Re: some better news and is there a way to split this dose?

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

It's easy, you cut each pill in half, and the fourth half you chip gently

into three pieces.

Terry

> From: wasteoftym@...

> Reply-To: graves_support

> Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2003 13:42:34 EDT

> To: graves_support

> Subject: some better news and is there a way to split this

> dose?

>

> Hi All,

>

> Well, some good news on the horizon. I talked to my endo office yesterday,

> and the assistant was very sweet. She took down all the info about how crappy

> I've been feeling this week, and said she'd try to have the doctor call me

> soon,

> but wasn't sure when it would be since he was at the hospital all of the

> previous night and had left early to go get some sleep. I also asked her about

> getting the Free T3 test, and was told that while they don't normally test for

> Free T3, that if I wanted it, to go ahead and pencil it in on my lab sheet and

> just remind them each month, and I could have pretty much any test I like that

> would make me feel better about my condition. My endo ended up calling me back

> about an hour after I talked to her. He said it sounded like I was a bit

> hyper, so he has upped my tapazole to 10 mg....5 at 2x a day and he wanted me

> on a

> beta blocker regularly for a short while that I wouldn't need to take as

> often and lasted longer than the one my GP had given me to take as needed

> (propanolol 4 x a day as needed) so I'm now on 50mg of atenonol once a day.

> Reading

> the list of possible side effects and the fact that I have to wean off of it

> kinda freaks me out, but I can't go own with the shortness of breath, coughing

> and tight feeling in my chest plus the funky & irregular beats I was having

> with

> more frequency. And let's not even talk about the emotional basket case I was

> this past week! Anytime anyone asked how I was doing, even casually, I'd

> burst into tears! :-)

>

> I know from all your posts that it's best to spit the dosage of Tap into 3

> parts every eight hours, and I'm sure the endo wouldn't care if I do that

> instead of twice a day....but how does one go about splitting 2 - 5mg pills

> into 3

> equal parts? Someone help me with that please! Thanks in advance. And I hope

> to

> share that I'm feeling better shortly.

>

>

> So much to learn, so little brain!

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hey ,

Thanks for sharing my joy over the ease of getting them to test for the Free

T3. At least I know I won't have to battle with them over that, which is a

huge relief.

I took my first dose of the extra tap in two parts Friday, and yesterday and

today I'm trying to take it in 3 stages, so we'll see how that goes. Not sure

if it's from the increase, or taking it in stages or from the new beta

blocker, but I already feel a little less anxious, and my palpitations have

pretty

much gone away for the most part, although I still have the shortness of breath

and heaviness in my chest that comes and goes during the day. Hopefully

that'll go bye-bye soon too. :-)

I'm 99% sure that it's the flaxseed oil that has made me loose as a goose, so

to speak, as for most of my life I've always been on the constipated side of

things, and didn't have this new special feeling until I started dosing myself

with that stuff. I've gonna cut back on how much of that I'm taking, and also

get some yogurt or cottage cheese to mix it into instead of gulping it down

straight and see what develops. What a great board this is, where I can get

into the down and dirty particulars of my bathroom habits and nobody bats an eye

and even joins me in my discussions! LOL But you're right, it could be a

symptom of the hyperness as well....guess I can't rule that out and I'll add it

to

the list of symptoms I discuss with my endo at the next visit.

Have yourself a wonderful Sunday and thanks for your help!

[Guest guest]

,

This is good news about getting the FT3!

I'm not sure you need to take the tap 3x/day. Tap has a longer half-life

than PTU, which is the one that should be taken TID. You can probably try

2x/day, and see how you do. If you want to do TID, then use a pill splitter

to get the 3 doses for the day.

As for the runs, are you sure it isn't from being hyperT? You may get loose

bowels from that, rather than the flax. Just a thought.

At 01:42 PM 7/26/2003, you wrote:

>I also asked her about

>getting the Free T3 test, and was told that while they don't normally test

>for

>Free T3, that if I wanted it, to go ahead and pencil it in on my lab sheet

>and

>just remind them each month, and I could have pretty much any test I like

>that

>would make me feel better about my condition.

www.aconner.com

www.cognitive-behavioral-therapy-ny.com

[Guest guest]

,

That makes good sense to me, to cut back on the flax, perhaps to 1T per

day. If you notice improvement, and start to feel your hyper symptoms

abate, you can try again to increase the flax if you think you should.

Maybe you have been getting too much flax, and the cottage cheese may help

to bind you. I also notice that when I take a calcium tablet that it makes

stools harder (sometimes too much). Perhaps you can take a calcium tablet,

like Oscal (I have it in 500 mg tablet) and see if that helps. Just a

thought. I would think it doesn't hurt to get some extra calcium, if you're

not already taking a calcium supplement.

Have a nice day,

At 12:00 PM 7/27/2003, you wrote:

>I've gonna cut back on how much of that I'm taking, and also

>get some yogurt or cottage cheese to mix it into instead of gulping it down

>straight and see what develops.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Loved your comment about bathroom habits. :-)

True... not many folks in real life will take the time to carefully consider

exactly what is doing this to you, much less consider the conversation

normal and everyday. tee hee

Do a Google search on your Tap. You will find all the sites are now updating

their information to the NEW protocol from the manufacture... THREE times a

day. No other choice.

I assume the old way will be around for longer than we would hope for all

the patients. But the more people learn this and share throughout the

Internet. the more will be helped. We can also assume the doctors will take

another 10 years or so to catch on....heck they still tell us to take our

PTU all at once.

Which I did faithfully for way too long, as what the doctor says is always

right.

You can imagine my surprise when my neighbor got so worried about me, he got

me a computer to educate myself on Graves'. The sweet man got his friends to

volunteer their time for the 'sick woman', and he bought $20 worth of

computer parts at the once a year computer swap meet.

The very first moment of doubt in my endo occurred the day I found the

manufactures instructions on every eight hour dosing for PTU. The rest, as

they say, is history.

The drug reps will continue to push the Tap, with it's $100 a month

difference in price over PTU, based only on this once or twice a day myth.

This is based on a small maintenance dose BTW. That is $1200 a year increase

over the PTU...and for patients already on a lower dose. If you think how

many Graves' patients there are nationwide, you can see how this 'once a day

increases compliance' will be hard to stop as a means of selling their

product.

And... gosh... when it doesn't work there is the RAI .

Wonder how many patients have given in to this lie ? And confirmed the

doctors belief that the drugs do not work.

Oh... and the HUGE doctors edition PDR has had Tap listed at three times a

day only for the last two years at least. I have proof sitting right here in

the lower stack of very Hugh, heavy books. It is nicely bound in red

imitation leather. More info than on the web due to size and apparently too

cumbersome for doctors to review , once they have looked up a drug the first

time.

-Pam L - who some times finds herself on this soapbox and very frustrated.

[Guest guest]

Hi Pam,

Well, I agree with part of your soapbox totally, and the rest almost

totally. I can tell you that at the high dose of Tap, when I didn't know any

better after diagnosis, I took it once a day and it seemed fine--in

comparison to the hyper state I had been in for so long. But as I have come

into normal ranges, I can say with certainty that once-a-day dosing is not

enough. Now that I'm barely taking 2 mg. a day, I have had to drop down from

three to two doses, because the pills simply can't be split any smaller to

take three. They really need to make a 1 mg. variety for us long term users!

On the PTU/Tap I think there's more wiggle room. PTU has (I've never taken

it so only know from reading here and from friends' experience) a truly

short half-life, and people seem to notice more ups and downs because of it.

Plus, it seems to have some nasty side-effects, I know of people who've said

they lost their sense of taste--and I can't afford that as I earn my living

in the kitchen. And, there are generics for Tap that cost much less. The Par

brand generic worked for me, the Eon did not--but since I'm insured and can

afford it and am taking such a little bit at this point, I have gone back to

the original Tap to be sure I'm getting exactly what the prescription is.

The episode with Eon where I went back to severely hyper a couple years back

really scared me, although I'd taken the Par for years with no noticeable

difference from the Tap.

I also agree with you that the compliance argument is the primary reason

(besides ignorance of the correct dosing method) endos want to give

once-a-day prescriptions for tap; it's also why many endos get people to do

RAI, and from talking to my own endo, that's his biggest concern with

patients on meds. There are apparently lots of people out there who resist

actually taking their pills. Who love to " lose weight " . Who just aren't

smart enough to know what the ramifications to their overall health are, or

don't care. But then, we see people like them every day in so many aspects

of life (cigarettes, drunk driving etc.), why should anyone be surprised!

Terry

>

> Reply-To: graves_support

> Date: Sun, 27 Jul 2003 12:59:12 -0700 (Pacific Daylight Time)

> To: <graves_support >

> Subject: Re: some better news and is there a way to split

> this dose?

>

> Hi ,

>

> Loved your comment about bathroom habits. :-)

> True... not many folks in real life will take the time to carefully consider

> exactly what is doing this to you, much less consider the conversation

> normal and everyday. tee hee

>

> Do a Google search on your Tap. You will find all the sites are now updating

> their information to the NEW protocol from the manufacture... THREE times a

> day. No other choice.

>

> I assume the old way will be around for longer than we would hope for all

> the patients. But the more people learn this and share throughout the

> Internet. the more will be helped. We can also assume the doctors will take

> another 10 years or so to catch on....heck they still tell us to take our

> PTU all at once.

> Which I did faithfully for way too long, as what the doctor says is always

> right.

>

> You can imagine my surprise when my neighbor got so worried about me, he got

> me a computer to educate myself on Graves'. The sweet man got his friends to

> volunteer their time for the 'sick woman', and he bought $20 worth of

> computer parts at the once a year computer swap meet.

>

> The very first moment of doubt in my endo occurred the day I found the

> manufactures instructions on every eight hour dosing for PTU. The rest, as

> they say, is history.

>

> The drug reps will continue to push the Tap, with it's $100 a month

> difference in price over PTU, based only on this once or twice a day myth.

> This is based on a small maintenance dose BTW. That is $1200 a year increase

> over the PTU...and for patients already on a lower dose. If you think how

> many Graves' patients there are nationwide, you can see how this 'once a day

> increases compliance' will be hard to stop as a means of selling their

> product.

>

> And... gosh... when it doesn't work there is the RAI .

>

> Wonder how many patients have given in to this lie ? And confirmed the

> doctors belief that the drugs do not work.

>

> Oh... and the HUGE doctors edition PDR has had Tap listed at three times a

> day only for the last two years at least. I have proof sitting right here in

> the lower stack of very Hugh, heavy books. It is nicely bound in red

> imitation leather. More info than on the web due to size and apparently too

> cumbersome for doctors to review , once they have looked up a drug the first

> time.

>

> -Pam L - who some times finds herself on this soapbox and very frustrated.

>

>