Since my thyroid removal in 2011, my lower digestion has been ,shall we say ,sporadic. Firstly, I found out after many lattes, I'd become lactose intolerant. I'm not sure how a gland removed from one end of my body can wreak so much havoc at the other. I've read else where about we cannot absorb vitamins in the same way as other people can.
Why is this? I've mentioned elsewhere there's a definite difference in my mucus production, maybe its something to do with that or is there a definitive reason for such upset? My bowel in general has been all over the place since removal, even though I'm avoiding milk like the plague.
Thanks for looking and this site is a boon to me!
Al the best,
RM
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real_mission
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I'm currently trying to get copies (for 2 months) and it seems to be quite cleverly 'lost' ,'request not passed on', 'Doctor on leave' so I'll keep trying.
After all this time I would write a polite letter to the practice manager and say if there is an ongoing problem getting the printouts you'd be happy to make an appointment to come in and copy your records yourself.
Thyroid meds have such a big effect on your gut, it would be important to know that your dose is right.
My does has been up and down like a yo-yo. I'm better on a high dose, I've experimented with a high dose for a few days and I don't get palpitations or anything on 100mcg of T3, I do vary it according to my needs. I stuck strictly on 60mcg over Christmas ,on Endo advice, and put a stone on, has cold-sores for 3 months and generally felt pants. I went back and the dose was raised ,due to the state I was in, but I vowed never to put myself in thast situation again, hence the self medicating.
The trouble is, the dose I feel best on, 100 mcg, is meant to be bad for you. Im a big guy , 6ft1 and 17st 6, so assume I can absorb more, but my Endo insists that isn't the case.
I've only just found out, through here, my bloods can be badly spiked if taking T3 just prior to my bloodtest ,which I had been doing, thus a high Free T3 reading. So the skewed results ,coupled with feeling bad on the past recommended dose, makes me think I need to keep a close eye on how I actually feel on certain doses.
Ive never felt 'normal' on any meds given to me, this is just to feel not so cloth headed.
As you say this can skew results, so prob best to leave off your dose the day before or day of test (depending on whether you take it at night or during day) and have another test. My results are too high if I take meds within 12 hours of test, even a small dose of t3 nine hours before test made it go high, and I'm not on a particularly high dose.
Then you'll know if you're on the right dose. Ideally your t3 will be within range and tsh doesn't matter a lot, but possibly under 1. If your dose is up and down your bowels may follow. So best to find out what your best steady dose is.
Did you find your gut was less active during your Christmas experiment? It is one of my first signs that dose is not right (gut either being 'too active' or 'underactive').
Hi there ~ I found that when I went gluten free, swiftly followed by wheat free, my gut settled down a bit but my mucus production fell dramatically! My nose stopped dripping, my sinuses cleared and I stopped wheezing. I think wheat causes inflammation in susceptible people. Found Jack Challem's The Inflammation Syndrome enlightening and helpful. Found this site invaluable. I still have room for improvement and am currently tackling the remainder of my carbohydrate intake. Showing good results so far.
Genius do a gf/wheat free seeded loaf and seeded baps which are both very nice. And if you don't mind the sharper taste, some people who can't tolerate cow's milk do okay on goat's milk.
I literally live on bread, I have it morning ,noon and night. This sounds like a solution, I'll give it a try (only as a last resort as, I don't know if I've told you, I looove bread )
Yes, difficult, but not impossible! Well, not quite.
Until recently I've been eating Rude Health's Honey Puffed Oats for breakfast, with rice milk plus banana. Also, banana pancakes (v.ripe banana + 2 eggs); or fruit omelette (inc. a teaspoonful of maple syrup with water instead of salt/pepper) add fruit on serving; or banana, peanut butter, pear or other fruit, blended with rice milk. Including protein keeps hunger at bay for longer.
The fruit omelette is the fastest breakfast - less than 15 minutes to cook, serve and eat!
Alternatively, ditch the whole idea of conventional breakfast food and eat whatever you have available.
Hi there, sorry you got your throat cut, I'm in the TT club too. I felt like hell on wheels on T4+T3 combined and now doing well finally on NDT - natural bioidentical hormones. I concur with all the posts on here, if you've had autoimmune disease then your brain and body is sensitised to high levels of thyroid hormone. Also natural hormones just work better in my opinion in TT patients. I'm a member of the yahoo! group Thyroidless - they have helped me so much, I suggest you join there.
Also if you've had autoimmune thyroid disease then you'll be gluten sensitive: stopthethyroidmadness.com/c... If you find you are craving carbs and yeasty or sugary things you also need to look into candida.
Also as you are thyroidless you REALLY need to stay on top of your B12, Vit D, iron and electrolyte levels esp potassium and sodium. It's also worth investing in a saliva cortisol test from Genova which is discounted through this site. Starting NDT with low iron or low or dysfunctional cortisol will just make you worse (I know, I tried it!).
It's very important that you find an endo who is listening to your symptoms and dosing you according to your free T4 and T3 levels (with no meds 16 - 18 hrs prior to the blood draw) and not your TSH. As you've had Graves the TSH can remain suppressed for several years after surgery (it's a useless test anyway, as anyone who is being held hostage to it can tell you!) because of your antibodies. Thyroid removal does not cure Graves, you just have Graves and no thyroid
Gut issues are very prevalent with thyroid illness - a good probiotic like symprove is a good idea. I also had parasite infections, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, leaky gut, candida - you name it. Food allergies for me were a cortisol issue - cortisol is your body's own anti-inflammatory so once I got my adrenal support sorted they all went away. Genova do a digestive analysis, admittedly its £400 but if your gut continues to be a problem after you've changed your diet (the Paleo diet would be ideal) and cut out gluten, and ideally most grains, then it's worth investing in.
Finally, if like me, you struggle to find a doctor who will listen, you can do it yourself. Blue Horizon medicals have a great blood service which does not require a doctor - they do a comprehensive blood test plus X which tests the lot, thyroid, iron, vit b12, vit D, glucose, cholestrol, electrolytes, etc. You'd need a free T3 test on top. All in about £300. You order and pay and then book your test at your local Spire or Nuffield hospital (and there's more choices for places in London on top).
Final piece of the puzzle might be your sex hormones. Mine went beserk after TT - as a woman my progesterone sank into my boots, my oestrogen went off the scale and my testosterone tanked. On NDT prog and oest are now normal, but still no testosterone so just starting very low dose bioidentical testosterone gel.
Final word to the wise, like reallyfedup has said, your thyroid is crucial to the correct working to all the other hormones in your body. My good (german) endo surgeon admitted that they barely understand what it does, let alone what it's removal really does, it probably has far more functions than they presently understand and it probably makes other yet to be identified hormones. What I do know is once it's gone, things don't always go to plan in your body and hormones can cascade the wrong way. So it's best to just only replace the hormones that are missing, take the bare minimum of supplements that your body needs to survive and don't take any herbs or anything else (e.g. DHEA or Pregnenolone) that relies on something converting to something else. Keep it really simple.
A good supplement regime would look like this:
- Bioidentical thyroid hormones to the ELIMINATION OF SYMPTOMS
- Vitamin B complex - good one like lamberts, thorne or solaray
- Mineral complex - delivering at least 99mg Potassium, zinc and copper, and at least 100mcg selenium
- unprocessed (I like Light Gray) celtic sea salt liberally on food or sipped in water, say half a teaspoon a day to start
- CoQ10 - 100mg is good, 200 is better
- Extra Vitamin B5
- Magnesium - chloride or citrate to bowel tolerance and epsom salt baths
- Vitamin C to bowel tolerance but at least 2g a day
- iron if you need it I like Bluebonnet chelated iron 27mg
- Vitamin D3
- Vitamin B12 - METHYL lozenges, I'd start on 5,000mcg a day
- A good fish oil - posh brand like Nordic Naturals or Green pasture
- Good fats in your diet - grass fed butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, good cholesterol is at the top of hormone cascade, you need good fat.
I hope that helps you, if you do nothing else, join the thyroidless group on Yahoo!
Its not so much a mess, it sjut things that have been overlooked for so long have all came to a head. I really think Im on too low a dose of T3, my calcium was at base ,leading to bone pain and my Vit D is low too. Never looked at all the time Ive not had a thyroid.
Being thyroidless is a daily balancing act and it's just not understood by the NHS. I've given up on my GP entirely ... I feel like saying, are you a computer operator or a doctor? as all he does is look at my blood results. They are part of the picture, but only part of it. Thyroidless group will see you right, partic if you've had cancer. You'l get your head around all of it and get to know your symptoms and start trusting your own body x
Wow! This is exactly how I feel it is. You can physically feel you energy level deplete throughout a day, something I'd never experienced before removal.
Up till now I've been trusting the 'medical professionals'. My body tells me whats up every day, I find that a more accurate guide than a box ticking results interpreter
Sorry forgot to add additional meds, Im on addical, Vit D3 5000iu, multi vit. I have magnesium,iron selenium too but I tend not to take these as I think the mulit vit covers it.
A multi-vit will not give you the B12 you need. Best to follow Rebecca's advice about supplements. Your VITD is way TOO low....and could be the cause of the bone ache...
real_mission have you done a loading dose? Just an idea. Otherwise it may take an age and a half to get your d where it should be. Have a look: imperialendo.com/for-doctor...
Ooops ! I thought I'd already replied to this , put its gone missing
I did consider it, but there's so many scare stories of 'you can this...' or 'you cant that ...' so it put me off a little. I'll have a go this week and return with results. The Adical has reduced my pain in my left arm but its still very evident in my right,
I do feel better on the upper dose and I know what hyper feels like, I was given T3 after my thyroid removal and still had my residual hormones in my system, I stayed awake for 3 days straight
I've never felt even near to this on higher dosages, so much so ,I felt some days if the tablets actually had the stated content
I'd like to take Armour, but the ongoing costs would kill me, its £70 a month isn't it? I could afford it ,but the longterm prognosis is ....expensive
T3 was different ot begin with, lately it just doesnt seem to do anything, I used to have 20mcg just before bed and I'd spring out of bed the next day, I took 40mcg last night an awoke like death warmed up ,as per usual.
Hi there, TSH suppression is the aim of the game in ThyCa but how you feel will be determined by the free T3 and free T4. Also if you have any of the underlying issues - low iron, low B12, low Vit D, candida, etc then you will feel terrible regardless. Also remember that oral hormones are absorbed through the gut so if you are having gut problems then that will be a factor. Also, lots of people buy Thyroid-S from Thailand, it's perfectly safe and very cheap - you buy in bulk and keep in the freezer. So it wouldn't cost the earth at all. Personally I view it as an investment xx
LOL. Yes Armour is the brand name (just like we say Hoover when we mean vacuum cleaner). Here's a link to the different brands: stopthethyroidmadness.com/a... xx
real_mission I had this problem too. I felt good on a bit of t3 + t4 initially, added a bit more t3 and felt great. All in all I had about six months of really good health - started running again, helped my mum move house and was lifting heavy boxes all day - but now I take the t3 to get me out of bed in the morning and that's the best I do all day. If I don't take enough in the morning I feel like I've been drugged, but I get no happy, healthy energy anymore and my afternoon dose seems to have little effect. Someone here suggested that maybe I've started converting well and no longer need the t3 - ? Any chance a little t4 would help you? (Or have you already been there? This thread is a little 'tl;dr'.)
Blood test on Wed so maybe that will tell me something I don't already know.
I've tried t3/t4, t3 /t4 liquid (just in case it was a cellulose intolerance thing), no good. I've just tried the T3 thing before going to bed and I feel Uuuugh! At least the rings under my eyes have been dyed white today
Im going to go back to having most of my dose in the AM (one when I wake, one about and hour after, then one at 12pm, the last one in the evening) and winding down towards bedtimes, I think. I've sourced Thyroid-s and am going to order a bottle to see if that has a better effect.
I didn't know about Vit C either. I did have it as a supplement and , how can I put this,it felt like it was doing me some good. I didn't continue as I was trying to isolate the thing which I needed most, which turns out to be everything
I've sourced one grain x 1000 for £55. Does that sound about right? The thyroid-s website seems to be down for some while.
Iodine even without a thyroid? Interesting, Id totally discounted Iodine action as I thought it was solely for Thyroid function . Oh, Im lactose intolerant , so oats in a no-no. And I refuse to 'go all Scottish' and have it with water and salt , Im not that hard
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So best to find out what your best steady dose is. 
. With cereals gone, if I got rid of bread too I don't know what I'd eat 
Partial thyroid removal 
Half thyroid removal 
Operation brought forward(total thyroid removal)
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