Re: t3

[Guest guest]

> I just got the diagnosis today of hythyroidism and my physician

said my T3 was low but not a lot. He prescribed cytonel (sp.) I

just wonder if I should feel better and finally lose some weight.

Thank you.

_____________

There is a good chance that low dose T3 therapy will overly suppress

your pituitary and make you become even more hypothyroid. Hopefully,

you'll be lucky and this won't happen, but, if I tell you about

this, you will be less likely to be discouraged if things don't go

as you expect.

The thyroid makes about 4-1/2 to 5 grains of Armour equivelent a day

or about 333 to 370 mcg of synthroid a day or very roughly around

90mcg of Cytomel or T3 equivelent. Theoretically, when a person

takes thyroid hormone, the pituitary senses that and then adjusts

TSH down to tell your thyroid to make that much less. So, if you

take 5mcg of Cytomel, your pituitary is supposed to recognize that

addition and drop TSH if needed to tell your thyroid to make the

remainder, 85 mcg, or whatever your body needs for health. But, in

reality for countless people, low dose thyroid therapy can overly

suppress pituitary output of TSH and thus the thyroid does not get

the message to make enough hormone. You can then become even more

hypothyroid on low dose therapy than before it. It might have to do

with the fact that taking a pill, gives a spike in thryoid hormones

all at once and this shuts down the pituitary. The thyroid releases

hormone in tiny amounts all day, not in one big dose.

If this happens to you, then you will need to increase your dose

significantly to overcome the pituitary suppression. If your TSH is

not elevated right now, then I would say that you are a good

candidate for this sort of problem because your pituitary already is

not registering your low T3. Pituitary problems are very common in

hypothyroidism.

The other thing that can happen is that after a week or so, you will

develop hyperthyroid symptoms and may think you don't need it. This

is also very common. If thyroid hormone levels have been low for

some time, then it is very common to develop adrenal problems.

Crculating thyroid hormones determine the size and output of the

adrenals. So, low thyroid often leads to low adrenal function.

Adrenal hormnes are needed for thyroid to work and for thyroid

hormone to enter tissues. Thyroid builds up in the blood giving

hyperthyroid symptoms and you will also get high thyroid levels on

tests. But, you are still hypo or maybe more so because thyroid

cannot get into tissues to raise metabolic rate and burn calories.

So, if you increase the metabolic rate with thyroid hormone, it is

very easy to develop low adrenal problems as thyroid increases

demand on already weak adrenals. If this happens to you, it really

means that you probably need thyroid. A healthy person would not

develop these problems.

If you have this problem in within about 10 days, then you may need

adrenal support in the form of prescription cortef, or over the

counter IsoCort or Nutri+meds adrenal. Adrenal must be in balance

with thyroid ro thyroid cannot work.

Another that maybe you need to consider is that you may only have

adrenal problems and not a thyroid problem. If adrenal output is too

low Thyroid hormone T4 cannot be converted to T3 and thus T3 levels

will drop. So, if thyroid hormone makes you crash and burn and you

get bad hyper symtpoms, then you also need to consider that it could

be that you have adrenal fatigue that is slowing your thyroid

function and may only need adrenal support. In this case, you can

just do adrenal support for two weeks and then have thyroid tests

and if thyroid levels drop, then you will know that you have both

adrenal and thyroid problems. Adrenal support causes more thyroid to

be used up and if there is a thyroid problem, then the thyroid

cannot make the extra hormone needed for increased adrenal levels.

Lastly, a final thing to consider since you have low T3. You might

be low in selenium, chromium and protein levels or rather you may

need to really improve nutrition. The above nurients are especially

important for converting T4 to T3. So, if your enzyme system is

impaired by poor nutrition, you cannot convert T4 to T3 well and

thus will have a slowed metabolism.

My point is that I was so hopeful when starting thyroid therapy, but

found in the end that it is a complicated and very long process to

recovery. It seems so simple on the surface but the body is very

complicated. I hope you are lucky and it turns out simple for you.

Tish

[Guest guest]

Hi

Lets start with what the doc tested for and what the results were.

It would be best to first find out what caused you to be hypothyroid. Did the doc mention anything about Hashimoto's Thyroidistis or anything? Then go from there. Simply adding T3 (Cytomel), without determining what is going on to begin with, will only mask your symptoms and perhaps cause more problems down the road.

Can you post your lab results, with lab ranges.. so that we can see what he tested for and what things look like?

Then we can go from there, see what will help your body best to normalize all your thyroid hormones.. then you can deal with the weight issues.

Can you tell us what meds and supplements you are on?

You have to keep in mind that T3 is a very short lived hormone and if not taken correctly can cause you to surge and crash.. like a severe sugar rush gets you going and when it wears off you feel like crap.. I don't think that is what you want.. It would be a better idea to determine why the T3 levels are low and how you can improve them.

Correct T4 levels, avoiding Goitrogens (foods that cause thyroid hormones to not be affective), the correct supplements (like Selenium, which is used by the body to convert T4 hormone to T3 hormone.. the hormone that you've been told is low). Eating regularly every 3 to 4 hours and not skipping meals.

It seems really complicated to begin with and takes some time to figure out how your body is working.. but once you get the hang of it everything comes together and it's not nearly so confusing.

We're here to help you get it figured out and to get you feeling better, whatever that entails for you... so don't be shy about asking questions or just blowing steam.. that's all part of what we're all going through...

It might help if you understood a bit more about the hormones, the tests and the meds... When you have a bit of time we have a page set up on our web site that will give you a better understanding of the basics.

www.thyrophoenix.com/thyroid_101.com

A lot of docs aren't real good with thyroid care, it's up to us to understand it and know what is going on.. we'll help you with that.

Topper ()

On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 21:13:50 -0500 "" writes:

I just got the diagnosis today of hythyroidism and my physician said my T3 was low but not a lot. He prescribed cytonel (sp.) I just wonder if I should feel better and finally lose some weight. Thank you.

[Guest guest]

Hi

Lets start with what the doc tested for and what the results were.

It would be best to first find out what caused you to be hypothyroid. Did the doc mention anything about Hashimoto's Thyroidistis or anything? Then go from there. Simply adding T3 (Cytomel), without determining what is going on to begin with, will only mask your symptoms and perhaps cause more problems down the road.

Can you post your lab results, with lab ranges.. so that we can see what he tested for and what things look like?

Then we can go from there, see what will help your body best to normalize all your thyroid hormones.. then you can deal with the weight issues.

Can you tell us what meds and supplements you are on?

You have to keep in mind that T3 is a very short lived hormone and if not taken correctly can cause you to surge and crash.. like a severe sugar rush gets you going and when it wears off you feel like crap.. I don't think that is what you want.. It would be a better idea to determine why the T3 levels are low and how you can improve them.

Correct T4 levels, avoiding Goitrogens (foods that cause thyroid hormones to not be affective), the correct supplements (like Selenium, which is used by the body to convert T4 hormone to T3 hormone.. the hormone that you've been told is low). Eating regularly every 3 to 4 hours and not skipping meals.

It seems really complicated to begin with and takes some time to figure out how your body is working.. but once you get the hang of it everything comes together and it's not nearly so confusing.

We're here to help you get it figured out and to get you feeling better, whatever that entails for you... so don't be shy about asking questions or just blowing steam.. that's all part of what we're all going through...

It might help if you understood a bit more about the hormones, the tests and the meds... When you have a bit of time we have a page set up on our web site that will give you a better understanding of the basics.

www.thyrophoenix.com/thyroid_101.com

A lot of docs aren't real good with thyroid care, it's up to us to understand it and know what is going on.. we'll help you with that.

Topper ()

On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 21:13:50 -0500 "" writes:

I just got the diagnosis today of hythyroidism and my physician said my T3 was low but not a lot. He prescribed cytonel (sp.) I just wonder if I should feel better and finally lose some weight. Thank you.

[Guest guest]

Hi

Lets start with what the doc tested for and what the results were.

It would be best to first find out what caused you to be hypothyroid. Did the doc mention anything about Hashimoto's Thyroidistis or anything? Then go from there. Simply adding T3 (Cytomel), without determining what is going on to begin with, will only mask your symptoms and perhaps cause more problems down the road.

Can you post your lab results, with lab ranges.. so that we can see what he tested for and what things look like?

Then we can go from there, see what will help your body best to normalize all your thyroid hormones.. then you can deal with the weight issues.

Can you tell us what meds and supplements you are on?

You have to keep in mind that T3 is a very short lived hormone and if not taken correctly can cause you to surge and crash.. like a severe sugar rush gets you going and when it wears off you feel like crap.. I don't think that is what you want.. It would be a better idea to determine why the T3 levels are low and how you can improve them.

Correct T4 levels, avoiding Goitrogens (foods that cause thyroid hormones to not be affective), the correct supplements (like Selenium, which is used by the body to convert T4 hormone to T3 hormone.. the hormone that you've been told is low). Eating regularly every 3 to 4 hours and not skipping meals.

It seems really complicated to begin with and takes some time to figure out how your body is working.. but once you get the hang of it everything comes together and it's not nearly so confusing.

We're here to help you get it figured out and to get you feeling better, whatever that entails for you... so don't be shy about asking questions or just blowing steam.. that's all part of what we're all going through...

It might help if you understood a bit more about the hormones, the tests and the meds... When you have a bit of time we have a page set up on our web site that will give you a better understanding of the basics.

www.thyrophoenix.com/thyroid_101.com

A lot of docs aren't real good with thyroid care, it's up to us to understand it and know what is going on.. we'll help you with that.

Topper ()

On Tue, 16 Nov 2004 21:13:50 -0500 "" writes:

I just got the diagnosis today of hythyroidism and my physician said my T3 was low but not a lot. He prescribed cytonel (sp.) I just wonder if I should feel better and finally lose some weight. Thank you.