Let's Review, Shall We?

Someone asked the other day how I felt now that I'd stuck with a med for awhile.

I feel like you, Dear Reader, need to know that they recommend taking a thyroid medicine for four to six weeks in order to let your thyroid levels even out and see where the drug gets you--high, perfect, or low. So, let's review:

• October-November 2010: 100 mcg of Synthroid (After two weeks I was super hyperthyroid, but the "Good" Doctor told me to keep taking the damn stuff. I lost 25 pounds in a month and had chest pain.)

• November 2010-January 2011: Nothing, because taking thyroid medicine when I was so hyper would have been even more detrimental.

• January 2011: Started on 25 mcg of Synthroid.

• February 2011 to May 2011ish: Gradually increasing dosages of Synthroid. At 75 mcg of Synthroid I had an allergic reaction and was put on 75 mcg of Tirosint.

• June 2011: Bumped up to 88 mcg of Tirosint because my endocrinologist thought my levels could be better. At the same time, I decided I wanted to give 'natural' stuff a try and attempted to level out my thyroid with acupuncture and herbal stuff, which I may try again someday.  

• July 2011-February 2012: Tried taking some herbs and Thyroxal from an herbalist. Thyroxal does have dessicated bovine thyroid in it, so it has at least a little bit of the main thyroid hormones, T3 and T4. (For one month I was on BOTH Tirosint and Thyroxal and ended up super hyperthyroid again. Hindsight is 20/20.)

• February 2012: Started taking 88 mcg of Tirosint again because something wasn't working and I felt like crap.

• March 2012: Still had arthritis, so talked with the Doc and decided to see if natural dessicated pig thyroid (Naturethroid) would help, 1 grain up to 1 1/4 grains. It didn't. I felt well besides the arthritis.

Today, June 2012, I am taking 100 mcg of Tirosint again and my arthritis has disappeared. I was holding out hope that the pig thyroid would work (because I really wanted the bone protecting hormone!) but the clincher was when raising the dose didn't make my arthritis go away, but it DID reduce my monthly cycle from about 26 days to a completely unacceptable 20 days. I had too much T3 coming in and not enough T4.

Looking at my history, I feel like I tried T4 therapy for ten months. Then I tried some herbal stuff for about seven months. People, that's enough time to see how a drug works for you. I also know that after TWO flipping weeks, I was hyper from taking too much T4. Not four to six, which would have made me positively anorexic, but two.

Because I need a mental break from figuring this out and I want to have a baby soon, I decided to go back to T4 therapy because it has honestly made me feel the best out of all the things I've tried.

Choices have to be made one way or another. I am choosing this right now and I still cling to the hope that my thyroid isn't all dead. I do know that the drug I'm taking has taken over any residual thyroid function I did have; that is, my thyroid isn't producing anything because it doesn't have to.

Other updates: I still don't eat wheat or milk and I do try to stay away from fiber-rich stuff. I take Selenium and some other good herbal things and I try to eat my veggies. :)

There will be a Pop Quiz later. :)