off topic - anyone else on NTH having difficulties?

[Guest guest]

I cannot access the site and am not getting posts though (I am on individual

emails). I wonder if anyone else is having trouble?

I will post here what I am trying to get advice on at NTH just in case

anyone can offer any advice. It is a bit long so......

Thanks.

Mo

Hi

I am hoping for some feedback on what has been happening to me as a

self-treater on Armour and h.c.

I started both 18 months ago and had some serious improvement in symptoms. I

had been pretty much glued to the couch for 15 years, had to give up work

etc. I had been diagnosed with CFS and then four years ago a further diagnosis

of hepatitis C came in (and apparently I had this viral disease for

thirtyyears before diagnosis).

So I decided that all my symptoms were those of HCV. The niggle for me was

that other hepc patients did not have the same degree of severity with their

symptoms that I had and many had no symptoms at all.

My major symptoms were exhaustion, obesity, insomnia, severe brain fog and

FM.

A friend nagged me into checking out the hypoT connection. I had several

TSHs done over the years and they were always 'normal' so I was hard to

convince. But bless her, she nagged and nagged until I, at least, agreed to

take my

basal temps. I have always been a hot person and this was a strumbling block

because I had it in my head that hypoT people were always cold so it could not

apply to me.

When I was shocked when my temps came in at 96.1 ish (where it is again

today!). I persuaded the GP to do a thyroid panel and the results from a year

and

half ago were:

TSH 1.79 (0.25 - 5.5) (was 1.35 three years earlier)

Free T4 15.3 (9.7 - 25.7)

Free T3 4.4 (3.7 - 6.9)

The GP said this was normal - end of story.

I decided to self-treat and, as I said, had great improvement in the first

few months. Within a couple of weeks I became ambulatory at least inside my

home and then within another week or so after starting the Armour I was able to

get out a bit outside. The FM just went in about a month (though it is back

around the muscles at the sides and back of my neck just this last month).

My progress ground to a halt around the two to two and half grain mark and I

am wondering now if I missed my sweet spot at this point. I did not wait 6

weeks before raising, raised a couple of times in a month at this point I

think. I did not, foolishly, keep a journal because my brain was so bad I would

just lose it or write on bits of paper and lose them.

Anyway, I continued and began, very slowly and barely notcieably at first to

feel worse. My energy was going, my mood ditto, everything was going

backwards instead of forwards. And by this time.

I used temps. to guide and it seems they have not worked for me. And,

interestingly, I googled on this yesterday and discovered that tranquilizers

(and

alcohol incidentally) both affect the core body temperature and can lower it.

Now I wonder as I have been taking sleeping tablets, either prescribed or OTC

for what seems like forever as I simply cannot get to sleep otherwise. So

maybe this is why the temps. did not work for me.

I got to 3 1/2 recently. I was going to the doctor re frequent urination

problems that had been going on about three months before I noticed (that will

give you some idea of my brain fog)and he did a thyroid panel without my

knowledge. I thought he was just doing the usual kidney function etc. Kidneys

were

fine, sodium top of range, potassium mid-range. The other labs results he

did came back thus:

AUGUST 2006

TSH 0.01

ft4 18.9 (9.7 - 25.7)

ft3 8.9 (3.7 - 6.9)

Blood sugar 6.0, range up to 5.9

Chol. 7.1, range up to 7

BP 172/99

Incidentally, my BP had been creeping up for months (and I had been given a

dieretic which I came off after a couple of weeks which confused the picture

for me re the frequent urination). With the BP, whereas it had been

borderline for a few years, bottom figure hovering around 89/90.

Well the GP flipped because he did not know I was self-treating so I had to

reveal all. He told me to stop all Armour immediately. Had I known, of

course, that he was going to do the thyroid panel I would have not taken my

morning

dose of Armour that morning as I did.

So, with these labs (and the fact that I HAD taken my Armour before the

test) I was not sure where I would be had I not taken the morning Armour.

So, feeling increasingly hypo, I decided to raise my h.c from 25 to 30 mg to

see if this would help get the Armour into the tissues. I was assuming that

this could be what was wrong with me. This made no difference at all.

So I did the 24-hour urine thyroid test from IWDL Labs in England. This is

the one that is used by Hertoghe and is said to be more sensitive than the

blood tests. It tests FT4 and FT3.

The results came the other day:

Normal

Urine

volume 4100 ml

600 - 2500

T3 3780 pmo/24 hr

800 - 2500

T4 3170 "

550 - 3160

T3 T4 ratio 119

0.50 - 2.30

I had been adding in a small amount of T4 with my daily 3 1.2 grains of

Armour to raise my FT4 from the figure on the first lots of labs above (the

blood

test) and I wonder if that could be responsible from bring the FT4 just over

the range? Any thoughts anyone?

MY FT3 is wwwwwwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over range which brings me to wondering if

I have been hyper for some months.

My pulse has been raised for a while, anything from 90 to 100 because

because I felt so hypo I did not make a connection with hyper.

From what I know of hyper (which is not a lot, which is why I am hoping for

feedback from the list), the only symptom I recognise as hyper is the high

pulse.

I am wondering if the BP creeping up and the frequent urination are also

signs of hyper? I have been anxious yes bit anxiety has been my constant

companion most of my life so I did not connect that. Ditto insomnia. It has

been a

fairly subtle change from feeling well(ish) to feeling hypo again, slow really

is what I mean.

Before these last labs came in I decided to try to come off the h.c as I

have been on it for 18 months now. In the process of reducing I got palps and

reduced the Armour by 1/4 with the two h.c reduction I made which brought me to

3 grains.

Then the latest labs came in and I reduced to 2 grains. My pulse is lowly

but surely coming down, 73 first thing this moring and 88 in the afternoon. I

did not take any Armour at all today and will go back on 2 grains again

tomorrow. Just want to see if I can get the BP down as soon as possible as I am

being hounded by my GP to take more BP meds. which I am resisting mightily.

My questions, dear readers, is this:

do you all think I am indeed hyper. I don't really have anyone with discuss

this with, not even a doctor, so I really would be very grateful for any

comments or insights/advice.

Mo

ps. the second h.c reduction did not go well because of palps at bedtime so

I have gone back up to 25 mg this time in four doses rather than the three I

had been taking before. I hope to try another reduction soon, sometime in the

next few days. I am hoping that the cut in Armour to 2 grains might head off

at the pass the possibility of palps with the next reduction and that the

four doses will help with this also.

pps

just remembered that I went to the GP some months ago when he diagnosed

plantar fasciitis. While I was there I mentioned that I was getting hot flushes

again, post meno 7 years, and asked if that could be because I had lost a fair

bit of weight on the Atkins. He said it was unlikely as I post-meno and

would not be holding much, if any, oestrogen in my body fat.

What he did say was that it could be connected with hyperthyroism. Nah I

said, if anything I am the opposite but the National Health Service guidelines

tell me I am not. And off I went home and thought no more about it, more

concerned about my poor, sore feet.

Now I am thinking maybe he was right.

I am not used to GPs being right, lol

Mo

NOVA Counselling & Healing Services