I upped my Armour dose from 105 mgs to 120 mgs on 1/29/2025. I'm really depressed to the point where I dislike getting out of bed because of daily down feelings. Isn't my depression supposed to get relief on a better dosage of Armour? Should I keep going up? Because I'm depressed, I'm not keeping up certain routines like daily vitamin B12, Bcomplex, D3. I hate this disease.
Last labs: 1/15/2025;
FT3: 3.4 (2.5--4.3)*
FT4: .96 (.7--1.37)*
TSH: .015 (did not get the range)
*ranges were not indicated on my lab result print out. I had to get my doctor to look up the range. The ranges used to be present!
Thank you so very much, ConnecticutYankee
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connyankee
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Have you tried going off it for a day or two and see if you feel better. You carry about 7 days of T4 in your system so a few days won't hurt. You may just be taking too much
I'm on antidepressants. Whenever I see my Psychiatrist for check-ins and tell him that I'm depressed, if I'm depressed, he says to me, "You're on the highest dose. You can't go any higher. You know that this is because your T3 is unbalanced." I "know this"?
When I on Levo, I get massive anxiety. It's a really strange feeling, I know things will be fine, but I my brain randomly screams you're going loose your job, loose your house, kids.......... I dont get it on NDT unless I over do my dose. I can live on anything from 30mg to 120mg but on higher doses I'm right on the edge mentally
That's very interesting. The mental aspect of this disease needs to be studied. Autoimmune is officially a disability in the States. One can report it on job applications. However, one cannot call out sick for depression. Your job will be on the line. I thought that higher doses swing one towards Hyper, and I've been there and felt manic, not depressed. Never felt like this on synthetics. I appreciate your reply.
My body can tolerate high levels of NDT unlike Levo. But my sleep is destroyed and anxiety levels are up the wazoo on high levels of NDT. So I don’t worry about bloods or optimising to a fixed dose. And instead focus on just taking enough to operate on a given day. My minimum is 60mg at 4am and then i take more if I’m feeling that smashing tiredness, cold, back pain, ear ache around 2pm.
60 mgs of NDT? Do you have to fast in the afternoons for dose #2? If I'm raising mgs, I should be swinging to hyper and not the symptoms of hypo. This is what is so confusing. I doubled my B's and D today to see if it helps. (Tennessee winters are the worst. No snow and temps that go up and down.) Thanks for your help.
Yes 60mg or 1 grain NDT. No I dont fast in afternoon. If you are optimising your dose every 6-12hours it is unnecessary. For me it's really important to do 40-50min of aerobic exercise (something that makes me sweat and gasp or air) 4-5 days a week. I work full time and for my lunch hour I jog or go to the swimming pool. If I don't, I get depressed, the exercise rereleases feel good endorphins.
Hi connyankee, I've just been going through the same thing. Several weeks of slowly feeling really cr*p for no immediately obvious reason. Extreme fatigue, aching all over, inner cold, inertia, breathlessness on exertion, less appetite, lethargy, mental confusion and brain fog. Is it depression again? Is it undermedication? Is it SAD? Is it B12 deficiency? Some form of anemia? Something more sinister causing all this?
After getting blood test results, yesterday I was working through a plan with my GP to turn things around. In my case it seems to have been a mix of: not increasing my NDT dose as winter came on; a winter of long periods of low light; a slow decline over last couple of years in my B12 and folate despite my ( rather sporadic) supplementing. I have been shocked by how quickly I deteriorated by not having all the ducks in a row.
The symptoms of depression, hypothyroid undermedication, anemias, etc, are all very similar. In 8 weeks I return to the GP, we'll repeat blood tests and test as well for pernicious anemia. The last few weeks have felt like playing Whack a Mole.
My personal strategy atm is: increase my NDT by 1/4 grain - that's 8%. I did that 10 days ago immediately after blood tests. Already this week my basal temperature has increased somewhat from lows of 35C / 96F. 4 days ago I started on a high dose B12 - 1000ug of 3 types of B12, plus going back to using Igennus B complex, at 2 tabs per day. Increasing Vit D, to 8000iu per day every day for a few weeks. NOT trying to exercise other than walking. For many months I have been using the Flow tds headset for true depression ( I have lifelong PTSD) which has been very helpful, which is why the return to 'feeling' depressed has been so unpleasant. This week I have discovered an app called "Ed Can Help" which is a 20 minute sound therapy for those very low moments. That again seems helpful.
As the effects of aging also go into this pot, I think the ongoing lesson for me is vigilance. I HAVE to take my supplements at full dose and consistently. I HAVE to have blood tests before winter comes and adjust my NDT. I have to accept that self-care is a MUST, not an option.
Oh my. I think that you have nailed it. (Throw on top of it all I buried a pet cat nearly 4 weeks ago.) I will research (isn't that what we do?) all of the B's. I use Pure Encapsulations, which is one of the brands suggested by Isabella Wentz. I will check out Ed Can Help. Thank you.
Sorry you lost your cat. Grief and loss can make everything seem worse. Have been there.Don't know if the Flow neuroscience device is available in the US, but it has really helped reduce longstanding depression for me. Has a lot of research behind it, good success rates.. Can be used whether or not you take medication, can help to reduce medication. In UK is now approved for use within our NHS health service.
My antibodies are 86.6. The lab reports do not contain the ranges, mysteriously. But, there is a "value" with an arrow pointing up "71.0". I'm not gluten free. I try not to over indulge. Thank you for your reply.
Hi I am on NP thyroid. Last Jan/Feb I used to raise to 105mg. Had little accident last May so I was focused on healing & attributed some things to healing, not thyroid med problems. Fast forward, during the 105 dose I noticed I became apathetic, did not cry, lost appetite for sweets (cakes/pies), so had endo do labs in July & my FT4 & FT3 came back in the %s that is suggesetd here. I do much better when my FT3 is on the low end of the lab values & one of the admin. said there are some who do better w/lower levels. Dropped dose back to 90 & though it took a month or 2, I am back to my "old" self. I have focused more on my ferritin (levels in toilet/loo), B12, &D3. It is a journey, hold on for the ride!
I took a 120 mg dose last summer and reached a cognitive level where my wit was sharp and my memory, too, like I was 20 yrs old again. Why I'm having this depression at the same dose is a shock and unwanted side affect. I appreciate your reply.
Sending you my Hugs and Sympathy. I was thinking if you recently had your vitamin D levels tested? Especially in the winter I find that vitamin D plays a tremendous role in depression. Not always it's our thyroid hormones that are at fault. Though many do raise their Thyroid dose a bit in the winter.Wishing You Better Days ahead.
Long before I started thyroid treatment I used to be very severely depressed. My doctors tried four different SSRIs over a period of 15 years and either they gave me severe side effects, or did nothing, or obliterated all my emotions.
Eventually I found my own cures for my depression and it didn't involve anti-depressants. I found out my problem was mainly caused by very low iron/ferritin. I also improved my B12 and folate with methylated supplements (methylcobalamin and methylfolate). Prior to that I had only ever taken cyanocobalamin and folic acid and they did nothing for me.
I will look into my iron/ferritin. I use the methylated supplements. Chocolate ice cream or chocolate milk shakes work for my depression, but I have gained so much weight since Christmas, I have to stop eating that food. I'm looking into a fasting diet. But who can diet while depressed?! Thanks for your thoughts.
Is it porcine thyroid or something else. I may go back to synthetics. This is what frustrates my GP is the constant tweaking of armour. Thank you for your reply.
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