HERE WE GO AGAIN!

[Guest guest]

To the gal (or guy) who is about to cry: I think I just read today

that fleas can jump 6-7 inches vertically (ankle height) and about 15

inches horizontally. If you want to test for fleas, wear white sox,

no shoes, white sweat pants, and even a white cotton t-shirt (maybe

they're on your sofa). Tuck pants into the socks so the fleas can't

crawl up your socks and onto the skin of your lower legs. A large

magnifying glass will help but probably won't be needed, as they're

large enough to see with naked eye. If you don't know what fleas

look like, go online to find out. Then keep your feet on the floor

and read, watch TV, whatever for a couple of hours. Check your white

clothing (especially socks and lower pant legs) all over every 15

minutes. Occasionally just stare at your feet and lower legs for a

good 10 minutes and observe. If you see some dark spots that jump

(like " ping! " ) from place to place on you, then you've got fleas, not

mites, and count your blessings. Mites are way too tiny to be seen

like this. You'll still need to get rid of them, but that is

relatively easy to do. When you become skilled enough, you can

actually catch them by pressing down with an index finger on top of

them on your white clothing and then carefully move your thumb to

trap the insect between finger and thumb. Keep a small bowl of water

on the floor. Place your closed finger and thumb beneath the water

in the bowl and release. The flea won't be able to escape the

water. Since the bowl is on the floor, some will jump directly into

the bowl. After several hours, carefully dump into toilet, place one

thin layer of toilet paper on top of them to make sure they go down,

and flush. I took good care of my dog, but knowing what I know now,

I'd have bathed her more frequently with flea shampoo even if I

didn't see any fleas. Apparently, she had gotten some, and as long

as she was alive, they preferred to jump on her. As soon as she died

and there was no other dog, the fleas happily chewed up the humans,

causing welts and sores. This was years ago. My recollection was

that it took a couple of months for them to go away. I think I

sprayed the rugs with a can of some kind of flea killer, but I didn't

bomb or get an exterminator. The problem was solved. But you may

have a more severe infestation. If it's not fleas, get some clear

plastic packaging tape (like 3M) on a serrated roll dispenser and

keep it near you. When you feel something, apply the tape to that

area, then place that tape sticky side down on white paper, and look

at it under a bright light with large magnifying glass. If you see

what looks like tiny specks of pepper, it's probably mites. Keep in

mind that without a blood meal, they are virtually transparent

instead of dark but you should still see them with this technique.

The tape is great for getting large numbers of them off of you

wholesale. They can't escape from the sticky tape. However, to be

safe, I'd always place the tape sticky side down on paper, even

newspaper, before discarding in trashcan. Good luck. I hope it's

fleas.

[Guest guest]

I dont know if this makes much difference but I have a HUGE pine tree about 5 feet from my living room window. I live on the second level. There was another one there next to it but it was removed. There is a ton of birds that live in that tree.

Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL.com.

[Guest guest]

Hi all, I haven't posted for a while, since I started on my T3. On the advice

of some distinguised forum members, I have very steadily - very steadily, been

increasing my dose of T3, coupled with 50mcgs T4 (T4 remaining constant at that

level as I found I felt better with that small amount of T4 included, rather

than solely T3).

Having started at 10mcgs + 5mcgs of T3, I have built up to 60mcgs in total now,

spread 20+10+10early morning, late morning, mid-afternoon (plus the 50mcgs T4 as

I have said).

I have previously posted the 'new' benefits I have felt on T3 - soft skin, wide

bright eyes, awake all day now without the mid afternoon crash, more even

tempered, and generally, without there being a complete metamorphisis, I guess I

generally feel a bit like my old self - and more so as I go on.

Now, just prior to taking/adding in T3 my last blood test showed T4 25.40, TSH

0.52, and free T3 4.9.

I had a new set of tests last week - NOT taking ANY T4 or T3 that morning prior

to the early blood test as usual, and my GP called me in a panic today, as the

results showed T4 at 4, and TSH 0.03. Free T3 is still to arrived back from the

lab.

My GP was - he said, VERY concerned, that I would definately " become ill " , if I

maintained my current level of dose, and suggested reducing T3. He was

concerned that I would suffer palpetations, sweating, spaced out etc etc.. At

the moment I am suffering none of these symptoms at all.

The questions I wanted to ask, are:

1. Is anyone else on 60mcgs or MORE of T3, and how are you feeling?

2. What do you make of T4 at 4, and TSH at 0.03?

3. What should I do?

The irony is, that I was just going to increase my dose of T3 again.

Cheers all,

Mat

[Guest guest]

Hi Matt, lovely to hear from you again and good to know that

after all you have been through, the T3 is doing the job that it should, i.e.

giving you back your life once more.

The problem with doctors is that they know so little about the

functioning of the thyroid system and will only go by what the blood test

results show. You learned about that quite a few weeks ago.

The FACT is that thyroid function blood tests are useless when a

patient is taking any form of T3, because the results are invariably flawed.

Whether you stop the thyroid hormone the day before or take it on the morning

of the test, you cannot get an accurate picture, because T3 peaks in the blood

between 2 and 3 hours after taking it - and when a doctor sees this, he blows a

fuse, demanding you drop your dose, or go back onto T4-only. Never once does

the doctor ask you how you feel and find out whether your previous symptoms

have disappeared or not. This is what they SHOULD be doing, titrating your dose

according to your symptoms. But Oh dear NO - blood tests are the be all and end

all - and I curse them.

Your TSH will ALWAYS be suppressed when taking any form of T3,

either synthetic or natural. This is because TSH is only ever secreted by the

pituitary gland when it recognises that there is insufficient thyroid hormone

in the blood. As it is, with taking T3 and a little T4, the pituitary

recognises there IS sufficient thyroid hormone in the blood, so has no need to secrete

any TSH whatsoever (why would it???), so TSH remains suppressed.

Because you are already taking T3 (remember this is the ACTIVE

thyroid hormone that every cell in your body and brain needs to make them

function), there is no need for the mainly inactive T4, and the little T4 your

body needs, i.e. for the brain, will be getting this from your thyroid gland,

and/or the small amount of extra T4 you are taking, will convert to T3.

So, don't ever allow a doctor to titrate your dose because he

doesn't understand what's happening and he is going on thyroid function tests

alone. Tell him that you are happy with the way you feel, and that you are not

in the least bit concerned and that you will continue to titrate your dose

according to your symptoms as this is what you have found works best for you.

If you feel your body is ready for an increase of T3, then there

appears to be no reason why you should not go ahead, especially as the previous

T3 result was 4.9 (I would have expected this to have been higher having taken

your thyroid hormone on the morning of the test), I cannot work out though why

your free T4 would have been so high at 25.40, but your TSH is where it is

expected to be. I can only think that taking the T4 that morning, it was still

lying around in the blood and had not even started to convert to T3 - so that

could account for it being so high. Your latest blood test after stopping your

thyroid hormone the day before the test shows free T4 to be very low, which is

often the case when taking T3 as mentioned above, your TSH is fine - but we

will have to wait and see where your free T3 is - if they actually have done

the test. I would have expected the test results to have come back with the

other results. It should come back lower than the one where you had taken your

T4/T3 on the morning of the test, in which case, this could be an indication

that you are not yet on a high enough dose of T3.

All very confusing I know, but please, whatever you do, DO NOT

ALLOW your doctor to decrease your dose. I have seen this happen over and over

and over again, when patients followed their doctors recommendations (knowing

nothing about how T3 works) and members have had great difficulty in getting

back their health again. Tell your doctor that you understand about the

symptoms of too high a dose of T3, and that if you start to get palpitations,

sweating, dizziness, feeling 'spaced out', dire rear etc., that you will

immediately cut back on the dose you are taking, but assure him that you are

getting no such symptoms. Tell him, if you wish, that you belong to thyroid

support group of over 2730 members with three qualified medical advisers. The

majority of members are NHS failures who are now getting back their health and

life after starting on some form of T3, either natural or synthetic, and that

you are fully aware of what might happen if you take too much, and what might

happen if you take too little, and that you are doing very well, thank you.

If he is concerned, then ask for a referral to an

endocrinologist of your choice, and one who prescribes T3 for his patients so

he can rest assured you are doing nothing wrong and are not putting your health

at risk at your current dose..

Let us know what your free T3 result is IF it was even tested

this time, as many laboratories are now not even bothering.

Luv - Sheila

My GP was - he said, VERY concerned, that I would definately " become

ill " , if I maintained my current level of dose, and suggested reducing T3.

He was concerned that I would suffer palpetations, sweating, spaced out etc

etc.. At the moment I am suffering none of these symptoms at all.

The questions I wanted to ask, are:

[Guest guest]

Hi Mat,

I'll suggest two possible responses.

The first is the honest one that T4 is a storage hormone and has very little

physiological activity. Its only purpose is to provide a stable resource to

convert to T3. You feel well, assume your heart rate and BP are fine (you can

even ask for an ECG if you want) and so your body must not be getting too much

FT3. Therefore your doctor should chill out. There are plenty of people in the

world on far more than that dosage.

Your pituitary is a simple computer which is designed (evolved) to use mostly T4

and some T3 in the blood stream. The pituitary in fact does its own local

conversion of T4 to T3. Once we mess with the natural levels in order to correct

other problems the pituitary doesn't make a great deal of useful sense of

things. It often shows highly suppressed TSH and again this is to be expected

and not to be alarmed at.

The second answer is a more pragmatic but perhaps less educational one. Tell

your GP that you made a mistake and took your meds within a few hours of the

test and you've been told it will mess with the results and ask for a repeat.

Then drop the T3 for the day before as well. Your TSH will rise and your FT3

will drop. You may feel rubbish for a day but you'll have a less knowledgeable

GP off your back.

Your choice. I'd find a more knowledgeable GP or try and educate this one. It

depends on how open minded you think they will be. As soon as you are into the

territory of mostly T3 and some T4 or just T3 then the lab tests cease to be

useful.

Best wishes,

>

[Guest guest]

p.s. most of the T4 you are taking is being cleared by the body as fast as it

can is is redundant. Your FT4 is low which is fine but indicates that the liver

thinks that you have plenty of thyroid hormone and it isn't going to waste time

making any more of the total T4 into unbound (free) T4.

All your 50 mcg of T4 is doing is making your problem with your GP worse because

it will tend to make your TSH more suppressed and harder to manipulate by

dropping doses prior to the blood test. In fact dropping the T4 prior to the

test will make an infinitesimal difference to the FT4 and TSH as it is the

accumulated level of T4 over 8-10 weeks that counts with T4.

>

> Hi all, I haven't posted for a while, since I started on my T3. On the advice

of some distinguised forum members, I have very steadily - very steadily, been

increasing my