I am now dignosed as not being able to convert so have been put onto t3 only. Have built to 2.5 tablets daily and have stayed on this since December 2012. Dr P recommends v slow increases but I still feel confused despite reading everything I can find.
My brain is so foggy that I can't necessarily understand what I'm reading and would so appreciate advice from someone who knows the score!
Sorry to be so nosy but how do you know you can't convert? :0)
Simon
Hi Simon
If daffydowndilly (fab name!) is similar to me...when on levo only, i had a high ft4 reading and a low ft3 (bottom of range) so lots of levo in my blood but as i was still very symptomatic , it wasnt being used at a cellular level as t3
K x
Oh I see. It's just that I've been on levo and ndt for a year now and still very much hypo/adrenal fatigue. Funny though, my last blood test last week was T4 at 11- lower than first diagnosed- and tsh 0.22. So I was wondering if a still low T4 was anything to go by. Dr P has told me to stop all thyroid meds for the time being.
Si
i quizzed everyone here about my results which were t4 6.0 (12-22) tsh 0.66 ft3 4.4 (4-6.8) because they too confused me....much lower than when first diagnosed...NBD suggested it was that i was taking enough thyroid meds to stop my own natural hormone production but i was not taking enough to stop symptoms , so under replaced. I am waiting for his next 'prescription'. I wonder why he wants you to stop yours?
Are you taking adrenal supplements?
well Dr P said on the phone Friday that its something to do with my HP axis. Its either shut it down or it was never working properly from the get go. Hard to say after the quick call. I really need to find out more on the next call. It'll be 5 days without any thyroid meds tomorrow so i'll call his office back. I'm not different, if not a touch better.
yes i am taking NAX and NA.
Hi Simon- I read Dr Peatfield's book enough to know I should see him. We began by sorting my adrenals which were in dire need of help. Then increased my t4 back up to what it had been but I was really unwell. He eventually diagnosed that I am someone who cannot convert and my horrible symptoms were due to too much t4 sloshing around my system. t3 is proving fine by comparison. Advice from others on here have shown that I need to gently increase my dose to feeling well.
All good wishes
Daffy
hi...what are you confused about specifically? its all a bit of a minefield isnt it? Dr P put me on t4/3 combo and small increases are absolutely necessary or you will experience tissue overstimulation/hyper symptoms. Are u going to raise by a 1/2 or 1/4 each time? i go by a 1/4 for 3-4 days, if no symptoms then up by a 1/4 again. Are u keeping good diaries? they will guide you
k x
Hi k-thanks for this info. I think I'll raise as you do and will start tomorrow. I keep an inadequate check on my temps due to seriously foggy brain-I've just experienced a 4th shingles episode so that may have an effect. I prepare my thermometer ready for the am. Then so groggy in am. & brain saying 'get to the loo asap' which I do, then realise I've messed up!!Hey ho!
R
Hi Daffy
Have just read your response to a comment above re adrenals. I hadnt realised about your adrenal status and Ive been reflecting on this and i would advise a slower rate of increase than what i said originally. If you increase more quickly you may find your adrenals suffer....which mine did after 2 weeks of increases. My temps, bp, pulse all dropped and i was back to square one! Dr P said to go slower as adrenals need time to adjust and respond to the increase in thyroid meds. Additional Adrenal supplemental support very important too...are you taking any? If not i can help you there.
The advise Dr P gave me was to increase by 12.5mcg per day for 2-3 weeks and see how it goes before considering another one. So i did temps,bp and pulse 3 times a day. If there were no sighns of adrenal issues or tissue overstimulation (jitteriness,fast pulse,hand tremors etc) then to increase by another 1/4. My doses i divide into 3 now as i find a reduction in the peak n trough affect. Hope this helps a bit. I dont want you ending up back at square one ...like i did!!
Karen x x
Thank you so much Karen for this informative message. Really useful and clear. Have just started the increase this am 12.5mcg.
My adrenals are well supported by Nutri. I'm built up to 8 per day as requested by DrP and feel so much better. I was delighted to find when redoing the eye test in the dark-torch by side of eye- to see no flickering of pupil! Great. But I know I'm getting better.
Thanks again. Keep warm!
Rosemary x
You may probably still be undertreated. Normally you increase by a small amount about every 4 to 6 weeks until you feel better.
These are a couple of excerpts from Dr Lowe and I know you are nowhere near 100mcg of T3 but it is very individual and some need much less.
For someone taking 100 mcg of T3, we expect your pattern of lab results—a low TSH and high T3. However, your TSH and T3 levels are irrelevant to whether you're overstimulated or not. Two studies we just completed confirm other researchers findings: these tests are not reliable gauges of a patient's metabolic status. Many patients taking T3 have TSH and T3 levels like yours but still have severely low metabolic rates. Their metabolic rates become normal only when they increase their dosages further. Their metabolic rates become normal and they have no detectable overstimulation.
and
Over the years, we've found that some patients’ low basal temperatures don't increase, or don't increase much, despite them fully recovering from their hypothyroid symptoms by using T3 or Armour Thyroid. Molecular and physiological principles lead me to a conjecture about the persisting low temperatures of these patients. We all have enzyme systems that maintain core body temperature by causing cellular energy to escape as heat. Thyroid hormone regulates the production of these heat-regulating enzymes. The enzymes decrease in hypothyroidism, leaving most patients colder. When the patients undergo effective thyroid hormone therapy, the enzymes increase and, in turn, so does the patients’ body heat.
But the patient whose basal temperature doesn’t increase with effective thyroid hormone therapy is presumably different at the genetic level
web.archive.org/web/2010122...
and
I hope the explanation will make one thing clear: that overall, only two reactions of the body to plain T3 might, by a stretch, be interpreted as physiological instability: (1) the short-lived peak in the blood T3 level, and (2) a slight speed up of the heart rate. In most patients, neither of these is of any clinical importance.
My research group has spent the past ten years studying fibromyalgia caused by thyroid hormone resistance. We have laboratory proof that about one third of the fibromyalgia patients we’ve evaluated and treated have thyroid hormone resistance. Our treatment results have forced us to a firm conclusion: For most fibromyalgia patients with thyroid hormone resistance, using plain T3 (as part of comprehensive metabolic rehab) is the only route to recovery. With the proper use of plain T3, 75% to 85% of these patients permanently recover. It will be tragic indeed if, despite our research findings, some resistance patients are blocked from taking this route to recovery by a well-intended but false idea that plain T3 is "a very bumpy road" to travel.
How can I see Dr P? Please PM me. Is he on the list Louise has?
I am high T4 but still symptomatic with T3 either bottom end of scale or below. Only see a T3 increase with a T4 increase but only slightly and this then means TSH is suppressed and T4 well off range (hyper).
Hi Hayface! I bought Dr P's book then arranged to see him. I believe he holds clinics in Surrey and Manchester. His details: Dr B Durrant-Peatfield MBBS LRCP MRCS Medics Cert. Nutritional Therapy (BCNH)
The Peatfield Clinic Ltd.,
16, Southview Rd.,Warlingham,
Surrey CR6 9JE
Tel:01883 623125
All good wishes
Daffy
Hi he also has a clinic in Malvern worcs x
I found that my T3 increases had to be done very slowly. Increasing every couple of days may be too quick.
Mine were done every 7-10 days, if I felt that was right. It's powerful stuff, don't forget that!
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