BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Thyroid Health Hypothyroid:

Hey! I have been hypothyroid and on meds for decades and my mother before me...I do know that the AMA has decided that they would like all women over 40 or post menopausal to be checked every time they go to the Gyne. Almost all the signs of low thyroid are the same signs as those that pop up in perimenopause: those 10 or so years before one stops menses in which the body goes thru the opposite of puberty(remember how much fun that was..this is that in reverse!)

Hey Roni!

I also am hypothyroid along with having Hashimoto's. I was just diagnosed in May, so I guess I am still new to all of this. My ENT doctor has me on 100mcg of Synthroid to see if we can shrink my nodule and try to regulate my system a little better.

Life has really been interesting since May, dealing with all the symptoms that go with the disease.

I look forward to talking with you and others on how to beat the thyroid before it beats you!

Maryan

Hi Maryan:
Sorry I have missed you. I claim that I am forum access challanged; if there is a way to get answers to my posts delivered to my email I have not discovered it...Please feel free to ask me anything I am definitely an old hand at thyroid stuff and my Mom has been dealing with it since I was a child so we actually go back to the dawn of civilization...

My Mom just cut back on her meds because of splitting nails and brittle hair. She is also 77; so living one's life does change stuff...

I have been low thyroid on every test since I was in my early 30's. It is only when I developed diabetes, hypertension, and a few other fun maladies in menopause that I started to seriously use thryroid replacement---Armour, because it's the real stuff.<G> Besides being overweight, I never would have known that I was hypothyroid. Now you mention brittle nails. This has started in the past few months, but up until then, I had the ability to grow "talons!" I used to have to cut them back; simple filing wouldn't do it. When I did a serious manicure, people thought I had falsies.<G> I may have been low T3/T4, but I never knew it other than from the blood test and perhaps the weight, but I think that was/is appetite more than anything. I'm not cold, quite the opposite. Anything I should know?

Hi: Here is what I know....armour is not as good as a synthetic because it is not as control-able(is that a word?). My endocrinolgist( a MUST have for newbie thyroid issues) and I just had this very discussion. If you are receiving the proper med at the proper level then your brittle nails(how is your hair?) and other sorts of hypo issues should go away...

An interesting note: it has been rumoured in the past 30 or so years that the use of thyroid meds might lead to osteoporosis(?) now it has been determined that the use of too little medication is actually the culprit.

Have you ever tried Armour?

I was getting sicker and sicker on $ynthroid for 12 years. Then I blackmailed my internist and wrestled him to the ground to get him to write me an Rx for Armour. My gouty arthritis disappeared ten days after starting the Armour, and all other symptoms left over the next six months.

I found Armour to be much more consistent than $ynthroid, which was a constant rollercoaster. $ynthroid has had numerous recalls for variations in potency of up to plus or minus 30%! Armour has had exactly one for about a 2% subpotency during the last few months before the expiration date. [color:"blue"] [/color] [code]

I would also say that many of us have not found endocrinologists to be the best thyroid docs.

Two opinions on Armour. I have had two conflicting medical opinions: one from a gyne, who said the same thing as Roni, that as a natural product, it was unreliable. The other is from the prescribing physician, who swears by it and refuses to use anything else. His assertion is that because it contains T3 and T4, it's the best thing to use. I am happy enough with the results, because when I take enough, 60 mg. one day, 120 mg the next, I think I am better than I was.
The nail thing may not be thyroid related. I was looking at them and there's a dent in the nail that would date to about the time I was at my lowest. The new growth behind it looks pretty good.
My hair is in good shape, thank heavens.

I just watched a segment on this the other morning on Good Morning America. I took notes and they mentioned getting a simple blood test - TSH. The key symptoms I jotted down were brittle hair, dry skin and constipation.

However I looked in my Merck Manual and now I do not think I have this. I turned 45 this year, but I think I will ask for this blood test when I go to my new Doctor one of these months.

Bonnie you are right those are some of the signs for thyroid disease.
I have some more symptoms listed here.
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31605.asp

In the next week I plan to have a quiz on hypothyroid and hyperthyroid. You can take the quiz to get a better idea if you could have either type of thyroid disease. I'll post the quiz here on the forums.

When you do go to your doctor have them test your tsh but also a t4 and t3 test are needed. So ask for a thyroid panel to be done. That will give you a better look at all levels of your thyroid. TSH test is just testing what your pituitary gland is telling your thyroid to do.

Thanks Tracy for the link. Looking forward to the quiz. I signed up for your newsletter too.