There needs to be more awareness around different medications from physicians

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's at age 17. My TSH was over 200 and the doctor said I was weeks away from possible myxedema coma. Now I'm 43 and for the majority of my life, since diagnoses, I've been treated with Synthroid. I didn't even know there were other options. It's not well known and every doctor I've ever been to just gives me Synthroid and tests my TSH.

Because I was diagnosed so young I have had no basis of comparison. I've never known what "normal" feels like so the fact that Synthroid wasn't making me feel much better made me think other things were making me feel tired. I spent 26 years on Synthroid, trusting my doctors, and not knowing there were alternatives that would make me feel "normal." (I thought the way I felt WAS normal- I didn't know it could get better)

I cannot even recall how I became aware of the other thyroid medications. Probably a podcast. But this was in summer 2024. After researching and learning about T4 conversion and the importance of T3 (I had no clue prior) I decided to start on dessicated thyroid medication. Wow! Big change! I felt so much better! I was on it from August 2024-December 2024. It's very expensive in my country and my insurance doesn't cover so I talked to my doctor and we decided to go back to Synthroid and add in Cytomel. The T3 from the dessicated helped so much.

I've been on this protocol for a couple of weeks now and I feel EVEN BETTER than I did on dessicated thyroid! I cannot believe it. I now feel this new "normal" and I'm so sad I spent 25 years feeling like trash but never even knowing it (because I had no baseline to compare to).

I think this lack of education and that Synthroid is always the standard is absolutely tragic. I believe a lot of hypothyroid patients feel so much better with added T3. Why is this treatment not standard? Why is just throwing Synthroid at patients and gaslighting them the standard?

Given how important thyroid balancing is to a person's entire life and wellbeing you'd think there would be more knowledge and help available. I feel so bad for the people out there suffering unnecessarily, trusting their doctors, like I did, and not knowing they could feel better because their blood tests shows TSH in "normal range." It makes me really sad.

I'm learning now that when it comes to my health I need to advocate for myself every step of the way. And educate myself of my issues and concerns so that I can suggest and work TOGETHER with my doctor, rather than putting my eggs all in his basket and saying "fix me."

When it comes to our health, we need to have the knowledge too. But it's a shame that the most common method of treating hypothyroidism is actually the least effective for symptom resolution for a lot of people.