Post by christy on Mar 30, 2009 18:36:14 GMT -5
Hello. A little background:
I was diagnosed hypothyroid and started on Armour one year ago. Over the course of the year, I ramped up to 3 grains/day. Also over the course of the year, I have been experiencing fairly bad anxiety, irritability, crying spells, panic attacks, daytime exhaustion, nighttime sleeplessness and so forth. I didn't relate it to the Armour for a long time; that is, until I started getting hyper symptoms on the Armour, despite my labs still showing me hypo. One day right after breakfast, I suddenly got tachycardia, ringing in my ears, shaky extremities, dizziness, etc. I tried to lay down and breathe to calm myself, but my heart seemed to beat faster as I lay there. I had also experienced a random crying spell in the gym (for no reason) after a very heavy squat day, a few days later. This signaled to me that my body's stress response system was out of whack somehow.
My doc had just upped me from 1 grain pills 2x/daily to 1.5 grain pills 2x/daily a month prior. For the first month I did fine, but now this. I tried to take Armour the next day and experienced the same symptoms. Over the next several days, I tried taking less Armour, taking halves or quarters of my old dose pills, but nothing worked. I still felt very shaky, and I quit the Armour. I went to my doc and explained everything, indicating that I think I have an adrenal problem. He thought that it made sense, given how low my blood pressure is (90/50), and he ordered the tests that I requested. I took the tests within days of stopping Armour.
For the first week of no Armour, I felt miraculously good. I had forgotten what it felt like to be so calm, with no panic attacks or adrenaline surges whatsoever. I got through workouts with no problem, and my energy was noticeable to not only my husband, but to my friends, even gym acquaintances. My irritability went down as well. Then I began to feel my old hypo symptoms: depression, lethargy, severe constipation, some weight gain, fluid retention, etc. I gained 5 lbs after quitting the Armour (1 lb per day), but it seems to have leveled off. After 6 days, I got tired of the discomfort, so I started taking Armour again, 1/4 to 1/2 grain at a time. I am still retaining a lot of fluid, not sleeping and not feeling better. Although, I gave up caffeine cold turkey, so I don't feel nearly as shaky. I was a very heavy coffee drinker, and was probably unwittingly doing myself in with all of the caffeine -- not to mention the fact that I put a considerable strain on my central nervous system 4x/week from powerlifting.
I got my test results back today. What stumps my doc is that my aldosterone and DHEA are high, but my cortisol is low. My FT4, T uptake, ferritin are fine but my FT3 and TSH is low. I just don't know what to do. I asked if T3 only would be worth a shot, and he did give me a prescription for Cytomel, saying that I could go back to Armour if I don't like it. He is willing to prescribe Cortef, but I expressed hesitation in taking it, so he did not give me the script on this visit. I was leaning toward continuing with my lifestyle changes (no caffeine, supplemented B & C vitamins, iron, sea salt). But I think I may need more help than that, even though I am afraid of having to take Cortef for life or gaining more weight, etc. (Any opinions on that would be helpful).
Another thing worth mentioning is that my progesterone is very low, despite having supplemented natural/bioidentical progesterone for over a year. I have tried the cream, but am currently taking a troche (100 mg twice per day), but my progesterone never seems to raise. I understand that the adrenals will sequester progesterone to help make cortisol if needed, so maybe that is where all of my progesterone is going.
Results of labs (I am just including what I think may be the pertinent values, but I can provide more):
Procedure: Value (Reference Range)
Sodium: 140 mmol/L (136-145)
Potassium: 4.4 mmol/L (3.5-5.3)
Serum Iron: 82 mcg/dL (40-150)
% Iron Saturation: 27% (15-50)
Ferritin: 51 ng/mL (10-291)
T Uptake: 37.8% (22.8-38.4)
T3 Free: 1.92 pg/mL (2.30-4.20) LOW
T4 Free: 1.0 ng/dL (0.8-1.8)
TSH 3rd Gen: 0.164 uIU/mL (0.400-5.500) LOW
T3 Reverse: 137pg/mL (90-350)
Estradiol: 29.12 pg/mL
Protesterone: 1.76 ng/mL
Testosterone: 60.88 ng/dL (10-90)
Aldosterone: 41 ng/dL (< 32) HIGH
DHEA: 16.80 ng/mL (1.30-9.80) HIGH
Cortisol AM: 5.1 nmol/L (5.1-40.2) LOW **saliva test
Cortisol PM: 0.9 nmol/L (0.9-9.2) LOW **saliva test
Now I don't know what to do. I don't know whether to call and get the Cortef script, to try Isocort first, to just continue Armour and the nutritional/lifestyle changes, to quit Armour and take Cytomel, or something else altogether.
Any insight, advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated. I am struggling here, and considering antidepressants to help me over this hump, even though I know they will not be addressing the root problem.
Thank you so much for any help you can provide!
I was diagnosed hypothyroid and started on Armour one year ago. Over the course of the year, I ramped up to 3 grains/day. Also over the course of the year, I have been experiencing fairly bad anxiety, irritability, crying spells, panic attacks, daytime exhaustion, nighttime sleeplessness and so forth. I didn't relate it to the Armour for a long time; that is, until I started getting hyper symptoms on the Armour, despite my labs still showing me hypo. One day right after breakfast, I suddenly got tachycardia, ringing in my ears, shaky extremities, dizziness, etc. I tried to lay down and breathe to calm myself, but my heart seemed to beat faster as I lay there. I had also experienced a random crying spell in the gym (for no reason) after a very heavy squat day, a few days later. This signaled to me that my body's stress response system was out of whack somehow.
My doc had just upped me from 1 grain pills 2x/daily to 1.5 grain pills 2x/daily a month prior. For the first month I did fine, but now this. I tried to take Armour the next day and experienced the same symptoms. Over the next several days, I tried taking less Armour, taking halves or quarters of my old dose pills, but nothing worked. I still felt very shaky, and I quit the Armour. I went to my doc and explained everything, indicating that I think I have an adrenal problem. He thought that it made sense, given how low my blood pressure is (90/50), and he ordered the tests that I requested. I took the tests within days of stopping Armour.
For the first week of no Armour, I felt miraculously good. I had forgotten what it felt like to be so calm, with no panic attacks or adrenaline surges whatsoever. I got through workouts with no problem, and my energy was noticeable to not only my husband, but to my friends, even gym acquaintances. My irritability went down as well. Then I began to feel my old hypo symptoms: depression, lethargy, severe constipation, some weight gain, fluid retention, etc. I gained 5 lbs after quitting the Armour (1 lb per day), but it seems to have leveled off. After 6 days, I got tired of the discomfort, so I started taking Armour again, 1/4 to 1/2 grain at a time. I am still retaining a lot of fluid, not sleeping and not feeling better. Although, I gave up caffeine cold turkey, so I don't feel nearly as shaky. I was a very heavy coffee drinker, and was probably unwittingly doing myself in with all of the caffeine -- not to mention the fact that I put a considerable strain on my central nervous system 4x/week from powerlifting.
I got my test results back today. What stumps my doc is that my aldosterone and DHEA are high, but my cortisol is low. My FT4, T uptake, ferritin are fine but my FT3 and TSH is low. I just don't know what to do. I asked if T3 only would be worth a shot, and he did give me a prescription for Cytomel, saying that I could go back to Armour if I don't like it. He is willing to prescribe Cortef, but I expressed hesitation in taking it, so he did not give me the script on this visit. I was leaning toward continuing with my lifestyle changes (no caffeine, supplemented B & C vitamins, iron, sea salt). But I think I may need more help than that, even though I am afraid of having to take Cortef for life or gaining more weight, etc. (Any opinions on that would be helpful).
Another thing worth mentioning is that my progesterone is very low, despite having supplemented natural/bioidentical progesterone for over a year. I have tried the cream, but am currently taking a troche (100 mg twice per day), but my progesterone never seems to raise. I understand that the adrenals will sequester progesterone to help make cortisol if needed, so maybe that is where all of my progesterone is going.
Results of labs (I am just including what I think may be the pertinent values, but I can provide more):
Procedure: Value (Reference Range)
Sodium: 140 mmol/L (136-145)
Potassium: 4.4 mmol/L (3.5-5.3)
Serum Iron: 82 mcg/dL (40-150)
% Iron Saturation: 27% (15-50)
Ferritin: 51 ng/mL (10-291)
T Uptake: 37.8% (22.8-38.4)
T3 Free: 1.92 pg/mL (2.30-4.20) LOW
T4 Free: 1.0 ng/dL (0.8-1.8)
TSH 3rd Gen: 0.164 uIU/mL (0.400-5.500) LOW
T3 Reverse: 137pg/mL (90-350)
Estradiol: 29.12 pg/mL
Protesterone: 1.76 ng/mL
Testosterone: 60.88 ng/dL (10-90)
Aldosterone: 41 ng/dL (< 32) HIGH
DHEA: 16.80 ng/mL (1.30-9.80) HIGH
Cortisol AM: 5.1 nmol/L (5.1-40.2) LOW **saliva test
Cortisol PM: 0.9 nmol/L (0.9-9.2) LOW **saliva test
Now I don't know what to do. I don't know whether to call and get the Cortef script, to try Isocort first, to just continue Armour and the nutritional/lifestyle changes, to quit Armour and take Cytomel, or something else altogether.
Any insight, advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated. I am struggling here, and considering antidepressants to help me over this hump, even though I know they will not be addressing the root problem.
Thank you so much for any help you can provide!