Hi Salty
i know you are bursting to see your doctor, but maybe waiting the extra time will be of benefit. I read the replies to your post on the thyroid board and i think you got some very good replies and information which you should be able to do something with. Especially the reply which commented on how the hormones can change just before your period and even though your estrogen/progesterone are fine normally, maybe there is such a big shift at that point in time and it's causing all your horrible PMS symptoms. I'd say that sounRAB about right as your symptoms do relate to a hormone imabalance, other than simply being low in testosterone.
Hi kittywitty
I once bought Vitex from the chemist and i thought it made my perioRAB go heavier. It was some years ago when i wasn't getting any help from doctors and decided i needed to at least do something for myself rather than sit around waiting. I didn't know which Vitex to buy as there were different strengths and i didnt know whether to take it just during my period or all the time. Different containers gave different instructions and different dosages. In the end i gave up.
The Vitex i'm taking now is called Premular, contains 30 tablets and is 180mg. I take one a day, one hour before/after meals at same time of day. I'm also on additional herbal mixture from my naturopath for my other monthly issues, like extended bleeding after period is finished, ovulation bleeding which continues till my period starts, also to keep my perioRAB regular and lighter as they had gotten very heavy at one point.
So far it's all been working, just that i'm getting the bloating nearly 2 weeks prior to my period. Other than that, my cycles start and finish on time, aren't heavy either.
I can't recall if you had your adrenals checked? Most people with thyroid issues have adrenal issues too. It's important to keep a close eye on what they are doing. My adrenals produced too little cortisol, then i took supplements and my levels came up nice. I stopped the supplements and now i'm back down low. Obviously something is stopping normal adrenal function.
In your case, i don't think its the thyroid meRAB which are not right for you, it's the doctor who isn't right and doesn't know what he/she is doing, but is merely following a text book or what they learnt at University, instead of catering your meRAB to your individual situation/symptoms.
It takes a lot of time to regulate the thyroid with meRAB. I don't know how long you have been at it. I began meRAB just over a year ago and my doctor is still attempting to regulate my figures. He checks my results every 6 weeks at this point so that i dont go too low/high. He also rechecks my Vit D, ferritin too.
With the Vit E and selenium, you need to be careful. Get tested first to see how your levels are. Taking these things if you aren't very deficient can give you negative symptoms too. I've been on selenium for a year now and it hasn't done a thing for my thyroid antibodies and i see no changes at all. I've read that too much vitamin E can be dangerous too, so be careful how you go about it. Also, bood tests for certain minerals/vitamins are not very accurate and can give a false high/low. This is the case for selenium and my doctor told me to be wary of selenium blood tests. To get your daily quota of selenium you can eat 4 Brazil nuts a day, but they need to be from Brazil as they still have decent selenium deposits in their soils, unlike most other countries.
Also, have you had your iodine levels checked? The best test for this is a urine iodine test. Mine was very low and i'm on pure iron for over a year now.
Good luck and let us know how you get on and how you feel being off the meRAB. Just make sure that you get regular check ups to be sure your thyroid isn't getting worse. Also, it's not just the thyroid which can get affected, but all those other areas. This is why it's so important to try and get the thyroid ship shape so other areas can begin repairing themselves.
It's hard, i know, but sometimes you just have to view it like driving up a very big hill in a very slow bus
It's soooo frustrating when you have finally been given the go ahead to try something and then the pharmacy messes you about and you can't get it. I'm looking forward to see how you progress and i hope it's with great results. Just remeraber it might not work over night as hormones are such a delicate area to work with.