Re: Effects of dosage shift in the weeks just prior to labs

[Guest guest]

The half life of T3 that you are mentioning has to do with once it's on the receptors.

If you take a T3 containing dose before having labs run the labs are going to show what is in your system from that dose. That's NOT what you want to see. What you want to see is how well you are converting. To see that you don't take a dose that 8 to 12 hours before the blood draw. Then the test will be showing the available T3 (Free T3) in the blood that has been produced by your body's conversion process from the stored T4.

If you're goal is to determine what dose of T3 containing med you need to subsist on then it doesn't matter.. you end up with the ebb and flow that I have. See.... I'm a lousy converter, hence the dosing every couple of hours all day long. I have to keep introducing T3 to my system in order to function.

If your conversion is working, at any decent level your goal, to my way of thinking, is to get your dose to the level that allows your body to store sufficient amounts of T4 in your tissues to allow your body to convert T3 as needed.

The theory in doing it this way is that your body is able to produce T3 as needed to meet your body functions as needed. That's going to be FAR more consistent that multi-dosing will be.... or.... on the other hand it will be easier on your body then intermittent levels of T3 available to fill those empty receptors.

The time frame for the T3 that you are taking and how long it's available to your system is that 95% of it has been either attached to T3 receptors or expelled from the body within 4 hours of taking it. From that point on your body is dependant on it's ability to convert stored T4 to available T3.

... and don't forget your conversion ability goes on to the other thyroid hormones too. If your body isn't able to convert sufficient amounts of T3 then it's not going to be converting enough T2 or T1 either.

Something to consider.

By skipping your Armour the affect to your labs had more to do with how your body was adjusting not just to the lack of T3 but that it also had lesser amounts of T4 to store... it's the accumulation of that T4 in the tissues and the shift by the body in the conversion rate resulting from the drop in T4 that would have had the impact on your labs.

My take on your labs, from what you showed, and my understanding of the chemistry of the hormones, is that your TSH reflects that your body isn't perceiving, yet, that it needs to kick the thyroid gland into gear (TSH, Thyroid Stimulating Hormone - review for newbies) and the low T3 is that 1)your conversion isn't so hot or 2) the level of stored T4 isn't sufficient to allow there to be enough for adequate conversion to T3.

What did your labs previous to this one show?

What are your current doses and for how long? (other than the skipping Armour)

Topper ()www.thyrophoenix.comwww.toppers-place.com

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007 20:19:19 -0800 (PST) Judy P writes:

And here's documented proof of the tyranny of the TSH. I got my labs today.

TSH 0.43 (0.40-4.10) Couldn't be more perfect right?

T4 8.8 (4.5 - 12.5) midrange - should be much higher with a TSH of ..43

T3 76 (87-178) LOW! This is the first time this has happened and a doctor actually

said the I wasn't converting properly - ya think! So she's keeping me

on the Armour and Levo combination and will look again in 3 months.

The only reason that she's not increasing is that I told her I had taken only Levo over the holiday season and hadn't taken my Armour for 2 of the 3 weeks before the testing.

Now, I have a question. If I take my Armour on morning X and then don't take it on morning Y - the morning of the labs, doesn't it stand to reason that my T3 will be low???? T3 has a halflife (if you want to be generous) of 1 day, so after 24 hours, I would be at least 1/2 low anyway wouldn't I?

Let me know what all y'all think.

But one thing is for sure. If she had relied only on the TSH, she'd say my numbers where 'normal' and some docs would worry that I was close to hyper... Judy