Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrumtrulescent  They did blood work and my TSH levels were in normal range, but they were on the low side of normal. The doctor gave me a Rx for Armour Thyroid meds because of how many symptoms I have.
Now I am scared of taking the drugs because I'm worried that maybe I *shouldn't* unless my levels are obviously abnormal. I'm worried that I will damage my body, or worsen symptoms... I am very cautious about this. I am thinking I might go get a second opinion from another doctor before I begin taking drugs.
Can Armour cause any permanent problems? I don't want to risk my health. |
I understand your reluctance to take medications, I would be wary too. You might want to look at another thread on here. There's others who have experienced symptoms of hypothyroidism but are unable to get treatment because their blood work came back normal. It also talks about normal blood results and how that doesn't necessarily mean you don't have hypothyroidism.
All the symptoms of thyroid issues but normal bloodwork
There's nothing wrong with getting a second opinion before taking any medication. As far as whether the medication your dr prescribed will cause permanent problems, if your blood results came back in the normal range it's likely that your dr gave you a low dosage of medications to sort of test out whether you need more thyroid hormone than your body is producing right now. Hopefully that means that he told you if you take the medication and start feeling worse, or having symptoms of hyperthyroidism, such as heart palpitations to stop taking the medications. If you do decide to take the medications and start having such symptoms and stop taking the meds you shouldn't have permanent problems as a result of the medication. I could see you having problems if you continued to take the medication even if it made you feel worse. Unfortunately, that's how it goes with thyroid medications. Doctors can't determine with certainty how much thyroid each individual person needs from blood tests, so they have to prescribe medications and see how you feel as a result. It sounds a bit like gambling to do it that way, but at this point drs don't really have a better way of doing it. If you're super concerned you might think about alternative remedies, which there's a ton of information about on this forum. They're not without their risks either, but some people find they work better, less side effects, etc. I hope you find something that works for you.