02-01-2014, 02:39 AM
I've been told I'm probably one of those (un)lucky males who has Hashimoto's, but the doctor's have never bothered to do the necessary tests to confirm it. I refuse to take synthetic levothyroxine and insist on natural thyroid such as Armour, Westhroid, or Naturethroid. All of them are derived from dessicated pig thyroid, though there are beef version also out there. My biggest issue is the doctors are all over the place when it comes to ordering blood work and interpreting it properly. I keep trying to follow what is posted at www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/lab-values/ but my doctors keep telling me I'm wrong. All I know is my body temp can drop as low as 95.8 to 96.2, and I awake shivering in the middle of the night, my fingernails break and flake off easily, I'm depressed, and right now, I sometimes choke on water. My thyroid appears to enlarge from time to time, making it hard to swallow food at times. I'm tired and lethargic and need about 800 mg - 1000 mg of caffeine (8-10 cups of coffee) throughout the day to function, but health recommendations are to stay below 400 mg.
I generally do not trust any doctor I've been to. They all focus on all of my symptoms, each of which is a treatable/manageable condition, rather than admitting that maybe there is a bigger underlying condition such as low testosterone at play. I have every symptom of low T except my total T is above 300 (it's 385). I try to tell them they again have it wrong because total T is unreliable when a person is diabetic and has a thyroid disorder, and they dismiss me despite my quoting from guidelines given by the endocrine society, Johns Hopkins, and the Mayo Clinic. My free T is all that matters, and it is below the bottom end of the reference range, but my doctor ignores me. I have to live in this body, and I know when something is wrong. I don't care what the blood work says. I have the T level of an 85-yr-old male, and I'm about to turn 50.
The upper dose I've seen on biotin is 16 mg. I take 15 mg. per day partly because it is also supposed to be good for carbohydrate metabolism. Having had male pattern baldness since I was 15, I don't think anything can help my hair loss. Other than about a dozen hairs, I'm totally bald on top, and I have enough body hair to give Chewbacca a run for his money.
I generally do not trust any doctor I've been to. They all focus on all of my symptoms, each of which is a treatable/manageable condition, rather than admitting that maybe there is a bigger underlying condition such as low testosterone at play. I have every symptom of low T except my total T is above 300 (it's 385). I try to tell them they again have it wrong because total T is unreliable when a person is diabetic and has a thyroid disorder, and they dismiss me despite my quoting from guidelines given by the endocrine society, Johns Hopkins, and the Mayo Clinic. My free T is all that matters, and it is below the bottom end of the reference range, but my doctor ignores me. I have to live in this body, and I know when something is wrong. I don't care what the blood work says. I have the T level of an 85-yr-old male, and I'm about to turn 50.
The upper dose I've seen on biotin is 16 mg. I take 15 mg. per day partly because it is also supposed to be good for carbohydrate metabolism. Having had male pattern baldness since I was 15, I don't think anything can help my hair loss. Other than about a dozen hairs, I'm totally bald on top, and I have enough body hair to give Chewbacca a run for his money.