Supplier of T3

[delboy25]

Complained of tiredness for 40 yrs diagnosed as CFS but convinced Thyroid has a lot to do with it. Received radioactive Iodine 20 yrs ago made me worse. UK medical practitioners tell me blood test showing TSH T3 and T4 all within ranges but I am not satisfied. Discussed T3 with consultant at Endocronology yesterday I mentioned about supplementing with T3 replied not available on NHS because of cost but can be obtained from Greece. Can anyone give me full details name and full address of suppliers they have used and found T3 to be of good quality.

[shaws Administrator]

There has been a shortage recently in Greece but we could try to help you so that you can benefit. Can you give us a little more thyroid history. Do you take levothyroxine?

Have you been diagnosed as being hypothyroid or just CFS. (CFS was introduced as being unconnected to the thyroid gland once blood tests were introduced)? Before the introduction of blood tests we were all diagnosed upon our clinical symptoms only and given a trial of Natural Dessicated Thyroid Hormones hormones and if we had relief of symptoms we were hypothyroid and remained on this for life.

If we have been diagnosed as hypo we do NOT want blood test results to be 'in range' we need a TSH of 1 or lower and Free T4 and Free T3 to be towards the top of the range - not 'somewhere' in it. Everything has to be optimal as B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate have to be too.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[delboy25 in reply to shaws]

Thank you for replying so quickly.

I was diagnosed as having an overactive thyroid in 1994 was given radioactive iodine which made me feel a lot worse. I reported this to the consultant but because the blood tests after treatment were normal my case was discharged. Since then I have been 100mcg per day recently reduced 75 mcg . My energy levels are 50% what they should be particularly brain fog and my mood is rock bottom so now been put on anti-depressants.

Thank you

[Marz in reply to delboy25]

Oh dear what a scandal. You do NOT need anti -depressants - until your other issues have been ruled out. FULL thyroid testing is needed - also B12 - Folate- Ferritin - VitD. Please post results with ranges.

[Clutter in reply to delboy25]

Delboy25,

Please post your recent TSH, FT4 and FT3 results and ranges so we can see whether you are optimally dosed on Levothyroxine and whether you need to reduce Levothyroxine dose when you add in some T3.

[shaws Administrator in reply to delboy25]

I am really, really sorry and yours is not an uncommon complaint on this forum.

First thing you must do is to get a Full Thyroid Function Test. This is T4, T3, Free T4, Free T3. The GP wont probably do them all but you really deserve them to be tested because if I was a betting woman I'd put my money on both being low in range, instead of towards the top.

Levothyoxine is T4 and a prohormone. It's job is to convert to T3, and it is T3 which is the active one, needed in our millions of T3 receptor cells. Without T3 we cannot function but are readily given other prescriptions for the clinical symptoms instead of an assurance that we will have an optimum T3 and for people whose thyroid gland is removed either through surgery or RAI should, at the very least, be prescribed a combination of T3/T4. Some members source their own and in the last few months it has been withdrawn from the NHS altogether. You may have heard it on the news about the astronomical price the NHS had to pay for it. That isn't your concern of course but to feel much better.

Blood tests for thyroid hormones have to be at the very earliest possible, fasting (you can drink water) and request the above and say you've had advice from the NHS Choices for help/advice Thyroiduk.org.uk.

If GP cannot order all of them, you can get a private one for those he or lab wont do. Also he has to check your B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate.Everything has to be 'optimal' not in the normal range but optimal.

I shall give you a link and the person is before the Scottish Parliament today requesting that we are given options if T4 makes us unwell.

She recovered her health thanks to a Scottish doctor who wasn't afraid of treating sick people with what suited them. For that he was pursued by the Associations and we believe this caused his early demise due to a stroke through the strain.

hypothyroidmom.com/suicide-...

The first we must learn is that TSH should be around 1 or lower with FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of the ranges.

Follow the procedure above and get a blood test. If GP or lab wont do so, you may be able to get them privately which is a postal finger pin-prick blood draw. If so make sure you are well-hydrated.

I bet you have more than one of the following:

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

Post your results on a new post with the ranges for comments

[delboy25]

Thank you for your reply.

I have been under a consultant at the Royal in Liverpool and an endocrine nurse -Discharged yesterday as elements of Thyroid within the range . Consultant said yesterday do not let TSH get below 0.2

The last blood test was done in August 2017 results as follows:-

TSH 0.55 mU/l 0.30 to 6.00

Free T4 15.1 pmol/L 10.00 -22.00

no mention of T3

These are the most up to date . I shall see my GP as soon as possible and ask him to test

TSH - T4 -T3 - B12 - Vit D - Iron - Ferritin - Folate

If he does not back me up I shall have a private blood test.

Thank you

[shaws Administrator in reply to delboy25]

I believe doctors are instructed that TSH and T4 alone are sufficient. We as people not recovering as we should, need both Free T3 and Free T3 tested. I don't have much faith now in the medical profession. I saw two private doctors and they knew what they were talking about as they learned and were trained in clinical symptoms as NDT only was around at that time before blood tests and levothyroxine.

Read about FT4 and FT3 on the following link (there is also T4 and T3 tests but not as informative as the two at the beginning of the sentence.

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[delboy25 in reply to shaws]

Thank you for your reply . I have had more support in the last week from the kind people on this website and this has lifted my mood and also by stopping taking anti depressants than I have had from the medical profession and the British Thyroid Foundation. As stated in previous posts from me I am seeing my GP on Tuesday and I will ask for blood tests for all that you have suggested but I do not expect to receive a very positive response. I expect to have a blood test done privately by one of the labs suggested by yourselves.

My case is 40 yrs old when I faded badly behind my desk in May 1977 initially with brain malfunction and bodily fatigue. I reported to my GP then complaining of depression and fatigue but never received a diagnosis . It was in 1994 when I fainted twice diagnosed as having a very overactive thyroid received RAI and stated that I felt a lot worse but because the blood test showed it was in the normal range I was discharged .I do not know what they looked for in the blood back in 1994 it was possibly just TSH. I always complained of heavy palpitations from 1977 to 1994 but the RAI remedied the palpitations which to me proves the thyroid has a lot to do with my case. I have been in front of 5 psychiatrists since 1977 and not one of them has carried out blood tests for anything that I now refuse to sit in a room with one.

I have decided to join Thyroid Uk today because they have given me a lot of support in the last week and I feel I should support them.

Thank you.

[shaws Administrator in reply to delboy25]

That's good you are now a member of TUK as I, too, wouldn't be well today but for the advice I received from them before this forum opened.

I believe misdiagnosis/mistreatment/undertreatment ruins so many lives and sometimes people don't have the support of their families as GP insists they are on a sufficient dose and, after all, they are being prescribed proper medication.

The lack of knowledge of clinical symptoms by the medical profession are also lacking as nowadays it seems so easy i.e. diagnosed by blood test alone (if number reaches 10) Take levothyroxine and get TSH to a level and that's doctor's job done. If patient complains they're prescribed other medications for the symptoms instead.

Regards.

[marigold22]

I've just read one of your posts properly. You had radioactive iodine many years ago. Of course you need the addition of T3, your thyroid has been knocked out by a percentage due to that. How stupid are they all? Negligent in fact.