At age 44, I am in menopause, high cholesterol, 50 lbs overweight, no libido, cannot focus, pain all the time, exercised so much by running/jogging started to bleed from the intestines.…I knew this was madness when it took me several days to recover from a colonoscopy that went wrong a few months ago. I was called to do yet more tests-I went to my dr who in the past appeared to be listening. She said the TSH was normal and states something about calories in and calories out– even people in the concentration camps lost weight-not sure what that was supposed to mean but I knew in her eyes she was not listening at that time nor was she ever.

I said ok-the weight is my fault, I am not doing enough. What about the other symptoms. She said that she suspects it is some type of long term virus and we have not isolated it yet. Long term virus?? I have been fighting this for 6 years. I find it hard to believe any virus lasts 6 years.

Most of my life, I was always a health nut, knew about reading labels and understood them long before it was popular. I served in the military for 4 years and found it invigorating to be so active. I was also very active before and had always went to the gym. Was out of the military for 8 years prior to onset of symptoms and was very active. My dr has me feeling sloppy and lazy to tell me it is my fault. She also told me to stay under 1200 cals. I spent these past 4 days on low cal diet. I went into freak mode. I was just about out of my mind about midnight last night. I got up, ate some cereal and was able to eventually sleep-at least it stopped the dizziness. Today, I am eating very small meals 4 x. I feel much better. Some symptoms are still there. But the worst have subsided. I plan to try levoxyl and armor every other day to see how this goes. I appreciate this site as a sounding board but also very valuable information. I see a glimmer of hope.

During my research I discovered that NO two t4 products are alike…and several of them… mainly generics…contain sodium lauryl sulphates which is a carciogenic as well as not metabolised in the liver. I do not understand how the FDA can let a drug company use a known cancer causing agent be put into a medication at any cost.

I have also found through saliva testing that I am estrogen dominant and I take a compounded progesterone everyday. I also have low cortisol levels which we are now watching. I have been to 8 different endos and none of them have come up with the same answer..now I work with my pcp and we are trying to keep my free t3 and t4 levels in the high range…we don’t pay much attention to the tsh. I did notice that the inactive ingrediants in synthroid are way different than any other t4 med…I apparently am allergic to one of them as my gums and liver became inflamed after three days…and it containes periodine???which could explain why I can only take 100mg of it vs 150 of levelthyroxine??? Any additional info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the wonderful info I have found here…I have been able to get rid of the pain meds, the anti-depressants, and all other RX’s after learning what I have from this site…I am finally able to resume my gardening and excercising…have lost six dress sizes and actually have a sex life after 5 years of nothing…keep up the great work…Blessings Dixie

To Janie and her peri-meno phase: I recently read this on wikipedia under melatonin. I’ve been taking melatonin for months now and it has really helped me to feel rested and wake up not feeling as tired. In addition, I read this (hope this helps)…

Recent research has concluded that melatonin supplementation in perimenopausal women produces a highly significant improvement in thyroid function and gonadotropin levels, as well as restoring fertility and menstruation and preventing the depression associated with the menopause.[25]

I am finding that my best thyroid dosage is a combination of Levoxyl and Armour. I am on 100 mcg. of levoxyl and 45 armour (15 3x per day) I wasn’t able to find “stability” on just armour and my free T4 was in the lower half of normal range. Once I got my free T4 bumped up into the upper half of normal range (I am currently 1.57 on a scale of .78 — 2.19) I started to feel MUCH better. It feels like the levoxyl gives me a solid platform to stand on and keeps me feeling much more stable with my energy and sense of general well being. And then the Armour keeps me sharp and happy. But I definitely felt more sluggish when my free T4 wasn’t making it into the upper range. The doctor also told me to take selenium to help with T4 conversion. I don’t think my current dosage is perfect just yet but I’m getting really close. I feel better than I have in years!

And if some of those “thousands” of your patients are on thyroxine alone, you haven’t done your homework to find out how they’re really doing. Because bar none, every single one of them is going to have some symptoms of an inferior & inadequate treatment, including chronic low grade depression, or dry skin or hair, or less stamina than others, or weight gain, or difficulty losing weight, or high cholesterol…it’s an endless list, which you can also see on the page SYMPTOMS of HYPO. Because everything listed are recorded symptoms of patients while on thyroxine with a so-called normal TSH.

And Robert, to say the best objective is for a doctor or practitioner to be “in control” is frightening. It’s our bodies, not yours. We live in them, and we feel them. If a patient’s wisdom and intelligence about his own body can’t be part of the doctor-patient equation, it’s tragic. It’s akin to the thousands of thyroxine-treated patients who come into your office, feel like crap, and the doctor says “Sorry, your labs are in range. You’re normal”. i.e. toss the anti-depressant scrip at the patient and ignore obvious symptoms which reveal that the TSH range, and thyroxine alone, suck.