Posted by BarbaraCat on July 19, 2004, at 20:42:39
In reply to Re: Chronic pain -best med and weird reactions, posted by ravenstorm on July 19, 2004, at 18:30:23
First, the Remeron. I was on it two years ago and it was great for two months but then pooped big time. I wasn't on lithium at the time and had to keep raising it. I found that after 45mg, the NE kicks in and that dopey feeling and food lust goes away. I got up to 90mg and was zooming about. Unfortunately, I didn't know I was BP-II and you can imagine how the buzz factor really exacerbated things. It was during Christmas party time at my company and wine has a wild effect on me. The combination had me starting conga lines at the parties, belly dancing in the middle of a hooting crowd. I cringe to remember but oh well, someone had to get theose parties going...
The thyroid: 2.85 is not too bad as numbers go, and many doctors won't push it higher, but I've found as have others, that we start to really feel better at around 1.9. It really depends on how you're feeling. Are you taking your temperature during the day? That's probably the best indicator. The test numbers do not tell you what you're actually metabolizing in the cells. The gold standard is if your temperature rises, which means you are properly metabolizing your energy and enzyme reactions. The test is to take your temperature with a mercury thermometer for three days - not during menstruation. Take it orally (forget the armpit thing) when you first get up, at 11:00am and right before dinner, or at 6pm. Average it over three days. You might not at this early stage be at 98.6, but keep doing this. If after 2 weeks you're still subclinical, here are the tests to consider. But a word of advice, most doctors will NOT order these tests, unless they are holistically oriented. Most doctors seem to rely on the TSH as the word of God and many HMO's don't even test for these extras. But you have to insist and educate your doctor if need be. They will have to send out for them if you feel you're not getting a good response. It helps if you can produce data sheets with subclinical temperatures:
- TSH (you've already had that)
- T4 Panel (these following show how much T4/T3 is floating around in your blood)
Total T4
T3 Uptake
Free Thyroxine Index (FTI)
- T3 Total
- Free T3
- Free T4
- Thyroglobulin level (Tg) (the following check for autoimmune antibodies)
- Antiperoxidase Microsomal Antibody Titer
- Antithyroglobulin Antibody TiterIn addition, your adrenals should be checked:
- Cortisol levels 8am and 10pm
- DHEA and DHEAs levels
- Adrenal stress index
- Cortosyn stimulation for adrenal reserveYour sex hormones definitely need to be tested. All these hormones interplay with each other.
- Estrogen Levels
Estradiol level
Estrone Level
Estriol level
Total estrogens
- Estrogen fractionation
- Progesterone level
- Total Testosterone
- Free testosterone
- Prolactin
> I have a thyroid question for you two experts!
>
> The last time I was checked it was at 2.85 they said that anything from .5 to 4.0 they consider normal but I have read elsewhere (holistic type doctors) that anything over 2.0 should have some other tests run. What other tests? I just had one thyroid test done at my regular doctors. I don't think that included a t-3 or a t-4. Is that what I'm suppossed to have done. I have also heard about the (now I can't remember how to spell it) Hashimoto autoimmune thing, but don't really understand it. How do you get that checked?
>
> Thanks, and hope I'm not intruding.
>
> P.S. remeron seems to be helping with my headaches and joint pain. Its great if you don't mind being a zombie the first part of the day and hungry all the time. LOL (NOT)
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:363567
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20040719/msgs/367978.html