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Any advice or help please

I had a full thyroidectomy in July last year.  Was on Synthoid .150 and then over the months added 10 mcg of cytomel.  Once the cytomel got added, my joint pain vanished, I did not have that depleted and drained feeling I was having since surgery and overall felt better, not top notch.  I have gained like 20 pounds since my TT and since january have truly done a diet, logging every calorie, working out at the YMCA 3 to 4 times a week with LOTS of intense cardio.  For 11 weeks I could not lose one single pound.  So, a couple weeks ago she took me off the Synthorid and Cytomel and put me on 120 of Armour.  I have kept up with the diet, healthy foods and exercise and low and behold I have lost six pounds.  I have lost three weeks in a row. She said my body might need real versus synthetic hormone to get back to normal.  

I am thrilled with this response, however my one and only gripe is, I am having that completely depleted and just drained feeling again starting around 2 or 3:00 pm.  Not just tired, sluggish, would love a cat nap, I mean wiped out I just have to sit down.  I have only ever experience it to that extent in the months after my TT and the cytomel nipped that in the bud.

I have only been on the Armour just about three weeks so I know it's too soon to go back.  How long do I really need to give my body to adjust?  

Has anyone else had a similar experience?  What did your Dr. do?  

On my next bloodwork, she is testing my sugars, cortisol and a full metabolic panel, in addition to the thyroid tests.  

I don't go back until May 19th and the though of dealing with this 7 more weeks has me wanting to cry.  

Thank you for any help or advice you may have to share with me.
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Avatar universal
Thank you so much for the info.  That seems to make sense.  All my other hypo symptoms seem ok.  I think we all have them sluggish moments of the day, but this is beyond that.  After my thyroid came out, I learned what it felt like to have that drained from head to toe feeling and I do not like it.  I just can't believe it came back as soon as the armour started.  It has not been any better either, and I am 3 weeks into the armour.  So, maybe I need her to adjust my dose some or something.  I am gonna call and ask her if I can move my bloodwork up to  4 or 5 weeks.

Thanks again!!!  
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Avatar universal
Just a couple of thoughts.  If, as I suspect, you dropped the Synthroid/Cytomel and switched to Armour at the same time, then you basically increased your T3 dosage, which probably gave you a boost for a while until your T4 levels normalize to the new amount of T4 from the Armour.  Once this takes place over 4-5 weeks, then I think you might feel like you are dropping back into your prior level of symptoms.

I say this because your old dosage was the equivalent of 190 mcg of T4 (150 Synthroid plus 4 times the 10 mcg of Cytomel = 190).  Your new dosage of Armour is the equivalent of about 150 of T4, so you may find that you need to tweak it upwards to get full symptom relief.  You'll just have to monitor closely and see how you feel.  I know that I went from 200 mcg of Synthroid, with lingering hypo symptoms, to Armour and have had to increase to 2 1/2 grains.  Now I am feeling best ever.  Symptom relief is all important, not the test results or the actual dosage.
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