I'm 25 yrs old female & diagnosed with having hypothyroidism. I started taking synthroid meds when I was about 12 yrs old...now I am up to 150 mcg. The lab results always come back saying that my TSH is very high, but that the thyroid itself is in normal range. I even had an ultrasound done on my thyroid, nothing seems to be irregular/enlarged...for the past 2 years I have been suffering from horribly high blood pressure & my blood test results dont indicate any causes (& no, I don't have high cholesterol). My doctor also checked my kidney functions (blood, urine, ultra sound) which came out ok & they checked for pheochromosytoma (was ok). My doc gave me different forms of blood pressure meds, beta blockers, & aspirin to control my blood pressure, but none are working. Because the high TSH on my lab results are the only thing that comes out off, I'm thinking that it might be correlated to my high blood pressure...but I can't find anything to support my theory. Anyone have any ideas??? The synthroid is a terrible drug. Did your doctor ever examine you for a deficiency in iodine before putting you on synthroid or did he just take a TSH test and prescribe it for you?
High blood pressure is a vitamin deficiency. Synthroid basically destroys your thyroid's ability to make the hormones T4 and T3. If you are on a low fat diet, this will contribute heavily to this problem. If you are exposed to fluoride in ANY way, this will deplete your body of iodine. If your diet is deficient in iodine, this will also impact your thyroid.
It took me one year to get my thyroid function back from the destruction of taking synthroid for 5 years did to me. My doctor told me that I would have to take it for the rest of my life and that if I stopped taking it, I would get very sick.
I've been off of it for 1 year now, I'm not very sick. In fact, I have lost weight, my skin is not dry, my hair is thick and I have lots of energy. He was wrong!
I found out that I was simply deficient in iodine. The reason your TSH is high is because the Hypothalamus Gland senses that your metabolism needs to be raised so it sends the TRH to the pituitary gland to raise the metabolic rate of the body. So the Pituitary gland sends the TSH hormone to the thyroid telling it to produce T4 and T3 hormones. The T3 hormones are 4 x more powerful than the T4 hormones. If the thyroid does not have enough iodine to mix with the tyrosine amino acid to make thyroxin, the pituitary gets the signal that the thyroid is not producing enough T4 and T3 hormones. So it increases the amount of TSH hormone to try and stimulate the thyroid to produce more.
Since the thyroid is deficient in iodine, it can't perform and you have the high TSH hormone issue. The test used to establish the TSH hormone level is not a good one and can be not very accurate.
Now, if your thyroid function is weak, then there is another function it is responsible for. The parathyroid glands (you have 4 of them) sends a hormone to the thyroid to produce calcitonin. This hormone is responsible for regulating the blood calcium levels. It does this by causing the kidneys to hold onto calcium when the diet is deficient in calcium and it also sends the same signal to the small intestines where calcium is absorbed from the food you eat to allow more calcium to be absorbed. Calcitonin also effects the way osteoclasts in your bone deal with calcium to preserve the calcium in the blood. If your thyroid is not functioning properly, you can see that all these functions will be compromised.
All these meds are going to take a toll on the body and play havoc with your endocrine system.
I would strongly suggest you start by testing yourself for an iodine deficiency. Go to the Legal Drug Pusher store and get a small bottle of "tincture of iodine" and paint a 2" x 3" patch on your forearm. Note the time of day. Then watch the patch throughout the day and note the time of day when you cannot see it anymore. If it takes just a few hours, you are severely deficient in iodine. You should be able to see the patch after 24 hours.
Realize that it will take several months to build up your iodine supply in your body. You will have to eliminate all things that have fluoride in them. Toothpaste, drinking water with fluoride in it, soda pop is loaded with it, beer has it in it, and yes, if your municipal water district puts poisonous fluoride in your water supply, you will need a very high quality shower filter.
There is a very good source of a very safe iodine product that I can advise you to use if you find yourself deficient.
The next thing I would do is FIRE YOUR DOCTOR. For him to recommend high blood pressure medications without informing you of the alternative of using nutrition to work in conjunction with the medications to solve your problem and to keep you on these drugs is ludicrous. It is not a drug deficiency that is causing the problem.
You will need to have a good doctor monitor your progress and slowly take you off the drugs as you get healthy from the nutrition and slowly wean yourself totally away from the drugs.
You are in a cascade of problems now due to the deficiencies and diet. If you continue to follow the drug route, I predict you will become a statistic like many other Americans.
good luck TSH is a weird test. Often the results vary because TSH changes throughout the day. Testing shiuld always be done in the morning only. Better thyroid tests are the free t4 and free t3.
Something is wrong uf the high blood pressure is something new. Chances are if you straighten out the thyroid stuff, the blood pressure will come down. Medications for blood pressure and hihgh cholesterol should be the last step. Your doctor should treat your hypothyroidism and then there should be changes in your diet and exercise. Just recently they changed the blood pressure and cholesterol guidelines.....no why? to get more of us on medication. If your numbers are just slightly over range, then you should be able to control it with diet and exercise. A good food to lower bp are cucumbers. Eat 1 every day. Try deep breathing exercises and watch fish swim for 15 to 20 minutes a day.
About your thyroid problem, your doctor isn't doing their job. They should first correct your thyroid levels. On Synthroid, the morning TSH should be around 1.0. I'd also look into free t4 and free t3 levels, as many have low free t3 levels because they are poor converters of T4 to T3.
About iodine, get the thyroid correct first, then see if you are iodine deficient. Many with the condition are, but just blindly adding it could cause even more trouble.
BTW, I am hypothyroid and on Armour thyroid. 95% of my symptoms are gone. Once in a while I have had a slightly over range bp at the doctors office, but I'm not worrying about it because I know it was up because I was at the doctor and also when I went to nursing school a bp of 140/70 was normal. Now that's considered high because the drug companies want more money. |
