If you need another reason to never take Premarin/Prempro ------ watch this video.

My hope is that if you are reading this blog, you already know how dangerous Premarin and Prempro are, and that you know that those are not bioidentical hormones (although they are often referred to as "natural"). What you may not know, however, is how the urine is collected from the pregnant mares---it is animal cruelty, and far too often the offspring resulting from the mare's pregnancy is subjected to euthanasia.  It's heartbreaking.

On a much happier note, never underestimate the power of a "girls day out"!  I went to the Southern Women's Show today with two of my very dear friends, and it was a hoot!  Of course, I spent too much money (but to my credit, only bought one $10 piece of jewelry!)------I got some very cool gel type heat packs for my back and arm, several different cream cheese dip mixes, and a food grater.  I also sampled butter beans and ice cream in the span of 10 minutes (never had that combo for breakfast before, but you only live once!), picked up a ton of literature to plan a few in state vacations (I'm embarassed that I have lived in NC 9 years and still haven't scratched the surface of all the state has to offer as far as neat places to visit!), and sampled about 5 different fragrances (and honestly, none of them spoke to me!)  Had a great lunch out afterward, and it was just about spending the day with people who I like and respect, and who like and respect me.  I love introducing people from different parts of my life to each other.

Tomorrow a day of running some errands and seeing friends, then off to start a new week! Have a great weekend, everyone, and Happy Autumn (it starts Saturday!)

Vitamin D Deficiency Often Seen in Traumatic Bone Breaks

Note that the study says "often" and not "always"!

I'm a bug about Vitamin D.......just ask any of my friends.  I take 10,000 IU's daily to keep my Vitamin D level optimal, and normally work out with weight machines several times a week to help with bone strength.    My vitamin D levels are checked several times yearly to make sure I stay in the optimal range. As most of my regular readers know, I fell at the gym last month and broke the radius bone in my arm, but in my case, I do not believe it was a case of my bones being fragile.  The break occurred just below an existing plate in my arm, and I am pretty confident that no one's bones are a match for a titanium plate.  I am going to have a DEXA scan done this fall just to make sure the rest of my bones are strong, and I will post the results here when I have it done.

When I read this article from Health Day/US News and World Report, I was struck by several points:

1.  The article does not state what the researchers considered "recommended" levels for Vitamin D.  The National Institute of Health lists a level of 20 ng/ml as being "adequate" for bone health in healthy adults.  Most progressive doctors (including my own) recommend much higher optimal levels for their patients; Dr. Carr likes my Vitamin D level to be between 70-100 ng/ml (my last blood test came back at 79).

2.  More than half of young people in the study were Vitamin D deficient, many severely.  That's scary, and indicative that it's not just older people (and by older I mean over 40) need to have Vitamin D levels tested.

3. I went from the gym to the hospital by ambulance, and was in the ER 4 hours.  The emergency room staff had NO interest in the fact that I take bioidentical hormones, nor were they interested in the list of supplements that I take.  All they wanted to know was what prescription medications I take regularly.  I was referred to a hand specialist/surgeon in Charlotte because of the complexity of the case, and their office never asked me about Vitamin D, supplements, and seemed totally indifferent to my taking bioidenticals.  The surgery didn't take place until three days post injury, it was outpatient and I went home about 2 hours after I came out of the anesthesia.  My friend Karen, who took me to the hospital, stayed with me for two days post surgically (yeah, I am one blessed puppy to have friends like her).  She was chatting with me on Friday night, and she said when the doctor came out to talk to her post surgically, he told her to tell me that I should start taking calcium. I have never taken calcium, and Dr. Carr has told me repeatedly that calcium is not what builds healthy bones; and calcium can cause cardiac problems in some women.  Healthy bones are built by weight training exercise, testosterone, and Vitamin D.  

Estradiol and Men.....

Oh, boy. I knew when I read this article from USA Today that this study was going to cause a firestorm among doctors who are knowledgeable about bioidentical hormone replacement in men.  The study was conducted by an endocrinologist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and published in the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.   Even from my VERY limited knowledge on the subject, I was struck by the fact that the study was trying to measure the effect of estrogen on the weight and body mass index of men, but that no mention was made of the diet and exercise habits of the study participants.

I forwarded the article to Dr. Carr, who was vocal and swift in his condemnation of the study.  He has always told me that high estrogen levels in aging men is a problem that needs to be dealt with because it causes problems with erections, weight gain, growing breasts, etc. If you go to the bottom of the USA Today article to the comments section, you will see his scathing review of the study.

Hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful mid-September weekend.  It's gorgeous here in NC, I have had the air conditioner off for two days, and loving the deck door and windows being open.  I am in puttering and nesting mode, starting to change my closet out from summer to Fall, and this afternoon hoping to sit out on the deck for a while with a book or a needlecraft project (I may even see how far my broken arm recovery has progressed and try to knit for a bit......physical therapy is going well!)

Every little bit counts.....

Hope everyone has had a good start to September. I am enjoying a few last days in the condo swimming pool, it's pretty hot here right now, but by next week will only be in the 70's (which is fine with me!)  I still haven't been able to go back to the gym, I guess I was more traumatized than I realized, because even driving by the gym right now is still making me really upset.  I know my anxiety level at falling again is way, way up there-------it's a manifestation of the PTSD that I dealt with after a long ago car accident.  I'm working thought it, and hope to get my workouts back on track (to the extent I can----the surgeon said no upper body workout on machines for at least another 6 weeks) as soon as possible.  I'm so frustrated!

As soon as it cools down, I want to deal with some of the fear of falling by getting out and doing a little fitness walking in my subdivision (I use Nordic poles to walk with, so that will give me a bit of stability).  I was heartened to see an article from MSNBC Health about a study that shows that every bit (even a minute or two) of moderate activity is associated with lower body weight and body mass index.  Earlier studies had suggested that exercise had to be done a minimum of 10 minutes at a time (preferably 30) to make any difference in overall fitness.  The article suggests a number of ways to add a little more physical activity into your every day life......hey, physical therapy (you would be amazed at the stuff they have me do to try and get the mobility back in my arm!) adds to my overall fitness!

Get out there, and even a minute at a time, do some exercise!

Scars and hormone absorption!

This comes under the heading of "until it happens to you"............

As I have detailed in the blog a number of times, I use bioidentical progesterone cream 4 times daily.  I put 1/4 teaspoon on my forearm (where the skin is thin and the blood vessels are near the surface for maximum absorption) and then I rub my forearms together to rub the cream into my body.  I've done it this way for nearly 7 years, and it has worked very well.  I know some practitioners have their patients rub the cream into their abdomens or inner thighs, but even in slender people (which I am not!) there are layers of fat, and the hormone deposits into the fat, thus reducing absorption into the system.

When I fell at the gym in early August, I realized that my normal way of dosing my progesterone would no longer work.  I called Dr. Carr's office as soon as I got home from the ER, and was told that an acceptable alternate site was into the upper inner arms (which didn't work at first as my right upper inner arm was very badly bruised and sore, and I couldn't reach my upper left arm because of the injury/splint/sling.)  Another acceptable site was up around the base of my neck/collarbone, where again, the skin is thin and the hormone will more readily absorb.  I used either my neck, or had one of my friends rub the cream all up and down the inner part of my left arm for about 7-10 days after the injury.

I returned to the surgeon 5 days post operatively, he removed the sling, the bandages and told me I could now get the operative site wet (which was music to my ears, so much easier to shower and wash my hair!).  The stitches came out 12 days post operatively, and I am now 24 days post surgery.  The scar, as you can see, looks great........I am using Vitamin E oil on it about 4 times a day.  I have a long way to go with rehabbing the arm to regain function; the middle, ring and little fingers are working well, the index finger is about 50% functional, but the thumb is still of great concern.  I'm slowly regaining some mobility in the wrist, it is no longer "painful" per se, but aches like crazy later in the day.  During the surgery, the doctor removed the existing plate in the arm, repaired the fracture, and put in a larger plate (titanium, no, I will not set off the detectors at the airport!).  I can easily feel the plate beneath the skin, and jokes have been made about how I am all set for Halloween as long as I want to be a zombie.

However, the long scar/scar tissue, and the plate in my arm means that the absorption of progesterone in that arm will be forever compromised!  I now have to rub my progesterone up and down the length of my left arm (which is still a bit of a challenge because my right arm/hand are still limited in motion, but I'm getting there).  It's a little inconvenient, as the weather gets cooler and I start wearing longer sleeves, it will take more effort to get my progesterone dosed 4 times daily.  I'm sure I will work it out.

Bottom line, if you are taking any hormone transdermally, and suffer an injury/surgery to the area where you normally dose your hormone, you must talk to your health care practitioner about alternate sites for applying the cream!  In my case, it's a double whammy of both a metal plate very close to the surface of the skin, along with significant scar tissue, but even the scar tissue alone would likely cause a compromise of the hormone absorption.  As it is, I have a hard time keeping up my level of progesterone, as stress makes you burn through hormones faster-------and this whole injury thing has been stressful in a huge way!

Pre-Injury State Key to Senior's Post-Fall Function

Good morning, everyone! First an update on my arm fracture............I fell two weeks ago today, and considering that short period of time, I think I am doing quite well.  I wear a light ace bandage on the arm, more or less to warn people that I have an injury.  My scar is a doozy, over 7 inches in length.  The stitches come out tomorrow.  Functionally, my fingers seem to be doing pretty well, I can make a light fist, and I am able to carry light objects. I am typing this post at a desktop computer, and although my typing is slower and less accurate than usual, I am working on getting back that important function.  There is considerable concern about my thumb, I can move it back and forth at the base joint, but have no other movement (or feeling) in it----yet. I start physical therapy either later this week or early next, and I can't wait. I can take care of my grooming, some light household chores (I am getting in a housekeeper for a few weeks to keep my pain in check), I'm driving, and I am back to mostly a normal schedule.  Dr. Carr has made a few upward adjustments in my hormones to promote healing.  Stress and pain will make you burn through your hormones faster, and I can tell my progesterone level is struggling:  few very mild hot flashes, and my focus is less than optimal.  I'm confident as my recovery progresses that I will be back on top of my game soon.

Now, the caveat when I share this article with you from MedPageToday.com------I do not, at 55 years old, consider myself to be a geriatric case! Far from it, in fact, I was at the gym working out when I fell (doing a weight workout, which promotes bone health).  In fact, I was pretty impressed that with only a little assistance from the EMT (who was very nice looking, by the way) I was able to get from my sitting position on the floor with a broken arm, up to my knees and then I popped right up on my feet!  All those leg machines I have been doing during workouts obviously helped more than I realized.

For a few days, however, I really did lose my independence, and it quite honestly scared the hell out of me.  My mother, who had severe osteoporosis and spinal stenosis, fell about two years before she died and she was an invalid for those last two years of her life.  I took care of her full time, and it was a nightmare for both of us.  My independence and mobility are almost an obsession with me.  My mom was not in great health before the fall; for a couple of years she really worked at losing weight and went to the pool with me at least three days a week, and it helped her energy level and mobility immensely, but then she got away from it and went downhill pretty rapidly.

Bottom line is that those of us in our middle age years need to pay attention to keeping healthy (hormone optimization, diet, regular bone stressing exercise, challenging our brains) so that we have a better outcome when we do face health challenges in our later years.  I can't wait to get back to the gym, not because exercising is my favourite activity, but because I don't want to lose the muscle strength/mass I have gained by my regular workouts.  I have a very messed up back also from a long ago car accident, and core strength is absolutely crucial to my mobility.

Hope everyone is enjoying these waning weeks of summer.  It has been a rainy, cool summer here in the Southeast, and honestly, for a lot of reasons this is a summer I would rather forget-----I'm looking forward to Fall and some fun "girls days out" with my friends.

Oh, Good Grief!

Hello. Eeyore here, I am posting because my human (Andrea) is, uh, broken.  She has a good excuse as to why she hasn't been blogging.  

She was finishing her workout at Gold's Gym last Tuesday, and while she was walking to the next machine, she tripped, stuck her right arm out to break the fall, and landed hard on the concrete floor.  She broke her right arm (radius bone) and had to be transported to the hospital by ambulance.  Besides being in a lot of pain, she was scared to death and more than just a little embarrassed.  Let's just say she has never been known for her gracefulness.

Four hours in the ER (but she said it wasn't all bad, she and my girlfriend Karen cannot stop talking about the utter hotness of Josh, the nurse who made and put on Andrea's splint).  The break occurred just below an existing plate in the arm from her car accident years ago, which likely contributed to the break (she is very conscious of and works hard on her bone strength, which is why she was at the gym!).  The ER referred her to a hand specialist surgeon, she saw him on Wednesday and he told her she would need surgery to put in a new, longer plate. 

Surgery (outpatient) took about two hours on Friday, and although she wasn't in a lot of pain immediately afterward, when the nerve block wore off in the middle of the night Friday, it was a total nightmare.  I won't go into details, it's very hard for me to talk about.

The pain slowly subsided during the day Saturday, and by Saturday night she was able to get up, strap on her pain pump, get her sling back on, and get to the bathroom and back.  Big accomplishment.  Sunday was a much better day. Today she is even better, and her pain level is so much better.  She can now shower, wash her hair and get dressed without help.  She is going back to the doctor Wednesday, and about a week after that has her stitches removed.

No knitting or crafting for her for a while.  Thank goodness she likes to read!  As you can see by the picture above, I am staying right on top of things (literally), and providing moral support.  Her friends, especially Miss Karen (my Red) and Katie have been taking amazing care of her.  She is one deeply blessed human to have such great support. 

I will continue to be her spokesdonkey until she is able to resume blogging..  Be sweet and have a great week!

Hot Flash Diaries Unreliable

A number of women have told me that their doctors have asked them to keep a "hot flash diary", in other words, track the number and severity of their hot flashes in a 24 hour period over a period of time (couple weeks, months, whatever.)  They then take the diary into their doctor and supposedly treatment options are at least in part considered on a woman's "hot flash history".

A University of Pittsburgh study (check out this article from ThirdAge.com) suggests that this method of tracking hot flashes and/or night sweats is ineffective, and that women often under report the number and severity of their hot flashes, or over report the number of night sweats.

I'm not at all surprised that self reporting systems are inaccurate in these situations for several reasons:

• It's well known that peri/menopause can cause cognitive issues.  Before I got my hormones balanced, I couldn't remember what I had for breakfast, never mind the number of hot flashes I had in a day (and it was at least 20.....which isn't unusual.)  Can you remember 20 of any incident in the course of a day?  
• Night sweats (which oddly enough, was one of the few symptoms I didn't have).....night sweats can cause huge, exhausting disruptions in sleep, and trying to accurately report anything when you are sleep deprived is like bailing out the ocean with a Dixie Cup.  
• Peri/post menopausal women generally have very busy lives, work, home life, raising kids, often caring for elderly parents..........do you seriously think they have time to think back and accurately record their hot flashes at the end of the day?  In a journal?  I do everything on the computer. 
• A lot of women either suspect or know that even if they keep a scrupulous record of their vaso-motor symptoms (fancy term for hot flashes), their doctor is not going to take them seriously.  The doctor may have already announced his/her bias against hormonal treatments, which, unless the patient seeks care from a physician who is knowledgeable about bioidentical hormones, leaves fans, air conditioning, loose cotton clothing, sucking it up, or antidepressants, none of which get to the root of the problem (hormonal imbalance) and in the case of antidepressants, can make a bad situation worse.  Think about it, one of the side effects of most antidpressants is excessive sweating, so giving an antidepressant to a woman who is having hot flashes................

In an almost totally unrelated topic..........did you know that Fudgesicles have only 40 calories?  I've been a fan of them since I was a kid (although I will tell you they don't taste anywhere near as creamy as they did back then), and I keep a box in the house year round for "chocolate emergencies".  I just finished one before I sat down to write this post.  Thought I would share that with you in case you want something a little sweet without going too far off the course of healthy eating!

Hope everyone has had a good July, hard to believe on Thursday it will be the first of August.  We've had a very, very wet summer here in NC, areas just west of us had a foot of rain in less than 12 hours Friday into Saturday, widespread flooding and damage.  Let's hope Autumn is bright and beautiful!

Ouch!

Good morning, everyone, wanted you to know I have not forgotten you.  I had a flare up my back spasms on Friday (I swear, I was really doing ok, went to the gym to do my back strengthening exercises and everything!).  I got in the shower about 5 pm, bent down to put some sugar scrub on my heels, and wham------the spasming started.  It was awful, took me 20 minutes to get dried off and into my jammies and sit on the bed.  I was finally able to get to the freezer a little later for a large ice pack for my back (to relieve the inflammation), and laid very still on my back in bed for quite a while.  For the firs 24 hours I could only take a very few steps, painfully, using my cane.  Today as I write this (Sunday noonish), I am better, still painful but not like it was. I am up walking every hour to stay as mobile as possible, and if one of my swimming buddies is available later, I would like to get in our condo pool and just walk around for a few minutes to stretch and stay limber.

Other than the fact I still need to lose more weight, I really am doing the right things for taking care of my back, I'm aware of ergonomics, I do back strengthening exercises at the gym, I swim/water aerobics (good for core strength), take fish oil to hold down inflammation, Vitamin D for bone health (along with my hormones), I stretch daily, and so on.  Sometimes these things just happen, frustrating as that is.  I am super blessed to have great friends taking care of me; one sent her husband yesterday to stock my house with groceries (that was on my Saturday morning to do list, wouldn't you know), and another friend brought me dinner, a yummy bagel to snack on, and spent several hours keeping me company yesterday! Other friends have been checking on me.  I'm going to nap this afternoon, but try to stay awake as much as I can otherwise so I sleep better tonight.

I am (hopefully) going to go through my newsfeed today (fortunately I have an iPad so I can do computer stuff laying down) and see if there are any good hormone/menopause articles to share with you, and I will mark them and post them this week.  Getting very hot here in the Southeast, as I know it is in other parts of the country, so please make sure to stay hydrated (another tip recommended to alleviate muscle spasms, you better believe I am sucking down water like crazy!) and keep cool as much as possible.

See you soon!

Please watch this video-------

F.D.A. Approves a Drug for Hot Flashes

Good morning! I hope everyone is enjoying this first week of July.  I know many of you on the West Coast are struggling with very hot temperatures, and in the Midwest and East Coasts, many of us (NC included) are dealing with severe thunderstorms and some flooding. I saw pictures of cars under water near where I grew up in Central New York, and here in NC, we have been dealing with localized flooding for a couple weeks now. Last Friday night, the community where I live got 6 inches of rain in less than three hours!  We are fine here, but some of the back roads were washed out near here.  We've had much less sun than we normally have in the summer, too, and usually by now I have decreased my Vitamin D daily supplements from 10,000 IUs daily to 5,000 IUs because I am out in the sun swimming in our subdivision pool.  Not this year, I barely have any colour at all......most of the days I have been out have been very cloudy and I've even worked out a couple times when it has been raining.

I saw this article in the NY Times, and it made me furious.  It's a great example of how messed up the FDA is, and how truly little regard the agency has for the health of the American public.  Back in the spring, it was reported that a committee that advises the FDA had voted (by a wide margin) against approving the drug Brisdelle for hot flashes.  The active ingredient in Brisdelle is the same ingredient in the anti-depressant Paxil (generic name paroxetine).  The committee felt that although in clinical trials the drug did reduce the number of daily hot flashes of the study participants, patients receiving a placebo also experienced almost as much improvement in the number of hot flashes, and the risks associated with Brisdelle outweighed the potential benefit.  Despite the committee recommendation, the FDA decided to go ahead and approve Brisdelle anyway, and it will be on the market later this year.

Here's a list from Web MD of some of the side effects of Paxil/paroxetine.  I took Paxil for a number of years (before I got my hormones balanced)  for depression issues, and I experienced a number of the side effects listed in the link above.  The sixth one listed, excessive sweating------yes, I experienced that in spades!  Great side effect for someone who is already experiencing hot flashes.  Drowsiness, trouble sleeping, head pain, weight gain (I gained 25 pounds taking it),  nervousness, don't these all sound like symptoms of hormonal imbalance/menopause?

This comes down to the FDA being in bed with the pharmaceutical companies, and putting the safety of patients way down on the list of priorities.  The excuse of the 2002 study (referenced in the article) about the safety of hormones is a tired and quite honestly absurd argument, the hormones used in that study were NOT bioidentical.  I know I have said this repeatedly, but instead of filling patients up with toxic medications with marginal effectiveness and significant side effects, doesn't it make more sense to just replace (bioidentically) the hormones that were in the body in the first place that we lose as we age?  I am ever grateful for Dr. Carr and other progressive physicians/healthcare providers that can use logic and common sense to see that hormonal balance to treat the underlying problem is far safer and more effective than just handing a patient a prescription to mask a symptom.

As always, talk to your healthcare professional about this, and NEVER, and I mean NEVER, go off any medication cold turkey ---------ALWAYS wean from any medication under physician supervision.

For those in the US, Happy 4th of July!

How Estrogen May Help Prevent UTIs After Menopause

I'm guessing that a lot of my readers can relate to the problem of recurrent urinary tract infections, particularly in the peri/postmenopausal stages of life.  The infections usually cause frequent and/or painful urination, and can cause significant pelvic discomfort.  The usual treatment is antibiotics, and from many women I have talked to, they end up on antibiotics several times a year, if not more often.  The antibiotics can  have a whole range of side effects, and it's important to note that after a number of courses of treatment, the body can build a resistance to the antibiotics, and stronger antibiotics have to be used.

I think a better approach is to address the issues surrounding why so many peri/post menopausal women get frequent urinary tract infections in the first place, and one of those reasons is the genital and urethral tissue becoming thinner and more fragile with the loss of estrogen.  Most peri/post menopausal women notice vaginal dryness and/or atrophy as they age, but are often too embarrassed to talk to their doctor's about it (and we will address that in a separate post!)  This is not just a matter of sexual health (although that is very important) but about urological health.

A study detailed on WebMd.com discusses using vaginal estrogen in post menopausal women to alleviate the deterioration of the genital tissue.  The article is not specific as to whether bioidentical estrogen was used, and if so, if the estrogen used was estradiol, or the weaker form of estrogen, estriol.  I have taken estriol cream vaginally for about 5 years (and writing this post reminded me that I need to call the pharmacy to order more!)  I have not had a urinary tract infection in years, and I attribute that post menopausally to the estriol cream.  I have it compounded, and it's about $100 for a three month supply.  Not having to be on antibiotics (I haven't been on an antibiotic since 2007, and that was for a bug bite I scratched too hard in my sleep!) is wonderful.  Ironically, when I was younger, I was one of those women who used to get a vaginal infection every time I was on an antibiotic (which was frequently, I taught high school and spent much of every winter battling upper respiratory infections and strep throat).

Talk to your doctor about using bioidentical estrogen for vaginal dryness/atrophy.  I have a couple good articles to share with you, so hopefully I will be able to post several times this week.  Happy first full week of summer!

54 years ago today------

Yep, today is my 55th birthday! My fifties are turning out to be my best decade yet, and the bioidentical hormones have had a great deal to do with feeling so good and strong.  Yeah, the chocolate obsession goes waayyyy back :)  I'll be back later this week with a real post, but today I am taking it easy (although I did hit the gym this morning!)  Having a celebratory dinner with friends tonight, and several more celebrations to come!

Progesterone and Brain Health.......

For the past several years, studies have been conducted to gauge the effect of using bioidentical progesterone on patients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (fall, car accident, other causes.)  Naturally, as someone who takes bioidentical progesterone herself and has seen a significant increase in my cognitive function, I have taken interest in these studies. It is my hope that someday progesterone therapy will be a mainstream medicine standard for treating traumatic brain injuries.

One of the important facets of this treatment protocol is using the progesterone as soon as possible after the brain injury to minimize the damage.  This, of course, presents a challenge to healthcare practitioners, because consent for treatment, particularly in clinical trials, is vital. I was in an experimental medical protocol trial once, many years ago, and it was related to a medication that may or may not (never knew if I received the medication being studied or a placebo) have been administered during a reconstructive knee surgery.  I remember that the medication being studied was supposed to help relieve nausea post surgery, and that pre-operatively I had to sign a boatload of consent forms. For the record, I was wildly sick to my stomach for 24 hours after the surgery.

Because patients with TBI are often unable to consent to participating in a clinical trial because they are incapacitated or unconscious, obtaining consent is often difficult to impossible.  The Boston Globe has an article on their website detailing the dilemma of getting consent for the progesterone and TBI study being conducted at Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts General Hospital.  I hope the researchers are successful in finding a way to navigate the laws in place, because this is an important study that could affect patients of all ages.

If you would like to learn a little more about how progesterone affects brain health, be sure to read this article from Virginia Hopkin's website, she is a terrific resource for information about bioidentical hormones.  Be sure to sign up for her newsletter!

Levoxyl recalled, may be unavailable until 2014

Damn.  I was sure I had posted about this back in April, but if I did the post disappeared because I do not see it on my newsfeed.

I take Levoxyl (brand name) for T4 hypothyroidism.  Dr. Carr always orders brand name Levoxyl instead of generic because of its efficacy and consistency of dosage.  I went to refill my prescription today and found that because of a drug recall by Pfizer (article link is to Endocrine Today), Levoxyl in any dosage is not available at this time, and the drug may not be available again until 2014.  I am NOT a happy camper.

I know many of my readers also take Levoxyl, so it affects a lot of us.  If you are taking brand name, you need to speak with your doctor's office to find out about alternatives until this gets straightened out.  The generics work for some people, others have had heart palpitations (usually brief).  I'll keep you updated on how I will be dealing with this medication issue, but as I always remind readers, check with your doctor before making any changes in your medication or supplement regimen.