JimmyJoe

Your dad is hypo, the Free T4 should be higher, and his vitamin d level is too low, almost as low as mine was 3 years ago. I don't see the ferritin listed, it should be tested, ditto B12. He should be taking 20,000iu of D3 daily for about 3 months, that'll get his level up in the 60 range. Optimally, it should be around 70-90. His ferritin should be 90ish and b12 in the upper 800's.

Please check out Janie Bowthorp's site: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com
and have your dad's doctor run the labwork she recommends, to get a better picture of things, especially the antibodies and RT3.

Also, have your dad do the self discovery test for adrenals on the link "those durn adrenals. If the tests indicate adrenal issues, then he should do a 24hr saliva cortisol test. If his doctor won't or can't order one, there is a link on Janie's site that will take you to a lab that you can order the test yourself without a doctor. Be sure to get one that will include DHEA, testosterone, progesterone and estrogen.

If this doctor won't treat your dad's hypothyroidism and possible hashimotos (autoimmune thyroiditis), then there are a few places you can go to find another one:

1) Janie runs a yahoo natural thyroid hormone group -- JOIN, and have your dad join too (he needs to understand all of this too)
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormones/   In the files section, there's a Good Docs list.

2) Go to the Armour Thyroid site's physician locater
http://www.armourthyroid.com/con_phLocator.aspx


3) Ask your pharmacist for a list of doctors who prescribe armour or naturethroid. If your father has a problem with armour or naturethroid, check out Janie's link to Canadian pharmacies and get Erfa's Thyroid med. That's the med I am on and I'm doing well on it.

4) Check out the Iodine supplementation board here, and on yahoo http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/iodine/.
The forum owner, Stephanie Buist, is a thyroidless, thyroid cancer survivor and knows her stuff on iodine. Her whole family is on it. Also: http://www.iodine4health.com,
http://www.naturalthyroidchoices.com,
http://www.breastcancerchoices.org/iodine,
http://www.optimox.com/pics/Iodine/opt_Iodoral.htm


5) Finally, your dad should start taking iodine (iodoral, lugols), selenium (selenomethionine), l-tyrosine at minimum. the breastcancer choices site has a list of companion supplements.

Most of your dad's health issues can be directly traced back to his thyroid issues. [EDIT: Check out Janie's link on long and pathetic hypo symptoms]. Once he gets his adrenal issues, low ferritin, b12 (if necessary), D3 and thyroid issues along with his sex hormones (preg, dhea, testosterone, progesterone and estrogen, his other health issues will get better too. Check out stories of others on Janie's site.

[EDIT: It is also quite possible that once he gets his D3 and ferritin levels up and along with iodine and companion supplements he will be able to drop thyroid meds. It is definitely possible, but may take a while. I've probably been hypo half of my life, I'll be 50 next year. I just started iodine supplementation with consistency in the last couple of years and although I've done a lot of detoxing, I'm not ready to give up the thyroid meds (Erfa's thyroid) yet. I just got labs back after titrating off completely to try and help my insomnia and the labs showed I was quite hypo even though I was taking about 125mgs of lugols. I also had my estrogen, progesterone and testosterone tested and found that my estrogen and progestrone were very low. So, I'm workin' my way back up to 3 grains of Erfa and I'm using a topical otc estriol/progesterone and taking low dose dhea and pregnenolone. It's been a few weeks and I can already see a difference in my insomnia. It's not gone yet, but it's better

http://gentlepharmacy.com/#est.]



iolite

You father's Vitamin D level of 18.5 is significantly deficient as determined by most doctors these days.  The score sheet you supplied shows the "normal" to be 32.0 to 100.00 yet the Vitamin D council recommends a level of 50.0 to 80.0.  

I have a good friend in her 70s who has been lethargic and depressed and since being given 10,000 units of vitamin D3 per day and she is getting more energy and her depression is leaving - in just three weeks at that level.  Use vitamin D3 as the D2 does not provide the same benefits.  What I've found is that you need to take the 10,000 unit levels daily for three months and then get a retest to see how that has changed.

The site below recommends 5,000 units per day, but 10,000 can be done without side effects.  Either way, your father will benefit significantly.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

How To Get Enough Vitamin D

There are 3 ways for adults to ensure adequate levels of vitamin D:

• regularly receive midday sun exposure in the late spring, summer, and early fall, exposing as much of the skin as possible (being careful to never burn).
• regularly use a sun bed (avoiding sunburn) during the colder months.
• take 5,000 IU per day for 2–3 months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. Adjust your dosage so that blood levels are between 50–80 ng/mL (or 125–200 nM/L) year-round.

Here is a list of all medical conditions that can be caused by vitamin D deficiency.  It's worth scanning through them.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/research.shtml

You can find the role of vitamin D in relation to diabetes at this link:

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/researchDiabetes.shtml