Writing to announce a big improvement in my Ferritin, Iron and B12 levels after having two Iron IVs and discontinuing vegan diet.
To my shock almost all of my blood results have improved since going back to meat (paleo) - not something I expected! Usually we hear all about people getting healthier by going vegan (happened to me in year one after switch just to go much downhill after).
So two IVs and a month of meat eating:
Ferritin - 11 before - 340 now (20-200) - yes, above range but test was done just few days after my second IV and it will normalise I was told
B12 - 240 before - 750 now (200-800) - shocker!
Also been taking B complex and Folate is improving too at 35 (20-75)
I am also taking Vitamin D but slow progress here - 53 before - 65 now (50-150)
Selenium, Iodine top of the range. Take Vitamin C, Ashwagandha and Rhodiola for adrenals (high mid-day cortisol, low DHEA).
I am trying to optimise my nutrients levels as I have a conversion problem which I believe was driven by:
- low iron
- high cortisol
- non optimal nutrient levels
Does anyone have any tips on recovering from conversion issues? Is it ‘fixable’?
I am on 150 Levo. I have supportive GP who gave me T3 and I added 5mg to that. No much difference yet.
Ideally I’d like to try NDT but I know I need to fix adrenals first (iron already fixed). I am not quite sure why that is, does anyone know why adrenals need to be optimal for NDT treatment?
Also I know that poor converters do well on T3 only, but this route scares me a little. I heard some horror scare stories about T3 only and I also don’t want to mess things up😰
I have been through a lot in past half a year, my dose was dropped to 125 plus lots of stress made me very unwell and made me put on 10kg despite me dieting to stop the gain that I could feel happening 😭
Thanks!
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AnnaSo
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I imagine you did a 24 hour cortisol test, did you? Have you already posted all the results?
Whether poor conversion is fixable depends on what's causing it - if you can find what's causing it, and you very often can't. But, who said poor converters have to be on T3 only? That's not true. Just a decent dose of T3 - whatever you need to get your levels up - plus a reduced dose of levo so that high levels of T4 don't convert to rT3. But, you can still take levo.
Yes, I did - all good but the 12pm one and DHEA slightly low and been told that might indicate early stages of adrenal fatigue. To be honest, given how I feel I was expecting worse. Glad it’s not too bad.
Recent thyroid:
TSH 0.12
FT4 15 (10-20)
FT3 2.7 (2.5-6.5) so low! 😭 no wonder I feel rubbis
Still waiting on RT3 but this has been high previously with similarly low T3 but even higher T4 (c.20). Therefore my assumption that T3 only could work well for me but I’m scared 😰 Regarding NDT I worry I would still be converting big chunk of T4 into RT3.
At the time of the test I was on 150 Levo (for 3 months prior to that I was on 100 Levo + 20 T3 but cos of all the fainting and all I went back to Levo only as I was not being supervised by a GP with T3 and got scared. When on 100+20 my T3 was 5.5 with T4 10.5 but I was feeling very unwell - having said that my Iron was ridiculously low and so were a lot of nutrients. Do you record is worth giving this combo a shot again now that I had my IV and nutrients are on the mend? ☺️
OK, so with that sort of results for the cortisol, I don't think that Ashwagandha and Rhodiola are the right way to go. Adaptogens reduce cortisol. That's not really what you want to do, is it. Was the early morning result at the top of the range or the bottom?
Yes, your FT3 is low, and you do have a conversion problem. But, I very much doubt your rT3 will be high with a mid-range FT4 like yours. It's not really worth testing, anyway, because you know you have a conversion problem from your FT4 and FT3.
No, you don't need to worry about converting T4 to excessive rT3 on NDT. Because, unless you take a very high dose, your FT4 should not be up the top of the range. When you are taking a form of T3, the body only hangs on to the T4 it needs, and it needs less when you're taking T3.
I think it possibly is worth giving T4 + T3 another go, if your nutrients are optimising, yes.
A bit of a weird one and I am a bit crossed with how to approach this... 🤔
Ooooh I actually didn’t know that with T3+T4 combo and holding onto just enough.
I’m tempted with NDT but also scared by triggering antibodies again - I just dropped from over 1300 TGO and 500 Tp to 200 and 65 respectively in just 4 months!
Might be safer to give T3 another go. Do you recon I could keep 150 Levo and still go for another 5 of T3? When I tried before with 100/20 my T4 went too low to the bottom of the range.l
OK, so yes, you are in the early stages of adrenal fatigue. But, rather than lowering the 12 o'clock level, you need to increase your morning level. As it's not too bad, you can probably do it with a bit of TLC : plenty of B vits, and vit C, and salt - adrenals need salt. They also need regular habits, so go to bed and get up at exactly the same time every day. Try and get plenty of sleep. And, have a high protein breakfast as soon as you get up in the morning. Which, of course, will mean you have to change the time you take your thyroid hormone, if you usually take that an hour before breakfast. But, I would stop the ashwagandha and rhodiola if I were you. If you don't feel the TLC is having much effect, you could try a glandular, like Adrenavive.
When you're taking T4+T3, it doesn't matter if your FT4 goes low. You body won't let it go too low. 100 mcg should be fine.
I can't advise anybody on whether they should try NDT or not. I know it didn't work for me, and I'm Hashi's. So, if you're worried about it, it might be best to go for the T4+T3.
Thought not. The body needs salt, but when the water is excreted, the salt goes with it. So, the body tends to hang on to the water, in order to keep the salt.
Anyway, make sure you get a decent amount from now on.
Rumours abound about T3 i.e. dangerous etc etc. and they aren't made by patients.
Considering it is the Active Thyroid hormones which is needed in our millions of T3 receptor cells, levo is inactive and has to convert to T3 and we may not do so efficiently.
Levothyroxine is T4 alone. It has to convert to T3, our body cannot function without T3 but it can function without T4 (levothyroxine).
They make scare stories to get us to toe the line. NDT for instance contains all of the hormones a healthy gland would produce but the authorities had to make False Statements about it, which is disgraceful as many recover on the very original thyroid hormones replacement i.e. NDT.
The following article is one by a doctor who was also an Adviser to Thyroiduk and we used to get prescribed NDT - in various forms up until the the introduction of levo and NDT is the very original thyroid hormone replacement.
Dr Lowe requested a response every 2 years but they never did! Dr L was also a scientist so would have made sure everything was accurate and correct.
I will give you an excerpt which shows the preferential dosing of combintion T4/T3. Go to page 80 and top left-hand para.
Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine Vol 28, No 2, 201380
Dose Selection in T3/T4 Study RCTs The second logical basis for a conclusion is the actions taken, i.e., the doses given to the subjects. Most subjects received T3 below its adult starting dose of 25 mcg/day.
23 The subjects in RCTs received T3 in some ratio to the withdrawn T4. The various RCTs used T4:T3 ratios of 14:1, 10:1, and 5:1. Subsequent research by the US National Institutes of Health
(NIH) found the therapeutic equivalence was 3:1.
41 Thus, most of the subjects were under treated with the T3/T4 combination. In light of the NIH finding, the conclusion that T3
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