Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Meds Un... 
Kierkegaard
8 y
1,233
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My T4 meds, which worked moderately well four years ago, have started losing their effectiveness. I've tried going up on my dose only to feel a lot more brain fog and fatigue, which also happened but even worse when I tried naturally dessicated thyroid.
I haven't yet tried Iodine and am waiting for a loading test in the mail. I suspect I'm low for no other reason than because I'm taking diindolylmethane (DIM) to control estrogen symptoms from being on testosterone replacement therapy, and because all other cofactors for thyroid have been tried: selenium, zinc, copper, iron, and cortisol.
Anyone else get bad reactions to thyroid meds until Iodine supplementation was tried?
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- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... BurntMarshmallow
8 y
1,353
This is a reply to # 2,334,652Thyroid medication is rarely the entire solution for anyone because of how badly thyroid conditions affect absorption and metabolism of nutrients.
Stomach acid is low in hypothyroidism. Some people get no relief from taking thyroid medication simply because they are not even able to absorb the medication. You need stomach acid to do this. Usually they tell you to take meds on an empty stomach and not to eat anything for a few hours. But if you do that, you don't trigger the release of any stomach acid.
It's best to take thyroid meds with something acidic, like vinegar (yuck though), or lemon juice, or just citric acid (vitamin C).
https://www.endocrine.org/news-room/press-release-archives/2008/absorptionofthyroiddrug
My personal journey in healing my thyroid did not involve taking thyroid meds. I recovered with Iodine and MANY other vitamins and supplements. I'm proof it is possible. All the B vitamins were really important in my recovery. Iodine was only one small piece of the puzzle. Looking back, I may have recovered faster if I'd taken thyroid medication in addition to all the vitamins and supplements. There are many paths to recovery, but always always take every vitamin, not just a few, and take extra B1 (thiamine), possibly the most universally important vitamin for thyroid folks, and do what you have to do to increase your stomach acid.
Too much time with low stomach acid can lead to bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), which can contribute to the vitamin deficiencies you already are struggling with because of the thyroid issue.
Low stomach acid means not breaking down food. Bacteria takes over in the small intestine where we don't want it to be, and steals vitamins. We become deficient in lots of things, and usually in the B-vitamins first. B6 gets low. B6 is needed to get Iodine into the thyroid. So you become iodine deficient even if you have iodine in your diet. B1 (thiamine) gets low, and you can't make stomach acid without it. And the cycle repeats.
Start with thiamine. If you get any rise in your thyroid from anything else you take, you can quickly become depleted in thiamine, which can be very dangerous. Search for BeriBeri (thiamine deficiency), and you may recognize a lot of thyroid symptoms in the description.
- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... Kierkegaard
8 y
876
This is a reply to # 2,334,696Thanks for your reply.
I've thought about low stomach acid, and even ordered Dr Wright's book on it and tried up to 4 pills of betaine HCL without any noticeable difference. I'm a little scared to go higher than this, as one guy on a forum I post at ended up at the emergency room for taking too much, and didn't experience the warming sensation many people feel that tells them they're taking too much HCL. Betaine is also a methyl donor, and I seem to react badly to them, given my COMT and CBS homozygous polymorphisms.
And my thyroid levels have significantly increased since taking thyroid meds. Same thing with vitamin D and other supplements, so that would seem to indicate that I have enough stomach acid. Plus, although I do get random bloating, it isn't related to meals, and I don't get any other hypochloremia symptoms.
It'd probably be smart to get a Heidelberg test done to really see where I'm at (but those things are expensive), and/or try digestive bitters (to get around the possible methyl donor problem).
Glad to hear you resolved your issues the natural way. I'm hoping I have a positive response to Iodine as well, seeing how I'm still clinically hypothyroid despite trying multiple cofactors, and have more than healthy free thyroid levels.
- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... BurntMarshmallow
8 y
1,048
This is a reply to # 2,334,741I didn't realize betaine was a methyl donor, which explains a few things for me. I have some gas issues after methyl group supplements like methyl folate and methyl cobalamin
I was just reading about vinegar, and I did try vinegar after two of my meals where I also took vitamins. I noticed I felt almost hyper after them. So possibly the vinegar helped me break down the food and vitamins better.
But yuck, vinegar straight is not good. So I'm going to order some tablets instead. lol- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... Kierkegaard
8 y
916
This is a reply to # 2,334,963I need to get back into apple cider vinegar, which apparently works well for stomach acid issues, and is also a prebiotic. It can be tough at first, but I found the taste to be good after a few days. One tablespoon in a glass of water does the trick.
- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... Kierkegaard
8 y
916
- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... BurntMarshmallow
8 y
1,048
- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... Kierkegaard
8 y
876
- Re: Anyone Feel Worse on Thyroid Med... BurntMarshmallow
8 y
1,353
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