Hoping you can help, I've had hypothyroid symptoms for many years, and tried thyroid medication. However, I never felt any better and now think my symptoms are due to something else, probably being constantly iron and B12 and Vitamin D deficient below the official reference ranges for most of my life, despite taking high dose iron, B12, Vit D and others supplements.
Therefore I decided to stop NDT 8 weeks ago and had a blood test 6 weeks after coming off NDT to let it clear from my system. My results have come back within range using Horizon blood tests. This is the first time I have had Reverse T3 checked. Do you think these results are good and is there anything I can do to improve my results without using Thyroid medication/NDT etc such as vitamins, iodine etc. I stopped taking NDT 6 weeks before this blood test and don't want to go back on it.
TSH 2.24 (REF 0.27-4.2)
Free T4 12.2 (REF 12-22)
Free T3 4.2 (REF 3.1-6.8)
Reverse T3 11 (REF 10-24)
Rev T3 Ratio 24.86 (REF Normal>15)
Thyroglobulin & Thyroid Perox Ab's previously tested and always within normal range
Thank you in advance
Written by
simone22
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You have mentioned that your vitamin levels are always low, have you had recent blood tests for those?, if they are dire is your GP helping with this?.
People don't realise if they are low it does not help the thyroid issue.
For us to feel normal it is advised on here are TSH should be 1 or below, and T3 & T4 should be in the upper figure of the ranges.
Bloods tests can state normal but, they don't mean we feel normal. Your T4 & T3 results are not brilliant.
You state your antibody results are normal? have you got the results you can post on here?
I am just wondering with you mentioning your vitamin levels are always low if you have Hashimoto's which can cause low vitamin levels.
Iodine is not ideal to take either, you feel awful because you are not on the right dosage yet.
You cannot replace a hormone with a vitamin. And your FT4 is very low. For the time being, your FT3 isn't too bad, but will get lower as you have less and less to convert.
No-one should ever take iodine without first getting tested to see if you're deficient. And, if you are, you should only take it under the supervision of an experienced practitioner. Iodine cannot replace thyroid hormone, either.
Presumably you've always had hypo symptoms because you are hypo - your results are in no way good - your TSH is already saying your thyroid is struggling. And there could be a lot of reasons why you didn't feel better with thyroid hormone replacement. To your knowledge, did you ever get all your ducks in a row - i.e. hormones and nutrients all optimal?
This is from one of Thyroiduk's Advisers, now deceased. He was an expert in the use of T3:-
" "Dr. Lowe: Some readers will not be familiar with reverse-T3, and I know from experience that many others harbor misconceptions about the molecule. Because of this, I have summarized in the box below what we know about reverse-T3. I've answered your question below the summary.
Conversion of T4 to T3 and Reverse-T3: A Summary
The thyroid gland secretes mostly T4 and very little T3. Most of the T3 that drives cell metabolism is produced by action of the enzyme named 5'-deiodinase, which converts T4 to T3. (We pronounce the "5'-" as "five-prime.")
Without this conversion of T4 to T3, cells have too little T3 to maintain normal metabolism; metabolism then slows down. T3, therefore, is the metabolically active thyroid hormone. For the most part, T4 is metabolically inactive. T4 "drives" metabolism only after the deiodinase enzyme converts it to T3.
Another enzyme called 5-deiodinase continually converts some T4 to reverse-T3. Reverse-T3 does not stimulate metabolism. It is produced as a way to help clear some T4 from the body.
Under normal conditions, cells continually convert about 40% of T4 to T3. They convert about 60% of T4 to reverse-T3. Hour-by-hour, conversion of T4 continues with slight shifts in the percentage of T4 converted to T3 and reverse-T3. Under normal conditions, the body eliminates reverse-T3 rapidly. Other enzymes quickly convert reverse-T3 to T2 and T2 to T1, and the body eliminates these molecules within roughly 24-hours. (The process of deiodination in the body is a bit more complicated than I can explain in this short summary.) The point is that the process of deiodination is dynamic and constantly changing, depending on the body's needs."
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