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SadFreek · 06-14-2005, 01:57 PM

I finnaly got diagnosed purely by TSH and T3uptake. (uptake was fine) TSH 4.565.

She said "The average TSH for americans is 1.49. you are three times over that and you could deffinatly use some medication."

She gave me Levoxyl, synthroid and a script for Armour. She said to try Synthroid first because in her expirience men dont like Armour and take synthroid the best and it helps the best. men, is that true for you?

She said to start on .25 and I can move up to no more than 100mg. I dont remember what med she was talking about that. 3x a day too.

What would ya'll opinion be on the meds and when do I take it?

my journey begins...

EDIT: forgot, diagnosis: Subclinical hypothyroidism.

EDIT2: How can she say subclinical hypo when she didn't test my T4?

I have all the frees and anti-bodies done in a month.

Changedusername · 06-14-2005, 04:33 PM

I wouldnt jump right into that 100 mcg synthroid...that's a fairly healthy dose given your TSH. Start with the 25's like she said and take that for 6 weeks and retest to see where you are at.

SadFreek · 06-14-2005, 05:51 PM

so you think the synthroid is better over the levoxyl or Armour? She gave me scripts for all three.

diatron · 06-15-2005, 05:09 AM

I think that whatever medication works best for you is the best one.

I don't know about men not doing better on Armour--but I sure do love mine. I am a woman. Given the choice, that's the one I would start with. I also think that you will get quicker results with Armour. You'll know within 2 weeks if it is working for you--some people can tell within 2 days. With the other medications, I wouldn't expect much of a decrease in symptoms before you reached 50 mcg or a month or two.

It is safer to adjust Armour doses upward at less that 6 week intervals than the straight T4 medicines. My doctor let me increase it every time I had a return of symptoms. For me that was about every three weeks for the first three months. It really is very individualized.

Whichever medicine you choose, start slowly and build up the dose at not more than two week intervals. Cut back one level if you have any hyper symptoms-shaky hands, rapid heartbeat, insomnia, etc. This medicine should allow you to feel better over time, but sometimes it takes a couple weeks for your symptoms to disappear after a dosage increase.

In the meantime, read everything you can here about the different medications, how people take them, the effects of very low dosages (i.e. 25 mcg) making you feel worse as your own thyroid takes a rest, and what signs and symptoms to watch out for.

Keep us posted on how you feel as you start taking one of the medications.

MLWC · 06-15-2005, 05:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SadFreek

EDIT: forgot, diagnosis: Subclinical hypothyroidism.

Well, she probably is calling it subclinical if you don't have a LOT of hypo symptoms, but your labs show something sketchy.

When I first spoke with my endo, he said that he would have first considered subclinical according to the labs and the firm/hard state of my thyroid, but since I was having pretty much every symptom in the book and had been having them for a while, it's no longer SUBclinical.

Also, while I am not a guy, my dad is (haha). He's had hypothyroidism for many years and has been on Synthroid for it for a long time. He's never had Armour (don't think he even knows what it is) and he seems to be doing fine. His labs are always okay and he hasn't needed to change his 'script in a long time. Whether T4 or T3 works better is most likely an individual thing. Check out some of the older posts on this board for info...very informative.

I'm glad you're on the road to feeling better!! Best of luck to you!

MLWC

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