FT3 level crashed - due to inflammation?

[florasmate]

Hello everyone. First I want to say (again) what a brilliant forum this is, I'd be totally at sea without it.

I'm on 112 ug of Henning Levothyroxine.

My bloods in January were not too bad - TSH 0.88; FT4 55.8 % through range; FT3 54 % through range.

At the end of Feb I had an (as yet) unexplained and radical episode of inflammation Feb with a CRP of 71 (should be under 5). Meanwhile apart from the pelvic pain and bloating I'd been feeling, my energy levels dropped through the floor and I started getting night sweats (passed now) which i'd never had before.

I had another blood test on 12th march which showed CRP has dropped to 20 - but T3, T4 and TSH results were all wayward as follows.

TSH - 2.06 (0.27 - 4.2)

FT4 - 1.3 (0.93 - 1.7)

FT3 - 2.3 (2 - 4.4)

The T3 has dropped to 13% through the range, by far the lowest since I've started getting tested in 2021.

Does anyone know if this be explained by the inflammation? I read about inflammation causing T4 to be converted to Reverse T3 instead of the active T3, does anyone know if this is short term or permanent? Is it a question of just waiting it out, or should I try taking some T3?

Any advice or experiences would be very reassuring.

Many thanks and best wishes to everyone.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You need full iron panel including ferritin

Ferritin will be falsely high with high CRP

So essential to test full iron panel

Also test Vitamin D, folate, B12

What vitamin supplements are you taking

Night sweats often low B12

[florasmate in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi SlowDragon thanks, yes ferritin came back as 229 ug with last results, it's usually around 90. I read that that's probably temporary and caused by inflammation.

I can get B12, D and folate tested again. I take those supplements daily as well as zinc, Vit C, Thorne multi B, I've started taking aloe vera (for gut) and re-stopped gluten for the past month or so.

Can you explain why you think iron is related to my circumstances - and what actually constitutes a full iron panel? I get really confused every time I try to read up on it :/

Thanks again for your reply

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to florasmate]

Your iron could be low despite high ferritin

You need good iron levels for conversion of Ft4 to Ft3

Test early morning, only water to drink between waking and test. Avoid high iron rich dinner night before test

If taking any iron supplements stop 3-5 days before testing

Medichecks iron panel test

medichecks.com/products/iro...

[florasmate in reply to SlowDragon]

Ok thanks 👍

[greygoose]

Do you have Hashi's? I can't find anywhere that has been mentioned in your past posts.

[florasmate in reply to greygoose]

I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's before I had thyroid scanned, but reading recent posts I think I actually have Ord's ... shred of a thyroid, not a goitre ...

[greygoose in reply to florasmate]

Same thing - same results, anyway.

So, the odds are that your FT3 didn't 'crash', but was falsely elevated to begin with, due to the Ord's. So, nothing to worry about, just the 'natural' order of things.

[florasmate in reply to greygoose]

Thanks for that. But - the FT3 has dropped 41% through the range in 2 months and I feel distinctly hypo ... Are you saying that Ord's has falsely elevated all my T3 results to date and now it's my 'normal'? I don't understand at all 🫤

[greygoose in reply to florasmate]

Well, I really can't comment on your other results because I haven't seen them all. Just saying that's a possibilty and sounds more likely that inflammation causing it to fall. But you do know how Ord's/Hashi's works, don't you?

[Mggirl in reply to greygoose]

I don’t know how Ords/ Hashi’s works and would love some details on subject.

[greygoose in reply to Mggirl]

OK, well, they are autoimmune disease, where your immune system tries to destroy your thyroid.

So, every so often it launches and attack on the thyroid and kills off a few cells.

These dying cells release their stock of hormone into the blood causing levels of T4 and/or T3 to rise sharply. I call this a Hashi's 'hyper' swing.

But, the high levels are only temporary. Eventually, the excess hormone will be used up/excreted and you will be hypo again - only more so because there will be less active thyroid tissue to make hormone.

With Ord's, the thyroid shrivels up like an old pea.

[florasmate in reply to greygoose]

I thought I had a grasp of the basics ha! But I've been following advice for Hashimoto's til now, is it basically the same advice with Ord's?

[greygoose in reply to florasmate]

Yes, it's the same. The only difference is that people with Hashi's have a goitre, and people with Ord's don't.

[Mggirl in reply to greygoose]

Thank you for the update. I was diagnosed with Hashi’s but I didn’t know there was 2 different kinds.

[greygoose in reply to Mggirl]

Well, not big differences.