Firstly I have posted before and I'm so grateful for the information and advice I received.
I am female and have been on levo for over 10 years. A couple of months ago, I felt really bad, was visiting the GP and found this forum. About 6 weeks ago, I persuaded my GP to increase my levo from 100 mcg to 125 mcg daily. I also started supplementing with magnesium, Vit D, Vit B12 and Vit B Complex. This was all due to this forum. I improved but still not great and as I was curious about my health ordered a Blue Horizon test just over 2 weeks ago so appreciate some of the results may be skewed by the impact of the Levo increase. The results are:
CRP 0.70 < 5.0
Ferritin 149.1 20-150
TSH 0.84 0.27 - 4.20
T4 Total 108.0 64.5 - 142.0
Free T4 17.57 12-22
Free T3 3.60 3.1-6.8
Reverse T3 H 29.0 10-24
Reverse T3 ratio L. 8.08 Normal > 15
Anti-Thtoidperoxidase abs H 79.9 <34
Anti Thyroglobulin Abs H 543.4 <115
Vit D (25 OH) 84 Deficient <25, Insufficient 25-50, consider reducing dose > 175
Did you know you have hashimotoes which is an auto immune illness and the body will attack the thyroid gland ?
Your T3 is low, indicating conversion is not so good. Selenium can help with this or brazil nuts.
Your body is making a lot of RT3 so your cell receptors will be blocked. This is what RT3 is designed to do in times of famine. Do you do any extreme dieting as this can contribute. Probably not the answer, but worth mentioning.
You would be better off using some T3. Your Ft4 is good, but i doubt more will actually help. So i would look into introducing some T3. The docs will be unlikely to agree to this, so may be easier to get some yourself.
Thank you for your reply. I didn't know I had Hashimotos but based on these test results assumed that might be the case.
I don't do extreme dieting so the RT3 must be due to something else.
Thanks for the tips re selenium and Brazil nuts. I'll speak to my GP re these results and will enquire about T3. Fingers crossed, but if not I know where to find info about acquiring!
It wasn't really the right time to do a test, was it. It will take at least six weeks for the increase to take it's full effect. But, it does seem you have a conversion problem, as marsaday says. Whether this would have improved given another couple of weeks, is hard to say. But, probably not enough to improve your quality of life.
Your ferritin is quite high. Have you been supplementing that, too?
Given that you have been supplementing B12, that B12 result is probably not as high as it looks. But, you need to stop it for four months to get a true reading.
Also how and when you take Levo is important. Should always be on an empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after. Many take on waking, but it may be more effective taking at bedtime
Long research article - final conclusion paragraph below
"In conclusion, bedtime intake of levothyroxine in our study significantly improved thyroid hormone levels. This may be explained by better gastrointestinal bioavailability at night or by less uptake interference by food or medications. As shown in this study, bedtime administration is more convenient for many patients. Clinicians should inform their patients about the possibility of taking levothyroxine at bedtime. A prolonged period of bedtime levothyroxine therapy may be required for a change in Quality of life to occur."
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