T3 being withdrawn after Endo followup

[veecaa]

Hi

I wrote three weeks ago for advice prior to my Endo appointment where I was being assessed to see if I could stay on T3. Thanks to all for the advice given. The letter is in today to say it’s withdrawn. The reason given is that due to suppressed TSH I am at risk of osteoporosis and cardiac arrhythmia. It’s stopping immediately. I obviously will keep taking the T3 and will have to buy privately but will still fight the case. Can you take a look at my results please and advise if my dose should be adjusted and suggest any clinical arguments for continuing T3? I cannot go back to the way life was prior to T3. I take 75mcg of Thyroxine 30 to 40 mcg of Liothyronine and B 12 supplements.

Results:

TSH <0.05 (0.27 - 4.20)

Free T4 11.8 (12 - 22)

Free T3 4.9 (3.1 - 6.8)

[diogenes Remembering]

TSH in your case means nothing. It could be used to diagnose over treatment in which case your FT3 would be above the normal range upper limit. The work on TSH and osteoporosis and cardiac arrhythmia is I'm afraid fatally undermined by bad statistical analysis - too convoluted to expand on here but true all the same. In the last analysis, you have to ask yourself a question: I can either have TSH in the normal range and not feel well for the rest of my life, but have less chance of OP or CA, or I can feel well (or at least better) with low TSH and take my remote chance in later life that the above problems might occur, and occur owing to this and not to any other more frequent cause.

[veecaa in reply to diogenes]

Hi. Thanks for the reply. It seems that it’s going to be difficult to argue my case when they are waving those health warnings around. Ironically one of the complications I had on T4 only was heart palpitations. Can’t imagine it could get any worse. Very frustrating...,

[Marymary7 in reply to diogenes]

Diogenes. Please can you give a link to this research as it sounds as if it applies to us all taking Thyroid meds? If it is false info what are the facts?

[diogenes Remembering]

A useful recent article is:

Front. Endocrinol., 22 December 2017 | doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2017....

Recent Advances in Thyroid Hormone Regulation: Toward a New Paradigm for Optimal Diagnosis and Treatment

Rudolf Hoermann, John E. M. Midgley, Rolf Larisch and Johannes W. Dietrich

It is downloadable from the Site: Frontiers in Thyroid Endocrinology, and is still probably in the column of recent research.

Otherwise contact Louise Roberts at TUK quoting the above.

The facts are that all the trials on preference of T4/T3 over T3 alone, and those linking suppressed TSH to AF and OP are fundamentally flawed. The trials have in essence promoted dodgy statistics over individuality of the patient. This is the chief problem, that the individual is not a statistic and cannot be shoehorned into any overall conclusion based on massed patient panels.

[veecaa]

Thanks for this

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I see from previous posts that you are gluten free

Do you have Hashimoto's? High antibodies

If so have you had vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 routinely tested?

Do you supplement for deficiencies in any of these?

Endo is wrong to remove T3

Your FT3 is too low in these results.

Personally I would find that FT4 too low as well

[veecaa]

Hi. Thanks. I find the results quite confusing and struggle to work out how to improve them ie how to adjust my dosages. When I first got diagnosed I was told I’d had Hashimotos dementia but haven’t heard it mentioned since. I was diagnosed as low B12 and prescribed supplements but can’t remember the last time it was tested. I switched to methyl cobalamin and that has made a big difference to energy levels. I’m dairy free as well as gluten free. No idea about the other tests you mentioned as I haven’t had those done. I actually feel good at the moment but need to try to get my results optimised if I can so I can pursue the T3 angle