Hi, Help with lethargy!

[miffy+4]

Hi, I'm Amanda. I'm 39 married with 4 children and have been diagnosed with hypothyroid for 10 years. I take 100mg Levothyroxine daily but feel as exhausted as ever and too much sleep is never enough - I generally fall asleep when i sit down in the evening at about 8:30 sleep for between 3-6 hours, wake and then go to bed and sleep till the alarm wakes me. My doctor is dismissive of my concerns, he says he doesn't need to see me for my yearly reveiew, I can just get a blood test done. He can only prescribe me the amount relative to my blood levels and no more. I eat healthily and take a multivitamin, as well as omega 3,6,9 - although I'm still as dreadful at remembering as ever! I would like to know if anyone has suggestions for an energy supplement, I have recently read about virgin coconut oil but would like to hear from anyone who has already tried it?

[Kimemitch]

Get a copy of your test results - my doctor dismissive too - I am going to a new endocrinolgist in a couple of weeks. If your dr isn't a specialist - get one. I just went up slightly on my Synthroid and 3 days later I am able to stay awake all day and have energy!! I was on .15 and now alternate between the .150 and .175 mg - that slight of a difference has totally changed how I feel. The normal range is just a range and everyone's NORMAL is different - be aggressive about finding a good doctor and keeping all of your lab results and learn about the numbers!! Good Luck - I know being a Mom is hard enough without this!

[Kimemitch]

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/dietweightloss/a/coconutoil.htm

check out this article - this site is full of info

[miffy+4]

Thanks for your reply, the website will make for interesting reading. Although I have lived with this for 10 years I have never really gone into depth about the condition, so this is a learning curve for me and quite enlightening too. I'm in the UK and usually your doctor refers you to a specialist if they think you need it! but I will persevere :)

[mel6]

Hi

I'm on T3 & T4 (after total thyroidectomy) and although my bloods don't show me as hypothyroid - I had all the usually symptoms - tiredness, weight issues etc. I read somewhere that selenium would be helpful - I can't even remember how it would be helpful but I bought some anyway and have been taking it every day for about 2 months and the biggest improvement is with my memory and moods and there's been an improvement on the tiredness - it could just be co-incidence but I'm not going to stop taking them so I think this is definately worth a try for anyone else!!

[Deda-girl]

Hi Mel--

I have been through the same thing,--good labs, feeling bad still...perhaps you are just going through the healing phase too? It took a long time before I started feeling human again ....after my levels were optimized. Another vitamin that helped me to start feeling better and gave me more energy was vitamin B-12....not only me, but 2 of my other hypothyroid girlfriends. We all noticed a differance within 2 weeks.

Do you mind if I ask you, how many mgs of Selenium are you taking per day? I have been taking 100 mgs for about 3 years now, maybe 3.5, and I'm just wondering if I should be taking 200 mg? The bottle says to take 1 pill per day....and they are 200 mg. What dad ya think, Mel?? :confused: I'll try ANYTHING to improve my sucky memory! (I didn't think it would get this BAD until at least my 70's....if I'm lucky to still be around! :rolleyes: My concern with taking too much, (of Selenium or other vitamins), is over-stimulating my immune system.

You may want to post your latest levels, (and the ranges) and let us see if they look like they should look. Most Dr's will say they are "good" when they are NOT!!! Believe it, or not.....

Good luck,
Deda-girl