Part of the reason I haven't updated the site in so long? (Besides laziness that is ...) There has been no news. I mostly feel OK, I guess. Hands and feet not cold, sleeping reasonably well, not depressed, energy levels OK most of the time. Still at the 105mg/day Armour dose. However, I also have not lost any weight. In fact, I have gained back all the weight I lost while I was on the 120mg/day prescription. I have tried dieting (1500cal/day ... moderate low carb/whole grain diet), and succeeded in losing some water weight. Which, of course, came back as soon as my period hit. When I started exercising and generally being more physically active over the winter, I gained weight. As far as I can tell, I gained muscle mass, and did not lost one. fucking. ounce. of fat.

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Almost exactly a year after my first blood tests (Sept 27, 2005 – Sept 29, 2006), I went in for the most recent round. I've been feeling pretty good on my current prescription (105mg Armour Thyroid: 60mg early afternoon, 45mg at bedtime), plus Thyromine and vitamins in the morning.

So, I was optimistic that my blood levels had dropped enough from last time (when my T4 and T3 was acceptable to the PhA, but my TSH was 10Xs lower than the bottom end of normal, and she wasn't comfortable with that, so she lowered my dose from 120mg/day to 105mg), that the doc would be willing to renew my current prescription.

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Well, here's what I'm going to be taking starting later this week (when my old vitamin packs run out):

Morning:

• Thyromine (thyroid/adrenal glandular with supportive herbs and amino acids)
• TwinLab Women's Ultra Daily Multivitamin (has a lot of herbal ingredients on top of a very complete multi-vit ... including selenium and 100% iodine) [added: I read the back of the bottle, and realized the values on the label were for a dose of FOUR capsules. So I'm taking two, which is still more than 100% of most things.]
• NOW B-50 (I'm debating whether I need this ... The TwinLab multi covers the same nutrients as the B-50. But I figure that just means it's the equivalent of taking a B-100, right?)
• Schiff "Guided Mineral" Cal-Mag-Zinc (chelated, plus Vit. D for proper absorption) [added: You're supposed to take two of these as well. Eep!]
• Your Life 500mg Vit. C with Rose Hips (because, hey, I had Vit. C sitting around in the medicine cabinet, and AFAIK you can't OD on C!) After realising I had to take more than one of the other two vitamins, I decided I didn't need any extra C. ;-)
• birth control pill

Mid afternoon: 30mg Armour
Late afternoon: 30mg Armour
Bedtime: 45mg Armour

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Well, after having all sorts of problems switching servers yesterday, I think everything is up and running and should stay that way ... but I'm scared to keep my fingers crossed. ;-)

So, back to On Topic news! I met with my PhA last week, and got a new prescription (yet AGAIN ... AUGH!!!). Taking two 120mg of Armour per day pushed my TSH down to .035, while leaving my Free T's not-very-different from the previous 90mg/day dose (which left my TSH at 2.4, as I recall?). But I'd been losing weight and feeling pretty good, so I practically begged to be left at the 120mg/day dose. No dice.

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Well, I've been on the higher dose of Armour for a bit now, and there's no sign of my morning drowsiness going away. So, prompted by a comment from "Newbie" in another post, I'm going to try a little experiment. Thus far, I have taken half my Armour dose at 9am and the other half at 9pm, figuring that schedule would give the most stable T3 levels throughout the day. And I have yet to come close to the morning "get up and go" I had on levothyroxin. Which is a bummer. I feel better mentally, but I haven't gotten out of bed before 9am in weeks, and it's just not working.

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Well, so. I've been on Armour for about 8 weeks now, and went in for my follow up bloodwork this week. Just got back from the Dr's office with a shiny new prescription to drop off at the pharmacy...

See, when last we spoke, I was on levothyroxin (generic) @ 150mcg, and my TSH was a lovely, low .85. My T4 was at the high end of normal and my T3 was at the low end... and I said, "Nope, not good enough. Still feeling a little fuzzy-headed. Still want to try Armour." So I was sent off with a 90mg scrip, and instructions to take half a pill morning and night.

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Well, after more than 6 months on medication, I have decided the following "issues" are definitely effects of my thyroid medication...

• Greasy hair. I used to be able to get away with a shower twice a week. Now if I don't wash my hair every other day, it gets all greasy and stringy-looking. If this eventually leads to fewer split ends, it may be worth it, but dammit, I use expensive shampoo!
• Blemishes. People. This is just not cool. I didn't break out when I was a teenager for goodness sake!
  

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Well. Just got back from the doc's office... and the appointment couldn't have gone better.

1. There is a virus going around that would explain most of my 'returned' symptoms.
2. My blood test results were pretty much ideal.
3. And best of all, even though my test results were fine, she agreed to give me an Armour prescription!

You may wonder why, if my symptoms are not due to my thyroid, and my blood test results were great, I would want to mess with my medication?

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Well hell. I am not a happy camper this week. I was really hoping my .15mg levothyroxin dose would keep working for a long time, and I could convince my doc to write an Armour prescription for me this week. But now it looks like I'm going to need a higher dose. And then I'll have to wait until the new dose is apparently "working" to my Dr's satisfaction. And then maybe I'll get to lobby for a trial run on Armour again.

Because my symptoms are suddenly coming back. With a vengeance.

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Yet another hypothyroid symptom that I am seeing relief from: hair loss. According to my doctor (who hasn't been wrong about *everything*), it can take months for hypothyroid-caused hair loss and breakage to start showing improvement. This makes sense, since even a normal person's hair only grows so fast... Even if your hair becomes perfectly healthy the day after you start thyroid medication, it's going to take a while for the new, healthy hair to grow out far enough to make a difference.

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