Want to give t3 a chance

[Auntyp62]

After 45 years on levo, I accepted the ups and downs of symptoms as being part of me. Last year I found out I also had a vit d and b12 deficiency and started injections and supplementing. I felt a new person which made me realise that even my good days I'd had over the years were not really good. My Doctor keeps me slightly over medicated because any less and I sleep 18 hours a day and pulse drops dramatically. Feeling bad again I recently had a blue horizon blood test which showed reverse t3 ratio at 8.5 to which my doctor said brilliant can't be that as its low, just take more t4 Can someone correct me if I am wrong ( major brain fog) but I thought I read a low ratio was not goo and it should be over 20. Can someone also message me a reliable contact for T3 as I do believe I need to use that to treat the t3, instead of taking t4

[Lilwaa]

Hello, I haven't got am RT3 test yet but p174 'stop the thyroid madness' book says the ratio should be 20 or higher to reveal healthy low levels of RT3.. It does say different labs use different measurements so thiscan b tricky! But you can work it out yourself if you knw your freet3 and rt3 result stopthethyroidmadness.com/r... I ope this helps and good luck! Are ur recent b12 tests good? My mum has been really struggling and looks like it could be b12... Xxxx

[humanbean in reply to Lilwaa]

The STTM ratio calculator only works for results in certain units of measurement, unless it has been fixed since I last used it.

[Auntyp62 in reply to humanbean]

My results were already calculated for me from blue horrizon

[greygoose]

Are you still on 200 mcg levo?

The problem, as I see it, is not the rT3 itself, it's the fact that you have to take so much levo in order to get enough FT3, that you have a lot of unconverted T4 slopping around in your blood. That will be converted to rT3. Because last time you were tested, you had a good level of T3, you don't want it any higher.

So, are you planning to go T3 only? If you just add a little to your T4, I don't think that will solve anything.

[Auntyp62 in reply to greygoose]

Thanks for replying, I have dropped my t4 to 150 and feel dreadful so was hoping if I dropped it further and supplemented a little t3..........never realised I had alternatives till I joined this group and now realise I've put up with poor health for years

[greygoose in reply to Auntyp62]

Well, I think that's the case with most of us. But then, it's hardly our fault, is it. Doctors are supposed to know all this stuff, and guide us, and we're supposed to be able to trust our doctors. But, they don't, and we can't. And, thank god for internet, or we'd probably all be dying off slowly and miserably!

I'm not sure that just dropping your T4 and adding T3 will work in your case. It didn't in mine. The treatment of high rT3 is T3 only for a couple of months. Whether or not you can then re-add the T4 depends. First, you would have to optimise your nutritional deficiencies.

How is your ferritin? Are you taking a B complex with your B injections? But it's not just a question of vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin - those are just the ones you can test for. There's also selenium, zinc, magnesium, and a load of vitamins. What are you taking apart from the vit D, and B12? Are you taking vit K2 with the D3? How much D3 are you taking? There is so much to consider, and doctors know none of it!

[Auntyp62]

Thanks for the reply, I think I have learned so much about the vitamin and mineral deficiencies recently and do have them covered. My concern is how quickly I am going downhill and I am only on week 4 of reducing from 200 to 150. I am sleeping 16 hours a day and my pulse has dropped to 52....( I feel good at 70).....am I to assume that as rt3 is released things will improve..........my thinking is that maybe now is when a tiny bit of t3 may help my symptoms