Guest guest Posted December 4, 2011 Report Share Posted December 4, 2011 Nope , your free T4 result is 22.2 in the range of 10 to 26. This is too high, it shows the thyroxine isn't converting to the T3 and you are getting symptoms of toxicity. You need to lower your thyroxine until you get your free T3 results, which are taking an awfully long time. They should have come back the same time as your free t4 - but I bet the laboratory has not done them. Phone the surgery tomorrow and ask if they have yet come back, and if not, ask them to telephone the hospital to find out where they are. Get the number and the reference range and let us know what it is. If this was me, I would be stopping the thyroxine for a couple of days, and if you are taking any form of T3, tell us how much and whether you split the dose throughout the day. If the doctor tells you your fT3 results are not back, I would actually telephone the hospital pathology department myself and ask for them over the phone. Nobody can withhold any information that is in your medical records under the Data Protection Act 1998. Luv - Sheila Hi all Over the last three weeks I haven't been feeling myself at all, I am snappy and enotionally all over the place and feel in a trance my eyes are also puffy on the lids and I feel dizzy randomly through out the day. I used to suffer from constipation for years that's gone . I am still waiting on my t3 results but basically I'm all over the place emotionally , my t3 result is 22.2 and the range is 10 to 26 the result was done a week after the birth of my daughter so this could of changed, I'm trying to get me t3 result back and it's been impossible so far and have been waiting for 3 weeks. I know it's hard to tell without my t3 result but if anyone has any advice it would really help x x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Sheila what would everyone do without you I will get bk on the case , before my pregnancy I was raking 30 of t3 then when I got pregnant in my 5th month my t3 went very high so I reduced my t3 to 25 and I have since kept it as that. I will reduce my t4 as of tomorrow and il go for a re test of t3 tomorrow before I increase my t3. Il ring the hospital now. What should be t4 level and t3 level be ? Thanks x > > Nope , your free T4 result is 22.2 in the range of 10 to 26. This is > too high, it shows the thyroxine isn't converting to the T3 and you are > getting symptoms of toxicity. Old messages deleteted by moderator (sigh!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Your free T4 level when taking T4 AND T3 should not be high, because most of it should have converted to the active T3, but the free T3 should be in the upper third of the reference range. As stated before, a high free T4 shows it is not converting so is causing your symptoms of toxicity and that is probably why you are feeling so lousy. Luv - Sheila I will get bk on the case , before my pregnancy I was raking 30 of t3 then when I got pregnant in my 5th month my t3 went very high so I reduced my t3 to 25 and I have since kept it as that. I will reduce my t4 as of tomorrow and il go for a re test of t3 tomorrow before I increase my t3. Il ring the hospital now. What should be t4 level and t3 level be ? Thanks x _,_._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 It's so funny years ago I was on a lot more t4 I think correct me if I am wrong but my theory is over the past 3 months I've been on my iron tablets and b12 injections could this be making my thyroid more efficient therefore not needing as much t4, I'm sure I've read a post that someone also reduced there t4 meds when on b12 injections. I decided to stick with the iron tablets as I had ferritin tested when I had my thyroid done and it was still only 50 when it should be at. Level between 70 to 90. For the past 4 years looking at my results Its never got above 20. I use the gental iron from solgar they don't have the nasty side effects. x > > Your free T4 level when taking T4 AND T3 should not be high, because most of > it should have converted to the active T3, but the free T3 should be in the upper third of the reference range. [Ed] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 5, 2011 Report Share Posted December 5, 2011 Are you taking high doses of vitamin C with your iron ? You should be taking between 3000 and 4000mgs (or to bowel tolerance) to help with absorption and you should not be taking it anywhere near to your thyroid hormone replacement. It should be taken four hours apart. Yes, low levels of iron stop the thyroid hormone from being properly utilised at the cellular level and this is why the level has to be increased through supplements. Once your iron starts to build up, then your thyroid hormone works more efficiently, so it is quite possible you will need less. Luv - Sheila It's so funny years ago I was on a lot more t4 I think correct me if I am wrong but my theory is over the past 3 months I've been on my iron tablets and b12 injections could this be making my thyroid more efficient therefore not needing as much t4, I'm sure I've read a post that someone also reduced there t4 meds when on b12 injections. ,_._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hisheila I do no take any vit c with iron but il make sure I get some today Re my t4 level as I don't convert t4 into t3 should this be as high as it can be as I take t3 Thanks x > > Are you taking high doses of vitamin C with your iron ? You should be > taking between 3000 and 4000mgs (or to bowel tolerance) to help with > absorption and you should not be taking it anywhere near to your thyroid > hormone replacement. It should be taken four hours apart. > > Yes, low levels of iron stop the thyroid hormone from being properly > utilised at the cellular level and this is why the level has to be increased > through supplements. Once your iron starts to build up, then your thyroid > hormone works more efficiently, so it is quite possible you will need less. > > Luv - Sheila > > > > > > > > It's so funny years ago I was on a lot more t4 I think correct me if I am > wrong but my theory is over the past 3 months I've been on my iron tablets > and b12 injections could this be making my thyroid more efficient therefore > not needing as much t4, I'm sure I've read a post that someone also reduced > there t4 meds when on b12 injections. > > > > > ,_._,___ > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 I also have T4 at the top of the range. I'm not aware of any toxicity symptoms, but how would I tell? I have so many symptoms anyway. My question is, if someone is not taking any thyroid medication and the TSH is high, is it possible to be producing so much of your own T4 that it creates toxicity? Miriam > Nope , your free T4 result is 22.2 in the range of 10 to 26. This is too high, it shows the thyroxine isn't converting to the T3 and you are getting symptoms of toxicity. You need to lower your thyroxine until you get your free T3 results, which are taking an awfully long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 6, 2011 Report Share Posted December 6, 2011 Hi Sheila I've been chasing my t3 result all day and they have been lost. O have to go in for a re blood I have cOmplaibed as I spend my life chasing my results. I have reduced my t4 a Tiny bit but I'm not to sure if I should increase my t3 dose to 30 which I was on pre pregnancy. x > > Nope , your free T4 result is 22.2 in the range of 10 to 26. This is too high, it shows the thyroxine isn't converting to the T3 and you are getting symptoms of toxicity. You need to lower your thyroxine until you get your free T3 results, which are taking an awfully long time. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 If your thyroxine test result is at the top of the reference range, almost certainly it is not converting into the active thyroid hormone T3 Miriam and you would get symptoms of toxicity. Such symptoms can be the same as those for hypothyroidism and/or hyperthyroidism. Check out the symptoms in our web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk and click on 'Hypothyroidism' to find these and check yours against those. Also, read through the many associated conditions here that can stop your thyroxine from working as it should and go through each one by way of a process of elimination. It is quite unlikely that if your thyroid gland was naturally producing very high levels of thyroxine, that your TSH would be high. Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) is only secreted by the pituitary gland when it recognises there is insufficient thyroid hormone in the blood, so it pops along to nudge your thyroid into producing more thyroxine - that makes the TSH go high. When it recognises there is sufficient thyroid hormone in the blood, it has no need to secrete any TSH - so your TSH remains low, or even completely suppressed. There are MANY reasons and many medical conditions associated with thyroid disease that stop thyroid hormone from getting into the cells, where it does its work. I mention these over and over and over again - ad nauseum - people must be bored with the same old stuff, but as each new member joins us, they need to know about these. The main condition responsible for stopping thyroid hormone from working is, quite simply, a patient’s thyroxine dose is too low because the doctor or consultant refuses to increase it, because the serum thyroid function test results appear OK. Sometimes, the thyroxine dose is too high, yet patients still don't feel well. They continue to suffer. Some reasons for this: They may be suffering with low adrenal reserve. The production of T4, its conversion to T3, and the receptor uptake requires a normal amount of adrenal hormones, notably, of course, cortisone. (Excess cortisone can shut production down, however.) This is what happens if the adrenals are not responding properly, and provision of cortisone usually switches it on again. But sometimes it doesn’t. If the illness has been going on for a long time, the enzyme seems to fail. This conversion failure (inexplicably denied by many endocrinologists) means the thyroxine builds up, unconverted. So it doesn’t work, and T4 toxicosis results. This makes the patient feel quite unwell, toxic, often with palpitations and chest pain. If provision of adrenal support doesn’t remedy the situation, the final solution is the use of the active thyroid hormone, already converted, T3 - either synthetic or natural. Then, we have systemic candidiasis. This is where candida albicans, yeast, which causes skin infections almost anywhere in the body, invades the lining of the lower part of the small intestine and the large intestine. Here, the candida sets up residence in the warmth and the dark, and demands to be fed. Loving sugars and starches, candida can make you suffer terrible sweet cravings. Candida can produce toxins which can cause very many symptoms of exhaustion, headache, general illness, and which interfere with the uptake of thyroid and adrenal treatment. Sometimes the levels - which we usually test for - can be very high, and make successful treatment difficult to achieve until adequately treated. Then there is receptor resistance which could be a culprit. Being hypothyroid for some considerable time may mean the biochemical mechanisms which permit the binding of T3 to the receptors, is downgraded - so the T3 won’t go in. With slow build up of T3, with full adrenal support and adequate vitamins and minerals, the receptors do come on line again. But this can be quite a slow process, and care has to be taken to build the dose up gradually. And then there are Food allergies. The most common food allergy is allergy to gluten, the protein fraction of wheat. The antibody generated by the body, by a process of molecular mimicry, cross reacts with the thyroperoxidase enzyme, (which makes thyroxine) and shuts it down. So allergy to bread can make you hypothyroid. There may be other food allergies with this kind of effect, but information on these is scanty. Certainly allergic response to certain foods can affect adrenal function and imperil thyroid production and uptake. Then we have hormone imbalances. The whole of the endocrine system is linked; each part of it needs the other parts to be operating normally to work properly. An example of this we have seen already, with cortisone. But another example is the operation of sex hormones. The imbalance that occurs at the menopause with progesterone running down, and a relative dominance of oestrogen is a further case in point – oestrogen dominance downgrades production, transportation and uptake of thyroid hormones. This is why hypothyroidism may first appear at the menopause; the symptoms ascribed to this alone, which is then treated – often with extra oestrogen, making the whole thing worse. Deficiency in progesterone most especially needs to be dealt with, since it reverses oestrogen dominance, improves many menopausal symptoms like sweats and mood swings, and reverses osteoporosis. Happily natural progesterone cream is easily obtained: when used it has the added benefit of helping to stabilise adrenal function. Then, we must never forget the possibility of mercury poisoning (through amalgam fillings) - low levels of iron, transferring saturation%, ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D3, magnesium, folate, copper and zinc - all of which, if low, stop the thyroid hormone from being utilised by the cells - these have to be treated. As Dr Peatfield says " When you have been quite unwell for a long time, all these problems have to be dealt with; and since each may affect the other, it all has to be done rather carefully. Contrary to cherished beliefs by much of the medical establishment, the correction of a thyroid deficiency state has a number of complexities and variables, which make the treatment usually quite specific for each person. The balancing of these variables is as much up to you as to me – which is why a check of morning, day and evening temperatures and pulse rates, together with symptoms, good and bad, can be so helpful. Many of you have been ill for a long time, either because you have not been diagnosed, or the treatment leaves you still quite unwell. Those of you who have relatively mild hypothyroidism, and have been diagnosed relatively quickly, may well respond to synthetic thyroxine, the standard treatment For many of you, the outstanding problem is not that the diagnosis has not been made – although, extraordinarily, this is disgracefully common – but that is has, and the thyroxine treatment doesn’t work. The dose has been altered up and down, and clinical improvement is variable and doesn’t last, in spite of blood tests, which say you are perfectly all right (and therefore you are actually depressed and need this fine antidepressant). The above problems must be eliminated if thyroid hormone isn't working for you. Luv - Sheila I also have T4 at the top of the range. I'm not aware of any toxicity symptoms, but how would I tell? I have so many symptoms anyway. My question is, if someone is not taking any thyroid medication and the TSH is high, is it possible to be producing so much of your own T4 that it creates toxicity? Miriam > Nope , your free T4 result is 22.2 in the range of 10 to 26. This is too high, it shows the thyroxine isn't converting to the T3 and you are getting symptoms of toxicity. You need to lower your thyroxine until you get your free T3 results, which are taking an awfully long time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 , if you don't convert the mainly inactive thyroxine (T4) into the active T3, why are you even taking ANY thyroxine. Probably you are getting toxicity symptoms from too much T4 in the blood that is not going anywhere and this could be making your feel as you do. Luv - Sheila Hisheila I do no take any vit c with iron but il make sure I get some today Re my t4 level as I don't convert t4 into t3 should this be as high as it can be as I take t3 Thanks x > _,_._,___ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 7, 2011 Report Share Posted December 7, 2011 Thanks, Sheila. If toxicity can appear as either hypo- or hyper- then it's no wonder I haven't been able to tell what level of thyroid hormone I should take by symptoms. I guess I shall have to go by blood tests until they look OK and then see what my symptoms are doing. Miriam > If your thyroxine test result is at the top of the reference range, almost certainly it is not converting into the active thyroid hormone T3 Miriam and you would get symptoms of toxicity. Such symptoms can be the same as those for hypothyroidism and/or hyperthyroidism. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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