RAI caused Hypothyroidism

[Ihatehormones]

Are there any Helpful suggestions for treating a " dead" thyroid caused from Radition Treatment ? 50 mcg Levi seems to keep me in the middle ground but never " well"

[greygoose]

50 mcg levo is just a starter dose, whatever the cause of your hypothyroidism. How long have you been on that tiny dose?

I'm afraid you cannot treat the thyroid itself. That is now totally out of the equation. What you need to do to feel well is to get onto the right dose of thyroid hormone replacement for you.

Do you have the actual numbers of your blood tests: results and ranges? If not, I would suggest you get hold of them. You need to know exactly what was tested and exactly what the results were. That's the first step to getting well.

50 mcg Levi seems to keep me in the middle ground but never " well"

I'm not surprised you never feel well. But, what exactly is 'middle ground'? What are the testing? If they are only testing the TSH, then the 'middle ground' is going to keep you sick. The aim of taking thyroid hormone replacement is to bring the TSH down to 1 or under - more likely a lot under - and the FT4/3 up in the top third of the range, or wherever you need it to make you feel well.

Doctors are very keen to zap thyroids, for whatever reason - did you have Grave's? - because it makes life easier for them. But have no idea how to treat the resulting hypothyroidism.

So, first step: get the numbers and post them on here, so that we can see exactly what's going on.

[pennyannie]

Hello again :

A fully functioning working thyroid would be supporting you on a daily basis with trace elements of T1. T2 and calcitonin plus a measure of T3 at around 10 mcg plus a measure of T4 at around 100 mcg :

T4 is a storage hormone and needs to be converted by your body into T3 the active hormone that the body runs on and is said to be around 4 times ore powerful than T4 with the average person needing to find / convert around 50 T3 just to function.

In order for any thyroid hormone replacement to work well you need optimal levels of vitamins and minerals and RAI is known to trash vitamins and minerals.

You need to arrange a full thyroid panel to include a TSH, T3, T4, inflammation and ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D as these to be at good levels in your body to help convert the T4 into T3.

Some people can get by on T4 only : some people find T4 seems not to work as well as it once did and need a little T3 with their T4 making a T3/T4 combo : some people can't tolerate T4 and need to take T3 only : whilst other people find they feel better on Natural Desiccated Thyroid thyroid hormone replacement.

As mentioned to you on previous posts I have Graves and am post RAI treatment in 2005 and managing lingering Graves, thyroid eye disease caused by the RAI and hypothyroidism.

The Elaine Moore Graves Disease foundation, which is Stateside, might be a good place to try and locate a specialist within your zip code who can hopefully help restore your health,

[Lalatoot]

Have a change of mindset. You are no longer treating a dead thyroid. That has long gone. You now are needing to ingest and absorb enough thyroid hormones and any vitamins you are lacking to keep you well.To do this you need to be proactive. You have been given great advice about the testing to get done. You need to get those results and then work to find levels that suit you.

It is like shoe sizes - a shoe size in the middle ground of normal sizes does not fit everybody. We all need to find our own size within what is considered normal.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Suggest you reread the replies on your previous post

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Come back with new post once you get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing results

[shaws Administrator]

Your dose of levo i.e. 50mcg is very low for someone whose thyroid gland has been removed completely.

You should have an increase in dose about every six weeks (after a blood test ) which is a fasting one (you can drink water) and allow a gap of 24 hours from your last dose and the test and take it afterwards.