saw an endo--help! please!

[Guest guest]

I had my third iron IV yesterday and had hoped that by now I'd be feeling much better. Instead I am feeling much worse--very jittery/high anxiety (unusual for me), extreme exhaustion, and last night some insomnia. My hematologist suggested I see an endo, so I did. Here are the labs I showed her:

January

TSH 1.270 (0.450-4.500) uIU/mL

T3, free, serum 2.1 (2.0-4.4) pg/mL

RT3 434 ( 90-350) pg/mL

T4, free (direct) 1.32 (0.82-1.77) ng/dL

DHEA-sulfate 193 (13-130) ug/dL

ferritin, serum 15 (10-291) ng/mL

B12 926 (211-911) pg/mL

February

T3, free serum 2.7 (2.0-3.5) pg/mL

RT3 173 (90-350) pg/mL

T4, free 0.97 (.89-1.76) ng/dL

ferritin, serum 25.7 (11.1-264.0) ng/mL

from over a year ago, before treatment:

cortisol, saliva:

5.6 at 6:00 a.m. optimal range 7:00 a.m.: 7.0-10 ng/ml

2.1 at 11:00 a.m. optimal range noon: 3.0-6.0 ng/ml

2.6 at 5:00 p.m. optimal range 5:00 p.m.: 2.0-4.0 ng/ml

1.0 at 10:00 p.m. optimal range 10:00 p.m.: 1.5 ng/ml

She said that no good doctor orders RT3 as it's meaningless, that I'm not hypothyroid and should stop T3 immediately as it's causing my nerves/anxiety and insomnia. She said my 15 mcg twice a day is a very high dose and I could go into cardia arrest at any time. If she gives patients anything, it's T4 as that's all that's almost ever needed, but she said I don't need that as I have no thyroid problem.

As to adrenals, she said that if people have bad adrenals, there's no cure--I should stop HC immediately as it's shutting down my own adrenals, causing exhaustion. She said I don't have an adrenal problem, and that 10 mg/day of HC is a very high dose for me--at my size, only 15 mg/day would be enough to shut down my adrenals completely. I told her I thought the idea was to do that so they can rest and recover. She said there is absolutely no science to support that, or to support anything else that's been prescribed for me. She further said that my 10 mg/day HC is harming me, as I already have osteoporosis and HC is thinning my bones even further. Finally, she said I have chronic fatigue/fibromyalgia, that it's a difficult diagnosis to accept because there is no treatment and no cure, that my doctor has done me a disservice in giving me false hope that thyroid treatment will help--it won't.

If there is anything I didn't need on top of the exhaustion and nerves I've had today, this is it. I had to spend the day in bed just to be able to make it to the appointment--a 3 hour round trip. Now I'm worse than before I went. I've been studying STTM and the RT3 site for several months, some I'm familiar with what's there. But this is the first time I've taken a direct hit from someone who's telling me I could be in serious trouble if I continue with this. Please, help! Any support and encouragement would be very welcome.

I will post this on the adrenals list as well. I need all the help I can get after this traumatic experience.

Peggy