meds not working

dpeters72
dpeters72 Member Posts: 2
in Thyroid Cancer #1

Hello all!  I'm hoping someone can give me some advice on this.  I have been feeling extremely hypothyroid ever since my RAI over a year ago.  I have had my meds increased 4 different times.  Now, my doctor says my TSH level is normal....but, I am constantly freezing. I keep a blanket at work to wrap up in.  I am always exhausted. By the end of the work day I can barely keep my eyes open, let alone spend any quality time with my family.  I have mood swings. I am eating normally and working out 3-5 times a week, but am still gaining weight.

I am taking 150 mcgs of Levothyroxine...and have gone from 154 to 169.  I lost 70 pounds the year before my cancer/surgery, and I REALLY do not want to regain it, but mostly, I want to stop feeling this constant state of exhaustion.

Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions greatly appreciated

Comments

  • Baldy
    Baldy Member Posts: 243
    #2
    Possibities

    Hi,

    Both you and Butterfly may want to look at natural hormone replacement drugs.  Before Synthroid/Levothyroxine, desiccated/dried animal {cow and pig if I'm not mistaken} thryoids were used.  They're still in use today, Armor is one brand name I think, but main stream medicine says the newer synthetic drugs are all you need.  Considering the problems you two are having you could talk to your doctors about it.

    There are probably going to be two issues for you in convincing your doctors to prescribe it.  First, getting your doctor to listen to you and your symptoms and not only your blood work.  Second, as I said, they may not be willing to prescribe the older desiccated drugs.

    Here's a link to the Wiki article on this .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiccated_thyroid_extract

    Googling "desiccated thyroid extract" will find a bunch of articles, most for, some against.

    Another possibility is you may need a T3 drug supplementing your Synthroid/Levothyroxine which is a T4 drug.  Most people can synthasize T3 from T4 themselves, but some can't.  One of the reasons the dessicated drugs may work for some when levothyroxine doesn't is that they contain both T3 and T4.

    Here's a link to the Wiki article that talks about this .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid_hormone

    The particular section is ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyroid_hormone#Formulations

    FYI, I've been on levothyroxin since my surgery 2/2011 and am doing fine with it so far.

    I've been posting here off and on since then and while most people who post here seem to respond to levothyroxine with little or no problems there have been a few people who have had problems.  Not having gone through this myself, I can't tell you anything first hand.  And, unfortunately, when many posters are no longer having their problems, they stop posting.  So I can't provide any second hand information either.

    Hope you find a solution soon!

    Alan

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