Liothyronin T3 and insulin resistance

[Wired123]

I’ve been doing some research as my blood sugar levels (measured by HbA1C) have been persistently high despite exercise, low carb diet, weight loss and muscle gain.

Prompted by the very wise SlowDragon that T3 can cause high sugars, I decided to delve deeper.

I came across a lot of articles online that Lio can increase sugar and/or insulin resistance as well as making existing insulin resistance worse. Here’s a good article:

thebloodcode.com/t3-prescri...

Wondered how many others have seen this effect when starting T3 and if there’s any solutions short of coming off T3 which has otherwise been life changing for me.

I know some forum members have had success lowering sugars with metformin, berberine and glucofit.

[radd]

Wired123,

You need ‘slow acting’ carbs as opposed to low carbs (which can be another contributary factor in disabling thyroid hormones from working well).

Both too little or too much T3 can encourage insulin resistance.

[Wired123 in reply to radd]

Thanks Radd, yes I’m generally eating slow carbs and also following the methodology to have carbs last as much as possible to reduce the spikes.

My T3 level I think I’m OK with as I generally feel quite well - almost as good as before I got diagnosed at the age of 26!

TSH suppressed and my private Endo does not feel the need to change my medication.

My test result history is attached if useful. Do you feel an increase in T3 is warranted, as I’m 76% through the range.

Test results

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Wired123]

Are you gluten free/dairy free ?

[Wired123 in reply to SlowDragon]

Not 100% either but I avoid both wheat and gluten as much as possible as both cause me problems. Do you think that can directly impact blood sugars?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Wired123]

No point being almost gluten free

Needs to be absolutely strictly gluten free to be effective ……especially as you know you have issues

Similarly trying strictly dairy free always worth trying too in 2-3 months

[Wired123 in reply to SlowDragon]

Do you think that would impact sugar levels irrespective of the lowering of carb intake by cutting out bread, pasta, etc?

[radd in reply to Wired123]

Wired123,

Gluten itself does not influence blood sugars but much of the foods gluten can be found in might.

You can continue eating both pasta and bread within a gluten free diet made from ultra low carbs. I use ZENB pasta made from yellow peas, and bread I make myself from flaxseeds using a very easy recipe that can’t go wrong.

Blood sugars can also be encouraged to remain stable with small regular meals that contain some sort of protein with each, such as the yellow pea pasta, eggs, meats, nuts, etc. If you snack on grapes for example, these should be accompanied by cheese , etc to slow that sugar rush.

If you have experienced or are experiencing iron issues, the HbA1C results can be falsely elevated as rely on healthy haemoglobin. Unless you are over-medicated I do not think you should reduce T3 meds to accommodate your sugar spikes but find other sources to aid stable blood glucose levels.

[Wired123 in reply to radd]

Thanks Radd. I’ll try out the ZENB pasta thanks for the tip. If you could also share this bread recipe please?

What other sources to aid stable blood glucose are you referring to?

[radd in reply to Wired123]

Wired123,

Yeh, sure. (I was in bed last night so wasn’t going downstairs then 😁)

There are many recipes if you google ‘flaxseed bread’ but I use this one religiously. Just remember none are the equivalent of ‘bread’ as we think of 'bread' but this recipe makes a good substitute and simply delicious toasted with oil and vinegar 😋.

- 80g ground almonds

- 250g any colour flaxseed (aka linseed).

- 4 eggs

- 1 tablespoon of coconut oil

- 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda.

- 100ml water

- Lemon juice

- Sea salt

(You can add anything you fancy such as pepper or fennel/caraway seeds. I sometime substitute some of the flaxseed for chia. All measurements are very approximate).

- Heat oven to gas 3 or 4.

- Add all ingredients to a food processor to form a thick dough (if mixing by hand you will need to use mainly ground flaxseed). (I sometimes use my Nutri-Bullet for a quick fresh half a loaf ).

- Tip into 20cm square tin or loaf tin and bake for 45 minutes.

- Turn out, cool, slice very thinly lengthways and store in fridge.

I freeze mine with parchment paper in-between slices as bread is very heavy and filling.

The supports I was referring to are the ones you mentioned above. I found berberine and glucofit together with dietary changes very successful. It can take many months to encourage the body to behave in different ways.

[Wired123 in reply to radd]

Brilliant thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. Will get my bloods done next week and then start berberine

[Bertwills]

Hello, I’ve been having exactly the same problem. I’ve been happily on T3 only for more than 5 years. I’ve had some success with Berberine reducing my HbA1C readings but I’m still only just below prediabetic.

I’ve stopped eating fruit altogether & am eating low carb which has helped. Christmas has been testing & having had a few treats I’ve now found I’m getting palpitations after a meal especially if I have alcohol.

Really annoying as I’ve been stable on T3 for years. I’m trialling combo medication now T4 100mcg & T3 20 mcg. Heart appears to prefer this so I’ll see what my Medichecks test this month shows. I didn’t convert well at all years ago so it could be a shock.

I’ve contemplated stopping the Berberine, eating more normally, being diagnosed as diabetic & taking Metformin or similar so that I can stay on T3. Both my parents were diabetic so my genes aren’t helpful.

[Wired123 in reply to Bertwills]

I’ve got similar issues with inherited gene issues for both diabetes and thyroid.

I’ve read that Berberine gives a similar effect to Metformin. Not sure how true that is but worth a try in case it suits you better or is more effective.

[PHappy]

If you find and read really old books on hypothyroidism you might get some anwers. Before the advent of the TSH test doctors learnt about the symptoms of hypothyroidism. ALL the symptoms. And treated their patients to symptom extinction and not as now to a "normal" TSH. By the way, TSH has no relationship with the level of T3 in your cells. It is pointless as a duagnosticand treatment "tool". Doctors used to know that diabetes type 2 could be a symptom of hypothyroudism. That is insuline resistance and high insuline which leads to unusually low blood sugar. Untreated hypothyroidism leads to fatty liver as in non- alcoholic fatty liver disease. This used to be known. Not anymore. When you start taking T3 your low blood sugar,which was caused by your hypothyroidism, will normalise. But you have a fatty liver because of your hypothyroidism. There is no where for the insuline to store the blood sugar. Now you have insuline resistance and high blood sugar. You aredoing right with the low carb a d exercise but I belive more is needed to de-fat the liver after it has suffered ubder hypothyroidism. Low T3 unbalances all other hormones as does high insuline. It doesn't fix itself by itself. Which is why I believe intermittent and extended fasting is the way. It is the fastest way to lose visceral fat. But it can be hard to fast fir a previously hypothyroid person since other hormones might still be unbalanced. It took me 3 years to be able to fast 24 hours. And I have only been able to do three 72 hour fasts. Which I would ideally like to do once a month. But you don't beed to listen to me about fasting. Look up Jason Fung on youtube. He is a nephrologist who got tired of seeing his diabetic patients get worse by every visit and having no usefull advice to give them. He deep dived into science to find out why the traditional advice was so useless and what to do instead. He explains everything very clearly. In between your fasts you naturally continnue low carb. And exercising while fasting empties the liver of fat even faster. Good luck!

[BookLover2020]

Apologies for the late reply.

I am in a similar situation.

I am on T4+T3 therapy (100mcg T4 + 10mcg) and I have insulin resistance though my

Hb1Ac test done recently (12 April 2024, 10:20am, fasting) is 32 mmol/m [20.0 - 41.0].

Diabetes is in my paternal family so I am worried as well.

My endo recommended Metformin but I am not keen on taking more prescription medicines.

Anyway, I have started to cut out sugars (No sugar in Tea/coffee, no biscuits, no cakes etc).

We will see what happens in the next blood test.

The main symptom that I have currently is heavy eyelids ( sometimes I just want to close eyes) and rely on coffee to get through my day. I work in IT so I need all my brain power.

I am keen to know if you had success in reducing your insulin/blood sugar.

[Wired123 in reply to BookLover2020]

I’ve had a few set backs due to non-thyroid viral illnesses so my diet has gone out of the window as has my exercise. Trying to get back to that baseline and then will add in berberine and glucofit to see how they help.

My body is pumping out way too much insulin as I’m at 17 fasting, whilst my sugars are ok (A1C is 39, fasting glucose is 5.4 - 6 is top end of normal).

Clearly it’s taking a tonne of insulin to keep blood sugars normal and that’s not good. Need to reduce the insulin resistance somehow!