That's a lot closer to a one grain equivalent. Half a tablet is 50 T4 pluse 10 T3, which is roughly equivalent to 40 T4 for a total of 90 mcg.
On Friday my endrocrin in MX gave me a shot that is suppose to last for a month (similar to the patch he said). It's called Binodian and contains Estrogen and DHEA. It's made by Bayer, but I've never heard of this in the States.
Thanks for the explanation about the prog. I couldn't get my doctor from the States on the phone today to question him about this.
The symptoms are confusing because they are so similar (unexplained weight gain, foggy feeling, confusion, general weakness, depression, low sex drive, dry skin, etc.) I may be wrong, but I feel that my symptoms are related more to my thyroid. Yet, I feel SO confused and foggy....who knows?
Thank you for the encouragement.
So your not taking any estrogen or progesterone right now? That may be one of the reasons your feeling so bad, along with your thyroid meds being changed.
You might want to think about getting back on them. It is common practice to take these two hormones together or you can become estrogen dominate.
I hope you get you meds straightened out soon and start feeling better. Take care. Remar
Sooo, the Novotiral is Levotiroxina/100mcg and Liotironina/20mcg. That should bring me back up to the Amour 1GR; shouldn't it?
Oh, my reference ranges are:
TSH 32.370 uIU/mL RANGE: 0.450-4.500
- Thyroxine (T4) Free, Direct, S
T4,Free(Direct) 0.50 ng/dL RANGE: 0.82-1.77
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 2.6 pg/mL RANGE: 2.0-4.4
Thanks again.
Yes, the T4 and T3 were listed as free.
Yes, the MX endocr. told me to through the Armour in the trash, along with my other compounded hormones.
He prescribed and on the 5th of this month I started taking Novotiral 100mcg/20mcg, but only one half of a tablet per day. I am unfamiliar with Novotiral since it is not used in the States (or I've never heard of it). A quick google told me that it was T4/T3 respectively.
Thank you very much for your knowledge and response.
Just commenting on the thyroid portion...
Your doctor was correct that your thyroid levels were terrible...please provide reference ranges for FT3 and FT4. He was also correct that after being off meds for (how long?) before returning to the States on December 12, your test results of December 23 were too early. It takes four to six weeks for a dose to level off in your system, and it had only been 11 days. So, we' don't know a whole lot about how the new dose affected your labs. However, since you began to feel worse and worse, we can assume that it wasn't good.
Armour was reformulated sometime last spring, and it wrought havoc with many people. Since you were stockpiling meds, I don't know when this might have caught up with you. It's also the reason for the shortage. Other brands of dessicated are now becoming available in the States, and it's also available from other countries.
I am confused by one part...did the MX endo advise you to throw out your thyroid meds, too???
So, let's do the math. You were on 1 gr Armour, which is approximately equivalent to 100 mcg levo. Your doctor replaced that with 25 mcg levo and 10 mcg Cytomel. Cytomel is about four times more potent than levo, so the 10 mcg Cytomel is roughly equivalent to 40 mcg levo, bringing the total to the equavalent of 65 mcg levo. So, you are about 35 mcg short of your former dose of 1 gr Armour. That's a big difference. It's no wonder you were feeling worse and worse.
Were the T4 and T3 tests you listed free T4 and free T3? I am assuming from the numbers that they were. With those test results and your symptoms, you are obviously hypo and in need of adequate meds and time for those meds to achieve their levels and start to help your symptoms.
In my opinion the best way to treat a thyroid patient is to test and adjust the actual, biologically active thyroid hormones, FT3 and FT4, with whatever type meds are required to alleviate symptoms, without being constrained by resultant TSH levels. Frequently this requires that FT3 is adjusted into the upper part of its range and FT4 adjusted to at least the midpoint of its range. Symptom relief should be all important.
You didn't mention your current med dosage, so it is hard to determine whether you will start feeling better within 3-4 weeks of starting on this med dosage. I expect that you will need an increase when you go in for the testing. Make sure that the doctor tests for free T3 and free T4, not total T3 and total T4. Then get a copy of results and keep for reference and also post here for members to help interpret.