Help with understanding symptoms

[Beau55]

hi everyone,

I have had a rough time recently after starting Armour. I have posted a fair bit about my ordeal already so I will keep it brief in case anyone is reading it for the 100th time! I came off thyrogold for 8 weeks for testing (awful!) and finally got my diagnosis from a thyroid uk approved doctor. Started Armour 4 weeks ago and I have gradually increased this up too 1.5 grains.

I know you have to be patient but I am not sure what to expect and if my symptoms are from being under medicated or just the fact that I was off the meds for 8 weeks. I was hoping to feel slightly improved but I have had a flare up with major anxiety and panic attacks. These aren’t new to me, I struggled for years with them before getting on thyrogold which massively reduced their occurance. Is it normal to feel worse before getting better? And is it to be expected that I won’t feel any different as of yet?

I am also losing a tonne of hair, no energy, low mood and tearful, blood pressure is low and just generally feeling crappy!

My last bloods before going on armour -

T4 - 13 (12-22)

T3 - 3.5 (3.1-6.8)

I am also supplementing with methylated folate, I get b12 injections and I am looking at increasing my iron consumption (ferritin 69) but was previously at 39 earlier this year.

Many thanks in advance!!

Sarah

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

SarahElizaDavies

I never got on well with Armour or generic NDT and there's plenty of others who tried and didn't do well with any NDT.

Before you do anything else I would suggest you test to see where your levels are now.

Looking at those results, and looking through your previous posts, I would have suggested that you started your new regime treatment with Levo because it seems that you've never given it a try. If Levo doesn't give the desired effect and FT3 is low in comparison to FT4 then add some T3 in the ratio that is right for you rather than the fixed ratio of 4:1 in NDT.

[Beau55 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks for your reply SeasideSusie, I was contemplating Levo but with having previous success with NDT And how desperate I was feeling opted for Armour as my best bet for getting back on track. I don’t want to change it before waiting for a sufficient response yet as don’t want to completely rule it out! With you saying it not getting on well with some people do you know what the symptoms are? I’m just struggling to gauge whether it’s being under medicated, being off the meds so long, or if it’s just a flare up with my panic disorder due to all the stress! 🤣 complicated hey!

Thanks again!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Beau55]

With you saying it not getting on well with some people do you know what the symptoms are?

No not with others but with me it just didn't work, I didn't improve at all.

I don't have accurate tests from back then (2002) because I was never given correct advice about how to do the test regarding last dose of NDT. I was told to leave off for 48 hours which gave 45% through range FT4 with 19% through range FT3, and when I did the test taking NDT before hand I still had around 45% FT4 but FT3 was around 165%.

But it wouldn't have made any difference because I just didn't get well on NDT, I stayed very symptomatic.

[pennyannie]

Hello Sarah :

Reading your back history at one point in time you were happy on NDT can you not go back

to what you were doing then ?

You have stopped ' cold turkey ' all the support supplements you were taking and this in itself is going to a very difficult time as it takes months for thyroid hormone replacement to work effectively.

I understand the theory in stopping all supplements to get base line readings but the consequences for the patient are disabling to say the least.

Conversion of any thyroid hormone replacement option needs optimal levels of ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D and conversion can also be compromised by inflammation, any physiological stress ( emotional or physical ) dieting, depression and ageing.

[siddooo1]

Hi Sarah,

Sorry to hear that you are struggling. The general rule when starting NDT, is to build up the dosage over several weeks until you reach 2 grains, then stay on that dose for 6 to 8 weeks and then test. You are probably not on enough yet and that is why you are feeling so unwell. What dose of Thyrogold were you taking when you felt well?