Guest guest Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 I get my Armour from Target. They haven't had the 180mg (3grain) for awhile, but they have the 90's and the 30's. > > > > > > In a message dated 7/16/2008 4:28:44 P.M. Central Daylight Time, > > texasthyroid@ writes: > > > > I would add that most doses of Armour are now available > > > > Where, how? So far I've only been able to find one-grain or less, and > I've > > tried a half a dozen majors and several independents. Forest recently > said > > that the larger grains will not be available until October. Fibrojay > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Do you have other labs like fasting glucose, insulin, testosterone and Estradiol? I ask about the glucose and insulin because either low or too high of blood sugar in the a.m. can contribute to elevated morning cortisol. So can chronic infections, inflammation and stress. For me, having some protein at bedtime really helped with the first problem. Also, if you're not finding yourself wide awake in the wee morning hours not being able to go back to sleep, I would think that cortisol level is not problematic. Also, per Jan's suggestion, 4x/day saliva test would give you an idea if you're out of whack elsewhere -if your morning cortisol only is borderline high, you're adrenals are doing pretty darn good. Yoga is also exceptional at attenuating elevated cortisol. The reason I ask about the testoterone and estrogen is that the DHEA you're taking can increase those. I've tried the BioSom and other forms of DHEA over the past 5 years and it makes my testosterone sky- rocket. High testosterone can contribute to excess sweating (you don't mention that but you do mention having a hard time dealing with the heat) and hyper-type symptoms. Also, the DHEA can be shunted to estrogen. And excess estrogen can contribute to weight gain (if it's not balanced by progesterone, which is something many of us need). In my experience, docs need to take a snapshot of all these labs at once to really be able to track what's going on. That's primarily because there are multiple paths to creating the various hormones and sometimes some paths work better than others. So, they can tell by excesses where some of the hormones are going, which starve other hormones that you need (which you then supplement). And, for some of us, these hormone levels are not stable even on the same dosage of replacement (due to toxins, variable stress levels, infections, etc.), so not testing them as a set can be really problematic. For me one of the most important things is consistent daily dosing for my thyroid, and I don't think that's unusual - that's why it's recommended to take on an empty stomach, same time of day, etc. so ensure as much concistency as possible. I would be very concerned about her proposed variable dose for you. Why doesn't she just decrease you across the board? Her proposal puts you at 14.25 per week. Why not just lower you to 2 grains per day or 2 1/8 - just a 3/8 above where she wants you - you could cut 1/4 grain tablets in half to achieve that. If you do follow her recommendation, make sure you get your labs done after one of your days at 1.5 grains or she's recommending those days for the weekend, get the labs done on Monday a.m. The saliva tests that you can order via www.canaryclub.org actually include all those tests and might really be helpful information for you to gather to take back to the doctor. I've not yet had a doctor be unhappy with my taking the initiative to gather data that would help them provide me more effective treatment. B. > > I saw Dr Owens on Monday... > > My thyroid is exactly the same: (I did not take Armour day of test) > TSH less than .1 (0.3-5.1) > Free T3 4.4 (2.3-4.2) > Free T4 1.27 (0.73 - 1.95) (ok 6 weeks ago, this was 1.19 so it has > increased) > > My Adrenals: > Cortisol is 26 (2-25) last time I was at 27 (drawn before 8:30 a.m.) > DHEA is 106 (35-430) last time was at 60 so that's really increased. > > She is adding another adrenal supplement to try to get that morning > cortisol down. > > My Armour dose is going to change slightly.. I'm on 2.25 grains per > day.. I will take that same amount 5 days a week.. and 2 days, I > will only take a 1.5 grains. (I have the 90 mg/1.5 grain pills) > > Is there anything else I can do to work on decreasing my Cortisol??? > I've looked it up and just can't find much on the topic.. > > Despite being slightly hyper with my thyroid, I am still battling a > few pounds. I wonder if when the Cortisol comes down, maybe I will > finally lose those pounds, too. > > I follow Weight Watchers... which is healthy (for me anyway) and > I've lost about 20 pounds on that.. > > Any suggestions.. I'm open! > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 , Thank you for your reply... You are right.. I'm on birth control, so we aren't able to test the estrogen/prog.. As she said, we would only be testing the pill. I've told her that I would go off of the pill to take those tests.. I believe that is our next step. I do wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep.. It's to the point that I have learned to stop trying... to get out of bed and just go do something.. otherwise I really can't sleep the rest of the night. If I leave the bed and come back, it usually works to get me back to sleep. I've also been taking melatonin every night and I have TMJ so my dr has me on a light muscle relaxer at night to keep me from grinding and breaking teeth.. Both of those together usually allow me to sleep, but they aren't a long term solution. I will try the saliva test...I think it's a good idea... I can tell you that the biosom makes me feel more relaxed and I like that... I've backed off my armour just a little bit and I feel better... I've even lost 2 pounds.. I knew I was retaining water again. Oh... the lives we have to lead... I too, have to take my meds at exactly the same time, or I literally feel it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 For the TMJ (and sleep at nite) I take magnesium - the Natural Calm brand is what I use. For me, it's been extremely effective. I used to have headaches that would last for days due to my jaw. I have had severe TMJ for over 25 years and the magnesium has provided me the most significant, long term pain relief. I also do need a bite guard (and I grind my teeth at nite something fierce and have destroyed several of those), but those are a must for anyone that grinds their teeth as that will destroy your teeth and increase your pain since you're usually really clenching that jaw when you're doing that. I just got the NTI appliance, so we'll see how this works. Fortunately, my dentist is really good at justifying why I need these things and I've had to pay less than half the price for each. They are not cheap - they run $400-$600 each. But, really effective. For the melatonin, what works best for me (and that has helped me ALOT with sleep) is to take both a sustained release and sublingual. The sublingual helps me get to sleep and the sustained release helps me to sleep longer, so I no longer have difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep after I fall asleep. I have also found that I need to start my bedtime routine about 1.5 hours before bed and that includes dimming lites and not working on computer. The last is the hardest for me, but it makes a huge difference. Take care, B. > > , Thank you for your reply... You are right.. > > I'm on birth control, so we aren't able to test the estrogen/prog.. As > she said, we would only be testing the pill. I've told her that I > would go off of the pill to take those tests.. I believe that is our > next step. > > I do wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep.. > It's to the point that I have learned to stop trying... to get out of > bed and just go do something.. otherwise I really can't sleep the rest > of the night. If I leave the bed and come back, it usually works to > get me back to sleep. I've also been taking melatonin every night and > I have TMJ so my dr has me on a light muscle relaxer at night to keep > me from grinding and breaking teeth.. Both of those together usually > allow me to sleep, but they aren't a long term solution. > > > I will try the saliva test...I think it's a good idea... I can tell > you that the biosom makes me feel more relaxed and I like that... > > I've backed off my armour just a little bit and I feel better... I've > even lost 2 pounds.. I knew I was retaining water again. > > Oh... the lives we have to lead... I too, have to take my meds at > exactly the same time, or I literally feel it! > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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