Posted by BarbaraCat on September 30, 2003, at 15:17:33
In reply to Re: Folic acid and other ramblings » BarbaraCat, posted by nmk on September 30, 2003, at 12:06:08
Thanks for your vote of confidence, Nicole. I've had many years to devote to learning about my own condition and about other areas of health that interest me. I've gained a great respect for these wondrous bodies of ours - so fascinating and really require very little outside of the basics!
I respect MDs for their ability to handle crisis care, like broken bones, appendixes, pneumonia, surgeries - things that require quick action. When I've needed stiches, had pneumonia, car accident, my first thought was 'Emergency Room!' and not my naturopath. But, unfortunately they come short on wellness care, and we're all suffering for it.
So, Westhroid is a natural dessicated thyroid hormone derived from pigs or cows. It's the same as Armour, a natural thryoid with the same ratio of T4/T3. I'm taking it by itself and no longer take the T4 Synthroid generic. Natural thyroid hormone, whether Armour, Westhroid or others, contain the whole thyroid gland. There are other types of thyroid hormones like T1/T2 in the pills. We also have T1 and T2. No one at this point is sure what they do, but there must be a reason why they're there, eh? The only difference between Armour and Westhroid is they're made by different companies and the potency of Westhroid has been said to be more consistent than Armour. In fact, there's currently a legal case against Armour for that reason, along with some other reasons I'm not up on. Armour used to be made by the 'Armour Thyroid' company which has been bought over by Forrest Labs. Forrest Labs makes other kinds of drugs as well and keeps Armour on board, but it's not a big money maker for them with little incentive to put alot of energy into, from what I've been hearing for many years.
I've taken Armour before for quite a while and stopped because it just felt 'rough' and seemed to vary from batch to batch. I was getting too much T3 and felt hyper. Since being on Westhroid it feels alot smoother. There's a great website that will tell you more than you could ever possibly digest about thyroid:
You won't find much against Armour because they take a sympathetic stand for it, but I believe it's got more to do with defending natural vs. synthetic than the actual Armour brand. Armour is the oldest and most well-known brand of natural dessicated thyroid and so many folks aren't aware that there are other brands out there.
Ask your doctor about taking L-Tyrosine as well. It's a precursor amino acid that helps to convert T4 to T3, and helps with cellular uptake. L-Tyrosine also has other powerful properties involved in the production of norepinephrine and dopamine - very crucial for us poor neurotransmittor challenged folks! It's an effective antidepressant for many, myself included! You need to take it in the morning along with Vitamins B6 and C and a little protein. I've got some more info on it but it's in .pdf format and my Acrobat program got corrupted.
I'm finding an extra little dab of Lamictal is helping as well. It's a great drug and I'm soooooo thankful for it. Just about every psychotropic med has pass through these lips and you get kinda discouraged when they keep fizzling. Just hope I don't get the intense itchies like last time when I increased it, maybe a little too fast. So, here's to us and keeping up our improvements! - Barbara
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:261445
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030928/msgs/264520.html