Am I thyroid resistant?

[melissaaggie98]

Hello,

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's over 2 years ago and just received my latest round of blood tests, which showed the following:

Free T3 - 5.2 (range 2.3 - 4.2)

Reverse T3 - 13 (range 8-25)

My iron is 116 (range 40-190) though honestly, I have some of the symptoms of having low iron. I have dark circles under my eyes, constant ringing in my ears, shortness of breath at times and feel tired and have a low mood most of the time.

I'm currently taking 2 grains of NDT and 75 mcg of T3. I'm having no symptoms of hyperthyroidism and have a resting pulse in the high 70's with perfect blood pressure. The problem is, I've gained 25 pounds over the last two years and have severe full-body myxedema swelling which doesn't seem to be getting any better.

Do these results show that I'm T3 resistant or unable to absorb what I'm giving my body? Is there any recommendations anyone would give me to increase absorption? Should I increase my iron supplement from 50 mg iron bisglycinate to 75 mg? Should I continue to increase my T3 meds?

If anyone has any advice or information to share, I'm all ears! Thanks so much!

[shaws Administrator]

This is a link which may be helpful:

holistic-hypothyroidism-sol...

[melissaaggie98 in reply to shaws]

Thanks so much! I'll check that out now. Have a great day!

[waveylines]

Have you checked your adrenals? the saliva test is the most accurate -if your adrenals are not working as well as they should it could be interfering with the uptake of thyroid hormones in to the cells. Other things to check are your B12, vitamin D and folate. All cause similar symptoms of fatigue. Ooops just looked at the excellent link that Shaws put up which covers ti all rather well

[melissaaggie98 in reply to waveylines]

Thanks so much! I'll order another saliva test to see what's going on. When I took one about six months ago, everything looked pretty good, except that I had low cortisol. I know that my vitamin D test is in range, but I'm not sure what my B12 and folate are doing. Thanks for your suggestions!

[Clutter]

Melissa, Too much iron is as bad as too little. I don't think you should increase your iron supplement.

Your FT3 is above range already so you shouldn't increase T3 or NDT. Overmedication can cause fatigue and some of the symptoms you describe. thyroid.about.com/od/thyroi...

Ask for vitamin D, B12 and folate to be tested. Hypothyroid patients are often low or deficient and this can cause musculoskeletal pain, breathlessness, fatigue and low mood.

I think Thyroid resistance usually presents with high TSH.

thyroidmanager.org/chapter/...

thelancet.com/journals/land...

press.endocrine.org/doi/ful...