Repost of Topper's on Conversion & Selinium

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Repost of Topper's on Conversion & Selinium

Some of the story of conversion of T4 to T3

It's me.. the wordy one....

I take Selenium as a tablet... I'd like to take brazils... better, more

natural source.. but even if I had the bucks to buy them... I can't

find

the buggers in my area.

For conversion to work right.. to allow your body to make enough T3 you

have to have everything needed for the chemical process...

Enough T4 in your tissues, so that means having a dose large enough to

allow your body to store enough. Since we can't measure what is

actually

stored in the tissues we go by testing what is free and available in

our

blood.. the Free T4 test... if that level is high enough we stand a

decent chance of being able to store enough to be available to convert.

You need energy in the blood to make the conversion happen.. that's

were

the mini-meals that I talk so much about come in... small regular meals

that keep the energy levels in the blood consistent so that conversion

can take place continually. Skipping meals is the WORST thing we can do

for our thyroid recovery... if the energy level drops, conversion

stops!

Breakfast is HUGELY important.. it not only eases the burden on the

adrenals, it gives us the energy to kick off our conversion so that we

can function.

You need the selenium. Selenium is like a pair of pliers during

conversion. The Selenium molecule attaches to on of the four iodine

molecules that are in a T4 molecule.... then the energy in available

yanks that selenium molecule back which in turn yanks off an iodine

molecule... Not that T4 molecule, that was being stored, has been

converted to a T3 molecule that our body can use to do all the

marvelous

things that it does to keep us alive and happy and well.

T4 levels too low... not enough to convert

Not enough selenium in the system, can't convert

Not enough energy in the system, can't convert.

It all works together. If one part is lacking the conversion isn't

working on a high enough level to give is the active hormone, T3 to be

well.....

That same conversion process converts some of that T3 that was made

into

T2... that's used for metabolism..... and some of the T2 that was made

is

converted into T1... that's used for our brains.

For those of us that have 'broken converters' adding T3 allows the

conversion that we do have to work on the other hormones, T2 and T1...

and just top off what we need for T3....

200 to 400 mcg of Selenium per day is a good range... I take 400 mcg

most

of the time... taking amounts of 600 mcg and over, for more than 2

weeks,

can build to toxic levels and can be fatal... So you want to take

enough

to help your body, but not so much as to harm.

Selenium used to be common in the foods we eat. But the way that the

big

commercial farms work now, using chemical fertilizers, the soil is

pretty

much stripped of selenium.. Some folks say that the increase in folks

with thyroid problems might be linked to our diets being so poor in

natural selenium... Something to consider.

Two things to keep in mind when taking Selenium. First, if you take

anything containing vitamin C at the same time you take the selenium

you

MUST take it with food. Selenium and vitamin C will bind together and

become unusable if you don't. If you eat at the same time the selenium

is

able to 'hide' in the chemistry of the digesting food and doesn't get

stuck to the vitamin C and you get the benefit of both. The other thing

is the source of selenium when buying tablets... there is a whole

chemistry name thing involved.. one form of selenium isn't as easily

used

by the body.. so think of it as less efficient.. the other is used much

better.... think of it as more of it for the money you spent and the

effort you took to take it.... The easiest way, for me, to remember

the

good from the bad... the good is grown using yeast... So if the

ingredient label says that it includes yeast.. it's the good stuff.

How and when I choose to take the selenium is the same as I take all my

supps:

anything in a capsule that can't be split and doesn't bind with thyroid

hormone is taken in the morning

All tablets and caplets that can be split get split into four doses,

except for multi-vitamins, I split those into 8ths

Anything that binds with thyroid hormone or otherwise affects it

(calcium, iron, etc) is taken at night.

All supps are taken with a meal.

So my selenium is taken a quarter tab at a time, four times a day... I

have this theory that spreading stuff out gives us better absorption...

not everybody thinks that way... so it's okay to do it in one dose, I

just say how I happen to do it....

Topper ()