Excess Levo - rT3

[roukounasGK]

Is it possible that overmedication of levo is turned into rt3? (For example as a defence mechanism)

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

roukounasGK

It's possible, as the one reason for rT3 that is connected with the thyroid is an excess of unconverted T4. You would need to see your FT4 and FT3 results to know, your FT4 would be high and your FT3 would be low.

Last year you were talking about self medicating with T3, did you do that? I'd be surprised if high rT3 is thyroid related when taking T3. What doses of Levo and T3 are taking?

But don't necessarily rule out other reasons for rT3. Other conditions that contribute to increased Reverse T3 levels include:

· Chronic fatigue

· Acute illness and injury

· Chronic disease

· Increased cortisol (stress)

· Low cortisol (adrenal fatigue)

· Low iron

· Lyme disease

· Chronic inflammation

Also selenium deficiency, excess physical, mental and environmental stresses. Also Beta-blocker long-term use such as propranolol, metoprolol, etc. Physical injury is a common cause of increased RT3, also illnesses like the flu. Starvation/severe calorie restriction is known to raise RT3. Diabetes when poorly treated is known to increase RT3. Cirrhosis of the liver. Fatty liver disease. Any other liver stress Renal Failure. A fever of unknown cause. Detoxing of high heavy metals.

Articles

thyroidpatients.ca/2019/01/...

zrtlab.com/blog/archive/rev...

verywellhealth.com/reverse-...

[roukounasGK in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks for the info SeasideSusie ! No I haven't taken t3: Not sure if I mentioned this before, but I was on levo only for 20 years and was feeling great. 2 years ago I had dequervain thyroiditis on top of Hashimoto. De quervain will supposedly resolve itself and I will hopefully go back to how I was (at least this is what I am hoping for). So adding t3 to the mix seemed risky since most probably I will be fine on levo only once it resolved.

Now regarding the rest of the cases mentioned, I do have increased cortisol and blood sugar(and potassium but I think this is not relevant) for all of these 2 years. These all went down to normal (though on the upper end) once I increased my dosage a bit. So most probably these were caused by incorrect dose. Problem is that once the dose was increased, I feel waaaaay hypo. That's why I am asking.

Anyway, thanks for the great help as always!

[humanbean in reply to roukounasGK]

I do have increased cortisol and blood sugar(and potassium but I think this is not relevant)

I can't remember seeing high potassium mentioned on the forum before. The condition of having high potassium is called hyperkalemia and it has quite a few different possible causes.

bpac.org.nz/BT/2011/Septemb...

There is a relationship between levels of sodium and potassium in the body - if one is high the other is often low.

High potassium is hyperkalemia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper...

Low potassium is hypokalemia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypok...

High sodium is hypernatremia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper...

Low sodium is hyponatremia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypon...

Do you know your sodium levels? And are they low? Do you drink loads of water?

Are you on a restricted salt diet, either because it has been recommended by a doctor, or by choice?

Do you have chronic kidney disease?

You might find this link of interest :

Title : Sodium Restriction as a Cause of Hyperkalemia

Link : proceedings.med.ucla.edu/wp...

And also a thread from someone who excluded salt from her diet and ended up being suspected of having Addison's Disease as a result. Adding salt to her diet made her feel a lot better :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Please note I'm not a doctor!

[roukounasGK in reply to humanbean]

My sodium levels are normal but barely (very low on the range). I don't avoid salt, the exact opposite, I like my food veeeeery salty (which is strange now that I think of it and doesn't explain the low levels of sodium).In terms of water, I try to drink a lot, but I also smoke which dehydrates so I have increased needs of it.

I am not aware of any kidney disease.

I haven't given it a second thought, especially with all of these hypo symptoms

You think this is connected with the thyroid issues?

[Thalia56]

I was reading this page about RT3 just ten minutes ago. It goes into helpful detail about causes of RT3:

thyroidpatients.ca/2019/11/...

To quote part of it:

“Deiodinase Type 3 will dominate and RT3 levels will rise when you have too much T3 and/or T4 thyroid hormone above your current set-point in a given tissue or in your bloodstream.

Your body decides how much is “too much.”

“Too much” could actually change if you become very sick and your body decides to lower its metabolic rate.

You could have too much T3, T4, or too much of both.”

[radd in reply to Thalia56]

And so. ... ‘Essentially, hypothyroid symptoms are not caused by RT3 gain, but by intracellular T3 loss’.

There is sooooooo much in that article explaining why RT3 isn't always high, and iron & cortisol aren't always insufficient but there are occasions when thyroid hormone replacement meds remain stubbornly ineffective.

I always enjoy Tania 🙂

[Thalia56 in reply to radd]

Yes! I’ve only discovered the website recently and am still working my way through it, including multiple re-readings to try and get the information to stick, but have learned so much.

[roukounasGK in reply to Thalia56]

Thanks a lot Thalia56 ! I don't know anything about deiodinase 3, so these information are gold for me to search and talk with my endo!

[Thalia56 in reply to roukounasGK]

I’m so glad it’s helpful, and good luck with your endo.

[JAmanda]

Does it matter if rt3 is high?

[roukounasGK in reply to JAmanda]

Not sure, I am searching for this myself. According to my understanding, if rT3 is high, your body cannot use the available T3. So you have hypo symptoms even though you have adequate T3 in your body. For me, what happens is that when I am overmedicated, I get a loooot of hypothyroid symptoms (instead of the expected hyper symptoms). So this is either caused by increased rT3, or an intolerance or something on levothyroxine. The only thing that can make the intolerance on levo is lactose and I doubt it's in a size that matters. Anyone who knows better, correct me if I am mistaken.

[JAmanda in reply to roukounasGK]

I’m not sure rt3 matters at all. For me what matters is getting my T3 high in range.