[Andrea Barnett Budin]

THIS IS FOR INQUIRING MINDS WILLING TO VENTURE FORWARD... Apologies for the length, but you all know me...

Well, first thank you all for the info! Got more from y'all in a day than I got from my endocrin lady over a year! There is no discussion w/her. No conversational exchange of ideas and questions. Just commands from a staffer who has no idea what she's asking you to do or why, nor does she care.

Doc was obviously shaken by my low TISH... She surreptitiously tested me for Grave's disease I discovered when her staffer called w/my lab results, which I asked to have faxed. Then re-faxed cause -- illegible. Still illegible. I googled Graves. Geez. Communicate with patient -- she must have missed class that day.

Basically "healthy, non-thyroidal disease, Thyroid disease without Grave disease and Untreated Graves disease -- all good, though I only see smudged ink. I was told, by staffer.

Thyroid anti TSH receptors .9 (in a range of 0.0 - 1.8)


TSH .67 (in a range of .49 - 4.67)
FREE T4 -- .92 (in a range of .71 - 1.85)
I was told Free T3 also normal, though I don't see it.

3 mnths later Free T4 -- 1.1
TSH -- .31 -- OH DEAR!!!

This doc diagnosed my husband w/Hashimoto's hypothyroid and he's on Synthroid.

She says I am hyperthyroid.

That is the sum total of what she's told me.

Internist (I had my records sent to his office) says, when there are nodules over 1 cm they like to biopsy. Usually the biopsy is benign but sometimes results are unclear. Then they like to remove thyroid. (I'm not into that so much...)

Internist did another thyroid scan, compared to last years, as I am stable.

Seeing new endo guy mid Dec, as that is his first available appt.

I LOVE MY NEW TEAM! You all rock! Thank you for caring.

You all sound smarter than my bright endo lady who has absolutely no social skills whatsoever.

I thank each of you for your wisdom and experience and willingness to share what you know with me.

The endo lady was hyperventilating so at the last visit I asked her if she thought I had cancer. (Finally got my courage up.) She shot back, What?! NO!!! Okay, then why are you so upset?, I asked.

She was pacing. She didn't finish her physical exam of me, gathered her records, and left the room.

I had told her, BTW, I checked that supplement I stopped and THERE WAS NO IODINE IN IT. Are you sure, she said. Rustled her papers, said she was sure she'd made a note of that. (She'd mentioned it at last 3 mnth visit so I had to check, cause I wouldn't take iodine just like that no matter what.) Apparently being told she was wrong was too much for her to handle.

I had waited an hr for her that last day. I'd sent a FAX to her, as she never ever returns my phone calls, asking for some thoughts and guidance re my TSH. I suppose I was pissy sounding cause I was just that! No one ever returns calls from that snippy office. Even the office manager.

Endo lady hates my supplements list, wants to know -- WHERE ARE THE STUDIES???, and obviously judges me. I explained my oncological nutritionist had recommended every one. He was a prof at Cornell Strang Institute in NY. Knows his stuff!

She blamed my supplements for my low TSH. I had recently started a new one, given to me by my holistic chiropractor (you can imagine how well that went over with endo lady) and said I would stop immediately.

Endo lady wanted to retest the next wk. I explained that we should wait a few mnths to give the supplement a chance to work its way out of my body. She reluctantly agreed. More hyperventilating on her part.

Rhonda -- I take an immune booster daily (twice a day vs the recommended 3x a day, cause it's so darn expensive, and among the least expensive of the list of boosters my nut onc gave me). It has selenium in it. 200 mcg. So I've been taking 400 mcg a day for about 12 yrs, with TISH lowness only in the last yr.

I know Dr. Andrew Weill recommends 200 of selenium. Didn't think that I was taking twice that, but lots of my supplements are high dosage, as nut onc feels studies that prove some ineffective are based on lower dosages. And, I have to say, I believe I agree, since I got through 9 mnths of Taxotere and the last 14 yrs following my nut oncs advice.

I don't have symptoms of Hashimoto, or Graves. I have no symptoms but 27 yrs of hotness, which stopped with holistic lady's porcine glandular mixture, which I took for 2 mnths and never took again. And IBS, which is not an issue w/thyroid I don't think.

Thanks Rhonda for the heads up re dissicated thyroid. It would creep me out, just by the sound of it. (My mother lived on Synthroid with low energy for most of her life.) I have had low energy since my teens.

I'm receiving Byetta injections twice a day, trying to prevent me from becoming a type 2 diabetic. I have always had slightly high glucose #s (? my norm ??) and was gestational diabetic in '68 and '70 when I gave birth to healthy baby girls (9 lbs 10 oz and 9 lbs 13 oz)...

Will check out the link you provided and google se-methyl l-selenocysteine and all you mentioned!!! (Take Acetyl Cysteine through nut onc.)

Will consider switching immune boosters and taking less selenium separately. OY. So much to consider.

My TSH was higher 6+ yrs ago through to 2012...

T3 and T4 always normal.

Have had hypertension since pre bc, my late '30s, though it was hard to find a doc to admit to it. They kept saying I was probably just nervous at my routine exam. I would say, No... Then I took my bp 3 x a day for a mnth and brought my readout to the doc (top doc, of course). He said, You're machine is broken.

My husband agreed. We bought a new machine. Then when I had a D&C, wrote the week's worth of bp 3x a day for the anesthesiologist in '93 (pre bc) I was told after surgery that I need to see a cardiologist. That even under anesthesia my bp was high. They just didn't/don't regard women as a heart risk!!

I see a cardiologist ev 6 mnths and my bp is excellent, under control. Get an ECHO now annually, ev 6 mnth during 10 yrs of Herceptin. Small peri-cardial effusion remains since Taxotere. (Pleural effusion from Taxotere dissipated after cessation of Taxotere...)

Have to look for RB's thread on thyroid and bc, thanks Hope...

No kelp, no seaweed salad. YUCK

Hyperthryroid is counter-intuitive to me. I am sluggish. Always. Where's the energy rush???? But doc says hyper. Aussie Girl, I think I am sub-clinical. I think I'll just stay there, and not progress. Will work on that. VISUALIZING. IMAGINING. Guided Imagery.

XXX AND OOOO to all of you, I await...

Andi