surgetech- one week isn't enough to "feel" anything. Synthyroid works when it builds up in your system. It's not immediate like aspirin or Tylenol. My doc says it's usually 4-6 weeks to feel ANYTHING. And it will depend upon what you TSH was at diagnosis. Since people are being put on Synthyroid for very low numbers now adays (it used to be your doc laughed at you and told you you were normal at 3) if you're much higher than 20 it might take awhile.

I was diagnosed at 14 when I failed to thrive. I stopped growing for 3 years and, even with a strong family history, my mother had to pull teeth to get them to run a simple TSH test. Gee, I was 412. No, that's not a typo.

When I was 28, I had a I-131 uptake scan test done to test the functioning level of thyroid tissue. After about 4 shots with the gamma camera, the doc called out to stop the test. I have no functioning thyroid. ( Nor pancreas, for that matter, but the OGTT found that later.) So I'm on complete t4 replacement and have been on the same dose since age 14 - 200. No matter what my weight. So dose is not always 100% proportional to weight.

If you want to investigate T3, all you have to do is ask for a Full thyroid panel. I've been on Cytomel since 1999 and wouldn't go a day without it. I haven't found it to be any more expensive than Synthyroid. I haven't tried the natural t3/t4 stuff but I've talked to people who love it. I think it's whatever works for your body.

I will tell you a strange story. When I was 19 and was sick of college, I went to massage therapy school for 6 months. They taught alot of healing methods and therapies and we had one person come in who claimed they could tell what medications you took just by touching your feet. We were all skeptical, but lined up. Darned if that woman didn't say "Synthroid! And lots of it!". She said people on Synthroid have "fake" feeling feet- like they're made of wax. To this day I"m still trying to feel it...

Nice to see such a great discussion and people sharing their experiences! The only time I have "horror" stories is when I forget to take my pills...