Lyme Disease Support Group

I've read that people with chronic lyme often have thyroids that have been affected- usually hypothyroidism, such as you have. My daughter's LLMD noticed that her thyroid felt enlarged and, over time, ordered blood work and various scans. It turns out that she has nodules on her thyroid, and is followed by an endocrinologist. So far, her levels are normal, so he has not put her on thyroid medicine/supplement. Although he's not lyme literate, he attributes her nodules to infection- most likely lyme.

I've heard good things about Armour. You might double-check to see if you can really just take it for a short time. It's my impression that once on thyroid medicine, always on it.

Well Wishes :)

Hi
I actually take armour thyroid for slightly low thyroid. In 2001 I had "the worst case he had ever seen" of dr. Quervain's thyroiditis. I never felt good after that, and not knowing it was the lyme disease, was put on armour. I am/was only on 30 mg a day. I say was b/c since I started the low dose naltrexone, I have been able to discontinue the armour thyroid. You might want to research low dose naltrexone. http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/ They dont' have anything on this website about lymes, but if you google lymes and LDN you will find stuff. Best to you and your healing.
Mary

I have Hashimoto's Disease (hypothyroidism) that was recently dx, and my LLMD says he absolutely believes it is related to the Lyme. I was put on T4, the most common supplement, but then started to lose my hair. When I told my LLMD he then added a low dose of T3, and now the hair loss has slowed. I have thought about seeing an endocrinologist, too, just b/c he specializes in thyroid d/o. Haven't decided yet.

Hi all, Thanks -- i'm hoping the armour t-3 thyroid supp. will be short term, until the lymes gets out of the thyroid and it starts to heal more. The naltrxone sounds interesting -
can you feel it helping you heal? I'm taking 60mg a day of the t-3, and my doc says it will take a week or more to feel the effects. Then I go to the lab for blood tests to see where I am.

hugs, CJ

60 mg or 60 mcg?

Hi Yes I do believe the low dose naltrexone has helped, I have felt better since I started taking it. Personally I wish everyone woudl check it out, I think it's great for all of us, they use if for fibromyalgia and MS and all other things that lyme can imitate. I was on 60mg of armour, but then I started getting hyper thyroid, so they reduced me to 30, but it was actually the endocrinolgoist who caught that and lowered me, so that's a good idea to go see a specialist.

i'm on 60 mg of armour thyroid - i break it up into am and pm - so far, i'm nnot noticiing too much - it's only been three days. I'm nervous about the thryoid going hyper, though - maybe it would be good to see an endocrinologist? it's hard to tell what symptoms are what with all the herxing, hugs, CJ

I am hyperthryoid. I was dxd with Graves, but I too believe there is a link.

I am being tested for thyroid issues too along w/liver. I too think there is a link because I began losing hair again this time around. I will ask my LLMD what his opinion in on this.

The first time around I lost quite a bit of hair and then when I had recovered, it stopped. The fatigue also stopped. However, I know that babesia and some of the antibiotics cause hair loss too. So, I'm not quite certain if there is a link or it's just coincidence.

In short, I guess I'm not too certain which way to lean.

ClaireJean I think it will take a couple weeks for you to feel a difference. And, it would take even longer than that for you to change to hyper if it was too high a dose. 60 is probably the average dose. I was on that for months and months, and my primary dr thought I "might" be sllightly hyper after that time. So he sent me to an endocrinologist who said yes, I was "borderline" hyper, and all it meant was I did not need that much, so it was reduced to 30 mg, and that stabilized me and kept my levels where they should be. :-)