Am I thyroid hormone resistant....confused!

[Emjaytee]

Hello lovely people

I am a little confused and wondering if any of you could figure out what is going on with me.

I have experienced many improvements with my adrenal health and general wellbeing after taking many suggested, good quality supplements including B12 injections. After getting a little stronger on these supplements I decided to try T3 as I'm convinced my thyroid is under-active,initially on the T3 I really felt good and I upped the dosage very slowly until I was on 50 micrograms but after a couple of weeks I kind of flattened out and started to feel pretty rubbish again but was a little worried about taking more T3 as I know it's potent stuff and don't understand enough about and was worried about taking too much even though I didn't have any hyper symptoms, though I was having the odd hot flush which didn't bother me.

My body odour returned to normal after years of smelling strange and not right, and my energy level was improved until the effect seemed to level out as though it wasn't doing anything etc, so it must have been doing some good to start with.

Anyway, after worrying about taking more T3, I decided to try NDT, and bought some nature-throid - 2 grain tablets. I started on a whole 2 grain tablet immediately and did feel some benefits but it wasn't overwhelming as I'd have expected after reading other people's accounts ..... and then I upped it to 2 and a half and eventually 2 x 2 grain tablets a day. I am nearly at the end of the bottle and just wondering if I should bother buying them again as I'm still sleeping an awful lot and still suffering from extreme muscle fatigue, nothing seems to help the muscle fatigue and it is one of the symptoms that upsets me the most asI can't do all sorts of things I would like to do, I can't even play my violin which I used to play in every spare minute in the past, but my muscles just seize up within minutes nowadays. I was hoping thyroid medicine would help but it doesn't appear to.

My confusion is about what sort of thyroid problem I might be suffering from. Maybe my thyroid isn't the problem? But if that was the case, wouldn't I suffer from hyper symptoms on the T3 and NDT? I can't figure out what's going on and wonder if anyone on this forum has experienced anything similar and could possibly point me in the right direction?

[HEA72]

Hi, I'm sorry to hear of your strife, this process of finding what works for our bodies can be so frustrating until we get it right, I know that one only too well. Are you taking nutritional supplements to help support mitochondrial function? The T3 acts as an accelerator to our mitochondria but if our mitos don't have the correct levels of fuel (nutrition), no amount of acceleration will get them releasing the ATP (energy) we need.

The nutrition would be:

magnesium (citrate form usually preferable)

vitamin B-complex

Co-Q10

zinc

EFAs: omega 3, 6, 9 oils

iron

B12s

Vitamin C

Vitamin D

[Emjaytee in reply to HEA72]

Hi HEA72, thank you for your reply

I am taking all of them except for the coq10! But am taking a few others also that are supposed to be helpful. I wonder if I'm taking the right sort of iron sometimes though, the one I'm taking is ferruglobin liquid and I take it at night so it doesn't interfere with anything else.

I am taking the NDT first thing in the morning way before I eat or take any other supplements, and chew it up until it's completely broken down.

[HEA72 in reply to Emjaytee]

Try the Co-Q10 too. It's a really important nutrient for the mitochondria to make ATP. Try 100mg. It's oil soluble, so don't drink it down with water, it won't get absorbed. Take it with a meal containing some oil/fat or I empty the powder from the capsule onto a spoon and add some cold pressed olive oil, mix it in and take it that way.

I don't personally know of the iron you're talking about. But yes I do believe certain types of irons suit different people. I've been taking Floravital. I'm now taking liquid iron phosphate. I'm sure someone else here will be able to advise further on types of iron to try.

It might be helpful at this stage to get a full thyroid blood test (TSH, FT4 & FT3) just to see what your thyroid hormone levels are presently before embarking on any further adjustments of NDT dose and take it from there. Post them on here for feedback. You can order tests through Thyroid UK's website if you prefer than going through the doctor route.

[Emjaytee in reply to HEA72]

Thanks again HEA72, I'll give it a go, I'm surprised I don't rattle! I know I should probably get some blood tests but I can't afford private and I'm really not up to battling my GP right now, I have very little faith following my experiences with them and can't say I'd be too bothered if I never saw any of them again.

[lilliput]

It is dangerous to be self medicating, You need to see a doctor

[Emjaytee in reply to lilliput]

Thank you for your concern lilliput but as it happens, my doctor wasn't even capable of diagnosing Pernicious Anaemia even though all the symptoms and even blood test results were staring her right in the face nearly twenty years ago. I gave up on my practice doctors for very good reason and have been doing an awful lot better since.

[Clutter]

Emjaytee, If you haven't had a thyroid blood test since starting NDT, now would be a good time. Hot flushes could be a sign of overmedication unless you are menopausal.

[Emjaytee in reply to Clutter]

Thanks for your reply Clutter, I turned 50 recently and am probably menopausal but the hot flushes were related to the T3 and I only had one or two flushes after upping the dosage but I stopped them soon after that anyway. I haven't had the hot flushes with NDT. I'm going to run out soon, do you think it might be a good idea to stop taking them and see what happens?

I really don't think I want to even speak to the doctors right now, if you knew the history I think you'd understand why. I was hoping to figure it out myself but hit a bit of a wall.

[Clutter in reply to Emjaytee]

Emjaytee, I'm not sure why you would want to stop NDT. If you decide to you want to decrease dose by 1/2 grain every two weeks, do not stop suddenly. You can order private fingerprick home tests from Blue Horizon and Genova via thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[Emjaytee]

I should add, before I started self treating, I had been having regular and sometimes quite alarming palpitations for years, they've subsided to almost nothing, one or two small ones per week now, whereas I was having them several times a day and had also started having what felt to be angina attacks in the early hours and often felt as though I just couldn't get enough oxygen.