Tuesday
Sep142010
My Doctor, the super-awesome, Charles Brummer is online!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 at 9:44AM Lizzy Hi friends,
I am super excited to say my doctor, Charles Brummer, just started a website.
The key to my success in treatment for hypothyroidism and adrenal fatigue has this been this awesome man who listened to me when other did not, was open minded to explore treatment options, and overall became a partner in my journey to good health over the last 5 years. I now understand the native american concept of medicine man/woman.
xxoo
Lizzy
Reader Comments (7)
After failure with my forth specialist I may have to contact him. Each one of them has only succeeded in making the symptoms worse (and I hardly can see how that's possible-but they do it) and they charge an absolute fortune for their services. You're very fortunate to have found a doctor like Dr. Brummer!
So sorry this is happening! You must be so frustrated. Yes finding a good doctor is really a blessing.
Dr. Brummer said after having an in-person office visit he works with patients far away through phone visits. So that might be worth a try :-)
Hi Miss Lizzy! Thank you for posting on my blog today! I would love to know more about how I can help this thyroid of mine without having to undergo more expensive tests (that I can't afford). You mentioned a temperature test. What is that, and what do I do?
Currently, I am on 1 grain (60mg) natural dessicated porcine thyroid daily, mixed with acidophilus in the capsule as a filler. I read at Coalition for Dessicated Thyroid forum that this was the best filler, so I had the pharmacy switch my filler to this.
What else can I do, on my own, to try to figure this out?
Thank you again- lavenderdiva
Hi Lavender Diva!
So glad you found my post. Definitely, there are many doctors, including ___ who feel the tests are less important to the symptoms. To track body temperature precisely you could try Dr. Rind who has a great method. This will also help you figure out if adrenals are suffering too.
http://www.drrind.com/therapies/metabolic-temperature-graph
That said, my method for tracking body temp is less precise but easier for me to do. To get to the right medicine dose, I took my body temp between 2 -3 pm every day (making sure I hadn't exerted, or consumed anything for about 20 minutes prior). I kept raising meds every two weeks until I reached an average of 98.4-98.6.
It's great you are on natural desiccated! I have read many people need to be on at least 2.5 pills a day. So one pill might just make you feel worse! If it were me, I would increase by a 1/2 pill every two weeks until my symptoms really started to clear up and my body temp got into the right zone (98.4-98.6 consistently).
Two more important details about increasing ad taking thyroid meds (if you don't know this already)...
1. Spread pill dosages throughout the day (morning, lunch and dinner). This really makes a difference in energy level, and I noticed immediately!
2. Take pill sublingually (place under tongue, even crush first between teeth, and then let it dissolve under the tongue). It gets right into your blood stream this way, so it works quicker. And it means you can eat before and after no problem. If you swallow the pills, foods interact and that just gets annoying. So sublingually was a huge step for me.
There are still other factors to look at like diet (I have to eat really low carb) and adrenals. But don't worry about that for now, just make a mental note and come back later ;-) Once the thyroid gets better it becomes easier to think straight and have energy!
xxoo
Lizzy
Thank you for responding Lizzy! Here's my question: I take my thyroid medication in capsule form. How do I do sublingual with that? And how do I 'split' doses with that? How would I increase my dose by a 'half a pill' when its in capsule form? Do you know if compounding pharmacies can make pills of the thyroid Rx instead of capsules?
I have spent my morning reading all sorts of articles on your website, and now think that I may have an adrenal problem as well as low-thyroid. That being said, should I try to do the temperature testing and get my thyroid dose straightened out, OR try to take care of the adrenals first? Also, in reading your articles on adrenal function, you mention 'HC'. What is HC? If is it hydrocortisone, does long-term use of it have any adverse side-effects? I think I heard that it can create a problem with bone loss, or bone thinning? Is this true? How do you know what dose of hydrocortisone to take, and is this something you can get over-the-counter or do you have to have a Dr's prescription?
Sorry for so many questions, but I really want to get to the bottom of this-
Hi LD,
Happy to answer questions as best I can... though I am not an expert :-) Capsules certainly make things tricky. You are right, it can't be done with capsules. Recently I spoke with a compound pharmacy about having my own pills made and they said they could do a "troche" (aka a lozenge) but now with acidophilus. They use another base I think polyglycol (but not cellulose, which is good). I need to read more on thi base. But that might an option. Or try a prescription for Naturthroid. The trick with Naturthroid is to crush the pill between your teeth first and then let it dissolve under your tongue. I've read this releases the thyroid medicine from the cellulose.
As for adrenals, I've read from many that it goes hand in hand with thyroid. So if you've body has been coping with low thyroid especially for a long time, its very possible that your adrenals are exhausted from overwork. Yes, HC is short for Hydrocortisone. :-) As for long term use, my understanding is that a low dose (I take about 25mg/day) is okay. My doctor said its possible I might be on HC for life if I burned my adrenals out entirely. He said that would be fine.
Others choose to ween off the Hydrocortisone over time. It depends on the person. I feel great on the HC so I am in no rush to get off it. HC is by prescription, and I've read many of us take between 20-30 mg/day depending on our needs. HC leaves the body within 3-5 hours so its something you must take throughout the day. And its important to take the meds consistently because missing doses will cause strain on the adrenals. Some people address adrenals first, but I did thyroid first. I suspect if you do both together and monitor symptoms of both carefully that might okay too.
Again, tracking body temperature will really be a guide. Here is the overview:
Low body (below 96,4-98.6) indicates hypothyroid
Fluctuating body temp (more than .2 difference per day) indicates adrenal fatigue
Low AND fluctuating body temp indicates both thyroid and adrenal
Its pretty cool! My temps used to be low and all over the place.
xxoo
Lizzy
Thank you again Lizzy! I'm definitely going to do the temperature test and see what's going on. Thank you SO much for sharing that with me- I feel certain that I have adrenal fatigue, but I really don't have the money to see a Dr. for a Rx. I'll just have to see what the temperature test tells me. I'll keep you posted!