Thyroidstory returns (with a new vitamin list)
Posted on: January 17, 2009 | Posted in: Hypothyroid Supplements, My Story
Sure, the name is a little different, but it’s the same content (going all the way back to the beginning), and the same author, so let’s get back to the story…
As I posted last, I had an appointment with a local doctor who specializes in hypothyroid treatment with Armour Thyroid, and weight loss (kind of a holy grail combination for hypothyroid patients)! I did indeed go see him, and the first thing he did was bump my Armour dose from 105mg a day to 240mg a day. I was instructed to start off taking one 60mg pill in the morning and one in the afternoon, then add one more in the morning after a couple weeks, and one more in the afternoon a couple weeks later, if I felt I needed it.
This was astounding. I didn’t have to convince him it was OK to raise my dose. He even explained to me that my earlier theory about why suppressing TSH with Armour is perfectly OK was actually completely correct, and the only numbers you really need to track are free T3, blood pressure and heart rate (the last two are to ensure you’re not actually hyperthyroid on your current dose).
He suggested prescribing me phentermine to help speed up weight loss, but I said I’d rather see how the increased Armour level would affect me first, and we’d discuss it again at my three month check up. So I left his office with a new thyroid prescription, and a list of recommended vitamins and supplements:
- A good multivitamin/mineral supplement I’m still looking around for the perfect vitamin, since a lot of the really good sounding ones require you to take 4 or more pills a day (yuck!). Mary Shomon (author of Living Well with Hypothyroidism, and webmaster of two excellent thyroid-related sites linked at the bottom of the page here) recommends a citrus-flavored vitamin drink mix called Fatigued to Fantastic, which sounds like exactly what most hypothyroid patients are looking for! I think I’ll try that next, when I run out of my current vitamins.
- Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) Especially for people in northern climates, with reduced sunlight in the winter, vitamin D supplementation is very important. The current US RDA is only 400IU a day, but many doctors recommend 1–2000IU a day for everyone, and my doctor actually suggested 5000IU, since we get so little sunlight here in Alaska. If you’re worried about vitamin D toxicity, D3 (cholecalciferol) is much more easily utilized and better tolerated by the body, so it’s not a serious concern (although if you’re taking 5000IU/day, you should have blood levels monitored periodically). I buy my D3 at a health food store here in town, but Amazon has a 1000IU D3 product from a good company available at a very reasonable price.
- Omega 3 EPA + DHA Omega 3 supplements do wonders for cognitive function; just the thing for fighting “brain fog”! A good organic pure-source fish oil is a good choice, but many sources now say Antarctic Krill Oil is an even better source of omega fatty acids than fish oil. For one thing, there is concern about mercury concentration in fish, and the lower down on the food chain you go, the less toxin concentration you find (krill are pretty much the very bottom of the ocean food chain). Also the water Antarctic region is relatively clean from pollutants compared to the coastal regions of heavily populated continents.
- Two liters of water per day Keeping yourself well hydrated not only prevents the common problem of confusing your body’s thirst signals for hunger, which helps keep you from snacking all day long, but it helps your body flush out the byproducts of your natural fat break down process. He said that he never saw a client succeed in losing a lot of weight, and keeping it off, unless they were drinking at least two liters of calorie (and sugar) free liquids every day. Tea, water, the water you use to mix a morning vitamin drink … all of that counts. Beer, soda (even “zero calorie,” sugar free soda!) and stuff like that? No go.
- L-Glutamine powder One of the most interesting suggestions he made was mixing L-Glutamine powder into my bottles of water. L-Glutamine, among other benefits, helps control food cravings, and support muscle development … end result being that not only do you not eat as much, but when you start losing weight, your body has an easier time preserving muscle mass.
All in all, it was a very interesting visit … a full hour-long appointment, with a doctor who actually explains everything in detail, answers your questions without treating you like a nuisance or an idiot for asking them, and even appreciates when you tip him off to food or supplement related information he wasn’t aware of.
Coming up next: A list of things the doctor told me to avoid in my diet…