Guest guest Posted February 8, 2011 Report Share Posted February 8, 2011 Hi Margaret, T4 is a storage hormone which can stay in the blood for weeks, it is a pro hormone so isn't actually active, and when energy is needed it is converted, mainly by the liver, into t3. If you have a regular supply of T3 then you have no need to convert T4 into t3 so there seems little point in building up the t4 stocks. However, if you don't take t3 for one reason or another, then you will have no stocks of t4 to draw on. But if you can't convert the t4 into t3 then still no point in having a store. I do belive Dr Lowe has not taken T4 for years and survives quite happily on T3 only. (Someone please correct me if I got the wrong doctor) Your friends swelling neck and collapse could be due to any number of things but I wouldn't have thought it would be attributable to a lack of T4, x > > Hi > > A friend of mine was on T4 but it didn't do that much for her and on my recommendation she asked her GP for T3. She is now on T3 (she takes 3 pills per day 60mcg?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Hi , Thanks for the reply and I hope you are keeping well. I get worried because I know her GP is on a bit of a learning curve! I might add that I am now on 50mcg T4 and 10mcg T3 and I do feel much better. Trouble is I have forgotten what it feels like to be normal! 10 years have passed since I probably was 'normal' so any symptoms I have now are probably normal for my age! My GP insists on keeping an eye on my blood pressure which thankfully is good. I am having blood tests on the 25th so will know better how the old thyroid is going on. I may have mentioned a few months ago that the registrar thought I had a goitre. When I saw the consultant he thought not and advised having a scan. After having to ring up to ask what had happened to the appointment for the scan and being told nothing, I eventually had one and was found to be clear. I was told that my thyroid looks faint. Not surprised really! > > Hi Margaret, > > T4 is a storage hormone which can stay in the blood for weeks, it is a pro hormone so isn't actually active, and when energy is needed it is converted, mainly by the liver, into t3. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Margaret, Good that her doctor is prepared to learn, she should hang on to him. I'm not surprised you feel better with some T3, we were never designed to run on a storage hormone alone. When it's working ok the thyroid does make some t3 as well as T4. Once you're on Levothyroxine, this easily available supply of T3 is lost, to be replaced with T3 which we have to make from T4 all of the time.... This is why all the factors which help conversion and uptake (D3, iron, copper, zinc, B12 etc) have to be so exactly right if we are to survive on T4 alone. Your doctor obviously has a bee in his bonnet about the bp... just humour him x > > Hi , > > Thanks for the reply and I hope you are keeping well. > > I get worried because I know her GP is on a bit of a learning curve! > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 9, 2011 Report Share Posted February 9, 2011 Hi Margaret, Some folk do fine on T3 only- that's one of the problems with this condtion, one size does not fit all. Before this doc gave her T3 it would have been advisable to check her adrenals were up to it, as well as the usual vits and minerals that are vital for thyroid function. > thyroid treatment > From: margaretp09@...> Date: Tue, 8 Feb 2011 20:51:31 +0000> Subject: T3 only?> > Hi> > A friend of mine was on T4 but it didn't do that much for her and on my recommendation she asked her GP for T3. She is now on T3 (she takes 3 pills per day 60mcg?) but NO T4. She has recently collapsed and her neck swells intermittently. Her GP admits that he is learning himself about the condition but researched T3 prior to prescribing it. He has spoken to a specialist recently and he will probably give her a mixture of T4 and T3.> > Surely she should have been taking T4 too shouldn't she? Is her health in danger and should she see her doctor again sooner rather than later and get T4 again?> > Margaret> > > > ------------------------------------> > TPA is not medically qualified. Consult with a qualified medical practitioner before changing medication.> > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2011 Report Share Posted February 11, 2011 Hi , Thanks for this. I doubt very much whether T3 or anything else was tested. They just don't do that do they? I had to do my T3 privately. Will let you know what the upshot is! Margaret > > > Hi Margaret, > Some folk do fine on T3 only- that's one of the problems with this condtion, one size does not fit all. Before this doc gave her T3 it would have been advisable to check her adrenals were up to it, as well as the usual vits and minerals that are vital for thyroid function. > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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