Am I losing my mind?

[hlove0917]

I am a 22 year old female, I was diagnosed with hashimoto's about 4 years ago. I am currently taking Levoxyl 25mcg. I have my thyroid tests done once a year and they always come back normal. I didnt really associate my symptoms with my thyroid until I started reading some of the posts. I have been taking my medication everyday for four years, I eat healthy and exercise 3-4 times a week but ever since diagnosed I have never felt like I am getting any better. It actually seems like it is getting worse every day. I can barely get out of bed in the morning and I am exhausted all day. I started taking a multi vitamin thinking that maybe that would help but it hasnt. I feel like I am completely losing my mind, Im depressed, overweight, very forgetful, and I feel like Im losing control. I have spoken with my doctor about trying armour but she told me that she would not prescribe it because it has some kind of connection with mad cow disease....Can anyone tell me if switching from levoxyl or synthroid to armour improved your symptoms at all. Can my severe depression even be linked to my thyroid problems? Please advise. Thanks

[kitty9309]

First, the most important thing is to know what your TSH levels is. Get copies of your lab work for yourself.

It needs to be between about 0.5-2.0 to feel best while on meds. In the normal range is not good enough.

Depression is a symptom of hypothyroidism. Many of us have been through it and it can improve on the correct dose of medication.

[hlove0917]

Ok I went up to my doctors office and got a copy of my last test results, all this says is TSH: 1.660 uIU/ml and I have no idea what this means.... Please help

[dscoochie]

Your doctor needs to treat your symptoms and not your blood work!  You have to be your own biggest fan, and advocate for your health.  Keep knocking on doors until someone hears you.

I'm thinking of you.

[898]

The hormone medicine can only supply your body with  thyroid hormones but will not cure Hashimoto's disease. The significant number of people reporting that their symptoms actually are worsening at the beginnig . The TSH is in normal range, however, the test must be taking in the morning (same as for blood glucose level), and the most important, that many hypothyroid patients are feeling better as their TSH level is at 1.0
In many cases the doctors are forgetting, that every body is different and the medicne needs to be selected based on the individual needs , NOT on what is "covered".

[mscholtz]

re the mad cow risk, I'm no expert but I did a little bit of research into this and I found out two things:

* BSE (mad cow disease), the only prion disease that has been shown to be transmissible to humans, is only seen (so far) in cows, not pigs.  Armour thyroid comes from pigs.
* on tests in cows, prion levels have been shown to be quite low in the thyroid gland, while much higher in the brain, central nervous system, and other glands like the adrenals.  Prions are the infections agent in BSE.

So personally, I would feel pretty safe taking Armour when it comes to BSE risk.  From what I've seen, it's probably no more risky than eating a steak, and maybe less risky.  I'm not taking it myself, but I would if I felt my synthetic meds weren't working right.

There's lots on the web about mad cow risk if you do a little poking around.

[AR-10]

Armour is good for one thing, and one thing only.

Treating someone who has trouble converting T4 to T3. Period. It is very simple to determine if you are such a person by looking at your Free T4 and your Free T3.

If your Free T3 numbers are good, Armour will make you ill.

At the same time, I would not be continuing treatment with any doctor that associates Armour with a risk of BSE. That doctor knows not of which they speak.

I would not allow a doctor to treat me that only wanted to test my blood once a year, either. The doctor should be FORCING you to test more often than that.

I would not allow a doctor to treat me that perscribed generic thyroid meds. But that is a side issue, here.

Your TSH is 1.66, which, for many, would be the perfect number. We, however, are all different and each of us has a different "set point", or magic number for TSH. Maybe you need to be under 1.0 to feel better.

Maybe switching to Synthroid would help. Maybe it wouldn't. After four years, anything is worth a try. Changing meds or a slight increase in dose would be worth a try.

The depression, memory problems, and fatigue sound like you are still hypo, even though your TSH looks good.

Vitamin D dificiency can also cause depression, and often is caused by hypothyroidism. It wouldn't hurt to run a panel to see how your vitamins and minerals look, and also to rule out anemia, which may be the cause of your fatigue.

Do you have insurance? Thyroid disease is not; get tested, take a pill, you're fixed. It's expensive, especially an auto-immune thyroid problem. Unless you're rich, you need insurance. This is a lifelong thing that will get more and more expensive as it goes along. You NEED insurance. It is almost as indispensible as the medication.

Just getting your current situation under control could cost thousands. And it hasn't gotten complicated yet.

If you went to a good diagnostician, and gave him/her your history, they would run tests costing over a thousand dollars just to rule out as many causes as possible. Which is exactly what you need.

Unless you have no insurance. With no insurance you get a TSH once a year, and that is worthless without other tests at the same time.

[hlove0917]

Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it. I did a little research yesterday and found another doctor that I am going to get a second opinion from. I dont think my T3 and T4 have been tested at all, when I asked for my last test results the TSH is all they gave me. I do have insurance so that is going to help a lot. I am just so ready to feel normal again I will go whatever it takes. Thanks so much.