Hi Everyone. I am a newbie. I had gained 20 pounds since October, and have several symptoms (thought it was brought on by stress). Started Atkins the Friday before last. I also had CBC done the same day and just got my results back. TSH 13.94 , Cholesterol 231, Triglycerides 163, LDL 143. I see my new family doctor tomorrow, and have heard he is great in the respect of what the patient needs or would like to try. So my question is, is there a med I should ask to try first. I have heard alot about the positives of Armour, or since this is my first visit, just let him decide. Thanks in advance for your advice.

Your doctor will probably try you out on a synthroid like Levoxyl first. It is a T4 suppliment. You can certainly ask him/her about Armour. I haven't really needed it, but many people swear by it.

That is a really high TSH-I am sure that is the main cause of your problem. Let us know what the doc says.

Thanks for the reply. So would Armour be an additional med that you would take with Synthroid. I thought it would be taken instead of. I really didn't think that was too high (13.94) because my Aunt's TSH is 40. There's my family history.

New guidlines suggest a TSH of around 2 or 3. Armour is T3, so I would guess it could be taken in addition to synthroid or by itself depending on your blood tests of free T3 and T4.

There is a great site on the thyroid you might want to check out before you go to the docs:
http://thyroid.about.com/mbody.htm

Well, my doctor visit went well. He was willing to do any tests I thought I needed. He did put me on Synthroid 100mcg and did an EKG. He said I am going to be his first patient to have baseline labs that are high (cholesterol, LDL, Triglycerides) then retest in 6 weeks to see if they decrease in respect to being on Atkins. I'm anxious to know too. It just doesn't seem to make sense. I'll let y'all know.

Hi I am on Armour and was on synthroid briefly, I was allergic to it, so went on armour (armour is a combination of both T3 and T4) I am soooo much better on this med. For years I suffered too because I wa not geting enough meds, and finally found a Dr who treats his patients symptomatically he is not a numbers man. Anyway good luck to you and hope everything works out well for you. Also you should buy the books Mary Shomons' book, sorry I lent it to a friend and can't remember the full name of it (she also has the best thyroid website, at about.com then type in thyroid or just type in mary shomon and thyroid) and Thyroid Power by Dr's Shames, they are great. Hope this helps Bunner.

Thanks for the info. Just curious, where in Scotland? My Dad used to live in Prestwick.

Hi Deb33, i live in a place called Coatbridge, it is not far from Glasgow, not very close to Prestwick, but i have been there a few times. Was your Dad military? I used to live in Texas, a place called Crandall (outside Dallas), and also Austin, i loved Austin, and still have friends there. Where are you from? or where do you live in Texas? Hope the info was helpful, i know it can be hard getting the proper help regarding Thyroid, it took me 7 years to finally find a good doc, hopefully you will be okay, Bye for now Bunner.

Yes, my Dad is a retired Navy pilot. I live in Burkburnett, TX, married 12 years, 2 daughters. Burk is 120 miles north of Dallas, right on the border of Oklahoma. I was born in the Phillippines, then moved to Florida,Hawaii, Canada, Pennsylvania, Virginia and now here. Did your Dr ever do further tests on your thyroid (ultrasound, etc.?) My Dr said mine was a little lumpy. He said we can do whatever I wanted, I go back in 6 weeks to repeat labs, maybe that should be my next step?

Hi deb33, i don't recall having an ultrasound done, i had an antibodies test run and discovered i have Hashimotos thyroid disorder (autoimmune), my doc palpitates my thyroid gland and says it is fine, no lumps. Sounds like your doc is ok, i just had a lot of trouble with docs over the years in the US and Britain. So try and educate yourself on your disorder as much as possible, it is to your benefit. It took about 2 mos before i started to feel good on the Armour and now i feel 100xs better. Some people seem to do better with the added t4 which is what armour has, it is both t3 and t4. See how you do on Synthroid, everyone is dfferent, and lots of people do good. I have hormonal probs too related to thyroid, they are finally starting to calm down some, hopefully the l'cing will make a difference as too much weight is correlated with hormonal probs too. I gained through the thyroid probs though, anyway i've talked enough hope everything goes well for you, let me know how you are doing, also my TSH when diagnosed (finally) was 15. I was very ill at that point, good luck, Bye for now Bunner.