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Methylation and Thyroid

Messages
54
Location
Montreal, Canada
I have heard it mentioned that as Methylation Cycle is improved, you might need to adjust Thyroid medications....ie. lower them.
Has anyone had experience of this?
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
That didn't happen for me, and Fredd reported that he had to increase his dosage. One would think it could, or should happen, but I assume it depends on whether you have low thyroid due to autoimmune or something else.

Hypo- and hyper- thyroid symptoms have some overlap with methylation symptoms (i.e., exhaustion, anxiety, ear ringing, etc), so you want to keep on top of what your levels are and get tested if you are unsure. You can get a TSH test through Life Extension for $30 - $40 if your doctor doesn't give you a test.
 

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
That didn't happen for me, and Fredd reported that he had to increase his dosage. One would think it could, or should happen, but I assume it depends on whether you have low thyroid due to autoimmune or something else.

Hypo- and hyper- thyroid symptoms have some overlap with methylation symptoms (i.e., exhaustion, anxiety, ear ringing, etc), so you want to keep on top of what your levels are and get tested if you are unsure. You can get a TSH test through Life Extension for $30 - $40 if your doctor doesn't give you a test.

Hi Victronix,

I have had 2 reports total from people still in the active phase of Hashimoto's who had the autoimmune process stop and their thyroid production rebounded. I sit right on the edge of a dose range. When the interpretation of what TSH levels has changed, so has my dose. And sometimes it changes every now and then. However for 40 years or so, since Synthroid came on the market it has been between 112mcg and 125mcg. I can't attribute any effect on thyroid to b12 normally. Those who did think it was ran around chasing a number that doesn't change as fast as they think it ought to by the amount of "brightness" or energizing they felt which they attributed to thyroid but actually was due to AdoCbl or MeCbl etc. So genuinely messed it up by trying to control something by adjusting their thyroid meds by how they felt caused by something entirely different. It was like they were trying to put on the brakes by sifting the gears all around or braking with the steering wheel and steering with the brake pedal.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
Yeah, what happened to me was hashitoxicosis, as best as I can tell -- my doctor thought I needed a dose between 100 and 112 and suggested taking each one on alternating days. Within a week I was in the ER. My thyroid went totally nuts. It took 2 years to recover, numerous specialists, shedding Kaiser doctors like crazy, and I was even on disability for several months, could not walk at one point, could only sit in a chair in the back yard and watch the garden. It was traumatic, to say the least. That experience changed my whole outlook on life. Today I feel grateful if I can make it in to work 3 days a week and go walking in the hills.
 

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
Yeah, what happened to me was hashitoxicosis, as best as I can tell -- my doctor thought I needed a dose between 100 and 112 and suggested taking each one on alternating days. Within a week I was in the ER. My thyroid went totally nuts. It took 2 years to recover, numerous specialists, shedding Kaiser doctors like crazy, and I was even on disability for several months, could not walk at one point, could only sit in a chair in the back yard and watch the garden. It was traumatic, to say the least. That experience changed my whole outlook on life. Today I feel grateful if I can make it in to work 3 days a week and go walking in the hills.

Hi Victronix,

That sounds like what some who were trying to adjust how they felt by changing their dose everyday. The got royally screwed up. Wrong hypothesis.

That experience changed my whole outlook on life. Today I feel grateful if I can make it in to work 3 days a week and go walking in the hills

I had a similar change of outlook. Everything that used to matter so much didn't. For the first few years of my bonus life I was very glad just to be able to do ordinary life; chop wood carry water, metaphorically speaking.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
It's almost too soon to speak of...but I dropped all thyroid meds about a month ago and my frees are now almost the same off meds. I will keep checking them but I am encouraged! Hopefully I will be able to keep them up.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
It's almost too soon to speak of...but I dropped all thyroid meds about a month ago and my frees are now almost the same off meds. I will keep checking them but I am encouraged! Hopefully I will be able to keep them up.

That's great! Was your diagnosis autoimmune? Or for another reason. My sister was put on Synthroid to address cholesterol, of all things. But once she started it, she said it was the only thing that had ever been able to really change her depression. She'd been on SSRIs for years.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
On a recent office visit, my doc said my thyroid was enlarging a bit and to watch out for going hyper. He said if I had those symptoms then we would retest TSH and go from there. I'm on 30mg armour.

Do you have Graves? I've heard that sometimes one can go from hypo to hyper.

But if you don't have a hyperthyroid condition, wouldn't it make more sense to be lowering your dosage if you have "hyper" symptoms? There is some overlap of hypo and hyper symptoms so it can be difficult to sort out. Fatigue is found in both of them, and for me, I had palpitations when I was either too low or too high. When I've had serious questions about my thyroid and my doctor will only do a TSH I just order the other tests myself. But if I'm feeling normal and just want to check, I just do TSH.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
That's great! Was your diagnosis autoimmune? Or for another reason. My sister was put on Synthroid to address cholesterol, of all things. But once she started it, she said it was the only thing that had ever been able to really change her depression. She'd been on SSRIs for years.
No, it looks like it was a part of my adrenal insufficiency (though that is often autoimmune). Before the AI was diagnosed, my TSH and free thyroid hormone levels were all quite low suggesting my body had turned down my metabolism as either a result of the missing cortisol or possibly as a result of chronic infection. But I've been working on the infections for a year now along with methylation and replacing missing hormones so I decided to see what my thyroid might consent to do off meds. My TSH spiked beautifully so I am hopeful that means my hypothalamus and pituitary are working better now. We will see how it continues to shake out in the next few months. I should be able to lower my steroid dose as well which will hopefully let me unload a few pounds I could do without. So I'm cautiously encouraged at this point...
 

caledonia

Senior Member
Do you have Graves? I've heard that sometimes one can go from hypo to hyper.

But if you don't have a hyperthyroid condition, wouldn't it make more sense to be lowering your dosage if you have "hyper" symptoms? There is some overlap of hypo and hyper symptoms so it can be difficult to sort out. Fatigue is found in both of them, and for me, I had palpitations when I was either too low or too high. When I've had serious questions about my thyroid and my doctor will only do a TSH I just order the other tests myself. But if I'm feeling normal and just want to check, I just do TSH.

No, just regular old autoimmune thyroiditis aka Hashimoto's. My dose has been at a stable 30mg for 12 years (when I started taking it).

I believe my thyroid condition is tied in with apparent adrenal fatigue due to loss of signaling to the hypothalmus and pituitary due to glutathione depletion. Bringing glutathione up with methylation should improve all of the above.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
So then I would assume an enlarged thyroid would suggest hypothyroid, not hyper. It seems surprising to me a doctor would bring up hyper with a hashimoto's patient, and additionally, that if he noticed any enlargement, that he wouldn't just go ahead and order a TSH. Why wait for physical symptoms if there's been a change in someone who's been on the same dose for 12 years? Even if it is due to adrenals.