Re: synthroid

[Guest guest]

Patsy,

I believe that the usual, generally accepted synthroid dose is 1 mcg per pound

of body weight. It's different for everyone and doses can be adjusted from

around that level.

I have a fully functioning thyroid with T4/T3 numbers that are normal but

slightly low normal. I take between 37.5 and 50 mcg levothyroid (another form

of synthroid). 50 mcgs is a very low dose.

I'm sure others who have had RAI will chime in with their experiences. Best of

luck, zoey

[Guest guest]

Fay

I found a fairly informative pharmacist and he was very

helpful.

I switched back to my family GP instead of using the

Endocrinologist. My doctor increased my synthroid to

75 mcg. I just know that this will be an ongoing learning

process. I have purchased books re Graves (Shomon's

and 's) and at times

my eyes glaze over, it is so confusing. I do like your idea

about keeping all info in a binder.

It is comforting to know that there are individuals that I can

converse with re this disease. A person can feel isolated

with this disease.

Talk with you later.

Patsy Schumacher

Re: synthroid

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 23:57:42 -0000 " patsyschumacher "

writes:

> In February I had the radioiodine procedure. At the first of June

> my doctor started me on 50 mcg synthroid once a day.

Hi Patsy. I'm sure you'll soon hear from others who've been through

this.

What you need to do is educate yourself about a number of things:

- what is the appropriate bloodwork to have on a routine basis: TSH and

FT4 at a minimum, FT3 is very useful for reasons I don't have time to go

into now (and don't clearly understand anyway; I just know the

ramifications ;-) especially if synthroid isn't working over time

-how often to request bloodwork

- hypo symptoms. Besides having something resembling energy, you want to

keep your thyroid hormone levels somewhat normal because of other health

issues that can result from extended un- or mistreated hypothyroidism.

One very important one is the emergence of thyroid eye disease. TED can

happen anyway but keeping your levels stable and normal really helps a

lot.

- get hold of all your records and keep them in a binder, etc. You'll

soon learn how to read the numbers and want to be able to chart your

progress.

I didn't have RAI for my GD so after this, I'm very limited in how I

could help other than cheering you on. I have no idea in fact of how

potent a dose 50 mcg is. I do worry that you went so long without

synthroid. Did you have steady monitoring? Did you simply not need it

until then? It is very unfortunate but so many endos don't know how to

treat thyroid disorder properly.

Some good sources for information to start with are Elaine 's

" Graves Disease: A Practical Guide; " Dr. Arem's " The Thyroid Solution; "

Shomon's newsletter and one book in particular but I don't remember

which one. About Dr. Arem - he's sort of fallen into disfavor here due

to

some poor experiences people have had as patients, and some of his

philosophy of treatment, but IIRC he does a good job explaining

hypothyroidism.

Within a week you may not have much more energy but the empowerment from

the information and support you'll get here will definitely give you

hope!

Take care, Fay

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