> My doctor wants me to start taking Levothroid to
> increase my free T4. I  have been on Armour Thyroid
for several years now. He tried increasing my
> dose to help with my thyroid issues, but it had
little or no effect on my T4 but made my T3 go up too
high. >>

Hi, Kristina.  I'm a thyroid patient, dx'd autoimmune
thyroiditis 3 years ago.  I was on Thyrolar, which is
the synthetic form of Armour (made by the same
manufacturer) and has the same 80/20 T4/T3 ratio.  My
labs were always skewed with the FT4 lower in range
and the FT3 higher, although not out of normal range.
I learned this is typical when taking a combination
T4/T3 medication.  Some patients find that adding
straight T4, such as Unithroid, to their Armour will
bring up the FT4 numbers. Others find better success
by taking a combination of T4 only (like Unithroid)
and T3 only (Cytomel) because it's easier to fine tune
the dosage somewhere close to 90/10 T4/T3 ratio since
that's what the body produces naturally.


<< Is there anything natural I can do to increase T4
levels. I really don't want to take any of these drugs
but I also want to start feeling better. >>

I never had any success with any of the alternative
treatments, but that doesn't mean it couldn't work for
you. Here's a link to some possible resources.  There
is a forum for alternative thyroid treatment, shown on
the left side of the page.

http://www.thyroid-info.com/community.htm


Good luck!


Lynda Bryson
[log in to unmask]






_______________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Express yourself with Y! Messenger! Free. Download now.
http://messenger.yahoo.com