Do I Need To Give In And Take Thyroid Supplement?

[tca300]

"Give in" ?? You wrote it like its a bad habit your trying to rid yourself of. If your actually hypothyroid, not taking an appropriate thyroid supplement is an early death sentence.

 

[sele]

Forum members (men and women) have reported progesterone contributed to their good looking skin.

 

[tara]

Side note: Good news - last night I took my second dose of Progest E around 5:30pm instead of right before bed, and also ate a larger snack before bed. No heart racing!! I was able to fall asleep pretty quickly which was amazing! I really hope this can continue instead of just being a placebo effect.

:)

Always add sugar with protein to avoid blood glucose dips.

+1 (carbs in some form)

 

[Mad]

Vitamin A never did anything for my skin. Did it clear yours instantly?

I have been using the Vit A about 3-4 months probably, Progest E about the last 2 months.
Like sele said, it could very well be the Progest E that is clearing my skin more than the Vit A.
Here's all I know: when i started with just Vit A I was taking the tablets sometimes every day, sometimes once or twice a week, playing with dosage. About the same time that I started the progest E, I also started adding aspirin dose with Vit A and taking about every 2 to 3 days. So whether the improvement was just time that allowed my body to start healing from peat lifestyle, or the addition of Progest E, or finding a good dosage of Vit A/aspirin for me, I don't know. I just know I have had consistently clear skin (besides the hormonal cysts around the chin that come with my cycle) for the past several weeks and I finally feel hope in regards to my acne, which I've had nonstop for over 5 years now! The painful cystic acne is also slowly decreasing from several per cycle to one or two. This is big progress for me and I feel hopeful that time will only bring more healing.
So no, not instantly, but maybe from about 3 months I have seen huge changes.

"Give in" ?? You wrote it like its a bad habit your trying to rid yourself of. If your actually hypothyroid, not taking an appropriate thyroid supplement is an early death sentence.

@tca300 , I am of the opinion that diet/lifestyle can be just as powerful as medication in some cases.
I am no medical expert, which is why I opened my story up to the forum, looking for non-judgmental advice from many people who have been through similar things and could give me a variety of opinions. I am open to your opinion as well - that's why I titled my post as the question that I am contemplating: should I give lifestyle healing more time to have effect, or add in supplement now while continuing lifestyle healing? I'm not tied down to one side or the other, but am definitely partial to lifestyle healing for personal reasons. That said, I'd love to hear some more about your opinion and reasoning.

 

[tca300]

Eating thyroid gland has been a part of human existence for thousands of years, so in my opinion its included in the diet category. NDT ( natural desiccated thyroid ) is actual animal gland tissue. Many things that work wonders for others may not work for you, because stress can cause different problems from individual to individual, which makes self experimentation almost 100% nessesary. All in all, eating a good diet ( maybe including NDT, or making soup containing an actual animal thyroid gland, and sipping small amounts to find how much you need for an effect ) and living a good lifestyle is your best option. And natural/drug free of course.

 

[Mad]

From what I've read on NDT, there seems to be mixed reviews. Ray prefers synthetic supplements, correct? Nonetheless, something to consider when speaking with my doctor.

 

[tca300]

" A supplement, such as Armour, that contains both ( T3 & T4 ) is best for most people." ~ Ray Peat

Mixed reviews usally come from one, more than one, or all of the following.
People taking thyroid that actually doesn't contain any thyroid substances,
they are saturated with PUFA, which is inhibiting supplemental thyroid ( or endogenous thyroid ) from doing anything,
they aren't eating enough protein,
not eating enough carbohydrates,
and or cholesterol level is too low.

Dr. Broda Barnes has extensive research on the life-saving effects of NDT.

 

[tara]

From what I've read on NDT, there seems to be mixed reviews. Ray prefers synthetic supplements, correct? Nonetheless, something to consider when speaking with my doctor.

You were saying you were opposed to drugs, and preferring food - NDT could be considered food. They are also closer to a whole food, containing other components of the thyroid in addition to the T3 and T4, and in some places you can get them with out prescription. The problem is that it is hard to know exactly how potent any of the currently available NDT products are, and whether they stay the same from batch to batch.

Advantages of the synthetics are that they may be more reliable from a regular dosing point of view, and that you can adjust the ratios of T3:T4.

If you have a dr who does not have quite fixed views in this area, you will be lucky.

If your dr wants to prescribe you T4, one option would be to accept the prescription, and try it out in small quantities to begin with to see how it affects you. It can take at least 2 weeks to reach steady blood levels, so don't judge it more quickly than this. From there, you can consider whether to increase the T4 if it seems helpful but not enough (as judged by symptoms and temps etc), or see if you can source some T3 to take in small doses (eg 1-2mcg at a time) along side the T4.

Note that this is not expert advice, just my lay person's take on a possible approach.

 

[Mad]

@tca300 do you personally take NDT, and/or do you have experience on synthetics?

 

[EIRE24]

Forum members (men and women) have reported progesterone contributed to their good looking skin.

Is there any down side to taking progesterone?

 

[milk_lover]

Is there any down side to taking progesterone?

I actually prefer it to pregnenolone. Few milligrams (1 to 3 mg) taken orally seems to give me the best results without the anti-androgenity I get from pregnenolone.

 

[Mad]

Is there any down side to taking progesterone?

According to the directions that come with Dr. Peat's Progest E,
"There are no known toxic side-effects from natural progesterone. An overdose produces anesthesia."

http://www.longnaturalhealth.com/content/DrPeatsProgestEInstructions.pdf

 

[EIRE24]

Thanks guys. So what are the benefits you have both seen from progesterone? @Mad @milk_lover

 

[milk_lover]

Thanks guys. So what are the benefits you have both seen from progesterone? @Mad @milk_lover

Good sleep, glowing face, nice hair with still strong erections unlike pregnenolone.

 

[EIRE24]

Good sleep, glowing face, nice hair with still strong erections unlike pregnenolone.

Nice, it may help with my acne then.

 

[Mad]

I have been using the Vit A about 3-4 months probably, Progest E about the last 2 months.
Like sele said, it could very well be the Progest E that is clearing my skin more than the Vit A.
Here's all I know: when i started with just Vit A I was taking the tablets sometimes every day, sometimes once or twice a week, playing with dosage. About the same time that I started the progest E, I also started adding aspirin dose with Vit A and taking about every 2 to 3 days. So whether the improvement was just time that allowed my body to start healing from peat lifestyle, or the addition of Progest E, or finding a good dosage of Vit A/aspirin for me, I don't know. I just know I have had consistently clear skin (besides the hormonal cysts around the chin that come with my cycle) for the past several weeks and I finally feel hope in regards to my acne, which I've had nonstop for over 5 years now! The painful cystic acne is also slowly decreasing from several per cycle to one or two. This is big progress for me and I feel hopeful that time will only bring more healing.
So no, not instantly, but maybe from about 3 months I have seen huge changes.

See above quoted from earlier; basically my skin is much clearer and like I said, it could be from progesterone, Vit A, or both. I also haven't used anything topically for acne in a while but I LOVE this topically - the next day most spots are well on their way to healing.
Seems like milk lover has improved sleep from progesterone - as I talked about earlier in the thread, I've had sleep issues for the past several weeks and suspect that taking progesterone anywhere near bedtime for me may be raising my thyroid function so much and so quickly that my sleep is poorly affected.

 

[tca300]

@Mad I have used both. When I was very sick in the beginning, any T4 taken made me worse, T3 seemed somewhat helpful. Ray had mentioned a while back they tested 10 NDT products and only 3 actually had any thyroid substance. I dont know about the effectiveness of any prescription NDT, but experamenting with tiny amounts of thyroid gland that I remove from my great Uncles cattle when they are slaughtered ( then having it freeze dried ) works unlike anything I have ever experienced, including Pure T3. So the best I can say is, when someone finds a true thyroid substance, its effects are unmistakable, and life changing.
I dont take thyroid regularly anymore, probably because my hypothyroidism was caused by large amounts of PUFA ingestion during childhood and my teens, as well as numerous nutrient deficiencies, including protein. I've been eating low PUFA for almost a decade now, and very low for these past few years, along with eating the most nutrient dense foods this planet has to offer so my thyroid and my bodies response to it is healthy and I dont have a regular need for a supplement. I just take a little bit of freeze dryed gland and mix it with my mushroom soup when I feel like I need a little extra something.
Hope that helps!

 

[Mad]

@Mad I have used both. When I was very sick in the beginning, any T4 taken made me worse, T3 seemed somewhat helpful. Ray had mentioned a while back they tested 10 NDT products and only 3 actually had any thyroid substance. I dont know about the effectiveness of any prescription NDT, but experamenting with tiny amounts of thyroid gland that I remove from my great Uncles cattle when they are slaughtered ( then having it freeze dried ) works unlike anything I have ever experienced, including Pure T3. So the best I can say is, when someone finds a true thyroid substance, its effects are unmistakable, and life changing.
I dont take thyroid regularly anymore, probably because my hypothyroidism was caused by large amounts of PUFA ingestion during childhood and my teens, as well as numerous nutrient deficiencies, including protein. I've been eating low PUFA for almost a decade now, and very low for these past few years, along with eating the most nutrient dense foods this planet has to offer so my thyroid and my bodies response to it is healthy and I dont have a regular need for a supplement. I just take a little bit of freeze dryed gland and mix it with my mushroom soup when I feel like I need a little extra something.
Hope that helps!

That's awesome...I guess I need to tell my great uncle to get a cattle ranch started up!!:p

 

[EIRE24]

That's awesome...I guess I need to tell my great uncle to get a cattle ranch started up!!:p

Haha

 

[REOSIRENS]

The trick with thyroid supplementation is thinking like this... Triiodothyronine acts like Progesterone lowering blood sugar levels by using it as raw material for an increase of the metabolic rate...
Levothyroxine acts like DHEA increasing blood sugar levels providing raw material for an increase of the metabolism...
T3 uptakes(uses) T4 to increase the metabolism... So if you have low T4 ...T3 will look in the body for other nutrients where it can use as raw material(magnesium...Potassium ...Glycine...Retinol...Glucose... Cholesterol) and if you are low on these other nutrients... You will feel very tired because T3 will go to your glycogen stores as last resort ...Leaving you without reserves for other metabolic processes ...