Additionally, Armour thyroid by Forest Labs was reformulated in early 2009, and patients worldwide reported a return of symptoms as well a stress on their adrenals.  So patients started an exodus away from Armour.

Luckily, the FDA loosened restrictions and allowed us to order the Canadian brand by Erfa Canada Inc, called simply “Thyroid”.   Erfa’s Thyroid proved to be an excellent desiccated thyroid for most, especially if they raised high enough once again to rid them of symptoms.  And since it contains sucrose, patients have been able to do it sublingually–a method which is not necessary for benefits, but is preferred by many.

I gathered a list of known Canadian online pharmacies, which you can view on the Options for Thyroid Treatment page.

And just recently, I sought opinions from patients about the pharmacies they have used:

Universal Drugstore aka Canadian Pharmacy Online: This pharmacy received the greatest kudos from US patients and with the best prices.

• Awesome – good prices and fast, friendly service. Will call your drug store and get your Armour script transferred.
• Faxed my prescription and it was mailed the next day. I believe it took a week and a few days to arrive to Florida.
• Great customer service, easy ordering, and was cheaper than paying the co-pay with my insurance. It takes about 10 to 14 business days to get your prescription, according to the company, but mine came sooner than that and it was the holiday mail rush season!
• Rapid service, excellent customer service, email reminders to refill, coupons
• They had the best price and were very professional and efficient.  My order arrived within ten days.
• I paid $43.25 for 200 60 mg pills
• Online forms were easy. I faxed my prescriptions and received my Thyroid in twelve days for $7 shipping

Pharmacies Online:

• Easy to register and the customer service was excellent. I faxed my prescription. A pharmacist called me to see if I had any questions. I paid $45.63 including shipping for 100 60mg pills

Cross Border Pharmacy:

• Excellent customer service, great prices, two week arrival from date of order, wish pharmacies here were this good.

Canada Drugs Online:

• Good experience, prompt (7-10) days service getting my Erfa thyroid

See more recommendations in the Comments section for this post. And I’m going to hope that no pharmacy “uses” this to advertise their pharmacy. This is FOR PATIENT COMMENTS ONLY.

What has been your experience with online Canadian Pharmacies? Do I need to remove any from the Options for Thyroid Treatment for any reason? Do I need to add any?

ARE YOU A CANADIAN PATIENT ON DESICCATED THYROID? Use the Contact Me form if you’d like to be interviewed by a well-known Canadian reporter about desiccated thyroid in Canada. I’ll need your name and email address. You need to contact me before Monday, January 25.

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Recent blog posts worth reading:

Read a guy’s email to me about his experience with doctors being afraid of HC, which patients know is safe and WORKS!

Will the FDA be more transparent for thyroid patients on desiccated thyroid with their new initiative?

Listen to the second interview, Episode 9, I had with Dr. John C. Lowe. What a brilliant man!

Not only does low cortisol keep desiccated thyroid from working well, it also causes all sorts of angst with paranoia, depression, anxiety, easy anger, sensitivity to light and/or sounds, reclusiveness, sleep issues and more.

First, patients discovered the importance of using the 24 hour adrenal saliva test rather than blood or urine. When low cortisol was confirmed, the treatment was using cortisol, aka hydrocortisone, to give themselves back what their adrenals were not, to allow thyroid hormones to reach the cells, and to give the pooped out adrenals a rest.

And success was achieved! When all other issues were discovered and treated, patients were finally able to heal their adrenals with cortisol use, wean off, and be successful in their continued treatment with desiccated thyroid! That success continues today!

Yet in spite of clear success in the treatment of low cortisol with supplemental cortisol in the correct amount for each individual (which can range from 15 to 40 mg generally–men often need the higher end), as well as excellent books on the subject by Wilson, Peatfield, Jeffries and the STTM book, patients like RD below still encounter doctors who fill their minds with all sorts of fear and warnings:

I bought your book and later on I discovered your website which are both great. They are a superb source of information and support for thyroid and adrenal fatigue sufferers. Thank you so much!

Personally I got adrenal fatigue by a sustained lack of sleep for several years (crying babies).  I found a doctor who prescribed Hydrocortisone (17.5 mg/day, 5-5-5-2.5), Fludrocortisone, DHEA and Testosterone. Symptoms disappeared in about 2 weeks.

A first attempt to wean off after 6 months made some serious symptoms reappear very quickly, so I returned to the original dose.

It is very stressful that many established doctors (our family doctor, and my wife’s thyroid-endocrinologist) are scaring me like hell that I am taking HC. They are saying I am destroying my body and I will never succeed in weaning off HC.

My wife is a T4-only thyroid-patient with low-cortisol symptoms. She also has been scared about dessicated thyroid and HC. Reading your book I was however convinced she could benefit a lot from a better treatment…

Keep up the good work, as patients we are really left alone in the dark by our doctors…

And unfortunately, it’s true. Thyroid and adrenal patients are left in the dark by many doctors about a variety of issues related to better thyroid treatment, adrenal issues, low ferritin, and more.  So here’s where you can read more, and in turn, take this important information into your doctors offices:

• All about the problem of adrenal fatigue
• How to treat
• Symptoms of having an adrenal problem
• The STTM book, which not only has more detail, but can be taken right into the doctor’s office
• Talk to other patients, including a group targeted for adrenal fatigue

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If you missed the excellent Part 2 with researcher Dr. John C. Lowe last Thursday evenings, you can listen to the recording, as well as sign up to be a Follower of the Thyroid Patient Community Call, here.

But I was wrong. There really is a difference in our journeys–even if we both end up with hypothyroidism—and four strong ones:

1. It’s no picnic to lose one’s thyroid. Surgical removal, called a thyroidectomy,  can come with neck soreness, loss of one’s voice, and other complications. including the loss of parathyroids.  Treatment with RAI, or Iodine 1-131 to kill the thyroid, has it’s own lifelong side effects, including gastrointestinal issues, parotid salivary gland problems, and more.  A good website about the controversy of RAI is atomicwomen.org.
2. The stress of surgery and/or RAI can do a number on one’s adrenals. I suspect that there is a high percentage of those who had surgery and/or RAI who also have adrenal fatigue with it’s nightmarish side effects, whether simply from the physical stress of removal and/or treatment, or having a Synthroid, T4-only obsessed doctor.  Being on T4 is the number one predictor of adrenal fatigue.
3. Some have a unique anguish about their vulnerability. No one can live without a thyroid.  And that thought with the absolute lifelong dependency on thyroid meds is not a comfortable state.
4. Life long regret can be huge. Many patients came to realize, after removal, that they may not have needed the removal at all if they had known about the fallacy of the TSH lab test, or the idiocy of T4-only meds, or potential benefits of iodine, or natural desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid, compounded, or Erfa Thyroid.

Read the latest personal and gut-wrenching blog post by thyroid cancer Stephanie Buist, who is thyroidless after treatment for thyroid cancer nearly 10 years ago.  Also see the Talk to Others link below to find the Thyroidless yahoo group.

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Curious what’s going on with Naturethroid or Westhroid production and availability? RLC Labs has a Patient Information Line you can always call for the latest information on Naturethroid and Westhroid availability: 877-600-4752.

Want to write a post for the STTM blog?? Beginning in 2010, I will be reviewing and accepting “thyroid patient guest posts” on the STTM blog in between my own. You can read about it here: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/writing-a-guest-blog-post-on-sttm/

Want to honor someone who has helped you?? See the blog post below and thank someone.

NOTE: if you were receiving email notifications about these posts,  the company doing them is out of business. Instead, use an RSS Feed.

You might have already known about her, but it was only a few days ago when I found out that the effervescent Jane Pauley, former host of the The Today Show and Dateline NBC, has had certain medical struggles in her lifetime. They have included hives (treated with steroids), depression (treated with an anti-depressant), a bip0lar disorder (treated with lithium), and the autoimmune thyroid disease called Hashimotos (treated with Levoxyl).

Hives are sudden small raised bumps which can mass into patches, and are often itchy and miserable.  Bipolar, also called Manic Depressive Disorder, involves swings between extreme mania (excited, energetic) followed by depression (extreme sadness or lowered response to life).

And all the above four issues made me pause.  Consider the following:

1. Hives have not only been linked to hashimotos disease, they have both been successfully treated with the most brilliant medication for hypothyroidism ever created: natural desiccated thyroid. That healing connection was revealed by the beloved Dr. David Derry of Canada here.  Hives is also mentioned as a lingering hypothyroid symptom while on T4 meds which went away with desiccated thyroid.

2) Depression is all too common for those with undiagnosed hypothyroidism (thanks to the lousy TSH lab test) or undertreated thyroid disease (thanks to the lousy T4-only meds like Levoxyl which promotes depression and other lingering symptoms). Many patients report a resolution of their depression with desiccated thyroid.

3) Bi-polar can often be a misdiagnosis for Hashimotos disease, since the latter can cause the same swings. Even without Hashi’s, bipolar and other mental health issues can be a common manifestation of low cortisol aka adrenal fatigue, also caused by undiagnosed hypo because of the TSH, or undertreated hypothyroidism with T4.  At the very least, bipolar can be a common manifestation of a hypothalamus-pituitary–adrenals (HPA) axis dysregulation, again common with those undiagnosed or undertreated hypothyroidism.

4) Lithium, ironically, is a known cause of hypothyroidism, only making one’s thyroid situation worse, as well as promoting potential adrenal fatigue and low cortisol.

Now granted, Jane’s big four of hives, depression, bipolar, and thyroid disease could be coincidental.  But there’s so much connection in one way or another between them that you are left wondering if she’s been a victim of misdiagnosis and undertreatment just like hundreds of millions of us thanks to labs and medications which do not work. And she may need a good doctor to be reevaluated, besides put on desiccated thyroid and discover what patients have learned about better treatment.

And on another note: I fear it’s going to take someone just as powerful, and as stricken with health issues which could be related,  as Jane Pauley is, to FINALLY break open the profound and destructive media silence about this scandal of thyroid treatment diagnosis and treatment which has left hundreds of millions SICK with profound stories,  and is the very reason Stop the Thyroid Madness exists. Do we dare hope? We’ll see.

Do you have a similar story of mental health issues that ended up being connected to your thyroid and/or adrenal state? Use the Comment form and let’s talk. Who knows–maybe Jane will see this, ponder, and become far better educated like we’ve had to become!

*HO HO HO! Have a STTM book sent to someone  you care about as a CHRISTMAS or HOLIDAY present. A card will be included, and the book will be in an envelope with a red bow!! Save money the more you buy!

Just when you think we’re full of great information for better thyroid care, there’s still more to learn and find out.  Below is information that you might find interesting on STTM.

ADRENALS: For those who discovered via the 24 adrenal saliva test that they needed cortisol support, we have come to realize that some can’t do the ramping up schedule from a small amount to a larger amount without having problems from the feedback loop.

Instead, many simply need to “start” on the higher amount, which would range from 20-30 mg. You can read about that on the How to Treat page, and you’ll note that not one morning amount goes higher than 10 mgs.  With the exception of men, higher than 10 mg seems to suppress the ACTH and adrenals too much.

A NEW LOOK: To make the STTM home page more understandable to newcomers, the home page has broken down the information better into separate pages, and also has a new interesting way of using it.

LISTEN TO THIS INFORMATION: STTM has short audio clips you can listen to, or send someone else to, to help understand what this is all about.

STORIES OF OTHERS: Individual real-life stories continue to come in, proving over and over that this revolution for far better care really does work.

FEEDBACK and MORE FEEDBACK: I get emails daily about lives changed thanks to this patient revolution. It’s wonderful to see people finding out WHY they have depression, less stamina than others, rising cholesterol and blood pressure, hair loss plus other lingering symptoms of  hypothyroidism left untreated because of the lousy TSH, or undertreated because of the equally-lousy T4-only treatment like Synthroid. I can’t begin to post them all, but STTM does contain a sampling of this feedback.

DESICCATED THYROID BRANDS: Wow, the list is growing for desiccated thyroid brands around the world! We now have listings for Denmark, Germany, Italy and New Zealand, as well as more detailed information on compounded thyroid in Australia. Thanks to all who contributed.

KEEPING UP WITH ADDITIONS TO STTM: In case you didn’t know, there’s a page meant to inform you of what’s added to STTM. I may neglect to list a few additions occasionally, but think I’m pretty close to getting most of them up there.

MEDICAL RESEARCH TO PROVE WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW: Did you know that STTM has a page which compiles research and studies which prove what we as patients already know? It’s not loaded with research yet, but it’s growing. And if you have found more to contribute to that page, use the Contact Me form.

SITE MAP: And bottom line, you can always go to the Site Map, or review the information more compactly in the book, which patients are taking into their doctors offices.

*Want to be informed of these blog posts? Curious what’s on Janie’s mind? Use the Notifications on the left at the bottom of the links.

*Stop the Thyroid Madness T-shirts are now 50% off! I like sales, don’t you? And by wearing these shirts, you’ll never know what seed you put in the mind of someone walking past you who’s still on Synthroid or any other T4 meds, and doesn’t know WHY they have depression, rising cholesterol, easy weight gain, the need for naps, etc. You”ll also find humorous bumper stickers which definitely spread the word.

Oops.

Dr. Neipris, thyroid patients all over the world beg to differ, as do a growing body of colleagues in your profession. Adrenal fatigue, aka low cortisol, has been discovered on the back of a huge body of thyroid patients, wearing them down with  irritability, anxiety, shakiness, feeling dizzy or lightheadedness, sleep issues, sweating, salt craving, nausea in the face of stress, and a host of other symptoms unique to each individual with adrenal fatigue. My personal observation, as a thyroid patient activist, is that up to 50% of millions of thyroid patients all over the world, may have adrenal fatigue, or at the very least, a sluggish feedback loop.

Even worse, the widespread occurrence of adrenal fatigue, especially in thyroid patients, has caused problems when they try raising a far superior thyroid medication called desiccated thyroid. Because cortisol is needed to facilitate the move of thyroid hormones from the blood to the cells, the direct T3 in desiccated thyroid pools in the blood, causing low-cortisol-induced hyper symptoms like a pounding heartrate and irritability. The first-pass treatment then has to start with hydrocortisone like prescription Cortef from their doctors.

Why have such a large body of thyroid patients found themselves with adrenal fatigue and its low cortisol? It’s clear. The TSH lab test sucks, giving one a “normal” reading for years in spite of obvious clinical presentation of hypothyroid symptoms, and pushing one’s adrenals into overdrive with high cortisol and adrenaline to keep the patient going, and ultimately leading to adrenal fatigue.  On page 65 of the Stop the Thyroid Madness book, you’ll read about a 44 year old woman who went 15 years with a “normal” TSH result, in spite of obvious clinical presentation of hypothyroidism, and which led to her own low cortisol. This is not uncommon.

Second, the risk of adrenal fatigue is high due to the inadequate treatment of T4 medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, Eltroxin and other T4-only meds. They all leave patients with their own brand and intensity of lingering symptoms of a poor treatment, forcing the adrenals to kick in too long for many.

Even William Mck. Jeffries MD., who wrote the medical classic Safe Uses of Cortisol around 1984, understood the preponderance of adrenal fatigue even without the diagnosis of Addison’s, and the need for physiologic doses of cortisol treatment, or the amount needed by each individual.  And he would certainly be amazed by the explosion of adrenal fatigue that has occurred since then in thyroid patients thanks to the lousy TSH and synthetic T4-only ‘affaire de coeur’ with doctors.

Adrenal fatigue may not be an “accepted diagnosis” by many.  But medical professionals and doctors who think it’s not real or an acceptable diagnosis will have to face a huge body of patients globally who DO have real live adrenal fatigue. And adrenally-fatigued patients can get realllllly hostile and angry because of low cortisol, and be very impatient when you deny their reality.  (You’re going to see a lot of comments to this post which I highly suggest reading.)

P.S. Even desiccated thyroid like Naturethroid and the pre-reformulated Armour are not considered to be the standard of practice for treating hypothyroidism, yet thyroid patients all over the world are having lives CHANGED thanks to it.

***Want to be informed of my blog posts? Curious what’s on my mind? Use the Notifications to the left and right below the links.

***Read below why thyroid patients are not happy with Armour and switching to brand names like Naturethroid.

I admit it: At Christmastime, I LOVE the easy Gingerbread Boy Cookies recipe I used when the boys were little, the Microwave Fudge recipe to die for, my world famous Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies which I color red and green, my mother’s wonderful Pralines which I occasionally try to make myself,  and Grandma’s Fruit Cake–yeah an actual fruit cake I LOVE, which I order EVERY SINGLE YEAR at this time.

And it’s hard not to gain weight! Is that you, too?? So let’s go over 6 HOLIDAY FACTS about thyroid treatment with desiccated thyroid:

1) Armour, Naturethyroid, Westhroid, or any other desiccated thyroid medication is not meant to be a Christmas weight loss pill. Desiccated thyroid medications consist of thyroid hormones: T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. They simply give you back what your own thyroid is not giving you…the same five hormones which give you back a stronger immune system, a normal body temperature & improved metabolism, better energy, healthier hair and skin, less aches & pains, emotional happiness, better lipid profiles like cholesterol, stronger bones…and on and on.  But even with all that benefit, and even though it does improve your metabolism, desiccated thyroid is not meant to be a weight loss pill.

2) Armour et. al. can only do its holiday job if you have strong adrenals or adequate cortisol treatment. Because cortisol is needed for thyroid hormones to move from your blood to your cells, you can only benefit optimally from desiccated thyroid during the holidays if you are lucky enough to have strong adrenals, or if you are giving yourself back the cortisol you need based on stable temps, blood pressure, and removal of most low cortisol symptoms.  So don’t forget that cortisol right now, and definitely consider adding a stress dose of cortisol if things get rough with the in-laws. (See Chapter 6 in the STTM book for even more details about stable temps, blood pressure, and stress dosing)

3) Don’t drink that Armour down with Egg Nog! Calcium is a known binder of thyroid hormones in your stomach, keeping you from benefiting from some of those health-giving thyroid hormones.  So if you swallow your desiccated thyroid, get the water.  Or even better, do it sublingually.

4) Don’t expect Armour to keep you from looking like Santa Claus: you still gotta exercise & watch what you eat! It’s true: the optimal use of desiccated thyroid does raise your metabolism and eats those extra calories up like PacMan.  But if you’re like me, you can still have a tendency to put on those love handle butter pounds if you eat your fill of holiday foods.  ho ho ho. To curtail the gain, add exercise to your holiday regime, or increase what you already do. I try to aerobically walk a LOT during the holidays. And when I’ve eaten a Christmas stocking full of goodies, my next meal will be nothing but high protein, like  turkey, cheeses and nuts. Or, you can also balance your intake by choosing one meal a day to be low glycemic to somewhat balance out the high glycemics you know you are going to eat later. For example, I make my breakfasts only eggs and nitrate-free bacon, or plain yogurt with berries, nuts, and Stevia.

5) Building a holiday snowman outside?  Consider an extra 1/4 grain of Armour. It’s a fact that prolonged exposure to cold increases your demand for energy, which in turn can increase your demand for more thyroid hormones. As a result, many patients find that adding an extra 1/4 grain of desiccated thyroid to one’s daily amount helps meet the demands of Frosty the Snowman or that holiday sprinkling of lights all over your house in the cold air.  Talk to your doctor.

6) Give a gift of the STTM book to a loved one. There are other good thyroid books on the market, but unlike all of them, this is the bible of patient experience on successful thyroid treatment. You’ll find volumes of information that patients all around the world have learned. A true patient-to-patient guide to feeling wonderful again.  Go here to order.  And the publishing company is extending the time you can order a book to be sent DIRECTLY to your loved one.

UPDATE as of Dec. 10: Gail King, Oprah’s best friend, was on the Good Morning America show this morning talking about Oprah’s weight gain and thyroid problem. She also talked about how depressed she looked.  Oprah, a huge and growing body of thyroid patients are all around the world, waiting to tell you what the answer is.  Listen to us.  We have been emailing you for years, and you’re going to see more of those emails. Contact Good Morning America here. (Then contact Oprah below)

Just on the stands, Oprah’s January issue of “O” magazine has an eye-opener: Oprah Winfrey admits that she’s now back up to 200 lbs, a condition that puts her at higher risk of several chronic conditions, including diabetes and heart disease.  She states “When it comes to maintaining my health I didn’t just fall off the wagon. I let the wagon fall on me.”

But what Oprah, a wonderful talk show host and chairman of  Harpo, Inc, doesn’t seem to get is that the “wagon” is probably a “poorly treated” hypothyroid condition, which causes a lower metabolism and easy weight gain.  She even admits in the article that she deals with an out-of-balance thyroid condition which has made her develop a “fear of working out.”

A fear of working out?? Oprah, do you get exhausted from working out? Because there is NOTHING to fear with working out if you are optimally treated with natural desiccated thyroid in the presence of strong adrenals or adequate treatment.

Are you on desiccated thyroid, Oprah?? Are you dosing high enough to remove all symptoms?? Have you learned what patients have learned? And what condition are your adrenals in, Oprah?? Because it’s all too common for thyroid patients to have developed adrenal fatigue from being poorly treated for so long.

And Oprah, when you state that you don’t need to be thin, but do want to be “strong, healthy and fit”…the way to do that is optimally treat your thyroid! We are a large and growing body of patients worldwide who have done just that, and now live “strong, healthy and fit”.

IT IS TIME FOR JANIE TO BE ON YOUR SHOW, OPRAH. (Thyroid patients even have a book you can recommend to others.)

Because in all due respect to your personal trainer Bob Greene and Dr. Mehmet Oz…you have YET gotten someone on your show who can give you GOLD about the right thyroid treatment.  Call me, Oprah.  Email me, Oprah.  I am waiting to tell you how to stop your yo-yo weight problems and fear of working out!  We and I have a LOT to tell you, Oprah, to stop your own personal thyroid madness. Contact Oprah here.

Send a message to Oprah’s best friend, Gayle King, here.  Tell her about desiccated thyroid and YOUR story. Send Gayle to this website so she can understand all this.

Diane, a thyroid and adrenal patient, informed me of a recent visit to a local Endocrinologist.  The doc stated that she was on a committee that is working with the FDA to do away with saliva testing, strongly proposing that it’s not accurate testing and is “harming” people.

Well, let’s see. For a couple of years now, thyroid patients who strongly suspect they have adrenal fatigue by the reactions they have to desiccated thyroid have been using saliva testing…and lo and behold,  the results they receive nearly completely conform with how they feel! i.e. saliva testing, which tests one’s cortisol levels at four key times during a 24 hour period,  has worked beautifully in helping thyroid patients with adrenal fatigue identify their problem, in helping these patients doctors have a better understanding of their problem, and knowing better what might be their best treatment, which can range from using licorice root, to over-the-counter adrenal support, to hydrocortisone (HC).

Harmful?? Give me a break. (And why are we not surprised this is coming out of the mouth of an Endocrinologist.)

Could it be that medical school trained doctors just hate and despise any method which a patient might benefit from WITHOUT going to the doctor and paying big bucks??  hmmmm.  And once again, could it be that a method NOT taught in medical school just MIGHT be a good one (just as desiccated thyroid like Armour, Naturethroid, etc. is far, far better than Synthroid or Levoxyl, which ARE taught in medical school)?

The FDA approved saliva testing for AIDS in 2005. They approved saliva testing for ovulation in 2003. They approved saliva testing to detect if a woman is going into premature labor in 1998. And there’s many more they have approved.  So…perhaps this is all a gasp of a committee who hates to see patients have some control over their health (terrible, awful thing, isn’t it?) or the cry of a committee that only reveals its ignorance.

p.s. Dr. Best of San Antonio recently posted the following excellent article on saliva testing: http://besthealthandwellnessinfo.com/hormone-testing-i-spit-on-your-blood-test/

HO! HO! HO! Laughing Grape Publishing will send the STTM book for you to a loved one or friend for the holidays!

Today, I am once again appalled and saddened by the endless body of thyroid patients who continue to plummet into the abyss of adrenal fatigue, day after day after day. And it just never needs to happen if doctors would simply pay attention and be informed.

Belinda is the perfect example. She didn’t participate in thyroid patient groups anymore, living her life happily, because she thought her post-RAI thyroid treatment was under control, being on 2 grains of Armour for a year. But suddenly, she felt the need to return to her groups and seek feedback. Because she has become more irritable and moody, has a hard time falling asleep, and feels frequently anxietal. Labs are redone, and she finds herself with a slightly over-range free T3 and a very suppressed TSH. Her doctor decides to lower her thyroid meds, which in turn improves her insomnia and anxiety, but weight starts piling on. She’s confused and wonders how she can find her balance between being on too little with unwelcome weight gain and being on too much with uncomfortable anxiety and insomnia.

What Belinda didn’t get, and what her doctor didn’t get, is that Belinda had now joined the dubious camaraderie of those with adrenal fatigue, a needless condition of over-stressed and under-functioning adrenals. As a result, T3 in Armour starts to pool in the blood, causing anxiety, insomnia, and all sorts of low cortisol symptoms. Thyroid patients just like Belinda have to first discover what is going on, then face the complicated balancing act of treating adrenal fatigue AND hypothyroidism. And it’s a path that never needed to happen.

WHAT IS POTENTIALLY TAKING YOU DOWN THE DIRTY-YELLOW BRICK ROAD TO ADRENAL FATIGUE??

1) Being undiagnosed, or being dosed by, the faulty TSH lab test and its dubious “normal” range, which will leave you with lingering hypothyroid symptoms. (Belinda’s 2 grains tells me she was being dosed by the TSH)
2) Being treated by T4-only medications like Synthroid, Levoxyl, Eltroxin, et al, which end up teasing your adrenals to work harder to take up the slack of an inadequate treatment.
3) Lowering your expectations of what “normal” is. No, it’s not normal to have less stamina than others, to be on an anti-depressant to bandaid your hypo depression, to feel colder than others, to require frequent naps, to feel the need to avoid people, to be bothered by lights or noises, to be told by those you love that you are too defensive or over-reactive…and so on.

I hope anyone reading this comes to an understanding that you canNOT enter your doctor’s office as if you are entering the throne of a god. Your doctor, no matter how educated or dedicated, may not have a strong understanding of the role of adrenal function in relationship to bad treatment via T4-only meds or the TSH lab range. You may have to bring this knowledge to your doctor, or find another one who is either learned, or open-minded. Because your chances of having adrenal fatigue are huge if you are on T4, if the TSH is worshipped by your doctor whether on T4 or desiccated thyroid, or if you keep walking into the doctor’s office and hang your own knowledge on the hook outside his or her door.

(See Deborah’s story about ceasing to smoke with adrenal fatigue)