Post by marigaux on Feb 27, 2009 8:52:50 GMT -5
Dear Chris/anyone else who can help!
I've been trying to help my husband for a while as he has a lot of symptoms of hypothyroidism, ie tiredness, can't lose weight, and also a very low temperature of 96 and that was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon! His blood tests are all normal of course, with a TSH of 1.4 and FT4 of 13 (range is 10 - 25 in England). A couple of years ago I tried to treat him for this with armour, and also tried to start on pred first to avoid any problems. Interestingly enough the pred made him feel really wired so he said he wanted to stop taking it. We then forgot about the whole thing until recently when we decided to give it another go.
This time we decided to try thyroxine as I had some tablets lying around, but I thought that as there was no T3 in it then he would be ok without corticosteroids if we started on a really low dose and gradually increased. So he began on 25mcg, then every 6 weeks increased by 25mcg. When he was on 50mcg he experienced a week of breathlessness but that passed and he said he started to feel better, although it didn't last so we increased to 75mcg. A week later he was really ill, his chest was tight, he was really out of breath with palpitations, and had a high temperature. One minute he was hot, the next he was freezing cold. Basically, he's never ill so seeing him like this was a bit unusual to say the least. Then he had a really bad cold and has now ended up with a chest infection! He hasn't had a cold for years, and I'm thinking this was some sort of a mild adrenal crisis? I might be wrong.
What is interesting is a few months ago the doctor mentioned that his cortisol was a bit low in a blood test, but didn't need treating. (He's also been on testosterone replacement for about 5 years as he was found to be low in that). I'm now beginning to wonder if his low thyroid condition is actually being CAUSED by low cortisol, and by correcting that, the hypothyroidism will also be treated? I'm really hoping it's true, but does this happen often? Also, if we decide to start him on prednisolone, what dose do you suggest, and does it need to be ramped up?
thank you so much for your help
Jade
I've been trying to help my husband for a while as he has a lot of symptoms of hypothyroidism, ie tiredness, can't lose weight, and also a very low temperature of 96 and that was at 4 o'clock in the afternoon! His blood tests are all normal of course, with a TSH of 1.4 and FT4 of 13 (range is 10 - 25 in England). A couple of years ago I tried to treat him for this with armour, and also tried to start on pred first to avoid any problems. Interestingly enough the pred made him feel really wired so he said he wanted to stop taking it. We then forgot about the whole thing until recently when we decided to give it another go.
This time we decided to try thyroxine as I had some tablets lying around, but I thought that as there was no T3 in it then he would be ok without corticosteroids if we started on a really low dose and gradually increased. So he began on 25mcg, then every 6 weeks increased by 25mcg. When he was on 50mcg he experienced a week of breathlessness but that passed and he said he started to feel better, although it didn't last so we increased to 75mcg. A week later he was really ill, his chest was tight, he was really out of breath with palpitations, and had a high temperature. One minute he was hot, the next he was freezing cold. Basically, he's never ill so seeing him like this was a bit unusual to say the least. Then he had a really bad cold and has now ended up with a chest infection! He hasn't had a cold for years, and I'm thinking this was some sort of a mild adrenal crisis? I might be wrong.
What is interesting is a few months ago the doctor mentioned that his cortisol was a bit low in a blood test, but didn't need treating. (He's also been on testosterone replacement for about 5 years as he was found to be low in that). I'm now beginning to wonder if his low thyroid condition is actually being CAUSED by low cortisol, and by correcting that, the hypothyroidism will also be treated? I'm really hoping it's true, but does this happen often? Also, if we decide to start him on prednisolone, what dose do you suggest, and does it need to be ramped up?
thank you so much for your help
Jade