I’ve had my thyroid blood tests done and recent results are as follows:
TSH - 0.03 (0.27 - 4.2)
Free T3 - 4.86 (3.1 - 6.8)
Free Thyroxine - 12.4 (12-22)
Dose is 1.5 grains Armour thyroid - 1 grain at 8.15am and 0.5 grains at 1.15pm AND
12.5 mcg T3 taken at 3.30am as per Circadian protocol ( successfully raised low cortisol in the am).
I feel hypothyroid. I reduced my dose from from 2 grains plus 12.5mcg T3, down to 1.5 grains plus 12.5mcg T3 because I was hyper thyroid.
When I’ve felt well in the past (on this dose actually), my free T4 has ALWAYS been below range. Why has it now risen? I just can’t work it out. My brain fog is also back, which doesn’t help when trying to analyse things. In the past when my Free T4 has been in range, I’ve felt hypothyroid.
Iron is absolutely fine and I’m menopausal, so deficiency is seemingly not an issue. Vit D is great. B12 great too and I self inject.
I’m just wondering what other people make of these results? Any thoughts would be very much welcomed.
Hope everyone is as well as can be.
Thank you,
M x
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Ihave3kids
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I feel hypothyroid. I reduced my dose from from 2 grains plus 12.5mcg T3, down to 1.5 grains plus 12.5mcg T3 because I was hyper thyroid.
So, you felt overmedicated( not hyperthyroid) on an equivalent total of 76mcg T4 + 30.5mcgT3 and now take an equivalent total of 57mcgT4 + 26mcg T3 and hypothyroid symptoms have returned.
So what made you feel overmedicated, if indeed you were.....T4 or T3?
Are you sure you were actually overmedicated? I very much doubt it.
The symptoms of over and under medication are very similar and your labs don't indicate overmedication
But I guess your medics are basing that on the low TSH....that can be a red herring!
Your T3 dose has dropped and I'd suggest this is at least part of your problem.
FT3 is the most important reading and yours is very low.
T3 is the active thyroid hormone and for good health it needs to saturate every cell in the body by reaching the nuclei of the cells via T3 receptors....where it becomes active
However, if this doesn't happen the T3 remains inactive and just sloshes around in the blood before eventually being metabolised and excreted. Result: low cellular T3 and poor health!
This is a possibility but I would guess that you are not tolerating T4 ...have you any reason to suspect this?
Have you considered taking less T4 and increasing T3?
NDT may not be the best medication for you
Have you exhausted trials of a T4/ T3 combo....easier to titrate individual hormones.
I self medicate so I wasn't restricted by prescriptions/medics. I reached a stage where I could barely function and medics failed to discover that I have a form of thyroid hormone resistance. My GP was not impressed but now understands my situation better and leaves me to it.
Despite the low numbers your conversion of T4 to T3 appears to be functional, so that may not be contributing to the problem.
I see you have a diagnosis of CFS
Your journey is similar to mine ....related in my profile if you are interested, so I won't expand here.
I had to read extensively to discover my problem and and this ebook was one of my first helpful reads. It is on Amazon for £3.56 or free if you have Amazon Prime. It is called "Impaired Sensitivity to Thyroid Hormone (Thyroid Hormone Resistance)" by Hugh A Hamilton
I'm not convinced your medics are giving you the best advice and I can only refer to my own experience so based on that I'll append a few links to read in case anything resonates with you. Reading was key to resolving my problems....as was amazing support here.
We're all in this thyroid mess together so come back with any questions you have and someone is likely to have been there before and will offer advice
Thank you so much for your input. I’m going to read up on the recommendations that you have given me. I really respect your advice, coming from someone in a similar position. Recently, none of my labs have made any sense. They have been so conflicting. I saw my endocrinologist today and she told me I’m over medicated with that TSH but all of my symptoms point to under medication - so much confusion.
Time to read the info you’ve given to me and make my own treatment decisions, I think.
I concur with DippyDame, but for different reasons:
Also on thyroidpatients.ca is this page; thyroidpatients.ca/2019/11/..., which explains the action of D3. Note that most Endos in the country haven't a clue about D3 and what it means to treatment plans.
In summary, a sudden upshift in fT4 could trigger an intracellular release of D3 forcing some parts of your body (brain/heart) to go hypo, while other tissues that can convert T4 to T3 ok (liver and kidneys) go hyper. The result, for me, is I feel messed up and I am not sure whether I am hyper or hypo because the symptoms are inconsistent.
So before you up your T3, consider that you could just need a small down shift in the T4 (or both together). Also consider that this could be a seasonal adjustment that you revert in the spring. I've been struggling to get to grips with this phenomenon for years.
Thank you. I really do identify with the theory of seasonal shifts and indeed, this has caught me out before. Thank you for the the link. I will look in to the info in that link.Best of health to you,
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