Initial Weight Gain On Armour

[Ariel]

Hello Everyone:

I am a newbie. I began taking Armour Thyroid last week, I am currently on ½ grain but I am slowly increasing. I have noted one thing though, I am gaining a lot of water weight, cannot be due to food because my diet is rather clean and my appetite fairly low now. I do eat something every hour and try to maintain around 70-100 grams of protein.

Has this happened to you? I looked though Ray Peat’s articles, but did not see anything regarding initial weight gain. I do feel better, my hypoglycemia is improving, no more blues, zero anxiety but I do want the weight off. J

Also, after my Armour dose, I notice I get more cold. I think my system was running on cortisol and adrenaline for many years masking the hypo symptoms (my doc knew I was hypo after a simple physical exam, without even looking at the blood work).

I would truly appreciate any feedback.

Thank you-

 

[charlie]

Sounds like your estrogen is going up. Which seems to happen to some of us when taking thyroid. I oppose it with supplemental progesterone and other anti estrogen supplements. Backing down on the caffeine and anything super stimulating to the metabolism will also help. Its a drawback but one I am willing to deal with right now. Getting all the nutrients in is very key to helping keep estrogen down also. Sunlight, fresh air and trying not to stress things will also go a long ways.

 

[j.]

I'm wondering whether the mechanism would be the same that occurs when women take too little progesterone. Additional thyroid produces more progesterone, which is enough to increase sensitivity to estrogen, but not enough to block the effects of estrogen.

I also wonder whether this occurs when people have a bad reaction to pregnenolone.

 

[charlie]

Interesting and highly plausible.

I think also part of it too is we all still have a lot of nutrient deficiencies and whacked out balances from everything being so wrong for so long.

 

[Mittir]

RP does not recommend Armour any more since they changed their
original formulation. I would not count experience with Armour
as an effects of thyroid hormone. Though there is enough hormone in Armour
to make you feel better,but It can be quite problematic If things are not in proportion.
Measuring pulse and temperature ( oral, ear drums) 1-2 hours after breakfast
will give a good idea about your thyroid status. In a healthy metabolism
oral temperature should be close to 98.6 and toes, fingers and tip of nose
should not feel cold at the same time. Higher metabolism tremendously increases need for
nutrients. This is the reason most high sugar diet do worse than
high fat diet when both diets get same amount of vitamin and minerals.
You can talk to your doctor about starting from a lower dose or a synthetic
T3 and T4 dose. Is your doctor a regular MD or an alternative practitioner?

 

[Ariel]

What does it mean, when you have normal oral temp (98.5) but your hands and feet are cold and you have chills running down your spine? I don’t have a cold or infection.

I am so grateful for the feedback, makes me realize that I am not alone. One challenge for me is that I am currently residing in Japan and due back in US this summer, so I am heavily relying on the internet for tips.

My doctor in US is great, he is an integrative MD and is very highly respected thyroid specialist in MI, he often lectures on thyroid during seminars. He takes Armour himself, but I think I might ask him about Thyrolar this summer. He indicated that he wanted me to get up to 1.5 grains, based on my temps and pulse, but he said the TSH has to be around .3 or so, sort of along Ray Peats thinking.

I do have company colleagues travel back and forth between Japan and US, perhaps I will order Cynoplus and Cytomel as well.

In regard weight gain due to the rise in estrogen, perhaps that is true as well, is my liver dumping it? I do have progesterone, I need make better use of that.

One more thing I noted in the past several months, I have crazy dandruff problems, dark sweaters are difficult to wear.

Thanks y’all.

Ariel-

 

[Mittir]

What does it mean, when you have normal oral temp (98.5) but your hands and feet are cold and you have chills running down your spine? I don’t have a cold or infection.

That usually mean body is running on stress hormones. Hypothyroid people usually run on
high stress hormones to compensate for low thyroid. 1-2 hours after breakfast stress hormones
goes down and shows real temperature and pulse. RP thinks people should have at least 160
total cholesterol, preferably 200, before starting thyroid supplement. Fructose increases
cholesterol and starch is the main cause of low cholesterol. I am guessing you are taking armour with meal.
Here is a RP quote on Armour

Half a grain of Armour, or about 30 mcg of T4 and 7.5 mcg of T3, is traditionally a common starting dose; it should be taken with a meal, so that it absorbs slowly. Taking a very small amount at bedtime usually helps with insomnia.

This link has all the information needed for thyroid dosing.
http://www.dannyroddy.com/main/2011/12/ ... tandi.html

In regard weight gain due to the rise in estrogen, perhaps that is true as well, is my liver dumping it? I do have progesterone, I need make better use of that.

Progesterone directly knocks out estrogen. There are several threads on progesterone dose.
High estrogen is the major cause of thyroid problems in females. Raw Carrot salad or cooked
bamboo shoots daily lowers estrogen.

One more thing I noted in the past several months, I have crazy dandruff problems, dark sweaters are difficult to wear.

Vitamin A deficiency and low thyroid are common cause of dandruff.
RP recommends weekly 3-6 oz of beef liver for vitamin A and all the important nutrients.
If you post detail description of your diet then we can see if there is any problem in the diet.