the Thyroxine either does not get converted or the patient becomes

resistant. Thyroxine ( T4) is inert and has to be converted to the

active hormone liothyronine ( tertroxin or T3)before it is any use to

the body. The joont pains tell you that this is your problem. See

http://www.drlowe.com for more info ( I'm assuming your have read the

TPA-UK website). As soon as I got Armour which is natural dessicated pig

thyroid ( and is a reliable medicine despite what some folk erroneously

believe)I started to feel better and after 9 months I felt fine and had

lost a lot of weight. DO NOT say you want an alternative to T4 for

weight loss or you will be ignored.

54 feeling 104

I started taking thyroxine 20 years ago (1 year after the birth of my

youngest child ) At first I lost weight and did not feel too bad. Then

15 years ago I had a hystroeatomy and ovary removal and have not felt

well since. I have been told I have depression and treated with anti-

depressants 7/8 times. I suffer from brain fog, bad back, muscle and

heel pains I am not depressed! Been reading about the group, though it

is at times difficult to take it in through the fog. See my G.P. next

week any advice?

------------------------------------

TPA is not medically qualified. Consult with a qualified medical

practitioner before changing medication.