Hypothyroidism Support Group

Hypothyroidism is the disease state caused by insufficient production of thyrohormone by the thyroid gland. There are several distinct causes for chronic hypothyroidism, the most common being Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hypothyroidism following radioiodine therapy for hyperthyroidism. Advanced hypothyroidism may cause severe complications, the most serious one of which is...

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Another Trip to the ER

tugboatann
tugboatann
Thought I would let everyone know about my latest episode. I haven't been to the ER since July of last year, but I started feeling worse. I keep track of my blood pressure & noticed that it was getting higher & higher throughout the month of May. I was even waking up with high blood pressure. Anyways, on Friday night I went to bed with weak muscles, a slight headache & lots of heart pounding. Woke up around 1 am with lots of heart pounding, very weak & a bad headache. By 4am, I felt worse & told my husband if he wasn't going to take me to the ER, I would drive myself! My blood pressure upon check in at the ER was 183/85. I suspected I was either going hyper or hypo, so very hard to determine! I assumed the ER doc would know what tests to order - wrong! After a couple of hours, he returned with my results, rattled them off & said they were normal. I asked him to make sure to order a Free T3 & told him I knew that it would have to be sent out. When we got out to the truck, I looked at the results & sent my husband back in to order a Free T4 - the doc had ordered a Total T4 instead. It was several hours later before the lab finally gave my husband the correct test result. The 1st time he went back they gave him the same stuff we had received upon release from the ER. I had a dr appt on Tuesday morning & stopped by the lab to make sure that my Free T3 had been sent out - wrong - they didn't have an order! I then had to go back to my drs office & get a lab order. Therefore, the blood they drew at the ER earl Saturday morning did not go out until Wednesday morning! I finally got the FT3 back today. My TSH was 2.54 (.34-4.82) FT4 1.17 (.77-1.61) FT3 2.7 (2.0-4.4). Clearly hypo for me! Have increased from 30 mg Armour + 25 mcg Synthroid to another 15 mg of Armour. Lets hope I can get out of this black hole!
tugboatann
tugboatann
I just added the 15 Armour yesterday. I was on 30 Armour + 25 Synthroid when these labs were run. 30 Armour is suppose to be equivalent to 50 Synthroid. So 30 + 15 = 75 Synthroid + 25 Synthroid = 100. I added the 25 Synthroid because when I was just on the 30 + 15 or 45 mg of Armour, my FT4 was .98 if I remember correctly. Way too low for me.
mmztcass
mmztcass
As I mentioned before...good luck hope it works out for you and that you begin feeling better soon.

{{{hugs}}}
deleted_user
deleted_user
Im sorry you are still having the extreme heart racing! Hope you get it all situated and feel better! This is so frustrating, I know!! Hugs!
tugboatann
tugboatann
I don't have heart racing much. Most of the time, I have borderline high blood pressure with a slow heart rate. While in the ER my heart rate was in the upper 50s. I do have a lot of heart pounding though. Meaning, I can definitely hear it!
deleted_user
deleted_user
Oh, I took the "pounding" thinking you meant heart racing. Sorry. Well anyways, I hope you get to feeling better and get your B/P down!
tugboatann
tugboatann
Barbell, I think it was you that recommended the book "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Thyroid Disease" by Dr. Alan Christianson & Hy Bender? I bought it immediately & have read it thoroughly. It is an excellent book & I would recommend it to everyone. Since I haven't done or felt well since my thyroidectomy I am taking the suggestions in this book. It states, "the medication closest to what our bodies makes naturally is a mix of desiccated thyroid & synthetic T4." Before my thyroidectomy, I had a high T3 & that is what made my TSH nonexistence for at least 18 years before my surgery but it also contributed to my extensive bone loss. I had osteoporosis at the age of 49! So, I also have to be careful & not cause more bone loss.
deleted_user
deleted_user
Barbell, you're very lucky. I'm taking Armour and not enjoying it.

What I do like is that I'm getting t1 and t2. But, for me and many others as I've read on other sites, aren't getting enough t4 from it...so that you can have too much t3 and not enough t4 (as is the case with me). so you end-up feeling hypo and hyper at the same time. rather than give-up on Armour entirely, some people do better by supplementing with additional t4.

I'm interested to know how long it took for you to feel better on Armour? And how long did it take for your hair to stop falling out?
deleted_user
deleted_user
Tugboatann,

I'm sorry that you had to go to the ER. I'm glad your increasing Armour just a small bit and not more. (You'll be adding 9.50 mcgs of t4 and 2.25 of t3). It sounds that, by doing so, you'll come to the best t4/t3 numbers. Your total intake of t4, including the synthroid) will be 53.50 t4 and 6.75 t3.