Do I need thyroid medication?

[Swandattur]

What I am wondering is if I could benefit from taking a thyroid supplement. I am 60 years old. I haven't had good effects from Progest E. I seem to be over feeling very cold. I haven't even had night sweats in a while. I do feel too hot a lot of the time, even though this is Florida in the summer time. My reflexes seem fine. I guess I should check my pulse before and after breakfast. I haven't done that as yet. Guess I've been focused on other aspects. I just wonder if it is necessary for a woman my age to take thyroid or Progest E to be reasonably healthy. I wonder if that is what it would take to get over my allergy reactions to dairy and gelatin. I'm hoping that I'm getting my mood issues sorted out, but I can easily get out of whack. It is just confusing to me as to whether women past menopause definitely need thyroid or progesterone to be healthy. Of course, the mood problem is by far the most important thing.

 

[HDD]

I think it depends on whether you are hypothyroid, and if you are, if it is physiological or pathological. I am 56 and past menopause and the more I learn about hypothyroidism, the more I believe I need thyroid medication. I am in Florida, also, and the very hot weather makes it easier to keep temperatures up. I think if you have it, it can be doing damage inside the body that you are not aware of. For example, I have borderline hypertension that might be alleviated by thyroid. If not treated, the hypertension could lead to stroke or heart failure. I don't think your age should be a deciding factor. I want to be healthy for my remaining years and I believe I have lost too many already. Also, if the hypothyroidism is from hormonal imprinting and you have children, they would need to be educated and possibly need medication also.

:2cents

 

[Swandattur]

Thank you very much for your response. From reading Ray Peat articles, it does sound as if a woman past menopause is likely to be functionally hypothyroid anyway. I do have mood issues and allergies/ histamine intolerance. I've had low energy and motivation for a long time. I knew a long time ago with the amount of weight gain and hunger problems I had that I must have a metabolic problem. I have been trying all of the general diet recommendations except for foods I get allergy type reactions to. Dairy and gelatin give me stuffy nose and sneezing.

I am hoping If I can get my own health really better, I can help others in my family, especially my older son who has mood problems such as obsessive guilt, teeth grinding and hypoglycemic type episodes. Two of my sisters have high blood pressure, too, and digestive issues.

I know what you mean about having lost too many years. They talk about how many years stress takes off your life. They're not even counting the years where a person has been barely functional or only half way there. I would like to be as healthy and as happy as I can be for the rest of my life for myself and others I care about.

Anyway, maybe thyroid supplements are the way to go, then. Mary Shomon, who interviews Peat, mentions thyroid problems as being behind continuing menopausal symptoms. Do you think you might try the NDT or cynomel and cynoplus?

 

[j.]

I'm starting to come around to the view that thyroid should really be viewed as a food. From that perspective, I think NDT is better. I would still follow RP's guidelines and not go over 4 mcg of T3 in an hour.

 

[Swandattur]

I know what you mean. People did used to eat pretty much the whole animal, so that likely included the thyroid. From reading things about traditional preparation of food, parts of the animal were seen as important for certain health issues. I guess you could say NDT is food, and food is medicine, too.

 

[HDD]

I think I would prefer NDT, but I think the synthetic is more budget friendly. So will probably try synthetic soon.

 

[j.]

I plan to take at some point 30 mg of ERFA every day. Lots of people have success with ERFA, it has both T3 and T4 (plus the other things found in a real thyroid), and it has 4 mcg of T3 per 30 mg, the dose of T3 Ray Peat advises to not go over since that's what the body produces in an hour.

The reason I'm hesitant to do that right now is that I now I'll get hungrier with a faster metabolism, and I'm still adjusting my digestion to drink many quarts of milk in a day. Even red light leaves me too hungry.

 

[Swandattur]

J. Interesting you've noticed red light makes you hungry! Yes, I would think it would be good to have a plan in place to get plenty of good calories.
Hagendazendiane, it seems like it might be good to try the NDT first if it's best, and then switch to the cheaper stuff. I mean, it might be good to first see how it should feel.

 

[j.]

NDTs sometimes have additives too.

 

[Swandattur]

Guess it's a bit of a toss up, huh?

 

[j.]

Guess it's a bit of a toss up, huh?

as with everything. My worst experience ever taking a supplement (recorded in my log) was Carlson's K2, but I think it was because it had silica. But I switched to another brand and that solved the problem.

 

[Swandattur]

Guess it goes to show a person shouldn't decide a supplement isn't good without first considering other ingredients might be the problem. So, you must really watch out for silica in things you ingest?

 

[j.]

Guess it goes to show a person shouldn't decide a supplement isn't good without first considering other ingredients might be the problem. So, you must really watch out for silica in things you ingest?

It's not like it's everywhere. But I decided to not buy supplements with silica.

 

[Swandattur]

Definitely a good idea! There foods and additives I carefully avoid, because of unpleasant reactions.

 

[charlie]

I think I would prefer NDT, but I think the synthetic is more budget friendly. So will probably try synthetic soon.

1000 pills for $100 of NDT. Not much of a comparison. :)

 

[saul42]

Charlie

Can you reccomend a supplier. The price is not bad and what has your experience with NDT been like. I am going to post an interesting link to an article on this subject. I am going to be trying thyroid for the first time. I have managed to stabilize my sugar from the 300 ranges to 130-140 but other than occasionally dipping to 110, i cannot get them lower following the RP diet. MY hb1ac shows that my readings are roughly at 140. Thus I wanted to try thyroid because my cholesterol has started to rise a bit and this is usually a sign of weak thyroid not to mention high blood sugar which is also another sign.

Thanks for your help

 

[saul42]

New chemical analysis showing important difference between N


New chemical analysis showing important difference between NDT and T4-only!

Instead, it was about a bio-analytical chemist who decided to test synthetic T3 (Cynomel and Cynoplus) as well as the Thailand-made Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT) called Thyroid-S, by extracting each tablet with methanol, then diluting and injecting them on an LC/MS system–a sensitive instrument used to detect and identify compounds and molecules in a substance.

And what he discovered and reported is that the thyroid hormones of NDT are tightly bound with thyroglobulin, a large iodine-containing protein….whereas synthetics are bound by nothing. i.e. synthetic hormones are exposed; NDT hormones are protected (until they are released by your digestion). The diagram on this blog post gives you a powerful visual of this reality, but specifically in comparing natural desiccated thyroid with synthetic T4-only. You will see the large mass of thyroglobulin on the left, each containing either T4, T3, T2, T1 or calcitonin within. Then the tiny synthetic hormone on the right, alone.

But is that bad NOT be bound by thyroglobulin?? Possibly yes in the opinion of Peter. As Peter explained: “The [exposed] synthetics might be affected by stomach acids in different ways in different people. Low acid, high acid, various digestive and pancreatic enzymes in varying amounts, bacteria/flora in the stomach and small intestine, all kinds of possibilities here which would vary by the person.” And, he says, that can mean instability!

Full story can be read by clicking on this link

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/20 ... d-t4-only/

 

[charlie]

Charlie

Can you reccomend a supplier. The price is not bad and what has your experience with NDT been like. I am going to post an interesting link to an article on this subject. I am going to be trying thyroid for the first time. I have managed to stabilize my sugar from the 300 ranges to 130-140 but other than occasionally dipping to 110, i cannot get them lower following the RP diet. MY hb1ac shows that my readings are roughly at 140. Thus I wanted to try thyroid because my cholesterol has started to rise a bit and this is usually a sign of weak thyroid not to mention high blood sugar which is also another sign.

Thanks for your help

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2336

You are in much better health now with your blood sugar at 140 then you were in the 300 ranges. That means, much more sugar is getting into your cells giving your cells the energy it needs. With diabetes, the cycle gets messed up, and the sugar gets stuck in the blood, and cannot get into the cell.

Some relevant quotes:
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=653&p=3674

 

[saul42]

Yes I was doing some of the stuff that RP advocate without knowing it. I got onto sugar because I ran into a guy who said he cured himself from Type 2 by eating massive amounts of raw honey. As he happened to be on a farm, he also drank lots of milk and ate a lot of cheese.

I have achieved this in roughly 3 1/2 months, the improvement has been huge but I would like to get back to where I was just less than 2 years ago. I see this is possible but i am on a plateau right now, and would like to break out of it

Changing the topic there seems to be a lot of information stating that sugar affects testosterone levels. I have not measured mine in the last 4 months but my friend who is also following this diet saw his testosterone levels drop 50% after increasing sugar intake. He also had high blood sugar issues before and his sugar readings are now down by 50%. However his testosterone which was slightly low as 290 is now at 159. Is sugar cussing this as there are articles that state it can affect testosterone.

 

[Swandattur]

Maybe I already mentioned this here, but just wanted to say since eliminationing all starch and eating plenty of fruit and sugar, my blood sugar stays well down in the normal range. Of course, as far as I know, they didn't go above 200 before changing my diet.