stopping t3

[markgreenhill]

hi,i was wondering if i can stop thyroid meds dead. im on t3 and i dont plan to be on this for ever so can i just stop it when i feel like it???

[radd]

mark,

I am sorry to hear you are feeling so bad.

If your body is deficient in thyroid hormones they will need to be replaced or you will eventually become very ill.

You are trying to clear your reverse T3 by medicating low doses of T3 which can make some feel very hypothyroid. Depending on how high your RT3 levels are and the duration, will dictate how (in)tolerant your body is to thyroid meds.

The protocol you are following says RT3 should start to clear within 3-6 weeks, when you may suddenly go quite hyper and have to reduce T3 dose. T4 should not be added for another 6-9 weeks to ensure thyroid cell receptors are quite clear.

Chopping and changing thyroid meds will unbalance hormones further but you do have a choice of either carrying on as you are (on T3 alone) and perhaps resting more (instead of going to the gym ? ? ...) or adding T4//NDT and seeing where that takes you.

There is thought that the regime you are following is harsh and many successfully clear excess RT3 through diet and supplements but either way it is a long slow process. Supplementing antioxidants such as Vit C, Milk Thistle, Selenium, resting and eating well will help your body excrete the excess RT3.

Read back through your previous posts where members have offered you lots of good advice.

I hope you feel better soon.

.

Treating RT3

thyroidrt3.com/howisit1.htm

.

tiredthyroid.com/rt3-1.html

.

[markgreenhill in reply to radd]

hi rad

i haven't been the gym cause ive been to hypo nd been able to do much at all when i first started on that ndt the first time i was feeling great and hitting the gym hard with energy but that gone out the window now. i am having a hard time on this t3 but i think i will see it through cause i'm neally 2 weeks in now .i was thinking more about stopping after the rt3 has cleared.but thanks again.

[radd in reply to markgreenhill]

Good luck mark. Keep positive.

[faith63 in reply to markgreenhill]

rt3 will reoccur, unless you find out why you have issues in the first place. If you have hashi's, you must heal your immune system.

[markgreenhill in reply to faith63]

hi faith

i was thinking this, i know i had high cortisol and i think i have a mercury problem,lucky i don't have high antibody's so i dont have hashi's. ive got a good doc now so hopefully he can help me fingur out the rest lol thanks mark.

[108Optimist]

😯 um no. Well you could you can do anything you like!

A horrific side effect might be a reason for stopping suddenly. You got one?

Tapering off by reducing your dose every 2 weeks and monitoring symptoms and labs would be more sensible.

I guess? ....that you are hoping your body will now produce t3 etc? If this is gonna happen you can give your body time to splutter into action by tapering.

In reality if I was going to go cold turkey I'd want two months off life work family anything, and a medical team.

Have you collected any information that makes you comfortable with going cold turkey? Is there a reason you want to do it quick?

Take care ☺

[108Optimist in reply to 108Optimist]

Radd deehs5to know your history. That looks like good advice ☺

[markgreenhill in reply to 108Optimist]

well as far as i know i haven't got a straight forwards thyroid problem, if this is the case i don't intend to be on thyroid for the rest of my life.

i believe all this is caused by mercury cause it all started after a trip to the dentist so im trying to clear all that out also.its a long road getting bk to health.i thiink this rt3 has caused my metabolism not to funtion properly i even get multiple chemicals sensitivitys, i think this is down to my very low body temp and metabolism.i cant even go into car for long cause the fumes make ill and i get red eyes and the normal grssay this normal lol thanks anyway mark.

[shaws Administrator in reply to markgreenhill]

Hi Mark, if you go to the date March 24, 1999 on the following link (Dr Lowe took 150mcg of T3 daily - he was also a scientist) and you will see his explanation re RT3 which might be helpful.

I am sorry you are not feeling well either.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[markgreenhill in reply to shaws]

hi shaws thanks for your reply.ive looked at this link if this is true why do people say that after so many weeks they go hyper and have to cut doses don't you think this is cause of the rt3 clearing? so me doing this protocol is pointless??

[shaws Administrator in reply to markgreenhill]

Mark,

I can only go by my own personal experience and not medically qualified.

I don't know whether these people (hyper) have taken too much hormones, or whether the doctor said hyper due to the blood test results alone. Some people expect a 'good' effect after one dose and don't wait long enough for body to settle by waiting at least two or three weeks before increasing. There's no quick fix.

I am really, really fortunate to be taking T3 only now and have recovered my health. On one make of T3 after quite a few months I experienced new symptoms and it wasn't till someone posted about their experience on the same make (plus some others too). I reported it to the MHRA and after investigation it was said to be o.k. However, I never changed back to that make of T3. I feel so well there's no need for blood tests at all. I would only check them if my body wasn't working efficiently.

If we take 'too much' of any thyroid hormones we would have unpleasant overstimulation effects that we'd automatically want to stop altogether and if very severe usually missing a day or even two and then continuing on the previouslower dose.

I also took NDT and had to try several before I found one that was best for 'me'.

Excerpts re reverse T3 which I think is overblown:

"When T4 ends its long ride through the circulating blood, it enters cells. There, enzymes convert it to T3, and, after a while, other enzymes convert T3 to T2. The T2 becomes T1, and eventually T1 becomes T0 (T-zero). T0 is just the amino acid backbone(called "tyrosine") with no iodine atoms attached. Because it has no attached iodine atoms, T0 is no more a hormone than is T4.

Rather than being a hormone, T4 is a “prohormone.” That means that enzymes have to convert T4 to T3 before T4 benefits us. T4 is no more a hormone than beans in an unopened can are a food"

Maybe some are using another type of T3 protocol?

Excerpt:

But I can’t agree that in medicine it’s a great thing not to understand why a clinician does the right thing and helps patients. I believe that Dr. Wilson failing to know why his therapy helps some patients is a not so great a thing. The T3 therapy he recommends does indeed help many patients. Based on his book,[4,p.17] however, he is mistaken about why the therapy helps them.

For example, as I wrote in The Metabolic Treatment of Fibromyalgia,[2,pp.844-6] he claims that T3 increases body temperature, and the increased temperature activates enzymes that enable patients to get well. It’s true that in a research lab, raising the temperature of a petri dish may increase the activity of some enzymes in it. But inside the human body, the range of temperature changes is generally too small to markedly change the activity of enzymes.

Dr. Wilson has it backward: T3 doesn’t Increase enzyme activity by raising the body temperature; instead, it’s the other way around: T3 increases gene transcription for enzymes (such as sodium-potassium-ATPase), and the resulting increased enzyme activity raises the body temperature. The enzymes do this by cleaving phosphates off ATP molecules. The cleaving releases the energy that was maintaining the phosphate bonds. About half the energy is used to fuel chemical reactions. The other half is released as body heat.

This may seem trifling, and indeed, the issue of which comes first, increased temperature or enzyme activity, may only be an academic concern. But other issues I believe Dr. Wilson gets wrong have practical implications. For example, I don’t believe sustained-release T3 is the best use of T3. The reason? The longer T3 stays in the small intestine, the greater the chance that calcium and other agents in food will bind some of the T3. The binding will then carry the T3 out in the patient’s stool, reducing the amount that reaches his blood.

Moreover, Dr. Wilson’s idea that the enzyme that converts T4 to T3 gets “stuck”[3,p.2] is entirely without scientific substantiation.[2,p.280] In fact, the relevant research literature shows this notion to be close to the outer realm of possibilities. Directing treatment at a “stuck” enzyme is to therapeutically shot way off target. In contrast, treatment intelligently directed at a target that is truly instrumental in causing a patient’s symptoms is far more likely to benefit the patient.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

Another from the above link (my highlighting):

Another enzyme called 5-deiodinase continually converts some T4 to reverse-T3. Reverse-T3 does not stimulate metabolism. It is produced as a way to help clear some T4 from the body.

Under normal conditions, cells continually convert about 40% of T4 to T3. They convert about 60% of T4 to reverse-T3. Hour-by-hour, conversion of T4 continues with slight shifts in the percentage of T4 converted to T3 and reverse-T3. Under normal conditions, the body eliminates reverse-T3 rapidly.

[markgreenhill in reply to shaws]

thanks for your message shaws.

i was wondering what dose of t3 do you take and at what sort of times???

thanks mark

[shaws Administrator in reply to markgreenhill]

One daily dose when I get up - I take just under 50mcg but everyone is different, of course.

I follow Dr L's protocol in that he also took 150mcg T3 for Thyroid hormone resistance and he said that one daily dose T3 as it has to saturate all of our receptor cells, and then the work begins and lasts for between 1 to 3 days. I know as I have missed a day's dose when I made the mistake of getting a blood test when I'd already taken T3 and saw doctor's face when I went into the surgery and before he could say anything I said 'I've made a mistake etc. please let me have another test and he did. This time I missed the day before's T3 and took next day's after my blood test and everythng was calm and settled and I still am today and every day.

[markgreenhill in reply to shaws]

hi shaws

that's great,im really happy for you.

ive been spacing mine out through out the day.

normally last dose at 2pm but later on the night i start getting aching pains and hypo symptoms cause its wearing of to fast,maybe its cause i need more t3 when i started on the small doses it wasn't enough so i had to raise. i might taking my dose all in one and see what happens.

do you have to pay for yours?? or are you self medicating?

thanks mark.

[shaws Administrator in reply to markgreenhill]

My GP prescribes but I've found UK T3 not so reliable. So I supplement with my own I buy when on holiday.

When I get back to the UK having read about doctors withdrawing T3, I shall see how that goes.

Besides I now know more than doctors as they've been instructed levo only and if patient isn't coping they usually prescribe anti-d's instead of a decent thyroid hormone. They can prescribe on a named-patient basis for NDT but they don't want the responsibility for that.

I do hope you find a 'window' of replacement T3 that suits you.

[markgreenhill in reply to shaws]

i hope so to il keep posting updates on my progress so it can help others thanks again

mark

[shaws Administrator in reply to markgreenhill]

Mark, I just had a thought - if you decide to try one daily dose I'd start at the beginning again and work up slowly. I started on 25mcg as I was on NDT previously. Then after 1 week (initially) and then 2 weeks increase by 1/4 or half until you have relief of symptoms. Also take notice of your pulse/temp before starting - if it rises too fast/high drop back to previous dose.

Trying to rush meds doesn't work too well, so I believe, slow and steady usually gets the best results.

It's best to be patient and this is a link and go to June 11, 2002 plus one after it.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[markgreenhill in reply to shaws]

hi shaws thanks for your message.

i was going to try this all in one dose but the last couple of days at the end of the day, i've been feeling mega hypo cause i've been dosing 12.5 mcg 430 am then next dose 9 am 19 mcg then between 1 and 2 pm 19mg then by the time i get to like 7pm i'm dead really bad.

i think this t3 is wearing of way to fast, this seems high dose but its not really cause i feel i need it and when i'm taking more i'm not really getting rapid pulse or hyper symptoms its weird.

[shaws Administrator in reply to markgreenhill]

Mark whatever you feel's best for you that's fine. I have just been reading and thought you might like to read this by Dr L. Cursor down to

No.3.

[markgreenhill in reply to shaws]

hi shaws

ill take a note of it thanks,i've just ordered Paul Robinson book that should be here today.also ive been trying to join the t3 recovery face book site but they wont let me join lol cause i had to get a new fb but thanks again.

[Clutter]

Markgreenhill,

You can stop thyroid meds dead but you are likely to start feeling hypo within a couple of weeks as the hormone clears your system.

[markgreenhill in reply to Clutter]

yh i would like to stop meds when i've done this t3 cycle,well that's if i can raise this body temp hopefully it will respond once that rt3 clear i will have see what happens.