Re: Can I chime in??

Wombat:(1st post on thread) "I've read that once one starts on thyroid meds, there's no turning back. I don't know if that's true or not, I do know of at least one forum member that was able to discontinue her thyroid meds with Iodine supplementation."

A little about me (I just turned 49 in Feb): Diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 1994, have had hypo symptoms most of my life. I've gone to bed with socks on for as long as I can remember. Finally diagnosed hypothyroid around 2003. We discovered in 2009 that my mom has hashimotos, so I came into this world with the propensity of a weak thyroid. Tried cytomel for a while, didn't notice a difference, then tried timed release T3, ala Dr. Wilson's protocol, but the doctor I was going to kept trying to wean me off, very disappointing. Then I started synthroid with an endocrinologist. Labs perfect, I still felt like crap. Then 2 years ago, I found Janie Bowethorp's website: http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com,
her yahoo group and Stephanie Buist's Iodine group and this one. I began taking dessicated thyroid meds and Iodine as well as dealing with adrenal fatigue (high cortisol), very low vitamin D (12), low b12, low ferritin. Throughout this time, I've had horrible sleep issues. At my worst, I couldn't sleep more than an hour at a time. Oh yeah, I also have scoliosis, sciatica and pain at night often affects my sleep.

Back in January, my adrenals were noticeably better, still having major fatigue issues due to lack of sleep. I had been on 4 grains of Erfa Thyroid (Canadian dessicated thyroid) since about September or October. I went to the doctor in January for labs to see what my thyroid numbers were: TSH, FT3, FT4. The results came back that my numbers for FT4 was over the top, so I was advised to cut back to 3 1/2 grains.

At about that time, I started taking 2% Lugols in 4 #00 capsules in an attempt to try and heal my stomach. I've been having issues with heartburn, GERD and have tried baking soda, it helps, but then I end up with problems digesting anything; digestive enzymes which would then hurt my stomach. Meanwhile my insomnia was still with me. It occurred to me to cut back my thyroid meds. When I cut back to 1/2 grain I noticed I slept better and had energy during the day!! I've been experimenting with no thyroid meds, up to 1 grain. I've come to the conclusion that I sleep better and feel better with just my 4 Lugols capsules and no thyroid meds. I'm still hitting the wall in the afternoon, fatigue wise. I've taken 1/4 grain around 2 pm and I'm finding it difficult to stay a sleep. I'm going to try taking a few drops of Lugols in the afternoon.

I'm about at the point of the 4 week mark, so when I hit the 6 week mark I'm going to have my labs checked again. I need to get my estrogen, progesterone and testosterone tested too. 'cause I'm noticing random heat flushings (I'm not taking any niacin) and my period disappears for months at a time (mind you, I'm not complaining about that one!). At this point, I dunno if I'm off thyroid meds for good or just temporarily. I've tested negative twice for hasimotos. The most recent was about a year ago.

Maybe my body is healing after years (decades) of being thyroid deficient and vitamin d deficient? Funny thing though, my afternoon temp never goes higher than 98.5, mostly in 98.4. I must confess, that because of my tummy issues, I've been very lax in taking many of my supplements. I do take a multi-mineral, extra selenium, vitamin C. I'm going to start adding back tryosine and my multi and b12.


iolite