Hi, I posted some weeks ago about having a TSH which has gone up from suppressed to over range despite T3 only therapy. I have some blood results back and just wanted to post them to see if there was anything anyone could see which is meaning that when I try to raise T3 I don't feel good, and my heart goes too loud, or uneven (I do get episodes of tachycardic atrial fibrillation)
I have M.E and I'm currently on 55 MCG of T3 split into three doses, one of which is early morning. These are my recent blood test results:
TSH 4.68 ref 0.27 - 4.2
Free T4 1.2 ref 12.0 - 22.0p
Free T3 5.3 ref 3.1 - 6.8
Cortisone 552. Ref 73.8–50 7.0
see reactive protein less than 5.0 (normal)
Thyroid peroxidase Aunty-TPO antibodies 140 point reference range less Than 34.0
Magnesium 0.92 reference range 0.70-1.00
Vitamin B12 434 reference range 180-900
Folate 7.5 Reference range greater than 3.0
Ferritin 104 space space space reference range 15-300
Aunty-IGA TTG antibodies 0.5 reference range 0.0-10.0
Unfortunately the laboratory no longer does vitamin D testing and less for and pathology. But I started supplementing with the vit D and K-12 recently
I know the cortisol is slightly high, but I had a full saliva test before Christmas and bearing in mind my cortisol used to be on the floor all day most of the samples were at the high end of the range but only one was above range and not by a huge amount.
if anyone has any advice based on these results as to how I can raise my T3 without reacting, anything I can do to lower cortisol other than meditate, or any other concerns which could be interacting with my medication please let me know. Thank you very much
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sulamaye
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My first thought is Biotin. You’re not taking a supplement with biotin in it are you? It can do strange things to TSH results. Because like you, I’d expect your TSH to be suppressed on that amount of T3. And your FT3 levels aren’t especially low, so that doesn’t seem to be the explanation.
thank you for the idea. I have just checked the only two supplements I currently take, and they don't have biotin in them. One is pure magnesium malate, so I'm surprised my magnesium isn't higher. The other is a stomach acid supplement that the M.E nutritionist put me on for low stomach acid which was causing acid heart burn.
Regarding raising your T3, hmm. Tricky. What size are your T3 tablets? I think you’d probably have to raise by tiny increments so you’re probably looking at adding crumbs at a time, which isn’t easy.
I will be no help here really but always interested in people with heart issues to see what I can learn.
However not only is your T3 not that high, your T4 is on the floor, if I am reading that correctly 1.2 (12-22).
If you are doing well on just T3 I am not sure about where T4 levels should be? I know TSH is expected to be suppressed. As Jazzw suggests, possible interference with test is a possibility. First thing is to run another basic thyroid levels test only.
It’s a thorny problem with heart issues.
Paul Robinson suggests taking your T3 during the night to overcome both low cortisol during the night as well as overcoming issues with T3. It’s worth checking if you have not read his regimen.
Thanks, yes I was originally guided through T3 only by Paul, which is why I take an early morning eg 3am dose.
What's the thinking behind retesting thyroid panel? I actually had an nhs and a blue Horizonte test done at the same blood draw as I wasn't certain the nhs would do the t3, the lab has started refusing the endo in recent years. Both tsh and t3 were in agreement.
When you take t3 only you have very little t4 because you only have what your body makes and as there is lots of t3 available it doesn't think it needs to make much, understandably I think.
If biotin (or anything else) is the problem as Jazzw mentioned, both test results could be damaged by it, if the same blood draw was used for both tests. Hence the idea of repeating it, taking that into consideration.
Interesting about the T4. I suspected there would be an answer.
Further to the T3 and Paul’s advice on taking it through the night. You might still not be taking enough. This is tricky if you think the T3 has something to do with your undesired symptoms. I too have this knotty problem to confront. Frankly I am afraid to increase T3 when told to do so, for fear of making my symptoms worse. I am not taking any at the moment.
Luckily levo is still of some help to me. You are on T3 only therapy and it’s probably even more critical to get it spot on.
Hence my interest in your post. I am keen to see your replies. I will keep watching.
As i am not taking biotin it seems highly unlikely that my high tsh can be attributed to that.
It is far more likely that I am under medicated, especially as I have severe energy problems. The problem is that I can't raise my dose without a negative impact. That's why I wondered if anyone had any ideas about what could be blocking me from increasing the dose and alleviating tsh high and some symptoms. I know cortisol can interact, but I wanted to make sure nothing else in my test results was signifying an interaction that is stopping me increasing my dose.
If your body has lots of bio available T3 in the blood system the feedback loop is not going to demand t4 be made by the thyroid gland. T4 is simply precursor to T3 or Rt3. My understanding has always been that the 4th iodine molecule prevents the T4 from locking into the cells, it has to have the an iodine molecule removed to create T3 and therefore be able to lock into the cell.
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