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Re: Folic acid and other ramblings » nmk

Posted by BarbaraCat on September 29, 2003, at 14:26:21

In reply to Re: Folic acid and other ramblings » BarbaraCat, posted by nmk on September 29, 2003, at 12:41:57

Hi Nicole,
Waaah! It does seem like a cruel joke, you just get used to feeling better, then - wham! BUT, another way to look at these moods is they're a very healthy response to something else that's not working. Your endo sounds like a class A idiot. That's been my beef with many of the docs I've been to. My PCP internist was baffled by my ping-ponging TSH levels, not aware of the fact that lithium interferes with thyroxine uptake, and sent off my case to the 'head endo' at my HMO. I had a chance to see my med records and saw his notes. With average TSH range being 0-5, my TSH was boinging from 17 down to .09, up to 7.0, down to .03, up to 4.1 all within the space of 5 months. He said that, while somewhat unusual, these fluctuating extreme levels shouldn't produce any clinical symptoms!!!. Up, down, all around - and this doesn't ring any bipolar bells with them? He basically said that he saw no reason to test me for Hashi's, free T3/T4 levels or any other test besides the vanilla TSH. He never mentioned lithium and advised my PCP to keep going with the ineffective Synthroid treatment which 'should be adequate' and to suspect that any claims of thyroid related health issues were due to my 'emotional lability'. My husband practically had to tie me down when I read that crap. He's the HEAD of the endo department which means it probably gets worse downline.

So now I'm on 1G of Westhroid, naturally-derived as is Armour. My naturopath switched from Armour because a student whom she was advisor for did her research paper on the consistency of different natural thyroid meds and found Armour to be very inconsistent. I've heard other accusations about this that Forrest Labs vehemently denies, but there you go. Westhroid came out on top.

The T4/T3 and some T2/T1 is in dessicated thyroid, and there's some evidence that the other T's are beneficial. My personal feeling about T3 alone is that it's not good, especially for bipolars and those prone to anxiety. It enters the blood stream fast, is the active component, shoots the thyroid way up, and can cause hypomania, anxiety, heart arrythmias, sweating, headaches, hypomania, acne. It's excreted quickly and so the body goes through spiking. T4 is slower and longer lasting and supposedly converts into the active T3 form, which is why most docs feel that T4 is enough to do the job. But many of us don't convert it properly and/or there's a problem with getting both T3 or T4 into the cells and so the free form just circulates in the blood, tricking the hypothalamus/pituitary into thinking that there's enough thyroid hormone, thanks but don't make any more. I've been taking L-tyrosine 1000mg/day along with 500mg B6 and 2G Vitamin C which helps the T4/T3 conversion. I notice more energy since taking it.

Some schools of thought suspect that low thyroid isn't a problem with the thyroid gland but is an immune system dysfunction. In fact, Hashimoto's is the body's own immune system attacking the thyroid gland, and is cropping up more and more, mainly because auto-immune and inflammatory conditions can be the result of environmental toxins and toxic stress. So, if you have a clear cut dx of Hashi's, well, I can't even imagine what your endo must be thinking. Even if it's 'borderline' Hashmoto's indicates a wider spread inflammatory condition. Your naturopath should help you with this. You might want to get saliva testing to look at your cortisol levels since cortisol is what affects the immune response, whether high or low. BTW, cortisol also affects the production of sex hormones.

I'm not taking Seroquel but have been talking to Serena about it recently. She seems to indicate that it's been enough to control her fibromyaligia and bipolar. I'm trying to not use anything to sleep cause that's so much healthier but if I start having problems again, Seroquel sounds like the ticket. Are you taking it for any other reason than sleep? Does it help with BP? In other words, why did your pdoc decide upon Seroquel for you?

So, about your PMS, Hashimoto's and such. That's going to make you feel like major doo-doo. PMS usually means there's an imbalance between estrogen/progesterone which is exacerbated pre-period, but doesn't entirely go away. The thyroid is intrinsically linked with estrogen and to a lesser degree progesterone. I hope your naturopath is helping you with this because you'll feel so much better once these underlying problems are balanced and you won't until things start the healing process.

Hang in there, kiddo! You know how this mood disorder thing is, it's like the weather - wait a few minutes and it'll change. In the meantime, just think how great you'll feel when you start feeling good again - and I have total faith that you'll find your way. - Barbara


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