Got a Reverse T3 test -- now what?

[Guest guest]

Hello Val,

I know it's been awhile since we wrote back and forth about my

problem on your personal email, but it took me

some time to get things squared away with my regular doc who

acquiesced to my request for an RT3. He also wanted to run a bunch

of other tests at the same time, so I'm going to give you those

results also.

To remind you of my back-story, I've moved up to 5 grains of Armour

since August 10th of this year, yet my temps still do not seem to

want to consistently level off. Hence your suggestion that I get an

RT3 done.

While I'm sure you're familiar with the ranges for these tests, I'll

include them just to have them here for anyone else who might need to

see them.

Here are my results:

RT3 - 39 -- high as range is 11-32

FT4 - 4.50 -- high as range is 1.10-4.20

T3 uptake - 42 -- in range of 32-48

T4 total - 10.71 -- in range of 6.09-12.23

TSH - <0.01 -- Low in range of 0.34-5.60

As you suspected my RT3 is out of range. While you did explain what

this shows, I'm still not sure what the ultimate meaning of this is,

where this leaves me, and what I should do. I'm sure this

traditional medical doc will want me to just get off Armour, as like

the majority of the traditional physicians, he doesn't really get

all this -- so I really need the help of your experience to guide me

in this area.

Strangely, I've noticed that I'm able to get by on less HC the last

couple of weeks. I'm taking 15-20 in the morning, and then needing

only about 5 four hours later. This seems like progress as I was

taking anywhere from 30 to 40 (pending my health) over the course of

the past year. I would of course liked to have nailed this Armour

dosage down, so that I could begin healing my adrenals and wean

myself off of HC altogether. This problem with Armour and my lack of

consistent temps is very discouraging.

One last symptom I want to mention is my blood pressure. Around

September of last year, I began writing to you on the old board about

my problems -- among the normal symptoms I was getting sick every

week with a day or two healing between, and my blood pressure had

risen from approx 120/80 to 150/87 within a week. That really

freaked me out. Tilly wrote back on the old board suggesting the BP

issue was secondary hypertension that was triggered by thyroid

issues, and that she had experienced the same thing. After getting

on board and moving up the dosages with Armour and HC my weekly

illnesses ceased, and my BP did indeed come down to normal levels.

Unfortunately by September of this year my daily BP shot up again.

I've been monitoring it several times a day (with my temps), and it

appears now that as I've begun to decrease my HC dosage that my BP

has dropped from the 150s range into the 130s. I'm wondering if this

is all connected, and mostly I'm wondering what to do and where to go

from here.

Thanks for listening to all this Val. I appreciate you time and your

assistance.