This is an INSPIRING story of how a patient stood up for herself, and how awful the TSH is for diagnosis!
Okay —
After 21 years on Levothyroxine, Levoxyl, Synthroid, WHATEVER — I thought I was just going to feel crappy the rest of my life. I was severely hypo when diagnosed, and have a shrunken gland. Any time I had my dosage raised and felt good — you guessed it — the doc eliminated that good feeling by reducing my dosage because of my TSH.
“But my hair’s falling out. I sleep too much and take naps. I’m cold and freezing all the time. My toes turn blue if it’s 70 degrees and I have sandals on.”
So now I BEGGED my present doc to switch me to Armour, and simply stated if she didn’t let me try it, I was going elsewhere. The last visit (January 2006, TSH = 1.14 on 137 mg Levoxyl) when I begged her to increase my Levothyroxine, I got a lecture on how thyroid medications are the most often abused by doctors (like I was making up my symptoms to get more medicine!)
Now I got my first results on Armour — had to beg to be started on 1 – 1/4 grains, instead of 1 grain. Then I had to beg for the Free T3 and Free T4 tests. Instead they did the Total T3 and Total T4. Mysteriously, my TSH level shot up, even though I was actually feeling better (but not optimum).
Results:
TSH: 10.4
T3 32 (Normal range 24 – 39)
T4 3.0 (Normal range 4.5 – 12.5)
The best thing is that they FINALLY realized I wasn’t joking about being hypo and wanted to increase my dose (but screwed up getting it called into the pharmacist — the doctor wanted to call in 100 mg Armour, and I told the nurse Armour doesn’t come dosed like that — 90 or 120 mg (1 – 1/2 to 2 grains) would have been appropriate, but of course my words went right through her ears). Well, now at least the pharmacist understands where I’m coming from and has attempted to talk to this doctor’s office.
What’s sad is that this is the most energy I’ve felt in a LONG time — only God knows what my T3 and T4 levels were like previously when this doc kept telling me I was just “fine” because of my TSH. I can make it through most days without falling asleep now.
Melinda
