Thanks so much for the responses. It is amazing how ridiculous the regular thyroid medicaiton propaganda is. My mom was just given the Synthrex (first time she tested for thyroid, and if a regular doctor catches it, you know it's BAD). But she read so much about how armour is bad and unreglulated and doesn't help.....and how you have to treat this for life, as there is no real cure. And then she was worried that I was on it. I'm worried about her! But there is no way she'll switch unless I can convince her to go to a natural practitioner. And I feel so bad, because I KNOW she has adrenal fatigue - she is the exact picture of a person with it. Yet the doctor has her on this Synthrex which could make her worse or just not help, and not on adrenal supports, which from what I have read, will definitely make you worse if you're on thyroid meds. Aaaggghhhhh!!!!!

Anyway, had to rant a bit. For my Armour meds: I started out taking 1 15 mg tablet a day, then my doc doubled it to 30 mg a day, then doubled it to 60 mg a day. My adrenal support doubled with it accordingly, so now I take 4 caps of Adrenal Cortex Support (Vit C,B6,B5,Calcium from B5, Magnesium,Chloride, Adrenal from bovine source, and Licorice root). My doctor says that next step is the hydrocortisone. Nicola, it was very helpful the way you described the hydrocortisone ("The key to taking HC or Pred is to take a physiological dose - ie a dose that the adrenals would produce themselves were they able. You are only replacing what the body can't."). THat makes sense and makes it less scary. This is something that my body should be producing, but isn't. So supplementing to that point and not over shouldn't really be a whole lot different than a person with good health producing their own. And I feel very lucky to have found an alternative MD that is guiding me through treatment. I want to do chelation, and that is a goal, but neither of us feel comfortable doing that until my body is strengthened and I feel a little better and strong enough to handle it. I know I've read that it's not good to undergo chelation until the tyroid and adrenals are strengthened. I know they can't be healed altogether (impossible until the mercury is out), but they can at least be strengthened in the meantime. That catch 22 is something I was stuck on, but my doctor helped to explain it.

Thanks again to both of you for your info and help!!

~Tia