Heather - I don’t live in Philly - actually in Tacoma -I have NCCAH - I’m 43.  I can certainly relate to your feelings in the morning - I too take my synthroid the minute I get out of bed - feel rather out of it - get up anyway - ready for work and just deal with it. I take my Dex (.375) around 10am.

Yes - the mental health stuff has been there off and on with me - higher dosages of Dex have made me mentally off  - like I had weird thoughts of hurting someone - yuck - not the usual me - not on the lower doses though - too low just makes me stare into space and no concentration, focus, just out of it. The right dose- yes the right dose and things are pretty ok. Not really ok - since I still never feel like I can just have a normal life without having to make sure I have extra pills with me at all times, stress dose, watch carbohydrates and sugar, etc. It’s a drag. I love hiking - but dang - I just wish I could hike without having to try and guess how much to stress dose beforehand (I can’t hike without stress dosing) Sometime I can take 3/4 more - sometimes double my daily dose - sometimes that’s not enough and I have to more than double. I’m sick of it - if I just had a way of telling (without getting run down) that my cortisol was getting low - it would make it so much easier. Today I really hate this stuff! Today I took my 5th graders caving so I experienced it all first hand.

Susan A.