The Dreadful Diet, Day Two....

[rabidsamfan]

I want PROTEIN!!!!!!!!!!

Er... Did I mention that I'm rationed to five ounces of meat a day? I mean, I like peanut butter and all, but aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!

Fortunately my itty bitty meatloaf is now in the microwave, so I will soon be able to wave my headache good bye for a while.

Comments

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

It's probably survivable, but very annoying.

Googling around, finding all the alternative therapy sites and stuff, and reading more on the RAI treatment. It's great for the thyroid cancer, but looks like it's going to increase my chances of breast cancer down the road. *sigh* I'm going to have to talk to the new endo about T3, too, because right now it looks like she's only going to have me on a replacement for T4. Err... if my body has been producing T3 for mumble years, chances are there's a very good reason, even if medical science hasn't figured it out yet...

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

Your body converts T4 to T3, which is why you only have to replace the T4. ;)

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

Yes, but how? And with what organ? And has I still got one?

A lot of the folks on the thyroid comm here at LJ have switched from plain T4 to T4/T3 supplements and are very much happier with the results in terms of their symptoms -- so obviously I still have some research to do, but on the whole the impression I'm getting is that T4 is great at suppressing TSH production in the pituitary but isn't necessarily the stuff which works on the other tissues. And seeing as how my pituitary is only like... what 1/100th or less of my body?

I have a healthy respect for medical science, and a healthy disrespect for medical politics -- which usually get in the way of the science! So I always find it useful to investigate what's going on around the fringes of a topic. I've also got the unfortunate experience of what it means to not live in the middle of the bell curve. My normal body temperature is 97.4, so I spent my entire childhood going to the school nurse, having my temperature taken, and being told "Your temp is 98.6, you're not sick go back to class," even though I felt like mud. Since allopathic medicine always starts by treating people as if they are in the middle of the bell curve, I find I have to be aggressive about finding out what happens to (and what works for) the people at the extremes.

[surgicalsteel.livejournal.com]

The conversion mainly happens in the liver - which you should still have. ;) That's how the majority of the T3 in your body was made even while you still had a thyroid - most of what the thyroid makes is T4 and it gets converted to T3 peripherally. Now, I don't think we know with 100% certainty that everyone's liver converts synthetic T4 to T3 as efficiently as the natural hormone - and I know a few folks when I was on active duty swore that they never felt 'normal' taking anything other than Armour Thyroid (powdered pig thyroid, I think). Since a lot of the sypmtoms of hypothyroid are so subjective - things that can't be measured, that you can only find out about by asking the patient about her symptoms - I personally used to err on the side of treating the patient rather than the TSH number.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I personally used to err on the side of treating the patient rather than the TSH number.

*grin* That's my favorite attitude!

And I've got at least two liver functions that have always been wonky, so I'll remember to mention that when I talk to the endo. It seems to be genetic, too. My mom and my sister both are wonky in the same functions.