This is my 1st post and have a range of questions so wasn't sure where to post this in the forum.
I'm 23yo female, diagnosed hypothyroid Dec 2016. TSH Dec 2016 was 6.1, Jan 2017 was 5.6, March 2017 is 6.8. For reference, TSH in 2014 was measured at 2.9. Upon my diagnosis in December, doctor wanted to put me on Synthroid. I freaked out, went to the internet, and began "peating" by altering diet and exercise. Dr agreed to wait a couple of months to address it again. I was so sure that my TSH would be much improved at this last blood work - but it's only much worse! Pretty discouraged.
Some background: when I started reading about low thyroid, I really felt like mine was caused by over exercising and low carb/low calorie. I have been big into sports my whole life and once I reached high school, running track and cross country were my main things. Late high school and into college age, I got obsessive about running and trying to lose even more weight (was always already thin, muscular build). I'd run 10 miles in a day and try to eat 400 calories. It was crazy, thankfully I've totally recovered from that. But my "recovery" still consisted of mostly low carbing and still logging tons of miles each week - I was just getting a lot more calories and not obsessive about it all. So when diagnosed in December, I totally stopped running - something I've been doing nearly every day for 10 years! I started trying to eat as much good, peaty calories as possible to re-feed and heal myself. Have gained 5-10 lbs probably, don't weigh myself much. I was so sure this would affect my TSH immediately, and now that it's worse, I don't know what could have went wrong....any wisdom for me?
I have an appt with my doctor (who has been very critical of me not jumping in to synthroid immediately) in 2 weeks. I am considering taking thyroid supplement since my method "failed". Should I insist on a t3/t4 combo such as cytomel instead of synthroid? I've read so much about this that my head spins, so can anyone narrow it down to a good source or two with advice from Ray on how to dose correctly? Does anyone think I don't need the supplement at all since I'm young? I just never saw myself on thyroid medicine at 23!
Other issues I'm experiencing (I'll try to keep concise :) ):
- acne is the main symptom that I am concerned with. I have seen great improvements since peating; I think Vit A/aspirin have helped, as well as Progest E (topically and internally). The only acne that persists is cystic acne around chin/mouth that comes and goes with each cycle. So by that measure, I thought my thyroid would have improved, as well.
- I have been having some terrible breathing/heart racing/sleeping issues. I think it might be the Progest E? The most prominent thing that happens is just as I'm drifting off to sleep, I get an adrenaline rush and heart starts pounding rapidly. This cycle continues for hours until I finally fall asleep in wee hours of the morning, wake up at 6 for work and do it all the next night. It is miserable. I am so tired and basically fall right to sleep, but then the heart starts racing and I know I'll be awake for several hours. Breathing becomes uncomfortable, I've had vertigo, chest pains, head feels like a balloon with all the pressure. While I'm tossing in bed I'll start sweating. Also lately I sometimes have this weird giddy feeling/feeling like I might start laughing if I take a deep breath.
Sorry for the novel - lots to get off my chest.
Oh one more thing I've been so confused about: I have read so much about estrogen dominance. But in Oct 2016 I had done a month-long saliva hormone panel and results were that progesterone is low-normal, estrogen was very low - like almost no estrogen. Just something I wanted to throw out there.
I'm 23yo female, diagnosed hypothyroid Dec 2016. TSH Dec 2016 was 6.1, Jan 2017 was 5.6, March 2017 is 6.8. For reference, TSH in 2014 was measured at 2.9. Upon my diagnosis in December, doctor wanted to put me on Synthroid. I freaked out, went to the internet, and began "peating" by altering diet and exercise. Dr agreed to wait a couple of months to address it again. I was so sure that my TSH would be much improved at this last blood work - but it's only much worse! Pretty discouraged.
Some background: when I started reading about low thyroid, I really felt like mine was caused by over exercising and low carb/low calorie. I have been big into sports my whole life and once I reached high school, running track and cross country were my main things. Late high school and into college age, I got obsessive about running and trying to lose even more weight (was always already thin, muscular build). I'd run 10 miles in a day and try to eat 400 calories. It was crazy, thankfully I've totally recovered from that. But my "recovery" still consisted of mostly low carbing and still logging tons of miles each week - I was just getting a lot more calories and not obsessive about it all. So when diagnosed in December, I totally stopped running - something I've been doing nearly every day for 10 years! I started trying to eat as much good, peaty calories as possible to re-feed and heal myself. Have gained 5-10 lbs probably, don't weigh myself much. I was so sure this would affect my TSH immediately, and now that it's worse, I don't know what could have went wrong....any wisdom for me?
I have an appt with my doctor (who has been very critical of me not jumping in to synthroid immediately) in 2 weeks. I am considering taking thyroid supplement since my method "failed". Should I insist on a t3/t4 combo such as cytomel instead of synthroid? I've read so much about this that my head spins, so can anyone narrow it down to a good source or two with advice from Ray on how to dose correctly? Does anyone think I don't need the supplement at all since I'm young? I just never saw myself on thyroid medicine at 23!
Other issues I'm experiencing (I'll try to keep concise :) ):
- acne is the main symptom that I am concerned with. I have seen great improvements since peating; I think Vit A/aspirin have helped, as well as Progest E (topically and internally). The only acne that persists is cystic acne around chin/mouth that comes and goes with each cycle. So by that measure, I thought my thyroid would have improved, as well.
- I have been having some terrible breathing/heart racing/sleeping issues. I think it might be the Progest E? The most prominent thing that happens is just as I'm drifting off to sleep, I get an adrenaline rush and heart starts pounding rapidly. This cycle continues for hours until I finally fall asleep in wee hours of the morning, wake up at 6 for work and do it all the next night. It is miserable. I am so tired and basically fall right to sleep, but then the heart starts racing and I know I'll be awake for several hours. Breathing becomes uncomfortable, I've had vertigo, chest pains, head feels like a balloon with all the pressure. While I'm tossing in bed I'll start sweating. Also lately I sometimes have this weird giddy feeling/feeling like I might start laughing if I take a deep breath.
Sorry for the novel - lots to get off my chest.
Oh one more thing I've been so confused about: I have read so much about estrogen dominance. But in Oct 2016 I had done a month-long saliva hormone panel and results were that progesterone is low-normal, estrogen was very low - like almost no estrogen. Just something I wanted to throw out there.