Re: Labs, thyroid, and ? about iodine

[Guest guest]

>

> Hi everyone,

>

> I'm still investigating options for hormone balancing. According to

> the symptoms checklist in Shame's book, Feeling Fat, Fuzzy or

> Frazzled, I score high for hypothyroid and estrogen dominance. My

> labs from November are posted below.

>

> I've been chelating since December 2005. The kids and I have done

> ~52 rounds.

>

> Symptoms I'd like to see improve further: brighter mood with happier

> outlook on life,

More T3 might do that.

>more energy/motivation to take action and do things

> instead of just thinking (and thinking and thinking...)

Might be that serotonin supporting things like inositol would do this. if it is

the thinking

that stops action. This would help if it qualifies as " obsession, " or " being

stuck. "

I'm not totally clear on exactly what is going on from your description, but

repetitive

thinking is a known symptom of low thyroid.

> about doing

> them, periods which are more comfortable (goodbye to heavy bleeding,

> sore breasts, insomnia, water retention, acne), higher body temps

> (temps taken at noon and at 4 pm have been fluctuating between

> 96.0-97.6), fuller healthier hair, better skin, etc. Is that

> enough?

You might try Dr. ' Lee's hormone balancing book and what yoru doctor might

not

have told you about premenopause book (These will appear on my website for sale

in a

few weeks, anyone who wants them can get them from me by e-mail, or from

amazon.com, or probably in some local bookstores). Basically it is about

estrogen/

progesterone balancing. Briefly covers androgen, thyroid and adrenal. Good,

step by step

recipes with lots of stories to warm it up.

> I'm taking Vit. C, Se, Zn, Mg, milk thistle, B complex, Moly.....and

> taurine, B5, B6, ashwagandha....and Isocort (2 pellets in am, 1

> pellet at noon, and 1 pellet at 4 pm).

>

> I went to see a new MD in Chicago today and brought my labs. He

> agreed to do a trial of Armour,

Do it. Ask for an Rx. Ask him not to titrate you up 1/4 grain at a time but to

start at

something reasonable like 1 grain and work up or down from there. Otherwise it

takes

forever and a day to get relief.

> however he wants me to run the labs

> again, and stay on the Isocort. After talking for a bit, he shifted

> gears and suggested I could try a trial of iodine instead and see if

> my hypothyroid symptoms improve with that alone. He said I could do

> an iodine loading test, but he leans towards starting me on one

> tablet of Iodoral per day (not more than 4 per day) and seeing if

> there is symptom improvement within a week or so.

Well, the iodoral may well help some of the breast discomfort during your cycle,

not all

that likely it will fix the thyroid unless it is very marginally off. Worth

trying. I'd personally

try the armour first if I were you.

> This MD was not too keen on my starting progesterone cream. He'd

> like to take one thing at a time.

Makes it easier to figure oiut, but makes it take forever and generates a lot of

appointments. You seem pretty coherent, you ought to be able to do more than 1

thing a

month and keep track of what is what.

> I don't have the knowledge base to understand this stuff, and the

> little I've read about iodine is confusing and it seems

> controversial. I'm just not sure what to do---try the Iodoral or get

> more bloodwork done and try Armour.

Everything that works is controversial. Medicine is a human sacrificing

religion, and you

are the star of today's ceremony! Congradulations! Don't do anything

controversial and

screw it up!

> Opinions/input welcome,

With a frankly low fT3 the doctor should offer you medication, not iodide.

Presumably

what he is saying is that he is alternative enough to know about Iodoral and

armour, but

not alternative enough to know about ZRT labs and wants to see his own tests

first. If

insurance will cover his tests and the follow up visit then definitely do them,

otherwise

consider shopping around.

BTW, there is some or other company in Hollywood Florida that sells iodide

equivalent to

iodoral for much less.

You would do well to have more DHEA in your system.

Thyroid appears to be the dominant problem. The adrenal results suggest your

adrenals

are probably doing OK and will tolerate more thyroid.

> in Illinois

>

>

>

> From ZRT Labs. Hormone test, result, then range.

>

> Estradiol (saliva) 1.7 pg/ml 1.3-3.3 (optimal 1.5-3.3) pre-menopausal

>

> Progesterone (saliva) 172 pg/ml 75-270 (optimal 150-270) pre-

> menopausal-luteal

>

> Ratio: Pg/E2 101 Optimal: 100-500 when Estradiol 1.5-3.5 pg/ml

>

> Testosterone (saliva) 23 pg/ml 20-50

>

> DHEAS (saliva) 4.2 ng/ml 2-23 (age range dependent)

>

> Cortisol Morning (saliva) 8.2 ng/ml 3.7-9.5

>

> Cortisol Noon (saliva) 1.4 ng/ml 1.2-3.0

>

> Cortisol Evening (saliva) 0.8 ng/ml 0.6-1.9

>

> Cortisol Night (saliva) 0.5 ng/ml 0.4-1.0

>

> Free T4 (blood spot) 1.0 ng/dL 0.7-2.5 (optimal 1-2)

>

> Free T3 (blood spot) 1.8 L (out of range) 2.5-6.5 (optimal 3-4)

>

> TSH (blood spot) 2.8 uU/ml 0.5-3.0 (optimal 0.5-2)

>

> TPO (blood spot) 67 IU/ml 0-150 (70-150 borderline)

>

>