A journey of low free t3 to high free t3 - Thyroid UK

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A journey of low free t3 to high free t3

Imaaan profile image
17 Replies

Free T3

Free T4

TSH

Hello everyone,

To God belongs all Glory and Praise for improving my health. This forum has been a God send and so instrumental in helping me. I want to thank the admins and members that have taken the time to answer me on posts and in pm. My gratitude is especially to pennyannie and Noelnoel who have taken time out of their lives to reply to me on numerous occasion in private message.

Finally after 20 years, my free t3 has reached the high end of normal. It's slightly above. This test was slightly disastrous in following the 6 week protocol. I was all over the place because I was under deadline with my family doctor.

On the last test, my TSH finally went below range for the first time. My doc wanted to reduce my 120 mg of ndt but I begged her not to and to stop my my synthroid instead to buy myself some time. She reluctantly agreed and told me if my TSH didnt come up that she would have to reduce my ndt. She gave me enough pills for 45 days, a prescription of 60mg of Erfa taken twice.

Normally she prescribed my Erfa in 30 mg. I went home and took the 60 mg split up and it revved up my system too much. 5 days later went back and asked for the 30 mg and she obliged. Started the 30 mg and felt sooo much better. What I didnt tell her is that I had some synthroid(t4) left and I decided to add it back in and that helped. I felt much better.

I decided to incease to 135mg of Erfa and 12.5 synthroid (t4) for a week. Felt better but not quite like I did on 120mg and 25 mcg of Synthroid. I didnt have enough synthroid left to keep me for a month so I reduced it to 6.25 mcg to make it stretch. To make up the lost Synthroid I decided to order beef thyroid (ancestral supplements) and began on the 14 of October. A few days later on 3 Ancestral Thyroid, 135mg of Erfa and 6.25 mcg of Synthroid made me feel like I had on 120mg of Erfa plus 25mcg.I took the test yesterday and decided to increase my Erfa by 17mg and I woke up feeling amazing. I dropped the 6.25 mcg of synthroid.

My question is , is it okay to have a t3 slightly above and am I crazy for increasing my Erfa? Honestly after the switch up yesterday, my heart never felt better. My palpitations/tachycardia were better. Anyone have a free t3 above range?

My plan moving forward is to drop the Ancestral Thyroid to 2 pills to reduce my free t4 and continue taking 135 mg of Erfa plus the 17 mg of Erfa that I added yesterday after bloodwork. No synthroid. Does that sound ok? I've decided to see a naturopath for my Erfa because my doctor is probably going to reduce my Erfa after seeing the new results.

I know I was all over the place with meds and haven't given enough time for the meds to really sink in. I was on 120mg of Erfa plus 3 Ancestral thyroid plus 6.25 for the above lab.

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Imaaan
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Imaaan profile image
Imaaan

Previous Labs

Lab 1. Synthroid 75mcg (T4 only )

TSH 4.33 ( .35 -5)

Ft3 2.7 (3.4-5.9)

Ft4 21 (11-23)

Lab 2. Erfa 30 mg and 37.5 mcg T4 alternate with 50mcg

TSH 5.54 (.35 -5)

Ft3 3.7 (3.4-5.9)

Ft4 18 11-23)

Lab 3. Erfa 45 mg plus 25mcg T4

TSH 3.40 (.35 -5)

ft3 4.0 (3.4-5.9)

ft4: 17 ( 11-23)

Lab 4. Erfa 60mg and 12.5 T4

TSH 3.86 (.35 - 5)

ft3 3.7 (3.4 -5.9

ft4: 16 (11-23)

Lab 5. Erfa 75mg plus 12.5 T4

TSH .54 (.35- 5)

ft3 3.5 (3.4- 5.9)

ft4: 14 (11-23)

Lab 6 Erfa 95 mg plus 25 mcg T4 for a month and then increased Erfa 120mg plus 25 mcg T4 and was on it for 2 weeks and then took the test.

Free t3 4.6 Range 3.4-5.9

Free t4 20 Range11-23

TSH .004 .35-5 .00

Lab 7 Current Lab

Erfa 135mg plus 12.5 T4 (1 week)

Erfa135mg plus 6.25 T4 (1week)

Erfa 135mg plus 6.26 T4 plus 3pills of Ancestral supplement ( 2weeks)

buddy99 profile image
buddy99

Imaan, you sound so happy, it gave me a huge smile and I felt so much joy inside. It made my day. I'm so glad things are starting to look up after such a long time of testing your patience. It sounds like you only need a bit of tweaking. Seeing progress must give you so much hope. Joy and hope are so important for our health. I'm so, so happy for you. Imaan. Take care. :)

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply tobuddy99

Honestly, not only am I happy but overjoyed with tears. Thanks to God and everyone here and on Tania's fb group.

That you for making my day for your sweet reply. Wishing you a blessed weekend filled with happiness and health

Nora3 profile image
Nora3 in reply toImaaan

Thanks for sharing your journey and lab results. I hope you can continue to source your NDT. Where are you in Canada? There is a ND in BC who gives NDT. I also see a functional med doc in Calgary who gives me NDT and synthroid and hormones etc.

May I also ask what the name of the FB group is in Tania's group? I don't think I'm in it. Thank you for sharing.

Blessings for continued wellness xo

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply toNora3

I'm in Ontario. Thank you for sharing the info but I've found 2 good naturopaths in my city. Expensive to work with and have been weighing my options of self sourcing Thyroid S. Recently had Metavive shipped to me by family from the UK and too scared to try ...lol.

Here's Tania's fb:

facebook.com/groups/thyroid...

Wishing you better health and happiness

Nora3 profile image
Nora3 in reply toImaaan

Thanks for the FB info I requested to join

Like you I'm super sensitive as well. Everything effects my sleep. I don't sleep well and suffer insomnia and when I add a new sup in it can worsen my sleep. So it's hard cause I just can't afford less sleep.

Thanks for sharing. Healing thoughts ❤️ sent.

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply toNora3

I'm your twin in that department. I have to think long hard when I'm interested in a new supplement. My tell tale signs are chest pain, racing heart and insomnia. I tend to do better on lesser amounts of recommended doses as well. You wouldn't believe of the amount of money I've wasted over the yrs on supplements that didnt work out. My latest was around aug where I purchased 2 antimicrobials for SIBO. Had to stop them but this was cause they increased my reflux.

Glad to hear you joined the fb group.

Nora3 profile image
Nora3 in reply toImaaan

Omg I have a closet full of supplements, 2 containers under my bed and a cabinet in kitchen full of supplements. I could open a health food store with them all. So I understand.

I wonder ...your symptoms may also be related to a histmaine response. Even over methylation. I know I have mthfr, mao and comt. So I don't do well with B vit. I don't break down catecholimines well this is contributes to my sleep issue.

Nothing is an easy fix. I've been at this 12 years. It's a journey that's for sure.

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply toNora3

Lol... definitely looks like the corner of a health store at my place as well. I started developing slight issues with histamine right after being prescribed antibiotics. I'm doing much better than I was before and recently started back on bone broth. I take Thorne b basic and haven't had any issues with it, thanks to God.

Heres to keeping hope alive for better health .

Delgor profile image
Delgor

That's wonderful news - so very very pleased for you!

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply toDelgor

Thank you and wishing you good health.

TiggerMe profile image
TiggerMeAmbassador

Well done you 🤗

You really do have to have a bit of courage and self-belief to try different things and listen to your body. Especially when the professionals are telling you otherwise and have been keep you ill for so long.

It is amazing when you wake up one day and actually recognise yourself!

Girl Power 💃💃💃💃

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply toTiggerMe

Still dealing with extreme fatigue but now that my free t3 has improved I can give some more attention to my sleep apnea. God willingly it improves as well. That said, seeing my lab results this morning made my day. Thank you for sharing in my happiness. Hope you enjoy your weekend and wishing you an abundance of happiness

pennyannie profile image
pennyannie

Hey there :

My T3 is slightly over range though my T4 never goes much above 20% through the range and my TSH is stuck down at 0,01. and I feel good and certainly not over medicated.

I am still hypothyroid, blessed with constipation and still need to supplement core strength vitamins and minerals, and adrenals, to maintain what level of wellness I have built.

I take my NDT in the night and a blood test after around 10 hours from my once a day dose of 1+ 1/2 grains NDT and fasted can give me a T3 of a whole digit over the top range :

If I have a coffee and eat a piece of toast my T3 drops down into the top of the range :

Last 4 years results using a range of 3.10 - 6.80 : T3 = 6.50: 7.90: 6.13: 7.86:

These ranges we seem obliged to fit within were introduced to be used with Big Pharmas T3 and T4 thyroid hormone replacements, built on the back of NDT products which had been used successfully for over 100 years and long before we even knew of ' content of products ' or even the ' science of blood tests ' as to what was circulating in our own blood.

The issue is more one of how you feel and this reads as a tick in the box -

Just stay calm and see how you go as it's early days and we do not really know what is actually behind this blood test as you haven't really waited long enough to let this new dose bed in properly.

The blood test is just a snapshot in time - you are living with symptoms 24/7 :

The other issue is that the supplements do not detail any actual breakdown of content and one could argue the content not consistent which may, or may not, be an issue,

Just sit tight now as your body takes time to catch up and hopefully if you need to adjust up or down it's only baby steps

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply topennyannie

Hey hun,

Hope you're enjoying your Sunday. Thank you for the insightful response and sharing your experience and levels. It always helps to see how others are doing. I completely agree that it's still early days since its been a month only and time will tell how things will go God willingly.

As for your constipation, have you tried kefir, digestive enzymes and probiotic supplement ? They have been helpful for me.

if you feel consistently good then I’d agree that’s what matters most, esp. with NDT

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan in reply to

I feel much better than I have in a long time but still dealing with fatigue. Probably due to my sleep apnea.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me.

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