Here’s what SweetiePie has to say;

Hello:

55 Year old female here, 200 lbs, hypothyroid smoke free for 6 months. Feeling great about being smoke free and this time its permanent and for real.

I have quit smoking and relapsed so many times in my life. And dieting, on again and off again for 40 years. Pfffft…..This time what prompted me to go to the doctor and quit was that my heart feels heavy and hurts sometimes. Not angina yet, but scary and depressing. I’m fine, it turns out, but I definitely needed to quit smoking and still need to exercise more and lose weight . I am no expert in the weight loss department, having had limited success with that over the years. I can see from this interesting thread that I am not as weight conscious as most of you, but I still thought I’d share what my doctors told me because it may help and inspire you the way it did to me: When I tried to bring up the weight gain and the overweight with doctors heres what they said: CARDIOLOGIST told me I’d have to be about 100 lbs over my ideal weight of 145 for the weight to be as stressful and damaging on my heart and cardiovascular as SMOKING, GP #1 told me the key was, instead of focusing on an ideal weight and size, was to focus on preventing DIABETES through NONSMOKING, AND EXERCISE just as important as wholesome diet, and GP #2 (I moved and needed a new doctor for my thyroid perscription) told me, after my bloodwork tested all ok, “why don’t you just forget about losing weight for a little while and focus on quitting SMOKING? Well, I took all of that advice, and this time, it worked! I’ve really kicked the smoking habit and finally found freedom from that deadly addiction. The “permission” from doctors to stop beating myself up about my weight freed me up mentally to do what I needed to do (giving myself plenty of rewards, including food treats and being lazy treats!) in order to become smoke free and never going back! I am ready now to step up to exercise and weight loss this year with the same strategy: Increased exercise first, food modification instead of deprivation. The reason for my post is to say stick with it but your QUIT is SO IMPORTANT – don’t ever let your desire to be thinner or to get back down to an ideal outweigh your resolve to stay SMOKE FREE. SMOKING is the singlemost damaging behavior -don’t lose sight of that! Never take another puff! Oh, btw I gained about 5% while quitting and my first goal is to go back down 5%.

The entry SweetiePie Doesn’t Need a Shrink to Quit Smoking was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Here is what Patti has to say about her thyroid cancer experience;

I found a lump in my throat in August of this year. I am one of the few (about 10%) who tested positive for Thyroid cancer. I also had cancer in 4 of the lymph nodes of my neck. I am a competitive athlete (for fun not for a living) and I worried what would happen. I had surgery in September and although the last 4 months have been very hard on me, I am happy to report I am running, swimming and cycling again. The cancer is completely gone based on my body scan and negative bloodwork.

Most likely you do NOT have cancer. But you can’t roll the dice and not know. And if you do, you can and will get through it and go on to live a wonderful life. It takes work and perseverance to be healthy but it is worth it.

The entry Patti Keeps on Running Despite Thyroid Cancer was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

I was diagnosed Hypothyroid 10 years ago, I have two sisters and several aunts with the same problem. I was prescribed synthroid and it was a Godsend for the first three years even though I was up and down, however I began to be more and more tired and just generally did not feel good, my dosage was up and down, finally doctor prescribed cytomel to go with it. still no good my bones hurt all the time especially my hip going down my leg and in the middle of my upper back, my beautiful teeth damaged. I finally told my Doctor to either give me the Armour or I was going to find another Doctor who would, He did and shazamm all symptoms disappeared, I feel great Like before I ever had this problem, I Thank God for Armour, and I also avoid flouride, chlorine

The entry Margie Reports Her Success with Armour Thyroid was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Lovey writes:

Hi, I’m too scared to go to the doc as I have a large lump in my throat. I don’t know much about thyroids or how it works an wat the worse case situations r. Alls I know is that the lump is about as round n size of a golf ball maybe abit smaller. I’ve had this lump for about 4 years an it’s recently started to get bigger. Ive gain about 12kg in about 8 months but I still do everything the same. I weigh 75 kg an MT height is 174cm. Something is wrong isn’t it!!!

Here is my reply to her;

Hi Lovey

A sluggish thyroid often produces a “lump” in the neck (which is the enlarged thyroid) and weight gain due to a slow metabolism. I’m not sure if you believe me but there really isn’t anything to be scared about. For example, if it turns out your thyroid is under active (low functioning or hypothyroid) the treatment is very simple. For most people taking one pill per day is all that is required to get back to normal. May people with hypothyroid are taking their thyroid pill and feel fine.

It’s hard to say exactly what the problem is in your case, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it is something like hypothyroidism, which could be fixed so easily.

So please get yourself to a doctor, clinic or whatever and have them look into this. Then you can stop worrying so much.

Okay? Let us know what happens. I’m asking other members here to give you their words of support as well, since many of the members here have gone through what you are experiencing and are happy they received proper treatment.

Dr. G. Pepper

The entry Lovey Needs Encouragement to Deal with Her Condition was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Zach writes:

Hi everyone. From what I can gather, most posters here are women, well I’m a guy with similar problems. I thought my story might be useful so that men don’t think it’s a women only problem. I gained a hypothyroid diagnosis at the age of 25 due to Hashimodo’s. There was no direct cause, it runs heavily in my family. For a year, or two, maybe even three (it’s hard to tell due to widespread symptoms), I was feeling nervous, bad memory, attention problems, sleep problems, low appetite, and easily fatigued from a normal 8 hour work day. I assumed my lifestyle choices were causing these symptoms so didn’t go to the doctor for years.

Finally when I was diagnosed I was put on levothyroxine. The very first day I took it I felt IMMENSLY better. However, months down the road the symptoms gradually built up again. Every time my dose was raised, I would feel better for about 2 days, but the symptoms would gradually return. My endo decided to drop my T4 dosage and put me on a combo T4/T3 (T4 was dropped by 50 mcg and one quarter of the drop was added in as T3, so 12.5 mcg of T3). This is the first day I’ve tried it, and instantly the morning of starting on T4/T3 my body aches have almost disappeared and I am feeling much less sleepy at my desk during work.

The entry Zach’s Treatment Success with Cytomel was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Bringing on this round of pessimism on my part, is a recent “development” in the area of treatment for hyperthyroidism (over active thyroid). Ever since I was in training there have been two medicines, propylthiouracil (PTU) and methimazole (Tapazole), which are the mainstays of medical treatment for hyperthyroidism. Both medicines have been available since the 1940’s and show excellent efficacy and tolerability (and they are cheap!). Almost all endocrinologists I have met use these two drugs interchangeably although in pregnancy propylthyiouracil is favored due to rare birth defects in fetuses exposed to methimazole.

The “development” which I find so discouraging is the recent action by the FDA to place a very strict (black box) warning on the use of PTU due to the possible occurrence of a rare form of liver injury attributed to the drug. After almost 70 years of exemplary use, this has given rise to extensive debate in the endocrinology literature about how to restrict PTU use.

While it is true that methimazole is equally as effective as PTU to treat hyperthyroidism, I have personally seen numerous cases of fairly severe allergic reactions to methimazole. Fortunately it has been easy to continue medical treatment by simply switching to PTU. If we can’t use PTU freely then the only other options are surgical removal of the thyroid or eradication of the thyroid using radioactive iodine, neither of which is free of potentially adverse outcomes.

I have never encountered severe liver injury with PTU nor has any of the colleagues I have polled. It has to be very, very rare. This is obvious because it has taken 70 years to get around to recognizing it formally. Can we really call it progress that we now have one less simple option for treating hyperthyroidism, a common and relatively benign disease? Let me take my cynicism to the next level. I won’t be surprised if a major pharmaceutical company soon announces the development of a new drug for treating hyperthyroidism. If I’m right the new drug will add nothing of real value that wasn’t previously available but is many times more expensive then the drug it replaces.

So goes endocrinology into the new century, the stogy old lady of medicine.

The entry Endocrinologists Take a Backward Step in the Treatment of Hyperthyroidism was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

My new patient was also on a number of supplements and vitamins including a non-prescription “metabolic complex” given to her recently by her chiropractor. By law in the U.S. supplements like these do not possess thyroid hormone and, in my experience, have no impact on thyroid hormone levels, either to increase or decrease them. As a precaution, we obtained a new set of thyroid hormone levels along with the test for Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (anti-thyroid antibody panel).

Several days later, the patient called complaining she was “allergic” to the Armour Thyroid, developing jitteriness, anxiety, feeling flushed and a rapid heart rate. My first thought was she received the wrong dose of medication but a quick check of her records indicated this was not the issue. I called the lab and was surprised to learn the TSH at the time of her visit was already low, indicating excess thyroid levels or hyperthyroidism. What could have caused the sudden switch from hypo to hyper thyroidism? Rarely, patients with Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis can convert to hyperthyroidism, an event I call the Zombie Thyroid because the thyroid comes back from the dead. More likely was that one of her supplements contained actual thyroid hormone, so I asked the patient to get me the labels from these products. In the meantime, I instructed her to stop the Armour Thyroid and the supplements until I could figure out what was happening. Her allergic symptoms resolved in a few days.

Examination of the supplements’ labels indicated that one manufactured in New Zealand did in fact have thyroid extract in it. It had so much thyroid hormone in it that the patient was already becoming hyperthyroid at the time she first came to the office. Signs and symptoms of hyperthyroidism didn’t develop until she started taking Armour Thyroid along with the supplement. The mystery was solved but I am left feeling much less secure that my patients will not injure themselves with products obtained from outside the country either via the internet or from practitioners who provide it, perhaps unwittingly.

As I have in the past, I urge everyone to avoid medications and supplements produced outside the country which can contain active ingredients with potential health hazards. Always check with a physician before beginning a supplement which is obtained from the internet or mail order.

Gary Pepper, M.D.
Editor-in-Chief, metabolism.com

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice or treatment. Some details of this case have been altered to protect the patient’s identity.

The entry Dangerous Metabolic Supplements was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Here is Sarah’s story:

I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in my early twenties and Synthroid did not help. I did not know at the time that many of my symptoms were due to hypothyroidism. After changing to my long time physician, I told her of my original diagnosis some years back. She did only the TSH and told me I was no longer hypothyroid! So for some 15 years after being in her care and continuing to feel crummy, then for the last 8 steadily gaining weight and feeling worse, I was not on any medication. I begged her for Cytomel several years back and was denied…she said she didn’t treat with that. When I finally was deemed hypo by her, she put me on the smallest dose of levothyroxine. It did not help. I finally went to see a shrink and he put me on 25 mcg of Cytomel. For the first time in my post pubescent life, I feel like living. My dose was upped to 50, and I felt even better but my thyroid levels were off, so we are now working on that and I am back to 25 mcg per day. If you can’t get Cytomel from your regular physician, you might get a psychiatrist to prescribe it. It changed my life and I finally feel alive. I’ve since switched primary physician because she wouldn’t listen to me, and she didn’t like that I was on Cytomel. I don’t know what it is about this medication that regular physicians don’t like and make them refuse to treat with it, especially when so many can benefit from it. I’ve lost only 12 lbs since being on it, but I gained nearly 35 unnecessarily while not being properly treated and was told to eat less and exercise more…I only ate about 1500 calories a day and walked my dog 2 miles each day, so I don’t feel it had anything to do with my diet!

The entry What You can Learn from Sarah’s Struggle With Hypothyroidism was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Here is his comment;

I’m 64 years old. Excellent health. 6 ft tall, 177 pounds, work out three times a week…….finding my self depressed, losing strength…..haven’t had any sexual desire in last 3 years……..I use the VA for all my health issues. My doctor said he tested my levels and they were normal, but he wouldn’t let see the results. Based on my info could someone tell me what my level should be at. Also, I noted someone said they got tested free…how is that ?? My only option without paying is to use the VA, and I’ve already noted that experience. Thank You.

My reply:

My first thought is to find out what the actual testosterone level is, as well as free testosterone. A doctor that refuses to share a patients lab results with them has lost credibility. Many “normal” results are subject to interpretation but the doctor may not want to be bothered explaining the finer points of diagnosis. This applies to many medical conditions but is particularly common when diagnosing low thyroid or gonadal (testicular) function. Additional testing may be necessary to make the diagnosis. If any of the pituitary hormones, prolactin, LH or FSH are abnormal then testosterone levels could be in the “normal” range and yet the patient can be suffering from significant disease. Finally, it is still possible that symptoms like those you describe are not related to testosterone deficiency and a search for other medical explanations seems appropriate.

As far as getting free testing for medical conditions I am not able to provide a clue. Perhaps one of our members knows of a way and I would welcome their comments.

Best of luck.

Dr. Gary Pepper, Editor-in-Chief, Metabolism.com
These comments are for informational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice or therapy.

The entry Trying to Cope with Symptoms of Low Testosterone was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.

Here is the contact info:

Please will you post the following link to the very short questionnaire , and urge those members who remained ill on T4 only, yet fared better with a T3 hormone product (either synthetic or natural) to take part.

All responses will be collated automatically online.

http://www.tpa-uk.org.uk/register_of_counterexamples.php

Sheila
Thyroid Patient Advocate

http://www.tpa-uk.org.uk

The entry Patient Advocacy Group Needs Help to Counter “t4″ Only Therapy. was published at Metabolism Blog . Get the Metabolism book from the same author.