I tried ashwagandha years ago for 2 months and made me very tired. Back than I didn't know anything about thyroid conditions and I had no idea why it made me tired.
Last month I decided to try it again, this time taking blood test to understand the situation. Now I know I have hypo problems, but blood tests is not too bad. This was 2 months ago before I started ashwagandha again:
T3 4.7 (2.6-5.7)
TSH 3.6 (0.35-4.94)
2 weeks after ashwagandha:
T3 3.05 (2.6-5.7)
TSH 1.84 (0.35-4.94)
This makes me very confused. Normally TSH would increase if T3 is so low. But in my case ashwagandha lowered both TSH and T3. I would like to understand why this happens because I would really like to keep ashwagandha as it increases my testosterone.
Blood test haven't show Hashimoto's. But even if problem was with autoimmunity, wouldn't be TSH increased if ashwagandha worsened this condition? When I took too much iodine my T3 was lowered a bit and TSH went above border line, but I never had nearly so low T3 and also so low TSH as with this herb. Is it possible that autoimmunity problems lowers TSH?
Now I am thinking if I should keep taking ashwagandha to keep my testosterone levels optimal and start taking NDT because ashwagandha lowers my T3 so much. Still better than taking testosterone. But I am wondering if ashwagandha is worsening hidden autoimmunity condition.
Any opinion would be great!