Advice needed on thyroid results

[fjyd3259]

Hi, can people here please give me your opinion on my thyroid test results?

My RT3 result is very high. Is a number as high as 0.94 nmol/L common or is it unheard of?

Total T4: 110 (58-161 nmol/L)

TSH: 2.23 (0.40-4.00 microIU/mL)

Free T4: 16.8 (11.5-22.7 pmol/L)

Free T3: 4.7 (2.8-6.5 pmol/L)

Reverse T3: 0.94 (0.14-0.54 nmol/L)

TG: <32 (<= 40 IU/mL)

TPO: <14 (<= 34 IU/mL)

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Are you diagnosed as having a thyroid problem?

Are you taking an levothyroxine?

Have you had iron and ferritin tested?

[greygoose]

rT3 is rarely tested - and for good reason, it's a total red herring! So, difficult to know how many people would have an rT3 of that level. But, I would think it's pretty common, yes.

High rT3 can be caused by many, many things - infections, low-calorie diets, low ferritin, high cortisol, long-term beta blocker taking, etc. etc. etc. - and only one of them has anything to do with the thyroid.

The only thyroid-related reason for high rT3 is high/over-range FT4. Your FT4 is not even mid-range, so would not cause high rT3. Therefore, your over-range rT3 has nothing to do with your thyroid. You could therefore spend a life-time looking for the cause, but it really is not necessary.

rT3 is not a problem. It doesn't cause symptoms, it is inert. And, it only stays in the system for a couple of hours before it is converted to T2, as part of the iodine-recycling system. It does not affect your T3 by blocking receptors, as used to be thought, because it has its own receptors; it is not, therefore, a cause of hypothyroidism, or anything else.

So, don't worry about it. And, I wouldn't bother testing it again, if I were you.

[fjyd3259]

Thank you for your responses, it’s really appreciated!

No, I’m not diagnosed as having a thyroid problem. (But then again, as you will know, many people who suffer from hypothyroidism aren’t ever diagnosed as having it.) And no, I’m not on Levothyroxine or any other thyroid medication, and never have been.

Yes, I have had my iron and ferritin levels tested. I am taking an iron supplement at the moment (100mg iron bisglycinate per day), and a folate one (800mcg methyl folate per day). Here are my latest iron results:

Ferritin 265ug/L (30-400ug/L)

Serum vitamin B12 629 ng/L (200-770 ng/L)

Serum folate 5.3 ug/L (3.90-26.80 ug/L)

Serum iron level 17 umol/L (13-32 umol/L)

Serum transferrin 2.08 g/L (2.00-3.6 g/L)

Se unsat binding capacity 47 umol/L (45-70 umol/L)

Haematology test 36 %

Haemoglobin estimation 149 g/L (133.00-167g/L)

Greygoose, are you one hundred per cent sure about what you said about rt3? Are you sure it is not an important indicator of hypothyroidism? The reason I ask this is because everything I have read up till now from people like yourself has said that rt3 is very important and if it’s high it can cause hypothyroidism - no question about it. You wrote: “It does not affect your T3 by blocking receptors, as used to be thought”. Why haven’t other people like yourself changed what they say about the importance of rt3? Many functional medicine doctors, for instance, would still say now that high rt3 can cause hypothyroidism and would disagree with you.

Another reason I have long thought I am suffering from hypothyroidism (other than my high rt3 number) is that I have a lot of the symptoms of hypothyroidism. For instance, feeling cold all the time, constipation, dry skin, low energy all the time, depression, irritability, weight gain, trouble losing weight, etc. I have every one of these things. And some of them to a very severe degree. For instance, I constantly struggle with weight gain and find it extremely difficult to lose weight even when eating very little. And I suffer from really extremely low energy all the time. So much so that I am pretty much bed bound, it is that bad.

In addition to suffering from hypothyroidism (or believing I do, anyway), I suffer from severe adrenal dysfunction. I have recently started to take Hydrocortisone for this (35mg per day). However I haven’t noticed any improvement in my energy level. (Which makes me think I must have hypothyroidism, and that’s what is to blame.) Here are my 4-sample saliva cortisol results if anybody would like to see them:

DHEAS 4.6 (2-23ng/mL) (Age Dependent)

Cortisol 3.2 (3.7-9.5ng/mL) (morning)

Cortisol 0.9 (1.2-3.0ng/mL) (noon)

Cortisol 0.3 (0.6-1.9ng/mL) (evening)

Cortisol 2.3 (0.4-1.0ng/mL) (night)

[fjyd3259]

Has anybody got anything they'd like to add ...?