I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in September by my family physician he put me on PTU 50mg 3xs a day in early November. I went and saw endocronologist on Christmas eve says my white blood cells are low i was wondering could this be a result of the meds. He took me off PTU and placed me on methimazole 10mg twice a day, please help because it seems the more questions i ask my endocronolgist the more upset he becomes him and my family dr
I'm hypothyroid but sounds like you need to change doctors and go with someone who would really care and listen to you
Donald, you are more than entitled to ask questions and if you arent getting treated the way you should be I would consider changing doctors. I was on carbimazole first and it didnt agree with me, and now the PTU is lowering my blood count also. From what I have read the endos arent very sympathetic. I have waited a few months to get a decent response from mine. At the start I was just sent off with a prescription and left to get on with it. Its a miserable condition but hopefully these meds will work well for you and you should start to feel better soon. Please keep in touch and I hope you get your answers
Do you know anything about hypothyroid because I would love to learn more about my disease?
Hi Juan, I am still hyperthyroid (feel like I am an expert!) but sadly dont have experience of hypothyroid. I get great help from these forums though and am part of a group on facebook where you can ask questions and share experiences. Sorry not to be able to help you
Donald, you are more than entitled to ask questions about your disease. When you do all you can to advocate for yourself, they will not blow you off like this. You need to know if your hyperthyroidism is caused by an autoimmune disease such as Graves or Hashimoto's or is just caused from nodules or thyroid inflammation. So ask your doc if he is willing to test antibodies. Next, always get a paper copy of your lab tests and keep a file on them. You will learn what they mean soon enough. There is lots of information on the Internet about Graves and hyperthyroidism. Google this and learn all you can about it. Finally, and this is something your docs do not know about or will not endorse, there was a medical paper published in a respected medical Endocrinology journal about the value of hyperthyroid patients taking L-carnitine supplements. It helped immensely. Also most hyperthyroid patients are deficient in vitamin D and selenium so these supplements are worth taking as well. When I read the paper, I tried the regular L-Carnitine first in a dose of up to 3,000 mg and it helped a bit but then I tried different carnitines and Acetyl-L-Carnitine 1,000 mg was what helped me the most. When I added it to my Methimazole dose, my thyroid blood values improved very rapidly and I was able to decrease my dose of Methimazole. I also lowered the dose of Acetyl-L-Carnitine to 500 mg. Recently, I discontinued it altogether as my blood values are right where I want them and am on a maintenance dose of 2.5 mg once a day. This supplement should be available in any health food store.
P.S. No matter what the cause of your hyperthyroidism, the Acetyl-L-Carnitine will help. If you have a diagnosis of Hashimoto's thyroid disease, however, the regular L-Carnitine is preferable.
I had my appointment yesterday with my endocrinologist and well he didn't want to do any labs I asked for but I will try to take them some where else , Ian on 50mcg of levothyroxine and well I improved alot but still have bad symptoms but not like before , and well I started to feel a lil bit bad yesterday so my endocrinologist told me if I felt bad to jus brake my tablet in half and take it but idk if I should can I have some advice
I would find another doctor who is willing to work with you. I don't know whether you have Hashimoto's causing your hypothyroidism or not and that makes a difference knowing that. Some people with hypothyroidism do better on Armour rather than Synthroid. Armour provides replacement for both T3 and T4 thyroid hormones.
What are some signs that your t3 isn't working ?
I have no idea about signs T3 is not working. I know that many hypothyroid patients do not do well on Synthroid but do better on a T3/T4 combination. In fact one lady who had hypothyroidism and was on Synthroid for 30 years with poor improvement found a new doc who prescribed Armour for her and in one day all her negative symptoms were gone. She was so angry about the fact she suffered for 30 years that she made a movie about it.
I will keep in touch and thank you
Whoooo that's bad for her , well I have seen improvement but not all quite normal yet but then again its only been about 31/2 weeks since I started the medication but its that I jus want to knw as much as I can about my disease , should I mention armour to my endocrinologist?
Hello i had to labs again on sat my ps levels was so that is believed to be Graves. Funny how this all started went to doc was losing lots weight he said a had a thyroid virus and would go away on its own started getting lumps on my nipples month later then he talked treatment and would go away in a few months, now i Graves I'm thinking if would treated it right away I'd be fine is that wrong of me to think
Linda i have Graves, just found out today is there something i can take for my eyes and my anxiety is to the that my family doesn't want me stopping can you help
The patients who post to the Boards that I have seen successfully go into remission do more than just take Medication. You need to change your diet and avoid gluten and sugar. Because hyperthyroidism depletes the body of many vitamins and minerals, replacing these with supplements helps you recover faster and your medication to work better. Selenium is an excellent supplement for your eyes. L-Carnitine and/or Acetyl-L-Carnitine will help your blood values improve sooner and will replace the carnitine that your body has lost. However, you need to get your lab tests done every 6 weeks to make adjustments in your medication as your values will improve that quickly. Most doctors do not know or care about the supplements but the people improving on the Boards are taking them.
Linda I'm itching a lot could it be from the methimazole
Hi Donald, Yes I have heard from other patients on the Boards that a lot of them suffered from itching at the start of their therapy especially if they were on higher doses of Methimazole. I was on a fairly low dose of 10 mg daily but I still had Pressure Urticaria (another name for hives when I was carrying bags on my wrists or tight belts). Also had an outbreak on my forehead of a type of hive but it went away. I used prescription cortisone scalp lotion for that (rubbed it on my skin with a cotton pad). If you add the Acetyl-L-Carnitine, you will be able to lower your methimazole dose fairly rapidly.
Hi again Donald, I was itchy before I started medication and this was what alerted me to having Graves Disease. The carbimazole made me even itchier. My doctor prescribed a strong antihistimine which helps. Its seems you sort out one symptom and another one comes along!
I didn't have any problems on the PTU i was thinking about going back to that, would that be a problem