My husband knowing that in the next few years will retire from the Army decided that he would enjoy retiring with another military member. That being a military working dog. He put in an application. A number of months after submitting his application he emailed, just to get an estimate on where we were on the list. They emailed back the next day saying they have a dog for us. Her name is Ebby and is a 3 yr old German Shepherd. She was used to train the handlers but started teaching the handlers what they were suppose to be doing instead of letting them handle her. We are very excited that we will go to Texas and pick her up in a week or two. We were sent a photo and she honestly looks a little bit happy crazy.
We currently have a turtle, white mouse, two guinea pigs, a tank of fish and an old orange and white cat. It will be very interesting to see how Ebby fits into our busy crazy happy family. My husband is working on making sure the fence is secure. We have 1/2 an acre all ready for a good run for our new family member. More to follow when we get her :)
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Thyroid Study Completed
The end finally came for the thyroid medication study. I got a letter in the mail and everything, thanking me for my participation. Looking back I have to say that it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Switching thyroid medication/doses is never easy and doing it so many times in the span of 6 months or so was draining.
My conclusion: I was on Armour and Synthroid. By far the Armour made me feel better and increased my memory. I don't know if it works that way for every single person but it was for me. My thoughts on it are Synthroid is only the thyroid hormone 4. A fully functioning thyroid turns the T-4 into the other thyroid hormones. If your converting function doesn't work properly you then will have enough T-4 but not enough of the other thyroid hormones. Armour because it is actual dried up ground up thyroid from pigs it contains all the thyroid hormones and no converting is needed.
My cholesterol went down on the Armour. My hands and feet are warm for the maybe the first time in my life. My brain also seems to be clearer, making my memory seem to work better. It seems to me that I can make the decision on how to make a plan to remember things. The memory test included a board with squares and you have to remember the shapes in the grid and where on the grid those exact shapes were located. Too much information to record in your brain at one time no matter how good of a memory you have. So on the Synthroid my brain went "tilt" and I could barely remember anything. On the Armour I could decide to remember the shapes and not the exact location. My accuracy was much better on the Armour.
I am glad I was able to participate in the research study comparing the two medications. It was truly amazing to me that no one has ever done a study to see what the memory/cholesterol/and personal reactions were to the two generally well known, long term used medications. In conclusion for me anyway the inclusion of all the thyroid hormones makes a marked difference in how I feel. I would not want to go back on an only T-4 based medication again. I have been put on the Armour since the end of the study and intend to stay on it for the duration.
My conclusion: I was on Armour and Synthroid. By far the Armour made me feel better and increased my memory. I don't know if it works that way for every single person but it was for me. My thoughts on it are Synthroid is only the thyroid hormone 4. A fully functioning thyroid turns the T-4 into the other thyroid hormones. If your converting function doesn't work properly you then will have enough T-4 but not enough of the other thyroid hormones. Armour because it is actual dried up ground up thyroid from pigs it contains all the thyroid hormones and no converting is needed.
My cholesterol went down on the Armour. My hands and feet are warm for the maybe the first time in my life. My brain also seems to be clearer, making my memory seem to work better. It seems to me that I can make the decision on how to make a plan to remember things. The memory test included a board with squares and you have to remember the shapes in the grid and where on the grid those exact shapes were located. Too much information to record in your brain at one time no matter how good of a memory you have. So on the Synthroid my brain went "tilt" and I could barely remember anything. On the Armour I could decide to remember the shapes and not the exact location. My accuracy was much better on the Armour.
I am glad I was able to participate in the research study comparing the two medications. It was truly amazing to me that no one has ever done a study to see what the memory/cholesterol/and personal reactions were to the two generally well known, long term used medications. In conclusion for me anyway the inclusion of all the thyroid hormones makes a marked difference in how I feel. I would not want to go back on an only T-4 based medication again. I have been put on the Armour since the end of the study and intend to stay on it for the duration.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Thyroid study update
It has been a few months since I started on the first "mystery medicine" in the hypothyroid medication research study. I am pretty sure the first medication I was on was Armour (natural desiccated pig thyroid). I say this because I felt vastly different on it than I had when I was on the Synthroid. My hands were warm for what feels like my entire life. I had the switch appointment with my endocrinologist yesterday and my blood work was discussed. My cholesterol on Synthroid was way too high and fluxuating. I was on Lopid and Lipitor and I was still having problems keeping it from going up. This was really frustrating for me, I am of normal weight, active, eat well etc.... Just seemed so not fair and totally not in my control. Well the few months on what I think is the natural thyroid medication my cholesterol was almost perfect! Something I have not been able to do for years.
At the "switch" appointment I also had to redo the memory intelligence test. While I still fought with the anxiety that comes with feeling dumb enough to only lick rocks, I think I did better. The test is designed to max out anyone's memory. Leaving you with a feeling that you just are not measuring up to some intelligence standard chart that you are not allowed to see. The Dr kept telling me I was doing fine and that I should just have fun with it. That was not going to happen. I do think that the new medication helped increase my short term memory and my memory capacity. The other thing I noticed was I was able to make better decisions on how to memorize things. I could quickly come up with a plan for choosing what to remember.
Previously I would look at the grid of 20 slots and the 8 tiles of different designs and attempt to remember the placement of the tiles and all 8 designs in the allotted 10 seconds which as you can imagine is impossible. This time I was able to concentrate only on the 8 designs and with pretty good accuracy chose them out of the stack of decoys and chose the actual designs that were on the grid.
I am now on "mystery medication" number 2. Which I am pretty sure is Synthroid again. I will take it for a few months and go back again for a round of blood work and the mental memory test again to see if the changes are solely from the different medications. When I complete the study I can tell the Dr which one I preferred and go on that medication. Right now I am leaning highly toward the first medication I took.
At the "switch" appointment I also had to redo the memory intelligence test. While I still fought with the anxiety that comes with feeling dumb enough to only lick rocks, I think I did better. The test is designed to max out anyone's memory. Leaving you with a feeling that you just are not measuring up to some intelligence standard chart that you are not allowed to see. The Dr kept telling me I was doing fine and that I should just have fun with it. That was not going to happen. I do think that the new medication helped increase my short term memory and my memory capacity. The other thing I noticed was I was able to make better decisions on how to memorize things. I could quickly come up with a plan for choosing what to remember.
Previously I would look at the grid of 20 slots and the 8 tiles of different designs and attempt to remember the placement of the tiles and all 8 designs in the allotted 10 seconds which as you can imagine is impossible. This time I was able to concentrate only on the 8 designs and with pretty good accuracy chose them out of the stack of decoys and chose the actual designs that were on the grid.
I am now on "mystery medication" number 2. Which I am pretty sure is Synthroid again. I will take it for a few months and go back again for a round of blood work and the mental memory test again to see if the changes are solely from the different medications. When I complete the study I can tell the Dr which one I preferred and go on that medication. Right now I am leaning highly toward the first medication I took.
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