Aa
RA? Osteo?
I have been having achesin my joints for the past two years that have gotten worse. I first noticed this when I changed my thyroid medication. I was feeling tired prior to this and thought maybe changing my thyroid medicine would help. My doctor prescribed tirosint and put me in a state of hyper thyroidism. We switch back to Synthroid. And my TSH was below 1. My free T3 and free T4 showed more of a normal to hypo range. II have the aches and my knees hips and one of my ankles in addition sometimes my neck and shoulder hurt. I am a 47-year-old woman and have been on avid weightlifter and runner all my life. I have extreme stiffness in the morning and I seem to respond to exercise. If I get going I feel better but sometimes pay for it at the end of the day. I have no pain in my finger joints and blood tests have not shown any elevated blood levels in inflammatory markers. Could this be osteoarthritis? Or Ra? I have been taking anti-inflammatories and I seem to respond well. In other words it takes away any pain. I am planning on seeing a rheumatologist soon. Please advise! Thank you!
Because Deer Velvet contains estrogens and testosterone, hormone-sensitive conditions, like breast cancer, endometriosis, estrogen dominance,etc.would get exasperated, I think long term use should be considered very carefully.
Most Doctors on the other hand , do not have the knowledge nor the time to advise you on such matters, outside the scope of their conventional treatments.
I'm familiar with Deer Velvet Antler as I knew the owner of a large deer farm
in my area , who supplied a few nutraceutical manufacturers with antlers.
We boiled fragments of the deer antlers and made tea, however, since I found out about it containing steroid hormones, I never tried it again, as I was avoiding anything that would contribute to benign prostate hyperplasia
or other related issues, caused by dihydrotestosterone in men.
There are many other safe herbal, natural anti-inflammatories for joint pain,
to my opinion, so for this reason alone, I'd say no to Deer Velvet.
Cheers,
Niko
Most Doctors on the other hand , do not have the knowledge nor the time to advise you on such matters, outside the scope of their conventional treatments.
I'm familiar with Deer Velvet Antler as I knew the owner of a large deer farm
in my area , who supplied a few nutraceutical manufacturers with antlers.
We boiled fragments of the deer antlers and made tea, however, since I found out about it containing steroid hormones, I never tried it again, as I was avoiding anything that would contribute to benign prostate hyperplasia
or other related issues, caused by dihydrotestosterone in men.
There are many other safe herbal, natural anti-inflammatories for joint pain,
to my opinion, so for this reason alone, I'd say no to Deer Velvet.
Cheers,
Niko
Hey Gzsimo, just sent you the questionnaire.
Check the Institute for Functional Medicine website and click on Patients for details.
There's a list of questions to ask Functional Medicine Practitioners,
including one about insurance and payment.
Many would work on skype, if distance is an issue.
Hope this helps.
Niko
Check the Institute for Functional Medicine website and click on Patients for details.
There's a list of questions to ask Functional Medicine Practitioners,
including one about insurance and payment.
Many would work on skype, if distance is an issue.
Hope this helps.
Niko
Yes, send me some info. Do you by chance know of a decent functional medicine doctor that insurance will cover?
Thx
Thx
Well the best test I know of is the Adrenal Stress Profile from biohealth labs.
Don't attempt to treat adrenals on your own.
I have studied adrenals and I found that complex fields like epigenetics and neurology are easier to understand than adrenals (at least in the beginning)
Best doctors to treat adrenals are Functional Medicine doctors ,who have
training in Holistic Endocrinology. No insurance coverage though.
Whatever you end up doing, make sure you take only bio-identical hormones and not synthetic ones.
Huge difference!
I can send you a self-assessment questionnaire if you're interested, in a pm. I just need to dig it out. I have a gazillion articles , reports etc. archived.
Whatever you have sounds like it's in the initial stages, since your energy levels are still OK, which means that it would not take too long to recover.
Optimizing your energy levels is key to recovery and healing.
Take care.
Niko
Don't attempt to treat adrenals on your own.
I have studied adrenals and I found that complex fields like epigenetics and neurology are easier to understand than adrenals (at least in the beginning)
Best doctors to treat adrenals are Functional Medicine doctors ,who have
training in Holistic Endocrinology. No insurance coverage though.
Whatever you end up doing, make sure you take only bio-identical hormones and not synthetic ones.
Huge difference!
I can send you a self-assessment questionnaire if you're interested, in a pm. I just need to dig it out. I have a gazillion articles , reports etc. archived.
Whatever you have sounds like it's in the initial stages, since your energy levels are still OK, which means that it would not take too long to recover.
Optimizing your energy levels is key to recovery and healing.
Take care.
Niko
Thanks! You are very helpful. Yes, adrenal issues make since and I have thought of this before. The problem is I don't know of any doctor that will treat this or is knowledgeable to treat this in my area! Believe me I have a kind of researched a bit of this! The ones that do acknowledge it simply recommend a over-the-counter supplement. I have gone down that went out with little relief. I am afraid to try the natural T4. And my Endo does not believe in the consistency of it. I was okay on Synthroid before! I don't know why I'm not okay on it now. If of course that is what is wrong with me. I still think I am a bit on the hyper side. My energy through all of this has been okay, except when I am experiencing pain! Do you recommend any tests or supplements for the adrenals? Any test that insurance may cover? You know there are so many rheumatic conditions too that this may be. I considered a possible infection but my white blood cell count has been okay. No fevers that I am aware of. Premenopausal? Don't know. All I know is this started when I was burning the candle on both ends! Fibromyalgia? Thanks, Niko, for letting me bounce ideas of of you!
Come to think about it, I know at least 3 more people personally, with serious health issues because of overtraining and inadequate recovery.
The biological stress on the body in addition to the physical stress
eventually lead to adrenal* issues( which is the biggest concern) among other ones.
No, don't think Lupus because of the ANA which is far too low for it to be indicative at this point. Lupus is a very complex diagnosis.
I think you missed the point I tried to make earlier.
Your TSH won't matter much when you have thyroid resistance.
Thyroid resistance comes from T4 when T4 it gets converted to rT3 .
Levothyroxine (Tirosint) and Synthroid are both synthetic forms of thyroxine (T4), so should you have thyroid resistance (over and above normal levels), your thyroid meds would be the direct source!
T4 meds have a history of problems.
Most hypothyroid patients do better on natural desiccated thyroid but in lower doses when rT3 is elevated, which by the way will never be available in a generic formulation!
RT3 is a normal part of thyroid function as it converts excess T4, but when inflammation (swelling-stiffness-joint pain), low iron (often because of T4 meds causing low gastric acid and possibly also linked to your nausea),
low adrenal function* (stress), low selenium ( b'cause of low absorption) are present, then rT3 gets elevated, affecting thyroid function negatively
Despite what your labs indicate!
Do you see yourself there in what I just explained? No mystery.. and NSAIDS don't help the situation much in the long-term.
If the underlying causes remain unaddressed, rT3 remains elevated.
If the causes are removed and rT3 levels are still high, adding T3 (cytomel)
to your NDT usually helps but it takes a few weeks to figure it out and regulate it properly. Not an exact science, by any means,lol!
You're concerned about Lupus so please read the following:
When I was studying Dr.Barnes work (one of the top experts in thyroid research-diagnosis and treatment), one particular finding stayed with me.
From ALL the thousands of patients he treated for hypothyroid
(using natural desiccated thyroid ) NONE of these patients developed Lupus!!!
The ones who had been already diagnosed with Lupus, NONE developed any new signs of organ involvement, while being treated by Dr. Barnes for hypothyroid.
I understand that these concepts are often confusing and that's why I took the time to present it to you in a way that you can understand it.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.
Take care.
Niko
The biological stress on the body in addition to the physical stress
eventually lead to adrenal* issues( which is the biggest concern) among other ones.
No, don't think Lupus because of the ANA which is far too low for it to be indicative at this point. Lupus is a very complex diagnosis.
I think you missed the point I tried to make earlier.
Your TSH won't matter much when you have thyroid resistance.
Thyroid resistance comes from T4 when T4 it gets converted to rT3 .
Levothyroxine (Tirosint) and Synthroid are both synthetic forms of thyroxine (T4), so should you have thyroid resistance (over and above normal levels), your thyroid meds would be the direct source!
T4 meds have a history of problems.
Most hypothyroid patients do better on natural desiccated thyroid but in lower doses when rT3 is elevated, which by the way will never be available in a generic formulation!
RT3 is a normal part of thyroid function as it converts excess T4, but when inflammation (swelling-stiffness-joint pain), low iron (often because of T4 meds causing low gastric acid and possibly also linked to your nausea),
low adrenal function* (stress), low selenium ( b'cause of low absorption) are present, then rT3 gets elevated, affecting thyroid function negatively
Despite what your labs indicate!
Do you see yourself there in what I just explained? No mystery.. and NSAIDS don't help the situation much in the long-term.
If the underlying causes remain unaddressed, rT3 remains elevated.
If the causes are removed and rT3 levels are still high, adding T3 (cytomel)
to your NDT usually helps but it takes a few weeks to figure it out and regulate it properly. Not an exact science, by any means,lol!
You're concerned about Lupus so please read the following:
When I was studying Dr.Barnes work (one of the top experts in thyroid research-diagnosis and treatment), one particular finding stayed with me.
From ALL the thousands of patients he treated for hypothyroid
(using natural desiccated thyroid ) NONE of these patients developed Lupus!!!
The ones who had been already diagnosed with Lupus, NONE developed any new signs of organ involvement, while being treated by Dr. Barnes for hypothyroid.
I understand that these concepts are often confusing and that's why I took the time to present it to you in a way that you can understand it.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.
Take care.
Niko
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