My Story
Below is my story, as creator of this site. I went from the depths of 17 years of T4-treated hell, to having the energy and stamina of a teenager, thanks to Armour and dosing NOT by the TSH, but according to the complete elimination of symptoms and the free T3. SO can YOU!
My name is Janie. I am the daughter of a hyperthyroid mother who had her thyroid removed at age 22. I thought nothing of it when it came to me. I was young, healthy and invincible!
But looking back, something fishy was going on after the birth of my second child, when I was 27 years old. When nursing, I had 8 illnesses in nine months of nursing, culminating with pneumonia. The same chronic illness scenario occurred 2 years later after the birth of my third child.
Additionally, I was weak. My arms were incapable of holding my babies or toddlers for very long, and I had to continually pass them over to my husband. We simply thought I was worn out, being the mother of two, then three children under age five!
But the real terror began when I was 30, and started a career as a fitness instructor. After each and every afternoon one-hour class, I would not only fail to recover, I would become debilitated. My heartbeat would stay high, and I would become progressively more and more tired with each passing hour. By 8 pm, I was a basket case of debilitating and profound fatigue. When I would collapse in bed, my heart would POUND in my chest and my arms were like dead weights. I would sweat profusely, I was extremely hot, and I had excruciating insomnia for hours with nauseating and overwhelming fatigue. When I would wake up the next morning, I felt like I had been run over by an 18-wheeler and smashed against a concrete wall. I CAN’T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE HOW AWFUL I FELT. And this scenario happened every single time after I taught a class.
Needless to say, by the time I was 31, a diagnosis of “borderline hypothyroid” was discovered with a TSH of 5. I was put on Synthroid, my TSH dropped into the “normal’ range, and I was told I was now “adequately treated”. But to my extreme disappointment, the above debilitating scenario continued EXACTLY as it had before I got on Synthroid. I was forced to end my beloved career as a fitness instructor after only 2 1/2 years.
But the “adequately treated” hell was to continue for 17 more years while on Synthroid and later Levoxyl, no matter how much I took. Not only did the above scenario continue any and every time I tried to do an activity……
I spent thousands upon thousands of dollars trying to find out what was wrong…to no avail. And, I was always “adequately treated” with a T4-only medication, and had a “target” TSH.
During these 17 years, I saw a broad slew of doctors and was tested for every condition imaginable: I did tests for hypoglycemia; I had a painful muscle biopsy; I did the STIM test; I had blood drawn for every imaginable hormone problem; I did a treadmill test; I took beta blockers; I wore a heart monitor; I did bizarre and painful neurological tests. I was told I had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFID’S). I was told I had an unusual “energy metabolism disorder.” I was tested for Glycogen Storage Disease. I was told I have a “mitochondrial disorder”–a prognosis which would only get worse. And on my own, I saw similarities to what I had to Dysautonomia. But never, ever was there any conclusive diagnosis as to what I had, and ‘it was never my thyroid’.
By 2002, my problems became so severe that I was finally ready to begin the process to apply for Social Security Disability. I couldn’t stand for more than 30 minutes without the above bizarre and debilitating reaction. I would even be debilitated simply from sanding a small wood project in my hands! Needless to say, I would sit on my front deck and cry.
But…2002 turned out to much more than the “end” of my life as I knew it. Since I could do nothing more than sit at my computer, I researched days on end. And finally, I was adding things up, bit by bit, in a way that NO doctor had EVER given to me. It became CLEAR that my problem was my thyroid and being on an INFERIOR MEDICATION called T4-only meds, aka thyroxine, and being HELD HOSTAGE TO AN INADEQUATE LAB called the TSH.
And…I proved it. I switched to Armour in July of 2002, and my life changed 180 degrees! I no longer had ANY of the reactions I had been suffering with for more than 20 years. Gone!! Kaput!! It was nothing short of a life-changing miracle. As I made my way up to my then optimal, symptom-free dose of 3 3/4 grains, I saw my hair and skin soften, my chronic low-grade depression disappear, my constipation abate, my weak arms & legs and painful feet go away. And best of all, I regained the energy and stamina of a teenager…and I now live, I live. I am now on an optimal dose of 4 grains.
In the Fall of 2002, I started a thyroid site on Yahoo to get the word out about Natural Thyroid. We all grew together. And from that group…and my repeated frustration and anger at the continuing POOR treatment and RIGID ideology towards thyroid patients…especially what I saw on a popular heatlh website led by an Endo…comes this site, a labor of love fueled by disgust and anger, which was started in 2005. This site is dedicated to the MILLIONS of thyroid patients all over the world, struggling to feel better…to live again…in the face of well-meaning but ignorant doctors who keep us all sick. It is also dedicated to one gal, who called herself Miserable Mom, and got lousy, lousy advice.
Armour works. Armour works.
POST SCRIPT aka PS: In spite of my story above, would you be surprised if I told you that most folks who knew me during all the above would be shocked that I went through all that?? Yes, many of us who have been on the lousy thyroxine T4-only medications have what is called an ‘invisible disease’. Namely, tho all the above occurred just as you read it, I still raised three children, had my own jewelry line, kept up large houses, made each Christmas special, each birthday special, got a Master’s Degree, taught continuing education self-help college classes, taught in public school a few years, participated in archaeological digs, and other life activities. But I paid horrific prices often and privately….and I adapted my life all over the place just to be able to do some of the above. Many, many of us are just like this when on thyroxine.
**You can also read the stories of others HERE whose lives have been changed due to natural desiccated thyroid!
**Read my blog comments HERE, and respond to them.
This bible of hypothyroid treatment contains most everything you will find on this site, plus a whole lot more, including a chapter on T3, an explosive doctor chapter, historical information on desiccated thyroid as well as T4, an entire chapter on the TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hooey), how to interpret your cortisol labs, extra details in two adrenal chapters, and more!
You can order the book from the publishing website here:
www.laughinggrapepublishing.com
SPREAD THE WORD! Order a t-shirt or tongue-in-cheek bumper stickers HERE. YOU are a part of this thyroid patient revolution, and our power lies in letting others know!
