Personal experience - I take 240mg Armour Thyroid daily, this is a very high
dose. My daughter was 3 months old when my thyroid "quit completely." Here I
was, 14 pound exclusively breastfed baby, and absolutely no milk supply.

Her TSH level is probably outragous. Normal is 0.5-5.0 or 0.3-3.0 (depending
on who's research you believe). Mine was 36. TSH is the hormone released to
stimulate the thyroid gland to pick up iodine and turn it into T4 and T3 at
a ratio of 4:1. If her thyroid gland has "stopped working" it's not going to
be able to convert, and she will probably still "feel crazy." Armour Thyroid
is T4 and T3 at the proper ratio. After using both, I would encourage her to
look at Armour, or at least replacement with T3, if she decides to go with
Synthroid. Synthroid is simply T4. If he won't consider this, it's another
strike against him! (She would probably want to see an endocrinologist,
rather than a family doc!)

Her body is lacking the ability to pick up and convert the thyroid hormones.
If she has replacement hormones, they simply fill in the empty spots. If she
has too much, she will notice it before her baby does. It is more likely she
will have too little, because doctors tend to underprescribe thyromes due to
risk of cardiac damage with overdose.

Approximately 75% of postpartum women develop some sort of thyroiditis. For
approximately 25% of these women, this becomes a permanent condition. That's
why it is so important for postpartum women to work with symptoms, and not
do anything drastic (surgery, radiation) for a while, until her hormones
settle down. It is likely to change. Recent thinking is that Hashimoto's
could be an infection which requires an antibiotic. Wouldn't that be a shame
to wean a baby for a dose of antibiotics?

Good luck!
Sam

<<I had a call from a mom today (permission to post.) She is currently
exclusively nursing her 4 1/2 month old (currently 16 lbs 8 oz). She had
been diagnosed with post-partum thyroiditis, and family doctor has
prescribed Synthroid (L1 in Hale). The AAP considers it to be "usually
compatible with breastfeeding." However, her doctor has told her that "her
thyroid has completely stopped working" and therefore she needs to be on a
"very high dose" and he is afraid it "could affect the baby." She did not
know what the exact dosage was going to be.>>

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