This whole thyroid thing is tricky isn’t it? You are dragged down, fat, cold, and depressed. You truthfully have no idea whats going on with your body, but it can’t be your age because you are too young or too healthy. It’s your thyroid saying, “hello.”
I’ve personally done so many trial and errors with products that I think my body can cure the swine flu with all the medication and vitamins I have taken. It’s been ridiculous at times and it has gotten expensive to say the least. However, with the right research and the right people, I have created a system that works perfect for me. I shouldn’t say a system because I’m only swallowing about 4-5 pills a day as opposed to the 20 I was taking a couple of weeks ago. It’s sad to think how much stress I was putting on my body, but things seem to be “over” in the sense that I can move on with my life and be happy around the people that I love.
Hypothyroidism is really hard to deal with, especially if you have no idea whats going on. You’ve come to this website probably because you’ve been complaining of the common symptoms such as; depression, constipation, being cold all the time, anxiety, loss of hair, etc, etc, etc. You have probably come to the right place if you feel that all of these symptoms are you (for a list of more symptoms go here – http://thyroidism.wordpress.com/symptoms/ ). Even if you only have some of the symptoms that are listed, your thyroid still might play a VERY important role as to why you are not feeling so hot.
So, how do you overcome everything you might ask? How can I get my life back to where I want it to be.
Well, the answer is not simple. We are sorry to inform you that it might be a long road for you but if you research and become active in a “Thyroid” community, it will more than likely be a short road for you. There are so many people that go through this condition that don’t even know about it and are just placed on either anti-depressants or diet pills because their primary care Doctor is overlooking the simple things and not listening. Luckily, I found a Doctor right away who knew about hypothyroidism and knew what the heck was going on with my body. He told me that there is a lot of stuff that is going on with me, mainly because my body just went from being Hyperthyroid to Hypothyroid. It’s a hormonal thing and it could take a while to truly be “up-to-par” but it doesn’t take long for some symptoms to start going away once a patient is put on the right medication. Now, I am truly a FIRM believer that synthetic medications (T4 only) drugs are NOT the way to treat a patient who has hypothyroidism. I’ve been put on synthetics and they did not work with my body. You might say, well, it just didn’t work for you. My body is perfectly fine and if it truly is, then how did you get to this website in the first place? The reason I am so straightforward with the readers and the Doctor’s who prescribe synthetics is because they do not work. Simple.
Synthetic medications like Synthroid only have T4 as stated earlier. Well, thats great and all because the T4 hormone is the “mother” hormone and controls all of the Thyroid. Right? Wrong. For a patient to truly become optimal, a Doctor must also include T1, T2, T3, T4 treatment into the patient so he/she can feel up to par. Medications that are naturally dessicated like Armour thyroid have both the T1, T2, T3, and T4. The least your Doctor can do is prescribe you to a medication that has T3 like Cytomel (liothyronine). Liothyronine is frequently used in patients who still suffer from depression or have symptoms of depression.
So, we know now that there are Doctor’s out there that are prescribing Synthetic medications to patients and the patients still feel not up-to-par. There was a statistic gathered from a study and it found that 15-20% of patients who have been admitted into a mental hospital have/had an underlying thyroid (low thyroid).
I just am amazed that there is so much information out there, but yet, there are Doctor’s who still play it by the book and don’t listen to their patients when they need to listen instead of passing out M&M’s.
So, how can we fix this thing?
For starters, if you haven’t already, get blood work if you have any of the Symptoms of hypothyroidism. Second, once the results come back, go over them with your Doctor and come up with a plan that is right for you. Tell him/her that you have heard about patients who do not do well on T4 only medication and that you would like to be placed on a T4/T3 combo, Armour is a great source of all your thyroid hormones but it is currently on FDA backorder. It’s been a big mess. Next, ask your Doctor about vitamins that you will need since you are now Hypothyroid. Many patients who have hypothyroidism also have; Vitamin D deficiency, B12 deficiency, Zinc deficiency, and a Selenium deficiency. Get tested for these and make sure that you have NO deficiencies present in your body. Your Doctor will more than likely order a metabolic profile and that will show your CBC (complete blood count) which will give him/her a heads up as to what is going on throughout the rest of your body.
Many of the vitamins that patients take are because they still feel like crap. However, once you find that right vitamin that works for you (lately I have been using Kelp and I will post later this week about it), you will start to feel better. I personally believe that you also have to take your OMEGA 3-6-9 in order to be healthy again.
Last, but not least, CUT OUT alcohol usage. Don’t even think about taking a sip if you depression. Your thyroid hormones will not balance out properly and you will have an increase of Reverse T3 if your body does not consume the medication like it is suppose to.
*We will be posting a lot more on the thyroid in order to help you, the patient. You can check out my vitamins/medications page and talk to your Doctor about some of the stuff that I am currently on. It might interest you what is out there that could help. I will be adding Kelp to the list here shortly, but I will be writing a post about it first.
Until next time, take care.
1 Comment
November 2, 2009 at 9:11 pm
wow. great article