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 energy/motivation to take action and do things

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

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, 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.

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

like to take one thing at a time.

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.

Opinions/input welcome,

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)