To keep TUK members uptodate, we've been looking at patients with no thyroid owing to thyroid cancer removal and finding out how FT4 and FT3 can influence TSH levels in patients given T4 only. These patients have been studied at various times during their treatment so that we can follow them over a period to optimise their treatment levels.The initial results will give this forum I think a good deal of hope and I quote:
We can now clearly show that it is untrue that low FT3 does not matter as far as symptoms are concerned.
The percentage of complaints steadily rises towards lower FT4 levels.
Not everyone may be happy at the same FT3, but more are apparently unhappy when the FT3 is low. It does matter.
In other words, you cannot keep FT3 out of the story if optimum treatment is to be attained.
Written by
diogenes
Remembering
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Brilliant!!!! I hope you have no plans to retire! I also hope that someone will realise we need T3 sold at a sensible price to the NHS, so that those of us who need it can get it. We really shouldn't be buying it online.
I assume that there will be a paper published on this topic when you have all the data?
Very good news for us, but maybe not so good for you!! I really appreciate the work you do, though.
Your papers are the only ones my endocrinologist seems to pay attention to. When the next one comes out, I shall show it to my GP as well, since GPs think they know how to treat us, and most haven't even heard of T3.
You and your team are angels and so many members will be relieved at your statement. I am always surprised when people post on the forum that they've no thyroid and are struggling on levo and they've never been offered some T3 at the very least.
I hope the 'Organisations' who dispense prescriptions to people without thyroid gland a T3 addition at the very least and change their guidelines.
Thank you diogenes Although I am lucky not to have had a thyroidectomy I do have a conversion problem (faulty DIO2 gene). I believe this research will help support that T4 only therapy is not only insufficient, but harmful to people like me.
Please let us have the research links when they're ready. It's been total refusal in this district for T3 or even FT3 tests even with thyroidectomy although I still have some thyroid it's not very functional and so many symptoms.
Angel_of_the_North Although I felt quite good on Goldshield Eltroxin and knew I wasn't as good as before I had Graves, it was so much better than since we have all been changed to generic levo. T3 has made quite a bit of difference to me.
One of the things that has always struck me when reading, on this forum, about thyroid hormone values from patients who are dissatisfied with their treatment. is how often the FT3 value lies in the 3.5-4.5 range when the normal range is about 3.5-7. This anecdotally points up and agrees with what we seem to be finding on the study mentioned. It proposes that FT3 should be at least in the upper half to upper quadrant of its range, by T3 supplementation if necessary. But I'm only telling you what you know from your own experiences.
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