T4 alone and lung C

[Meriam881]

I have read articles that state that T4 only treatment is a cause for lung Cancer. I'm on 88mcg of T4 alone ( levothyroxine) for more than two years due to hashimoto. Unfortunately, Docs in my country do not even know about the existence of T3 Medication. They keep increasing my dose when I feel hypo. I have hypo symptoms still in winter which alleviated a lot in summer.My next tests supposed to be next November.

Are these studies true? will this be true for Just levo or any other T4 medication? What are your opinions.

Thanks in advance.

[Jazzw]

I think we probably need to know exactly what you’ve read.

But what I would say is that research is a bit like statistics—you can make it say whatever you want, depending on your agenda.

My guess would be: it’s probably not levothyroxine in itself causing the problem, it’s the fact many people aren’t prescribed enough of it because doctors are taught that TSH is the only test they need and often keep their patients chronically undermedicated—or indeed, untreated, waiting for their patient’s TSH to rise by that clearly critical decimal point from 9.9 to 10 before commencing treatment.

And as thyroid hormone is vital to every single cell in the body, not having enough of it is bound to lead to problems.

So I’d say the study is picking up that outcome. It’s unlikely to be the T4 in and of itself.

But it really rather depends on how the study was run?

[Meriam881 in reply to Jazzw]

Thanks for your response. Here is an example

stopthethyroidmadness.com/2...

The studies show there is a correlation (NOT CAUSATION) between patients on T4 only meds and an increased finding of lung cancer in that population. the reasons for this may be due to not enough T3 to combat the oxidative stress of T4 only, so too much T4 in the body and not enough T3, and that this is especially important in the lungs since they can not make T3 from synthetic T4.

[Jazzw in reply to Meriam881]

Ah, that’s handy. Think this is the same research this pharmacist has commented on here: thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

[Meriam881 in reply to Jazzw]

Yes, I think so. I read the pharmacist 's article as well and wanted to know the opinions of others especially who have been on T4 only for many years.

[bantam12 in reply to Meriam881]

My sister has been on Levo for nearly 50 years and she has no health problems at all.

[BrynGlas in reply to Meriam881]

I could be in trouble, I have been taking Levo alone for over 25 years

[graves60 in reply to Meriam881]

I be been on t4 and recently I became real depressed and tired then hyper and heart palpitations I went through a dr online because I couldn’t get in to see a endo not until nov well I need help so I had my blood done and my Dr keeps doing a TSH reflex and this endo just called me for a sooner appt this coming Monday we will do a video call well the labs on my thyroid were thyroid antibodies called thyroglobulin and it red 7.4 my free t4 was good optimal but t3 was I think low normal it was 2.6 then the new endo wanted The regular TSH it came back very low it was 0.0156 so I had gotten meds from another dr online called push health and they put me on levothyroxine 75 I was on 100 and added liothyronine 5mcg split in half twice a day well I’m still having heart flutters I’m 63 and was dx with Graves in 1994 and I have the eye disease which has reactivated a little so I took a Xanax and it seems to stop the flutters for about 1 hr! I hope I don’t have anything wrong with my ❤️ I’m not feeling to good no energy even though I’m hyper but I’m sped up so then I get tired oh BTW I had RAI in 1997 so I have no thyroid

[Jazzw in reply to Meriam881]

STTM is a classic case of pushing an agenda. Millions of people around the world do just fine on levothyroxine and don’t need NDT.

Those that don’t find their way to forums like this one—but they’re the exception rather than the rule. But if you believed everything STTM tells you, you’d think everyone struggled with levothyroxine. It’s just not the case. My sister in law had a thyroidectomy 4 years ago and has just as much energy on Levo as she had prior to the surgery.

[Meriam881 in reply to Jazzw]

It is not stop the thyriod madness alone.Many articles talk about this but still studies, nothing confirmed. I also envy your sister in law. I struggle on levo alone on many days but I finally have some good days after changing diet so I really do not know if this related to hypo or hashimoto.

[Jazzw in reply to Meriam881]

I think if you’re in a situation where you can’t get any T3 anyway, you may just have to come to terms with the perceived risk.

There isn’t really any alternative—and without levothyroxine you’d be really unwell. I suspect you might still be on too low a dose, reading back through your older posts. Why do I say that? Well, because worrying about things like this is actually a hypo sign. When you feel well, you just get on with living your life, don’t you?

I would say the risk is low. Everything in that study is correlation not causation. And hey, these days just about everything apparently causes cancer, doesn’t it? Or so it feels, when you read around. I read a study a long while ago that said worrying about getting cancer gives you cancer.

Truth is, we don’t know—but they don’t know either.

[Meriam881 in reply to Jazzw]

Thank you very much. You are right. Indeed, neither we nor them know. I also think I am still hypo, waiting for my tests to know if I really need an increase.

[graves60 in reply to Jazzw]

Well said!

[Liyaelize in reply to Jazzw]

You are spot on with STTM

[greygoose]

will this be true for Just levo or any other T4 medication?

Just one small point FYI, levo is T4. Or, to put it another way, all T4 medication is levo. Levothyroxine is another name for T4, and we call it levo for short.

[Meriam881 in reply to greygoose]

I read there are some other T4 medication other than levo like Tirosint.so I meant that this related to any medication that contain T4 horomone or just Levothyroxine?

[greygoose in reply to Meriam881]

You mean the Brand Levothyroxine? Is there a brand called Levothyroxine? I don't know. But, the active ingredient of Tirosint is levo (T4).

But, as it probably isn't true, anyway, it's all accademic, in the end.

[Meriam881 in reply to greygoose]

Yes, I am also not sure but I thought that Tirosint is not levo but just T4. I also do not know much about these medical categories

[greygoose in reply to Meriam881]

I didn't say I didn't know, I was trying to explain...

[helvella in reply to Meriam881]

All levothyroxines are made with the same active pharmaceutical ingredient - levothyroxine sodium. (Of course, it might be made in many different factories!)

Tirosint is simply a gel cap - made with water, glycerol and gelatin.

"Levo" is short for levothyroxine.

[Angel_of_the_North in reply to Meriam881]

Levothyroxine IS T4. Tirosint is liquid version of levothyroxine with next to no excipients.

[Jazzw in reply to Meriam881]

Tirosint is levothyroxine.

Levothyroxine is the generic name for the synthetic T4 hormone—but people often refer to it by the brand they take.

[Meriam881 in reply to Jazzw]

It is the first time I know that. Thanks

[greygoose in reply to Jazzw]

Thank you, Jazz.

[Liyaelize in reply to Jazzw]

Fr those sensitive to Histamine and mast cell activating ingredients. Tirosint gel cap and Tirosint-Sol will be problematic as gelatin and glycerol are histamine liberating ingredients and Tirosint gel cap has pork gelatin.

[graves60 in reply to Meriam881]

There’s also Armour Thyroid from a pig! Never tried it has t4&t3 I hear it’s hard to get the same dose each time you get it refilled!

[humanbean]

Regarding the original source of the idea that Levothyroxine and lung cancer are correlated, I think the origin of this particular story came from this paper :

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

They looked for correlations between sales of Levo and various different cancers. But just finding a correlation is not proof of causation. To prove this, this link to lots of bizarre correlations is funny but still makes the point - correlation is not the same as causation :

tylervigen.com/spurious-cor...

For example, the consumption of mozzarella cheese per head of population in the USA is highly correlated with the number of civil engineering doctorates awarded.

Another example - the consumption of margarine per head of population in the USA is highly correlated with the divorce rate in Maine.

The point of this being that a correlation might be interesting but until somebody proves how the correlation arises then the info is meaningless.

[Valarian in reply to humanbean]

So glad to know that the mess my bedding is in after a hot night is actually down to the cheese I had with my lunch the day before

[helvella in reply to humanbean]

The one I always remember from my schooldays was the correlation of marmalade consumption and birth rate in the UK.

[tattybogle in reply to helvella]

thanks for the link helvella, finally i understand how i got pregnant .

[mstp]

You may need more t4 in the winter. In the summer people do not need so much. As you feel better in the summer this might be because you are on the right dose.

[graves60 in reply to mstp]

I know when the winter months come it gets dark earlie in day and I feel like crap I think it’s seasonal depression I get it all the time in winter! I was on generic Prozac but it really doesn’t work anymore for me ! Does anyone on this thread take an antidepressant and their Levi and liothyronine not together you split it up during the day but I think it still might be interfering with the thyroid meds anyone have any advice or similar situation??

[HashiFedUp]

Never heard of this. Perhaps you could attach links to these articles.

Re you feeling better in the summer and worse in winter - to me that points towards your vitamin D levels. Have your vit D tested regularly as thyroid patients often have problems with vit D and other vits and minerals. You may need a vit D supplement.

[Meriam881 in reply to HashiFedUp]

I already take vitamin D. May be I need more dose.Here is an example of the articles:

stopthethyroidmadness.com/2...

[graves60 in reply to HashiFedUp]

My labs point to my vit d being on the normal low end so I take 10000 units a day and do you think these Drs would say something about that?? No way all they say is that your good to go!

[Hidden]

It may be quite correct for T4 to be related to lung cancer or any other cancer. In my case on T4 only after a TT and RAI, I got kidney cancer. It may also be possible that following a TT it is perhaps possible to retain good health on T4 alone as long as you don't have RAI.

If only I had definitive proof of this!

[Meriam881 in reply to Hidden]

I am sorry to hear about that. I wish you a complete recovery.

[Meriam881]

Thanks for sharing this