High Reverse T3

[mocah]

Hi,

The results below are for my 28 year old daughter. She has hypothyroid symptoms such as low basal body temperature, constant low level fatigue etc.

The result that stands out for me is the high Reverse T3:

Thyroid Function

TSH 1.28 0.27 - 4.20 IU/L

T4 Total 116.8 64.5 - 142.0 nmol/L

Free T4 18.79 12 - 22 pmol/L

Free T3 4.25 3.1 - 6.8 pmol/L

Reverse T3* H 41.0 10 - 24 ng/dL

Reverse T3 ratio L 6.75 Normal >15 Ratio Borderline 12-15 Low <12

Immunology

Anti-Thyroidperoxidase abs 12.2 <34 kIU/L

Anti-Thyroglobulin Abs 32.4 <115 kU/L

I am assuming the high Reverse T3 is having an impact on her well being? I know Dr's would tend to disagree on this point but according to my research in the complementary medical field, it is very relevant indeed.

I know of an online source for WP Thyroid which would be my preference for her as it is the purest. (She is very sensitive to ingredients in things so I wouldn't want to burden her already overtaxed body, she has CFS/ME).

So my question is, is a thyroid medication containing all the 'T's' as in WP Thyroid a good idea for her? Might the T4 component in WP Thyroid make the Reverse T3 worse? Should she be looking for something just T3 only? If so, what would that be?

Or is there something else she can be doing to improve why she has such high Reverse T3?

Dear reader, your opinion happily sought.

[greygoose]

It's not the rT3 itself that has a negative effect on her health, that a perfectly natural thing. Everybody has some. But it's possibly that the excess rT3 is blocking the receptors so that the T3 isn't getting into the cells.

To clear rT3, people usually go onto T3 only for a few months, so that there's no T4 to convert into more rT3. But, the big question is, why is she converting her T4 into rT3 and not T3? Perhaps she has a lot of stress at the moment? Or an infection? Or, maybe nutritional deficiencies. Has she had her vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin tested?

[shaws Administrator]

This is an explanation of Reverse T3 which might be helpful to you. This doctor was an Adviser to Thyroiduk.org. and took 150mcg of T3 daily himself. He was thyroid hormone resistant. Go to the date March 24, 1999:

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

[Heloise]

She is not taking any hormone right now, mocah? It looks like she is producing a good amount of thyroid hormone but we can see more of it is becoming reverse. This can happen when there is not enough iron to convert to FT3. Also if cortisol is too high, receptors can be blocked. You may need to support the adrenals. She'll need to check for other deficiencies and see if they could be the cause. Here is what STTM recommends.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...

[Musicmonkey]

One of the members of this forum Hidden has done research (written a book) on Thyroid Hormone Resistance where your blood test results look ok, but you are not getting T3 into the cells. Your daughter's rT3 ratio is showing very poor conversion, but the NHS don't acknowledge the importance of rT3.

[mocah]

Thank you very much indeed for your helpful replies. Much appreciated.