Saturday, November 28, 2009

TSH at 17.5

This afternoon when I got back from my bike ride I received lab report in the mail (I was expecting it on Monday). As I suspected my TSH was at 17.5 - very high. I am glad I listened what my body was telling me.

Abnormal normalcy

After 5 months the changes are still happening, but not on the daily basis. Since I got rid of almost all major problems, I was sure that I could get rid of them all. My thyroid is bad, and for the last 10 years I have been taking supplements. I tried all, even homeopathic sulphur. The synthetic replacement did not really work, as I had to increase the dose every few months. Homeopathy worked (!) but not for long. The one consistently good product was Armour Thyroid. It combines T3 and T4 and generally is not favored by doctors (my doctor laughed that this is throwback to 50s and Elvis lives) but he could not argue with success – my TSH went down from mid teens to under 1. I have been taking it ever since. Unfortunately, the supply of Armour was greatly affected by production problems and I was not able to get it. I thought that this is a good blessing and I will try to see how I am doing without it. After four weeks I knew something is wrong. I was constantly cold, my skin was dry, and all old hypothyroid symptoms were there. Before Thanksgiving I had lab work done but I did not get results yet. Nevertheless, I dug out the 5 stashed pills and started to take them. The results are instant – chills are gone. In two days I will get lab work back, but I felt like I could not wait.
Other observations: after of 5 months the hunger came back. I am analyzing it. Is it real? The fact is I did not lose a single pound in 9 days now. I did not overeat for sure, but I think I need to have more exercise. Today a bike ride is planned.
So things are getting back to normal, but they are far from normal yet.