Thyroid Wife.

[pmgamer18]

She had Radioactive Iodine Treatment for Hashimoto thyroiditis 15 yrs. ago because one week her thyroid would work and if she was on thyroid meds she would go hyper so they tried to kill it so they could keep it level on meds. She was treated by 3 different Endo's and each on had her on Synthroid. She has never felt good cold, tried all the time and when ever she sits when home from work she falls a sleep. To me that is all she does is sleep. The 3 Endo's she as seen all told her her levels are good. Lose weight see a Dr. for depression and so on a lot of help.

Finely I got her to see my Dr. he is are family Dr. and treats my low T. He did a mess of tests and took her off synthroid and put her on Armour one yr. ago and little by little he upped her dose. Now she is doing 115 mgs. and still does not feel all the much better better but not that much. Now she seen the Dr. yesterday and she had told him she upped the dose to 120 mgs and felt a little better he told her that her test showed it to be to much. Now he tells her he can't help her anymore and wants her to see a friend that is an expert on Thyroid problems and he is a Endo. Shit I was sent to this man yrs ago for my low T and he took me off all my meds to retest me telling me the labs my blood work were sent to are not good enough that he wants to send my blood test after I am off meds to his lab. This was the last one I went to and I asked him before we do this for the 7th time the last 6 Endo's I have seen did this. I asked him how many men does he treat for low T he told me I was his first I just got up and walked out. Now my poor wife is going to see this guy I hope he is better at thyroid problems then he was at low T.

She came home crying she is dam tired of feeling like this and going from one Dr. to the next.

I found this link on Adrenal Fatigue vs. Low Thyroid Function: Signs and Symptoms.
http://www.drrind.com/scorecardmatrix.asp

I feel she needs this check out. I read this at a group a cut & paste.

Part of the reason that the adrenals get overwhelmed is that when your thyroid
is low your adrenals try to compensate by increasing cortisol levels. Others
have mentioned that one of the stages of adrenal fatigue is when the adrenals
overproduce, I was thinking that had been you.

Whatever, the adrenals try to make up for the thyroid hormone deficiency. They
are also a source of energy. Sometimes when your cortisol is high it can still
be a source of adrenal fatigue because at that time the adenals may be
compensating. When they are low it's definitely adrenal fatigue and they may
have gotten that way compensating for low thyroid, they also may cycle up again
after they've rested a little they may again be able to increase cortisol
production to compensate for the thyroid.


Part of that may be Wilson's Syndrome, my wife's cortisol was always high, If I
can tell from behavioiur when it's high, and I think it can on Wilson's
treatment (also hormone replacement therapy which is only expected to be
temporary, Vliet in "Screaming to be Heard" mentioned low estrogen can cause
high cortisol, another connection to the adrenals) she no longer has high
cortisol.


In Langer's "Solved the Riddle of Illness" he mentioned that frequently
cortisol levels are low in hypothyroid patients and when treated for low
thyroid their cortisol level goes up. If you ask I can find the page and give
you a direct quote. Since the thyroid is the eneregy, it makes sense that low
energy from the thyroid will also tire out the adrenals whether they
overproduce or not. Who knows, maybe it also tires out the pituitary which
prohibits it's abiltity to produce TSH and whatever chemical it produces to ask
for cortisol. Perhaps that's partially the reason many hypos haven't enough
thyroid hormones to function properly yet their TSH is normal, and maybe why
the pituitiary doesnt' have energy to produce whatever is needed to ask for
adrenal hormones. I have low adrenals in spite of adequate thyroid treatment,
so I don't fit the pattern I'm describing.


On Dr. Durrant -Peatfield's site, the doctor in the UK who was railroaded by
the powers of his own government just like Dr. Derry is being railroaded now
(think two international docs from Mary Shomon's site who have helped many
patients in USA with their knowledge on the Internet and both losing their
rights to practice is not an international conspiracy to keep medical revenues
up?) On D-P's former site that is no longer there, he claimed that in some
cases if you treat the adrenals first sometimes there is no need for thyroid
meds and Cortef, the adrenal treatment may be only needed temporarily.


Both glands provide energy and work together to support each other. That's why
the symptoms overlap, because if your thyroid is not right, your adrenals
probably will not be either, they may underproduce or overproduce, and if your
adrenals aren't right your thyroid is likely to be messed up to, at least until
the adrenals are treated. I doubt if anyone has a crystal ball sharp enough to
say your symptoms overlap and it's really a thyroid problem or it's really an
adrenal problem. That and the fact that most doctors only know adrenal
insufficiency when you have an adrenal crises and almost die is the reason the
thyroid is treated first in most cases. It may be that in a large percentage
of cases if the adrenals were underactive this fixes them so it didn't matter
anyway. It may also be that it's when there is a real adrenal problem that is
not caused by low thyroid output that may be when the adrenals really do need
treatment in order to adequately accept thyroid meds at all. Because some
people who have adrenal problems and take thyroid meds are extremely sensitive,
others can take large doses of thryoid meds with no effect until the adrenals
are treated. Because whereas there might be a H/P/A axis, the adrenals are not
independent of the thyroid gland and the thyroid gland is not totally
independent of the adrenal gland. It the adrenals produce too much cortisol,
you won't convert T4 to T3 properly and thus by hypo, and if your adrenals
don't produce enough cortisol you have chronic fatigue even if your thyroid
dosage is adequate and as my doctor said, he was only vaguely aware that anyone
really had low adrenals as a side issue of low thyroid.

[pcgizzmo]

Phil,

Maybe marianco can help with this? He seems to be pretty knowlegable about Adrenal fatigue etc...

Paul

[jboldman]

my wife is hypo and the doc prescribed synthroid. Over the course of two years she gained 15 lbs and felt nothing but draggy all the time. mentioned armour to the doc but he laughed and said it was a supplement and he would not prescribe it. She has been self medicating with amour keeping track of basal temps and other vitals for over a year now and has lost weight and feels 100% better. it sucks that this can not be done under the supervision of a qualified doctor but she is in a position where it would be difficult to change her pcp.

jb

[1cc]

Phil,

Do you have labs for her for TSH, Free T3 and Free T4. If you have these, then we can have a complete picture and maybe make some suggestions.

[pmgamer18]

Originally Posted by 1cc

Phil,

Do you have labs for her for TSH, Free T3 and Free T4. If you have these, then we can have a complete picture and maybe make some suggestions.

No I don't trying to get them before they send them to the new Dr. I think if this new Dr. does not work out I am going to take her to see Dr. John.

[SPE]

Dr. John seems to have good knowledge of "All things Male", but I wouldn't trust him with thyroid issues. Here is a good link for you Phil on Top THyroid docs in your area.

http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/bldoc-tx.htm

If I remember correctly, you are in PA? If so, I checked the list for you and Dr. William Richwine in Camp Hill looks good. He is a D.O. and prefers Armour over anything.

[pmgamer18]

Originally Posted by SPE

Dr. John seems to have good knowledge of "All things Male", but I wouldn't trust him with thyroid issues. Here is a good link for you Phil on Top THyroid docs in your area.

http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/bldoc-tx.htm

If I remember correctly, you are in PA? If so, I checked the list for you and Dr. William Richwine in Camp Hill looks good. He is a D.O. and prefers Armour over anything.

No I am in MI about 3 hrs drive from Dr. John but I checked your link and her new Dr. is not on it. But my Dr. told her this Dr. is one of the best in this area. How many times have I hear this but she wants to see him.

[SPE]

Maybe the doc will end up being great! If not, I would try one of the docs on the list. Really read through the reviews and try to get someone who uses armour.

[pmgamer18]

The trouble with my wife is she thinks I come on the net and play Dr. telling guys this or that yet she has yet to realize I got to where I am today by searching the web and talking to you guys. It's the old story you could be the CEO of a big corporation and your old lady thinks you got to where your at because of her. They don't give us credit for anything until we are dead and gone then we where the best. So this is what I have to deal with every night I here how bad she feels and when I try to help her by searching the net I am playing Dr. Damed if you do and Damed if you don't.

[SPE]

Originally Posted by pmgamer18

The trouble with my wife is she thinks I come on the net and play Dr. telling guys this or that yet she has yet to realize I got to where I am today by searching the web and talking to you guys. It's the old story you could be the CEO of a big corporation and your old lady thinks you got to where your at because of her. They don't give us credit for anything until we are dead and gone then we where the best. So this is what I have to deal with every night I here how bad she feels and when I try to help her by searching the net I am playing Dr. Damed if you do and Damed if you don't.

lol...probably so