Thyroid: Therapies, Confusion, and Fraud (2)

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Years ago it was reported that

Armour thyroid, U.S.P., released T3 and T4, when digested, in a ratio of 1:3,

and that people who used it had much higher ratios of T3 to T4 in their serum,

than people who took only thyroxine. The argument was made that thyroxine was

superior to thyroid U.S.P., without explaining the significance of the fact

that healthy people who weren't taking any thyroid supplement had higher T3:T4

ratios than the people who took thyroxine, or that our own thyroid gland

releases a high ratio of T3 to T4. The fact that the T3 is being used faster

than T4, removing it from the blood more quickly than it enters from the

thyroid gland itself, hasn't been discussed in the journals, possibly because

it would support the view that a natural glandular balance was more appropriate

to supplement than pure thyroxine.

The serum's high ratio of T4 to T3 is a pitifully poor argument to justify the

use of thyroxine instead of a product that resembles the proportion of these

substances secreted by a healthy thyroid gland, or maintained inside cells.

About 30 years ago, when many people still thought of thyroxine as " the

thryoid hormone, " someone was making the argument that " the thyroid

hormone " must work exclusively as an activator of genes, since most of the

organ slices he tested didn't increase their oxygen consumption when it was

added. In fact, the addition of thyroxine to brain slices suppressed their

respiration by 6% during the experiment. Since most T3 is produced from T4 in

the liver, not in the brain, I think that experiment had great significance,

despite the ignorant interpretation of the author. An excess of thyroxine, in a

tissue that doesn't convert it rapidly to T3, has an antithyroid action. (See Goumaz,

et al, 1987.) This happens in many women who are given thyroxine; as their dose

is increased, their symptoms get worse.

The brain concentrates T3 from the serum, and may have a concentration 6 times

higher than the serum (Goumaz, et al., 1987), and it can achieve a higher

concentration of T3 than T4. It takes up and concentrates T3, while tending to

expel T4. Reverse T3 (rT3) doesn't have much ability to enter the brain, but

increased T4 can cause it to be produced in the brain. These observations suggest

to me that the blood's T3:T4 ratio would be very " brain favorable " if

it approached more closely to the ratio formed in the thyroid gland, and

secreted into the blood. Although most synthetic combination thyroid products

now use a ratio of four T4 to one T3, many people feel that their memory and

thinking are clearer when they take a ratio of about three to one. More active

metabolism probably keeps the blood ratio of T3 to T4 relatively high, with the

liver consuming T4 at about the same rate that T3 is used.

Since T3 has a short half life, it should be taken frequently. If the liver

isn't producing a noticeable amount of T3, it is usually helpful to take a few

micorgrams per hour. Since it restores respiration and metabolic efficiency

very quickly, it isn't usually necessary to take it every hour or two, but

until normal temperature and pulse have been achieved and stabilized, sometimes

it's necessary to take it four or more times during the day. T4 acts by being

changed to T3, so it tends to accumulate in the body, and on a given dose,

usually reaches a steady concentration after about two weeks.

An effective way to use supplements is to take a combination T4-T3 dose, e.g.,

40 mcg of T4 and 10 mcg of T3 once a day, and to use a few mcg of T3 at other

times in the day. Keeping a 14-day chart of pulse rate and temperature allows

you to see whether the dose is producing the desired response. If the figures

aren't increasing at all after a few days, the dose can be increased, until a

gradual daily increment can be seen, moving toward the goal at the rate of

about 1/14 per day

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