So, last night I finally saw my endo and got results of my blood tests. Thyroid at NORMAL for first time in about a decade!

My primary care doc had been increasing and increasing my T4 med without any result, and when I asked for T3 to supplement, she referred me to the endo.
Short story: The primary care doc was "concerned" about adding T3. The Endo told me that a minority of people are unable to convert T4 to T3, and that there is still no concensus in the medical community that it is an effective treatment.

Duh, hello, my results have been dramatic! I do wish I had done this sooner, but I won't waste time on regrets.

I told the Endo that I eat low carb and hope to see some weight loss, now that I'm optimized. She told me to watch my calories and fat and do aerobic exercise... sound familiar?? She also knows my hips are damaged, so most aerobic activity is simply harmful for me. Whatever, I'm happy she corrected my thyroid problem, and will take it from here, with a yoga/pilates regimen.

I intend to eat like I have been for the past couple of months: fats/protein/and about 20-30 gm carb a day. I tend not to be terrible hungry, so I don't worry about calories. I do log my meals in FitDay, and find it very helpful to see the actual ratio of nutrients in my diet.

I feel like now I have a fighting chance to get back my old body. Wish me luck!

Consider your luck wished!

Wow, sounds like you were lucky in the endo you got referred to. Most of them seem to be rabid T4-only partisans. Certainly the one I got referred to was.

It *STUNS* me that the medical community doesn't acknowledge the fact that SOME people (a "handful" according to my doc) simply need T3 supplement (or Armour, which is VERy hard to get in the Boston area) because our bodies cannot convert T4 to T3.
Facts show that patients (like me) show dramatic results.
Huge.
In six weeks.
I still have terribly dry hair & skin, but I think that will take time to recover, since I've been undermedicated for many years.
Oh, and aerobic exercise? Nearly impossible with my hips, but the same dogma is tossed out...watch calories, do aerobic exercise. When high-intensity exercise is the worst thing for hypothyroid or adrenal fatigue patients. Oh, and yoga/pilates is not "good enough?"

So what are some of the huge results you have seen in six weeks? I know when I got switched to Armour from Levoxyl my total cholesterol dropped from 295 to 196 in six weeks. That was the major change I saw in that time frame. I'd love to know what you have experienced.

There are online pharmacies in the US where you can get armor easily. They even do free shipping. I've got a flyer for one. If you want the URL post in my journal and I'll look it up for you.

I also wonder why it's so hard to get in the Boston area. I get my Armour at the local CVS, and it was readily available in the pharmacy department both in New Jersey and in Florida.

Merpig, the biggest change has been my energy level, ability to concentrate, and obviously my TSH has dropped to the normal range (.26) whereas I'd been between 5.0 and 7-ish for years, and symptomatic.

It's unreal to be able to get out of bed and not need a nap or two to get through my day!

Also, inflammation in the hip tendons is much improved.

I didn't notice a real improvement until I had been on the meds for about a month, however, although people say I should have felt better immediately. I did not.

I have no issues with cholesterol, so no idea if it went down. It seems to me the Boston medical community is very conservative, which explains their horror of Armour. My endo said she doesn't like it because she says everyone on Armour becomes hyperthyroid.
Don't shoot me, that's what she said!

Well that depends on how she defines "hyperthryroid". If she is only basing it on TSH then the numbers might support that idea. My own TSH is now about .025 or something, which is well below the so-called "normal" range, and therefore supposedly into the hyperthyroid territory. But my NP says the TSH number is useless and doesn't care about it, and concentrates on my free T3 and T4.

Aha! I also insisted that my endo needs to run Free T3, which she did not do. (She ran the Total T3).

She is listening, and is not defensive that I advocate for myself, and that I educate myself, but I realize that she also is conservative in treatment, and relies on the TSH level.

For now, I feel so much better, but I hope that she will open her mind and not treat to the TSH number.

NDs usually do a great job of treating thyroid, if your state lets them prescribe.

Oh. Maybe she thinks that's why they run screaming from her....she's probably just thinking it's a symptom of hyperthyroidism.