Post by Chris Jackson on Nov 19, 2008 18:16:51 GMT -5
(This explaination works for cortisol replacement as well since the negative feedback loops are similar. Written by Chris Jackson May 28, 2006)
Everytime you increase the Armour dose, this replaces some natural thyroid production, your TSH goes down a little and your total thyroid hormone level (natural and med) ends up about at what it was before the dose increase. Full treatment will push TSH down to less than .05.
Imagine that a healthy optimal level of natural human thyroid hormone is 10 units.
A hypothetical person with hypothyroidism has thyroid hormone level of 6 units . Giving 1 unit of hormone med will, for a short time get that person up to 7 units and may make them feel a little better, but then TSH goes down a little and natural thyroid hormone production will be supressed down to 5. Now that person is back where they started (1 unit med plus now 5 units natural). The 1 med unit suppressed their natural thyroid hormone by the same amount. Every increase will do this.
Every time you increase, this just replaces some of the natural hormone. Once the hypothetical persons natural production is all replaced by Armour Thyroid (the 6 natural units, now being replaced by 6 thyroid med units), now you can go beyond 6 and eventually work up to 10.
Of course this doesnt work exactly 1 for 1 replacement, but close to it.
This way of treating works for secondaries and primarys. Once treatment starts TSH means very little. Getting a good level of T3 and T4, eradicating symptoms and feeling good is what matters.
A full optimal dose of Armour in self treating is usually between 3 and 5 grains, though some report having to go higher. Many are reporting much better results self treating their thyroid than when their doc treated them with much less Armour.
Most people use Armour, Naturthroid or Thyroid-S. I've only seen a few people say they were self treating with a separate synthetic T4 and T3 med, but from what they are reporting, in my opinion they aren't getting as good of results as the those who are taking natural. Not necessarily saying that natural is better (but it is), but in my opinion from what I've seen others report, it's seems to be much harder to self treat with separate T3 and T4.
TSH alone can't show if your hyperthyroid. TSH is really not good for anything when used by itself. The frees are way better for showing if you may be hyper. It's important to very familiarize ones self with what are symptoms of hyper. Fast resting pulse (above 90, for sure 100), respirations above 15 can be a first indicator. Hyper can sneak up on you. Email me and I'll send you my list of hyper symptoms.
If you dose slowly, hyperlike symptoms shouldn't be a problem assuming cortisol is addressed. The biggest rule to follow is wait 6 weeks between dose increases after reaching 2 1/2 grains. To test that I tried 3 and 4 weeks and was chasing my tail. When I went to 6 weeks I could figure out what was happening. It takes that long for a dose increase to reach it's full effect.
For more details on how to self dose, see this page.
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/mistakes-patients-make/
and this sticky
My explanation on how to be successful in your HRT.
Keep a log and record vitals, symptoms, how you feel, your thoughts, etc. This will help greatly with decisions and figuring out what dose you felt best at if you went a little over.
I always recommend to anyone interested in self treating their thyroid to get everything tested first and get familiar with Armour under a docs care. An osteopath is very good for all that. I also strongly recommend one learn how to self treat from others who are successfully self treating and informs them of their progress.
More stickies on supplement site
Everytime you increase the Armour dose, this replaces some natural thyroid production, your TSH goes down a little and your total thyroid hormone level (natural and med) ends up about at what it was before the dose increase. Full treatment will push TSH down to less than .05.
Imagine that a healthy optimal level of natural human thyroid hormone is 10 units.
A hypothetical person with hypothyroidism has thyroid hormone level of 6 units . Giving 1 unit of hormone med will, for a short time get that person up to 7 units and may make them feel a little better, but then TSH goes down a little and natural thyroid hormone production will be supressed down to 5. Now that person is back where they started (1 unit med plus now 5 units natural). The 1 med unit suppressed their natural thyroid hormone by the same amount. Every increase will do this.
Every time you increase, this just replaces some of the natural hormone. Once the hypothetical persons natural production is all replaced by Armour Thyroid (the 6 natural units, now being replaced by 6 thyroid med units), now you can go beyond 6 and eventually work up to 10.
Of course this doesnt work exactly 1 for 1 replacement, but close to it.
This way of treating works for secondaries and primarys. Once treatment starts TSH means very little. Getting a good level of T3 and T4, eradicating symptoms and feeling good is what matters.
A full optimal dose of Armour in self treating is usually between 3 and 5 grains, though some report having to go higher. Many are reporting much better results self treating their thyroid than when their doc treated them with much less Armour.
Most people use Armour, Naturthroid or Thyroid-S. I've only seen a few people say they were self treating with a separate synthetic T4 and T3 med, but from what they are reporting, in my opinion they aren't getting as good of results as the those who are taking natural. Not necessarily saying that natural is better (but it is), but in my opinion from what I've seen others report, it's seems to be much harder to self treat with separate T3 and T4.
TSH alone can't show if your hyperthyroid. TSH is really not good for anything when used by itself. The frees are way better for showing if you may be hyper. It's important to very familiarize ones self with what are symptoms of hyper. Fast resting pulse (above 90, for sure 100), respirations above 15 can be a first indicator. Hyper can sneak up on you. Email me and I'll send you my list of hyper symptoms.
If you dose slowly, hyperlike symptoms shouldn't be a problem assuming cortisol is addressed. The biggest rule to follow is wait 6 weeks between dose increases after reaching 2 1/2 grains. To test that I tried 3 and 4 weeks and was chasing my tail. When I went to 6 weeks I could figure out what was happening. It takes that long for a dose increase to reach it's full effect.
For more details on how to self dose, see this page.
www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/mistakes-patients-make/
and this sticky
My explanation on how to be successful in your HRT.
Keep a log and record vitals, symptoms, how you feel, your thoughts, etc. This will help greatly with decisions and figuring out what dose you felt best at if you went a little over.
I always recommend to anyone interested in self treating their thyroid to get everything tested first and get familiar with Armour under a docs care. An osteopath is very good for all that. I also strongly recommend one learn how to self treat from others who are successfully self treating and informs them of their progress.
More stickies on supplement site