CSI: Thyroxal

I don't even know where to start. Here are the important things to know for this story:

1. The Thyroxal I had on hand (four bottles) seems to be....funky.
2. Rather than keep taking it, I have started taking Tirosint again.
3. I'm okay with that decision.

Last time I posted I mentioned that DH drove all the way into the city just to get me more Thyroxal. I had two bottles from a wonderful Internet company (who, if you're curious, I have ordered from before without a problem. Trustworthy!) that had funny black flecks everywhere and smelled funky to me. DH went to the CAG's office to get two more bottles that, unfortunately, were from the exact same lot as the ones I already had. In case you're keeping a tally, that's $120.

I called the company that makes Thyroxal directly and was basically told that I needed to talk to the folks who sold it to me and they themselves weren't liable. That's a crock of s***, but okay.

I emailed the Internet company and they promised to contact the company. I called CAG's office and they were incredibly sweet and accommodating. They even opened a bottle of Thyroxal to see what I was talking about. They informed me that herbs come in all shapes, colors, and sizes and that natural variation could account for the difference in the pill appearance.

Okay, check and check.

With this comforting information in hand, I took my Thyroxal as I normally would. Since I was at a TSH of 3.88 last time my blood was drawn and had some annoying symptoms of being hypothyroid, I was anticipating taking six pills again instead of five.

Well, after a few days of taking six pills, I felt worse. I took seven pills, then eight pills one day, just to see if it made a difference! Nothing. I just felt worse and worse.

Then I got some interesting communique back from the Internet folks. They had contacted the manufacturer and they wanted the bottles sent back. Right away I asked if they were aware of any contaminant or missing ingredient. I was told that they wouldn't be able to tell until the bottles were tested.

Fine, but I'd be an idiot if I kept taking something that was potentially, maybe, possibly contaminated with something or was otherwise unsafe.

At this point, Your Human Guinea Pig had a few choices:

1. Keep taking potentially unsafe herbal supplement.
2. Take nothing for a few days (until I could find some untainted Thyroxal) and become more and more hypothyroid and feel worse and worse.
3. Start taking Tirosint again, which I still have on hand, and resign myself to the fact that thus far it seems like my thyroid is not doing what it's supposed to.

Further complicating my decision-making process was the fact that my Doctor was not available to talk with immediately.

In the end, I decided my best option would be to just take Tirosint. I feel about 50% better not taking Thyroxal and taking Tirosint instead. I feel like it's important to point out that any prescription drug or supplement can be screwed up due to human error. My DH's insulin is sometimes defective. His blood sugar gets high, he feels horrible, and it takes him a few days to determine that it's the insulin. It's just life. I've also read that Synthroid (what most folks take for hypothyroidism) isn't as consistently made as it could be; the FDA only recently approved it and even so it seems like it was approved only due to popular demand.

Thyroxal was working really well until it wasn't.

And to bring home why someone who was so adamantly against taking the regular drug, I'm going to gleefully list my symptoms. Like I said, the worse I feel the easier it is to just do whatever it takes to feel normal again. :(

• Headaches
• Ear pressure
• Dizziness
• Lightheaded-ness
• Fatigue
• Muscle Aches & Pains
• Arthritis/Joint Pain
• Insomnia
• Trouble Concentrating
• Irritability (You know this one's not a joke when you get mad at an 18-month-old for distracting you from a cell phone game.)

I didn't feel well. I didn't know what to do. So I just had to make a choice.