adrenal fatigue and candida?

[kelley326]

I am a 43 year old female that has had a hyster about 7 years ago, and also diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I have taken armour for 2 years and recently my gyno has switched me to .75cg of synthroid. I have been struggling with anxiety and depression for years now with now help from any doctors. They consistantly tell me to see my shrink. I know my body, there is something of inside of me. My gyno also tried estrogen and that did not work for me, I got really mad on it, so he took me off. He also said that he was concerned with ovarian cycts that I have, but no further action has been taken at this time. I got the results of my thyroid test, he said everything was normal - TSH was 1.3. But lately I have been having more and more physical problems. My energy is completely gone, I cant even get out of the bed in the morning. I havent driven in a few months. I have been experiencing stomach pains with bowel irregularities, Migraine headaches, Anxiety, Depression, Fear, Neasua, tinggling in my hands and feet. I currently take 75mg of Effexor, 20mg Geodon, 20mg Keppra, 250mg Depakote - taken all at night. I also have been taking ativan for my anxiety with no real results. The mornings and the afternoons are the hardes for me, but the strange thing, is that around 9pm or so I start feeling a little better. By midnight a feel 50% better. I have been to several doctors over the course of years, they all tell me that I need a medication adjustment on my pyhsic meds. I have been on every God given medication there is! After my husband has done some research he came across adrenal fatigue/exhaustion and candida - both of these are not really recognized in the tradition medical field. Has anyone had any experience with either of these? Does anyone know of a good doctor in S.E. Michigan. I am at my witts end and feel like I'm barely haging on for life. Can anyone offer any help?

[Jammer]

Oh gosh, I don't know, but just wanted to say I kinda know how you feel, just keep at it, don't give up! You'll find the answer.

Hugs to you!! Best wishes for getting better.

Have you seen a nutritionist?

[alassea]

hi kelley, i just wanted to offer a suggestion for another place to do some research, check out this book...."The Body Ecology Diet, Recovering Your Health and Rebuilding your Immunity" by Donna Gates (with Linda Schatz). there is also a website, i'm not sure if i can post a link but just do a yahoo search for "Body Ecology Diet" . the website has a years worth of their newsletters too.

i bought the book at Amazon for $24.95, but check your library or local health food stores to see if they have a copy. best wishes, alassea

[Stackeyha]

I don't have any REAL advise...I've struggled with both hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue...there is no ONE thing that has fixed it for me.

I know that without vitamin B I'm on my face with fatigue and depression...I know that if I don't get enough sleep within a couple of days I CAN'T sleep and wake up several times a night with major anxiety...I know that if I eat too many carbs I'm cranky beyond all reason...But I also take natural thryoid/adrenal supplementation that I got from my naturopath and that is what finally turned things around for me so that I could see a difference with vitamin B, rest and nutrition.

I would suggest that you see if you can find a naturopath (or a homeopath or even a good holistic chiropractor) who is familar with hormone problems. At least to see what they would say. If you've truely exhausted all your standard medical care options...natural (with help) is another option.

[nonstickpam107]

Well, consider this: You were on Armour...which has ALL the necessary thyroid hormones in it...T1, T2, T3, and T4 (and the T3 is what we use for ENERGY). Now you are on synthetic (made from corn) which is ONLY T4. Most of us cannot convert the T4 into any part of T3, therefore it doesn't work very well for many to just take T4.

TSH is NOT how you adjust thyroid meds either. What are your: Free T4 and Free T3 tests? And if you aren't getting those tests, you need to.

Did you read the sticky at the top of this board? "Thyroid tests are normal?...." It will help you understand why being switched from Armour to synthetic T4 only may not be right for you.

Oh, btw...Effexor and Depakote 'bind' the incoming thyroid hormone in the bloodstream and is WHY most docs do Free T4, Free T3 not just a TSH. Make sure you are getting your lab results copy for your files to refer back to.

Pam

[kelley326]

Has anyone here experience Candida?

[dawnyama]

Kelley,

I have written at length about candida here on this forum. Just go to the top of the Health forum and do a search of this forum and insert candida. Lots of hits come up. It is a real problem--even if the docs don't diagnose it. And it just doesn't show up as vaginal yeast infections either--they are in your gut. Because the docs don't believe yeast to be a problem, you have to treat it on your own. Some people have had luck in finding a doc that believes it to be problem, but they are few and far between. I am not in your area so I cannot recommend a doc, sorry. You need to eliminate the yeast in your diet and what it feeds on, namely sugar. A double whammy is to take natural anti-fungals along with a change in diet. Those would be olive leaf extract, oregano oil, capryllic acid, coconut oil...there is a long list. Good luck and let us know what you come up with. Pam knows a lot about the thyroid so I trust what she has to say. Best advocate out there for knowing your thyroid. There are also foods you should avoid if you have thyroid problems. I know that soy is a no-no and I am sure there are others.

[dawnyama]

Here I have bumped up a couple threads for you, but there are more if you wish to read them......

[Carolina Rose]

Originally Posted by Stackeyha

But I also take natural thryoid/adrenal supplementation that I got from my naturopath and that is what finally turned things around for me so that I could see a difference with vitamin B, rest and nutrition.

Stackeya ~ If you don't mind me asking, what are the natural thyroid and adrenal supplements you get from your naturopath and are they available elsewhere? I'm in the process of trying to locate a naturopath in my area (rural South Carolina) and would love to have the name of some supplements to discuss. Thanks!

BTW, your before/after avi is remarkable! Wow!

[Stackeyha]

Originally Posted by Carolina Rose

Stackeya ~ If you don't mind me asking, what are the natural thyroid and adrenal supplements you get from your naturopath and are they available elsewhere? I'm in the process of trying to locate a naturopath in my area (rural South Carolina) and would love to have the name of some supplements to discuss. Thanks!

BTW, your before/after avi is remarkable! Wow!

Well thank you...I hope to look like that again...that was my avi the first time I lost 50 lbs and was back in 2004...since then I had a baby...my thyroid shutdown...and I gained the weight back...etc...etc...ad nauseum...but I keep it to keep trucking toward it...I managed to get down to pretty cute once...now if I can just overcome my dumb body...maybe I can get there again.

As to my supplements...sure I'll tell you what they are, but I'll also tell you to be careful. AND you have to listen to my story before I tell you what you WANT to know. I basically self-medicated myself for the first year and a half of this mess because I couldn't find a doctor that would agree that anything was wrong with me...hair falling out in literal chunks, completely unable to lose a pound, odd dizziness, total insomnia but so tired I didn't always think I was safe to drive, hands so dry my PALMS cracked. Most of them wanted me on anti-depressants...and wanted me on a low fat diet (which with blood sugar issues REALLY don't work).

I followed a cyber friend around for awhile..she was completely without her thyroid, she was using Nutri-Meds (which you can buy from www.nutri-meds.com) they are very low dose and they worked great for awhile...but one problem with self medication is that no matter WHAT research you do there will ALWAYS be something that you didn't know to ask. With me it was realizing that my adrenals were taxed and realizing that the more thyroid I was taking without boosting my adrenals...the worse that my adrenals were getting.

In a twist of fate...or rather a GODsend...the lady that owned Nutri-meds called me due to an error with my credit card...I talked to her for probably an hour and she suggested upping my vitamin B and adding the nutri-meds adrenal support. She even sent me a sample...that actually helped a ton...

About 2 months later I found my naturopath and said, "Hey, what do you know about thyroid???" Turns out he helps a lot of folk around this area BECAUSE we don't have very many thyroid friendly doctors around.

I use Systemic Formulas Thyroid GF (I don't buy it here, but there is a picture of the bottle and the contents #39-Gf-THYROID | Systemic Formulas ) and Bio Active Nutritional Bio Thyro Balance (I can't find it with a cursory google...but maybe you'll have better luck.) And I'm still on Nutri-meds for the adrenal support.

I could have gone on taking Nutri-meds forever...I was taking a ton of them (10 different pills a day) but it was working...now I take 5...2gf, 2biothyro and 1 adrenal and feel even better than I did. The Gf contains a couple of herbs and homeopathics (not looking at the bottle) and the biothyro contains Vit B, zinc, copper, tyrosine, phenylalanine, a small amount of adrenal, taurine and 65 mg of natural thyroid which I believe (I can't remember exactly anymore) is about the equivalent of 1 grain (the measurment they use for Armour...it's 60mg=1 grain) in each capsule...so I only take about 2 grains of thyroid anymore (down from about 10 grains on Nutri-meds - remember nutri-meds is low dose so that isn't even accurate...I just know that the capsules were about 130 mg so about 2 grains each)...now my thyroid is doing the rest.

I am not suggesting that you self medicate...I'm just telling you my story. It is SLOWLY working out for me. I think that it would have gone A LOT faster if I could have found ANYONE to talk to me...but it is what it is.

Good luck on your hunt. Be very VERY careful and know as much as you can know before you do ANYTHING (including finding a dr)...I'll be praying for you.

[nonstickpam107]

The non prescribed supplements have almost NO active thyroid hormone in them at all...so someone with Hashimoto's autoimmune hypothyroidism wouldn't get much relief from them. But it's also why they can be sold on the net and OTC in places....if it doesn't contain enough thyroid hormone to replace than it's a supplement.

I'll let you google it (just look for Nutrimed and then under 'goiter') and here (notice it says 'Thyroxin FREE' meaning there is NO thyroid hormone in it):

Each capsule contains:
Raw Thyroid Concentrate (thyroxin free).......60 mg.


Pam

[Stackeyha]

It is apparently dessicated thyroid GLAND not the isolated hormones themselves...and it DID help me at the time and like I said my friend with NO thyroid used it for years. So it apparently does SOMETHING.

I think it's probably best to go with something lower dosage or something with pre-cursors when you are self-medicating...much larger margin for error.

[nonstickpam107]

Originally Posted by Stackeyha

It is apparently dessicated thyroid GLAND not the isolated hormones themselves...and it DID help me at the time and like I said my friend with NO thyroid used it for years. So it apparently does SOMETHING.

I think it's probably best to go with something lower dosage or something with pre-cursors when you are self-medicating...much larger margin for error.

I totally agree with the 'self medicating' guidelines...because if you are using supplements like these...you aren't really 'medicating' at all...you are just supplementing your vitamins.

Most who use the term 'natural thyroid' are talking about the prescription hormone Armour Thyroid.

The only drawback to some of the supps is that they contain dessicated COW thyroid gland...the brand you are talking about is pretty well 'washed' but there are others you need to be aware could lead to disease like mad cow.

Pam

[Stackeyha]

Originally Posted by nonstickpam107

I totally agree with the 'self medicating' guidelines...because if you are using supplements like these...you aren't really 'medicating' at all...you are just supplementing your vitamins.

So then what you are saying is that I didn't really have a problem, I must have just been low on some vitamin? That is why my basal temp went from the 96.8-97.2 range to 97.7-98.3 range in two week, and why my hair started growing back almost immediately, why I could sleep through the night and actually wake up during the day within a few days? Huh? I guess I found the right supplement.

The only drawback to some of the supps is that they contain dessicated COW thyroid gland...the brand you are talking about is pretty well 'washed' but there are others you need to be aware could lead to disease like mad cow.
Pam

Based on what????
If you have an actual claim here...please post the link to something that says that Nutri-meds, a company I've found to be completely reputable, is selling contaminated "vitamins".

I don't talk about my thryoid issues much on this board because I've gone a different direction than most would have in my position...and I am more than willing to change directions should I find this isn't working as all self medicating folk SHOULD be...but for now, this was an excellant, and relatively inexpensive option for me. And perhaps it will help someone who is suffering as I was or at least be a stopgap until they can find the right doctor.

[nonstickpam107]

READ my post...I said Nutrimeds WAS reliable (but that there are plenty others who are not). You are one person....I'm glad your self supplementation works for you. To the rest of the patients, you might want to see a doctor.

Pam

[jg334]

Stackeyha, I wanted to thank you for your post. I was googling some information and this thread came up. I know that there are others that have done what you have. Are you still on the Nutri Meds. Would love to hear an update. Thanks again and hope you weren't discouraged.

Originally Posted by Stackeyha

So then what you are saying is that I didn't really have a problem, I must have just been low on some vitamin? That is why my basal temp went from the 96.8-97.2 range to 97.7-98.3 range in two week, and why my hair started growing back almost immediately, why I could sleep through the night and actually wake up during the day within a few days? Huh? I guess I found the right supplement.



Based on what????
If you have an actual claim here...please post the link to something that says that Nutri-meds, a company I've found to be completely reputable, is selling contaminated "vitamins".

I don't talk about my thryoid issues much on this board because I've gone a different direction than most would have in my position...and I am more than willing to change directions should I find this isn't working as all self medicating folk SHOULD be...but for now, this was an excellant, and relatively inexpensive option for me. And perhaps it will help someone who is suffering as I was or at least be a stopgap until they can find the right doctor.

[sunshine272]

Me too...I wish I could find a doctor to help, unfortunately they test my thyroid and say it's normal. Meanwhile my temp is 97 degrees everyday, along with all the other typical symtoms. So I also had to search for the answer myself. I found the greenwillow tree online through searching and tried Thyodine, which is listed as a supplement, worked wonders for me. Sounds similar to your product. All we can do is say what worked for us, since most doctors only want to give you antidepressants.