I have a tiny little bit of excitement but also apprehension in my stomach that maybe t3 will be my saviour..
Latest results
Tsh, 10.01 (0.27- 4.5)
Ft4, 20 (11- 23)
Ft3, 4 (3.1- 6.8)
On 87.5mcg of levo cannot tolerate more without ft4 going over and bad side effects..
Symptoms i hope will get better:-
Depression
Anxiety
Pressure feeling in left temple
Thinning hair
Breathlessness
Loss of outer eyebrows
Muscle weakness and aches
Lack of motivation....
Without hope what do we have....
Just posted on your earlier post about vitamins and minerals 
Your ferritin results from 7 days ago show ferritin is MUCH too low
Are you supplementing ferrous fumerate plus vitamin C and/or eating liver or liver pate once a week?
Plus did you get a different vitamin B complex to try alongside your sublingual B12
We must have vitamins optimal first. But then yes T3 is likely to help.
Must start very very slowly
What about probiotics and fermented food like kefir to help heal your gut
Do you have Hashimoto's? Are you gluten free?
My folate levels were from aug last year since then i have been supplementing with b complex and b12 and fish oil and also eat half a pound of liver once a week... my latest results show i have doubled all the above levels in 3 months so they are probably even better now...
Yes i have hashis but not gluten free as not celiac but did try it for a year nothing changed ...
Vitamin levels sound good now
Did you test your antibodies after a year gluten free? Many people have no obvious benefit from GF other than falling antibodies
Most of us aren't coeliac.
My antibodies were not high in the first place they was only 10 points over the range...
Hi there - just had a quick read of some of your posts (not all of them lol) and just in case some of the more simple things have been missed.
1) I couldn't see what your vitamin levels were in any of them since supplementing? You keep saying all at top of range but this is not necessarily optimal, too much of some things can be just as bad as not enough - like vit d and iron. You don't want iron at top of range so maybe repost actual results for advice. There are many other things needed alongside these vits so worth posting everything.
2) Did you try gluten free properly - as in 100% with not even a crumb for at least 3-6 months. Eating it once a week would be enough to prevent any improvements. Did you look into cross contamination and double check what you were eating was okay. Some people just assume cutting out bread is enough to know but is often not the case.
3) I saw quite a bit about weight loss and being thin anyway and physically fit plus the fact that you were deficient to begin with. Are you eating enough calories a day for activity levels. I saw you mentioned three meals a day but that doesn't mean eating enough if meals are small or not healthy and variable enough or just salads etc - minimally 2-2.5k calories per day if exercising lots. If you don't eat enough calories, your body can purposefully stop you from converting T4 to T3 to protect you so worth checking. Are you over exercising as will also decrease T3 levels fast.
4) If you do eat well enough, maybe look into why nutritionally deficient in the first place - other stomach issues etc. Just because you've been supplementing some, there's still plenty other things not tested that thyroids and bodies need - are you getting enough iodine and selenium from your food - fish/dairy etc. Is your diet varied enough - if your diet wasn't giving you enough of the main ones then possibly missing out on some other micro nutrients so maybe a more indepth look into general diet to see if anything obviously missing?
5) With regard to weight loss and that you mentioned swings of anxieties and moods during the day. I would suggest adrenals and blood sugar levels need more attention as can also mess with thyroid hormones and cause the symptoms you mention so worth ruling out. I saw you had one adrenal test but both of these are cyclical during the day and it is better to do tests throughout the day rather than a one off which can be misleading. You can do a cortisol saliva test (4 tests throughout the day) and get a blood glucose test kit from a pharmacy for £20 that tests at certain points throughout the day as instructed in the box. Both cortisol and blood sugar levels affect each other too.
6) Maybe retest your antibodies, just once can be misleading as they go up and down and doesn't mean they're not high now.
I would get your calcium levels tested and possibly get kidney/liver function tests plus blood count also just to check all okay there and can sometimes give you clues as to where to go next and things sometimes only become apparent when looking at things in comparison to other tests. If none of the above improves anything or gives indication of what might be up, maybe further tests in regards to adrenals/pituitary would be next.
It could simply be a case that you are unable to convert and T3 will be the answer but all the above are worth checking too.
I'm not suggesting you haven't looked into all of these things properly and they are just suggestions as sometimes it can be useful to go back over everything with fine tooth comb to ensure nothing was missed and checked properly first time round to help get to the bottom of it. I know what it's like when you just can't figure it out and don't feel well. I do think something else might be possibly at play here other than thyroid especially if your antibodies are continually only just out of range and your body seems to react so badly to slightly over range T4 - maybe?
Yes to all the above lol.. i havent got time to answer u in debth.. but i have had every blood test known to man my gp had been very good and very patient with me ad im there every week lol...
As for my diet yes i eat fish and lambs liver once a week for my iron which had worked because my b12 folate and ferritin have all doubled in 3 months with the liver and supplements, i have a great diet and ad im slim i dont restrict myself i eat everything in moderation i love food! I eat plenty of fruit and veg...
Blood sugar is fine i eat snacks throughout the day anyway so yes i am getting enough calories i have always been tall and slim from a child my gp says i have a fast matabolism who knows, could be lack of t3? I know clutter on here is slim too and says she put weight on when she started t3...
Antibodies are continuesly very low...
I tried gluten free for a year strictly but lost weight and wasnt feeling great, my doctor said its because gluten free is healthier and my body probably needs alot of carbs and fat to maintain my weight who knows but it wasnt right for me i know that, we all know our own bodys very well...
I really dont know what had happened to me, all i know is i started out feeling weird and anxious and depressed and mentally not right a year and a half ago, and my gp tested thyroids to find my tsh was high but ft4 still high in range he referred me to an endo confused and since then i have tried different brands to no avail as everytime i increase to 100 it is hell..
I believe the levo is pooling in my blood as my body doesnt need all this t4 as its not converting very well so just sitting there making me toxic as my tsh is high so thats obviously telling my body it needs more thyroid hormone and thats obviously not t4 as thats high, so its got to be the t3 it needs!?...
Okay so no problem with diet then. Yes you do need a lot of carbs, did you replace the Gluten carbs with GF carbs like potato rice quinoa etc?
Yes, I've had problems with what felt to be pooling in my blood also. Low T3 will normally slow you down rather than speed you up. And it wouldn't help to keep adding more T4 if you're body is just refusing to convert it and could actually lower your T3 further maybe. I know how horrible it feels as I recently had a similar issue with toxicity/pooling and had to keep myself hypo with high tsh on purpose too as was better than that horrible toxic feeling.
I still think it's worth double checking the blood sugar and cortisol throughout the day in much more depth - this can cause your issues and it could be fine for part of the day and not in the evening for example.
Have you checked your electrolytes? These can make you feel anxious etc if out of balance so might be worth doing calcium (normally done under a bone profile blood test) and liver and kidney function blood tests as can pick up issues elsewhere and even indicate if adrenal issues are there.
I couldn't convert T4 into T3 and had resistance issues so was on T3 only for 15 years plus but I did manage to get to the bottom of it and can now convert so it's always worth trying to figure it out.
Hope you feel better soon
I have had the standard cortisol test which was fine.. the reason i dont believe its an adrenal problem is because i dont go into a state of panic like most people its weird i dont get palpatations and dont start freaking out, mines a strange pressure feeling in my temple and moments of feeling like my brain is going crazy like i cant think straight its horrible, and also like a detached feeling like am i dreaming am i awake!? Its hell..it feels like my brain is lacking in something or getting too much of something...
Yes i had a full health check which included liver and kidneys which are perfect.. i dont drink or smoke either..
What did u find was stopping your conversion?
Gluten and inflammation - won't apply to you though if already checked this out. The pooling was more recently when my thyroid died altogether as had no T4 in my system so the opposite way round to you lol.
I've had cortisol issues and did not panic or freak out.
Hope you figure it out
The depression is the worst for me at the minute ☹ got no reason to be depressed its horrible x
What did u address to stop taking t3 and improve your conversion?
Iv worked out i need 125mcg of levo for my ft3 to even scrape top of the range but because the ft4 goes way over i just cannot tolerate it x
I'm still on T3 just not T3 only as now added T4 back in. Literally just gave up gluten, that's all I needed to do to convert again.
Why don't you try a food diary of sorts. Write down what you've eaten, what meds/supplements you've taken, any info that's useful with time and day and then see if there's a pattern to when you get this funky head?
I also have had issues with my eyes which caused a very horrible head very similar to what you've described?
I have these mood drops and craxy head near contant, i might get a break for 20 minutes here and there...
I wouldnt do t3 only as like i said i can tolerate 75 of levo but because ft3 is low end and tsh high and ft4 high i know a tiny bit of t3 would bring levels normal and hopefully symptoms away... i havent been right since levels have not been stable.. i was fine for 9 years whem tsh was below 1 and ft4 top of range x
I think im converting to an extent, but i think after 9 years of being ok on levo my conversion has weakened...
Oh and remember the standard blood glucose test only measures the average over a larger period of time so it's not so useful if you're having massive swings?
Here's a quick link that's easy and quick to read in regards to the basics of electrolytes and possible symptoms:
draxe.com/electrolyte-imbal...
Electrolytes have been checked and are fine x
Well T3 was certainly a life-saver for me, but I also totally changed my diet and lifestyle, and ensured that all my nutrient levels were optimal. I am in a much better place than I was a couple of years ago.
I have changed my diet and lifestyle and supplement now i (i never knew i needed to! )
Only thing left for me is trying t3...
Seems to be working for me. Wasn't doing well on 100 mcg levo only but have recently add t3 and whilst it's been a bit up and down (just under 3 weeks in) there has been a definite overall improvement in depression and brain fog.
Interestingly (and controversially) my endo doesn't believe in testing for T3 but does believe in prescribing it. He thinks that the tests can't show you how much t3 gets into the brain which is where we need it to get rid of the depression and brain fog. I think he's probably on his own with that idea... but I've never had mine tested and am doing better...
Lotika.
I’m on t3 and it was a pretty big game changer for me. I started taking it when I was gaining weight and couldn’t lose it but now I rely on it to stop other symptoms (severe muscle weakness and blurry/jumping vision- like things are moving up and down, almost like when you drink too much). It still helps keep my weight in check too, which is good because I’m limited in how much exercise I can get with the muscle problems. Maybe not weakness but very tight, feel likes they’re on fire especially when I walk up stairs or walk anywhere sometimes.
Also went through depression and thought I had borderline personality disorder, but since getting my levels in check and stopping adderall my moods are much more stable and I’m not even taking antidepressants for the first time in years.
Well, my doctor says that potentially I could have a heart attack....
Am I entitled to a copy of the letter my endo has sent to my GP?
What would You Do? T4 or T3-only or NDT?I have 48 hrs to make a decision.
I have a bit of a dilemma and need some advice please.
I think that I may have got over the first hurdle but have now started to doubt myself.
