I just got this page on the relationship between insufficient throid hormone and air hunger. This is a common Lyme symptom, so I think it is worth checking out.

You would have to read more of his work to understand that he doesn't use the standard tests to decide how much thyroid hormone to give. So, potentially this could relate even to those whose thyroid levels test in range.

Low Thyroid Causes Air Hunger

Air hunger has been a hot topic in the past, and there has been a lot of interest in thyroid issues recently.

Even though this guy works with FMS and CFS, we all know these can be symptoms of Lyme. He even mentions Lyme as a possible complicating factor in his book.

When I was researching the Marshall protocol, I found studies showing that thyroid hormone can control 1,25 D production. For those who don't know about the Marshall protocol, it proposes that Lyme infection increases, the production of 1,25 D, and thereby causes inflammation that prevents effective treatment of the infection.

What if taking enough thyroid hormone would control the inflammation?

So I feel there is a lot to learn about the role of hormones in immune function. I'll be hearing Marylynn Barkeley speak on sex steroid hormones this weekend at the SF Lyme conference.

The more I learn about these things, the more I see how they are all connected.

As you may or may not recall (due to Lyme brain) I've been b**ching about feeling like there is "not enough oxygen reaching my brain" for WEEKS now. I've been short of breath (SOB) off/on too. So I find this topic QUITE fascinating as well.

I, too, have a thyroid condition that was WAY out of kilter - but seems to be settling down now. At one point - when I thought I would just about drop dead - my TSH was 12.

Also, my Vit D 1,25 was 79 (around the same time) - which is considered a little high.

What I don't understand is that NOW that my TSH is down to around 3.25 (alto not the "optimal" range for women which is 2) - my air hunger has INCREASED.

This whole air hunger & near syncope episodes are relatively new for me.

So - I may not have contributed any valuable info to this topic, but I expect that YOU will update ME on any new info that you get in your fastinating studies.

Thanks for bring up this piece of the puzzle -- and it is one big a** puzzle for certain!

Blessings,

Just out of curiousity, are you taking any T3 meds? Cytomel or Armour? This guy finds it is almost always essential. I personally have found that my TSH can get down to .5 and I still have very low levels of T3, which is the more active form of the hormone.

Have you ever had your Free T3 and Free T4 levels measured? Might give you some better information on what is happening.

The trick I have heard, is that with very high TSH, you don't need to measure the free hormone levels, because it is so out of whack. Once you get down closer to a TSH of 2, then they start looking at Free T levels.

My doctor feels that people with Hashimoto's should have their TSH suppressed. In other words, it should be below range. Generally doctors think this means you are hyperthyroid.

But if your Free Ts are in range, and your symptoms are better, you are not hyper. It just keeps the thyroid inactive, which keeps it from being targeted by the antibodies.

So even at a TSH of .5, I am still in range, still have low T3, and am slowly continuing to add more thyroid medication.

Don't know what this all means for you. I'm not even a fake doctor, much less a real one. But it is pretty interesting to me. I have been pursuing this for a while, because of my heart issues, which some have with hyper thyroid, but others have with hypo.

I can say that my more FMS like symptoms have improved considerable while on thyroid meds. But it takes a long time. I've said this before, but I'll say it again.

Once you get to the optimum level of thyroid medication for you, you can find improvements in your health for up to two years. Thyroid hormone is used by all the cells, and it can take a long time for healing to occur once all the conditions are optimum.

So just like treating Lyme, thyroid treatment is for the long haul.

Especially since I have been experiencing this air hunger for a while now. Am in my 4th year of treatment and making progress so this symptom kind of threw me. Am on another round of Mepron for persistent babs and I attributed my air hunger to a flare of babs symtpoms.

However, I am also hypo and have been taking Armour 30mg. for a couple of years now. Makes me wonder if I increased the Armour might it go away?

I'm feeling much better since balancing everything.

Since Lyme, it has been reduced by my endo to 88 mcg, then again to 75 mcg, then changed by a new endo to 75 mcg along with 50 mg Cytomel,

then changed again just recently by my cardio (due to fast heart palps) down to 50, and I can say I am sooooo sluggish/tired/all the time, have gained too much weight in that short period of time and am eating less and exercising more, trying hard to keep the weight down.

This is such a roller coaster ride.

I get retested again the first part of March, and I'm sure it will be off again.

All this since Lyme diagnosed July 2002.

Anyone else have this hard of time with thyroid?

My fingers and lips were turning blue.
Body temperature just above 96 degrees.
Heart and breathing stopping while sleeping.
Always cold, wear sweaters and use extra blankets.

A heart sonogram showed no problems, oxygen showed 98%, heart doctor said "I do not know why you are blue!"

Then a blood test showed a TSH of 8.5, it had been around 4.5. What fooled the doctors was my weight was low - 150 to 160 pounds for a guy.

Once on synthroid my temperature jumped to 98.4, my TSH dropped to 2.2. Now after 2 years the symptoms are back but the doctors do not believe me.

For Runner, the info on details of the throid treatment, labs, etc, are not in that partucular article. Read the rest of the website, where it goes into more details.

As far as I can see, just about everywhere, it takes time to find the right level of supplemenation, and your need can change when you gain or lose weight, become more or less active, or for other unknown reasons.

Good thyroid doctors retest at least every six months.

Lifeline, it sounds like you have really been bounced around with your dose. My doctor makes the changes in increments, and then tests again six weeks aftre the change.

T3 (Cytomel) is 4 times as strong as Synthroid. So adding 50mcg of T3 is like adding 200mcg of Synthroid!!! No wonder you were having palpitations. I hope your new doctor knows more how to tritrate the meds. Sounds to me like you might need more Synthroid, and less Cytomel. I'm not a doctor, but that is a more usual way for it to work.

Check out Dr. Lowe's website, but also http://thyroid.about.com/

Bob, be careful with thyroid meds. You might need more, but doubling your dose is a huge increase. It takes time to build up so you might not know it till you are way overdosed. Better to make your increases slow.

Of course taking extra throws testing off unless I return to a normal dose for a few weeks before testing. They only test me twice a year.