if your medicine is not working, than switching it may be cruicial to your good health. however, i would like to warn all ladies of the expierence i've had:

i do have more energy, and feel great, after having had my doctor swich my meds from thyrolar to armour, but my first period i got really, really sick. it was almost like having a stomach virus!! my doc said it sometimes did that. it's not a bad thing, it's just my body adjusting to the new medicine, wich is perfectly normal, and my next period should be just fine.

but i just wanted to let you girls to know what you might want to expect once your meds are switched over! it's probably not the same for everyone, but it's just my expierence!! hope this helps someone!! i will, of course, stay on armour as it's the best i've ever felt. i just wanted to tell ya'll what may happen with your first period after switching meds!!

have a great week gals!!

Dear Flynnlee.
Thanks for the imput about the medicine. I have mail order medicine, so I don't know how long it will be before I get the cytomel. Did you ever take cytomel? If the cytomel doesn't work, I will ask for Armour....and it is CHEAP which would also be a bonus since we will soon be without our HIGH PRICED insurance ($620 per month).

I am 54 and have not had a period in almost 3 years. It just suddenly stopped, but I am a little anxious about any new side effects. I have a consistently low basal temp of about 97. so I am hoping that this will raise my temperature and THUS promote weight loss as after losing 8 lbs in two months on Atkins, I am at a stall. I love the beach and swimming but have become so self-concious in a bathing suit that I don't want company any more at our pool. I strive for to limit my carbs to 30 a day and my caloric intake falls between 1000 and 1250, so I am not eating too many calories either.

I found this website through Sparkpeople, which is a weight loss support group (costs $10 a year, a bargain compared to anything else) but the biggest bonus of that has been that someone linked me to this website. I have found so much comfort getting information and encouragement from others with this troublesome thyroid disease and obesity.

Thanks again for all your help and information.

oh! i hope my post didn't scare you too much!! if your meds aren't working, i would recommend switching, tho i am no doctor, of course, it's just what's worked for me!!

my first tom after having begun armour(which i LOVE, by the way) was like having a stomach virus, but doc said it was normal.

so don't worry!! i'm sorry you're at a stall! i've found that upping my meds from 1/2 grain to 1 grain has made me feel sooo much better and did, in fact, promote weight loss with atkins.

i'm sorry you're not feeling good!! i hope you keep coming back to the website--it's a great place for support!!

Hi there,

I just wanted to mention that I did Atkins for many years and was having no weight loss success whatsoever and the thyroid medicine did not help. My doctor finally convinced me to give up Atkins for more of a zone approach and I raised the carbs dramatically (about 162 grams per day but low glycemic carbs). The reason for this was that my doctor explained that Atkins lowers your body's ability to produce free T3 and T4 because your carbs are too low. I still need my thyroid medication, but now it works and my free T's are in the normal range. Also, Atkins lowers your estradiol, which is the estrogen that keeps your tissues sensitive to insulin. So it disturbs me the number of people being told to do Atkins because it actually throws your body more out of balance, especially for women.

KSRT

My period was/is a little goofy since I switched to Armour, but it seems to be straightening out now. It has taken a few months.

I'm glad I spotted this thread!

Tuesday I'm going back to the RE to get results from last week's bloodwork. I have both PCOS and hypothyroidism, and I'm currently taking 1000 mg of Metformin a day and 75 mcg of Synthroid. I've been on Synthroid for four months now - I started at 50 mcg and after the first month was increased to 75 mcg. I've been on Met for 3 months, and Tuesday will be the first time I see the doc since I started taking it.

I fully expect him to increase both medications Tuesday. He told me when he prescribed the Met he'd increase it gradually, so I suppose that one is a given. The Synthroid, on the other hand, I'm guessing will be increased simply due to how I'm feeling. When my dosage was first increased, I had lots of energy and felt great. Now, my energy is once again lacking and my temperatures are back down around 96.

I keep hearing about how Synthroid isn't the best choice - some go so far as to say it's dangerous. My knowledge of thyroid functioning is limited at best, but I'd love to be able to gather enough info on alternatives to present to the doc Tuesday. What thyroid medications have you all had the most success with? Which ones would you recommend I steer clear of?

Thyroid meds are odd compared to many other drugs. Natural products like Armour contain both T4 and T3. T3 is the stuff your body actually uses, but most (emphasize MOST) people convert T4 to T3 as needed. Some do not. Synthetic drugs usually contain only T4 (like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Levothroid, etc.). Cytomel is also synthetic and contains only T3 - it is not sold as a generic, so is more expensive than generic T4. I posted a long time ago (title Thyroid Research) the study that the company that makes Synthroid fought publication of for 10 (ten!) years that shows all brands of synthetic T4 are equally bioactive. It helps not to change brands because the fillers and binders are not quite the same.

It is most important to have the proper tests - Free T3 and Free T4 tell you what is actually circulating in your blood stream. TSH (thryoid stimulating hormone) is produced by the pituitary gland, not the thyroid, and most dr.s only look at it. There is also controversy about which range of numbers is best to use.

Synthetic T4 is usually proscribed in dosages from 75 to 200 micrograms (mcg. - also written .075 to .200 milligrams). Synthetic T3 is prescribe in dosages of 5 to 25 micrograms.

One other thing to keep in mind is that T4 hangs out in the body for 24 to 48 hours, while T3 is only present for 6 to 8 hours after taking it.

I am currently taking 175 mcg of Levothroid (generic T4) and 15 mcg of Cytomel (T3). I take the T4 in one dose as soon as I get up, along with 10 mcg of the Cytomel. I take the other 5 mcg around 6 hours later and find that I don't get as tired in the afternoons and sleep better than when I took the Cytomel in two doses 12 hours apart.

Also, if your low carb diet contains lots of soy protein, you are shooting yourself in the foot because unfermented soy interferes dramatically with thyroid production, conversion and absorption.

Good luck in your quest for better health.