re taking T3

July 4, 2011

Hi

I have had an under active thyroid since age 21 now 47. The T4 had worked for me

until 10/12 years ago i got all the symptoms back, tiredness, sleeplessness,

dry skin, weight gain etc. I saw a specialist who said i was not absorbing the

thyroxine properly and needed more tests as my GP said all my levels were

normal. Decided to up my dose from 200mg a day to 250mg per day. He suggested i

may need 300mg per day but said see how you get on. After weeks i went to the GP

who refused to increase the dose as my tests again were normal. I have struggled

with tiredness for years, now my symptoms have worsened and the GP has suggested

i need anti depressents ( sorry spelling, it's late) for my low mood and

apathy.I have tried to take them but make me feel worse. I have again had a

THYROID FUNCTION TEST, normal again.

i am seeing the GP tomorrow and know i will be fobbed off again, i believe the

levothyroxine is not working for me , i have gained over a stone the past

year,GP says it is my age and to be expected!I am at the end of my tether and

was wondering if i can self medicate the T3 Myself.

I know the GP won't agree with me.Any advise welcome.I am new to this forum and

saw the mail story hence joining for more information.

July 6, 2011

Hello , give the GP one final chance to help find the

cause of your continuing symptoms before deciding whether to change your

thyroid medication.

First, write him a letter and send a copy to the head of

practice. Tell him that you are no longer prepared to put up with your

worsening ill health and that you are now determined to do everything you can to

find out the cause and ask him to please work with you.

First, make a list of all the symptoms you are suffering right

now, together with another list of your signs. These are what a doctor (or

anybody else) can actually see. Check these against those in our web site www.tpa-uk.org.uk under 'Hypothyroidism'

and then in the drop down Menu 'Symptoms and Signs'

Next, take your basal temperature for 4 or 5 mornings before

getting out of bed and if they are 97/8 degrees F (36.6 degrees C (or less)

list these. Low temperature shows the thyroid hormone replacement you are

taking is not working in helping your metabolism.

Next, ask for a full thyroid function test to be carried out

that will include TSH, free thyroxine (fT4), free triiodothyronine (fT3) and tests

to see if you have antibodies to your thyroid. These are TPO and TgAb.

Ask also that the following specific vitamins and minerals are

tested to see whether any of them are low in the reference range. These are :

ferritin, vitamin B12, vitamin D3, magnesium, folate, copper and zinc. In case

your doctor tells you there is no connection between these and low thyroid,

print off the attached and enclose it with your letter to show just some of the

references to the medical research/studies that show that there is. If any of

these are low in the range, thyroid hormone cannot be fully utilised at the

cellular level, where it matters, and you will need to supplement whatever is

low.

Next, ask for all the blood test results to be made available to

you when they are returned, together with the reference range for each of the

tests done. Doctors cannot withhold any information that is in your medical

notes under the Date Protection Act and Freedom of Information Act. Also, you

do not have to tell a doctor why you need these results - this is private to

you.

Next, ask for a referral to an endocrinologist of your choice which

you can be referred to even if the one you would like to see is outside of your

area, as most endocrinologists have their specialty in diabetes. Tell the GP

that you wish for a referral specifically because you would like a trial of the

active thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3) either in combination with your

mainly inactive thyroxine (T4) or T3 alone.

Last, ask for your letter of requests to be placed into your

Medical Notes, and keep a copy for yourself in case you need this at a later

date.

I would recommend that you get the 24 hour salivary adrenal

profile done to see whether you could be suffering with low adrenal reserve as

this too would stop the thyroid hormone from being absorbed at the cellular

level. You can find details about this test and discount by going to our Files

section 9accessible from the Home Page of this Forum web site) and on the page

that opens, click on 'Discounts on Tests and Supplements' and then open the

'Genova Diagnostics' File.

Luv - Sheila

From: thyroid treatment [mailto:thyroid treatment ]

On Behalf Of john.j.d.noble@...

Sent: 05 July 2011 01:02

thyroid treatment

Subject: re taking T3

Hi

I have had an under active thyroid since age 21 now 47. The T4 had worked for

me until 10/12 years ago i got all the symptoms back, tiredness, sleeplessness,

dry skin, weight gain etc. I saw a specialist who said i was not absorbing the

thyroxine properly and needed more tests as my GP said all my levels were

normal. Decided to up my dose from 200mg a day to 250mg per day. He suggested i

may need 300mg per day but said see how you get on. After weeks i went to the

GP who refused to increase the dose as my tests again were normal. I have

struggled with tiredness for years, now my symptoms have worsened and the GP

has suggested i need anti depressents ( sorry spelling, it's late) for my low

mood and apathy.I have tried to take them but make me feel worse. I have again

had a THYROID FUNCTION TEST, normal again.

i am seeing the GP tomorrow and know i will be fobbed off again, i believe the

levothyroxine is not working for me , i have gained over a stone the past

year,GP says it is my age and to be expected!I am at the end of my tether and

was wondering if i can self medicate the T3 Myself.

I know the GP won't agree with me.Any advise welcome.I am new to this forum and

saw the mail story hence joining for more information.

1 of 1 File(s)

LOW MINERALS AND VITAMINS AND THE THYROID CONNECTION.doc

July 6, 2011

Hi ,

I am really to sory to hear your story. It such a shame you are feeling unwell.

are you doing anythig different lifestyle wise that may affect this? Has anything happened that may affect this; such as high stressors etc?

My immediate reaction is that you are low on T3. The brain particularly likes T3 and indeed some psychiatrists now use T3 for some of their patients. I am not suggesting you need to see a psychiatrist but rather that your symptom of depression adn low mood is related to hypothyroidism and often low T3 levels.

I would say that your situation seems common; you do well on T4 for a while and then suddenly you dont.

It is important for us and for you obviously to know what tests you have had, what the results are and further what ranges the lab give or 'within range'. I fyou could give us this information we may be able to help a little more.

However as your appointment is looming ask your GP for details of your test results. Ask also for details of previous test results. (this may take a little while and would be sent to you at a later date). You may be able to spot a trend in the peace and quiet of your own home. So if the worst comes to the worse say to the GP you will agree to nothing (that is if you dont agree with him), but that you wish to take this information away and think about it as your thinking has become low too (another sign you may remind him of low thyroid hormone) and that you will return to another consultatio with him and discuss it further.

if however he is more gracious on this occasion then discuss with him the need to know that your body is converting the t4 supplement you ar taking to T3 (the activce form) therefore you really need to know your FT3 and rT3 blood levels.

I would try to list all of your symptoms for tomorrow. Take a list of hypothyroid symptoms from a site and highlight yours and add extra if needed and say how can he think they are not related to thyroid.

Is he overweight? If not then ask why you should be allowed to be overweight when there is enough written about how this affects once health. Say also that you do everything you can to watch portion size and type of food you exercise when you are able (not feeling exhauseted and your low mood allows). Ask him why he cant see the nose on his face if all your symptoms are hypothyroid but he wants to dismiss them in spurious way...? do let us kow how you get on...Say that you will not be fobbed off that you feel he is being obstructive to your good health.

Bestrong, dont be disheartened and more than anything believe in yourself that your are right.

Best of luck,

Sally xx

I have had an under active thyroid since age 21 now 47. The T4 had worked for me until 10/12 years ago i got all the symptoms back, tiredness, sleeplessness, dry skin, weight gain etc. I saw a specialist who said i was not absorbing the thyroxine properly and needed more tests as my GP said all my levels were normal. Decided to up my dose from 200mg a day to 250mg per day. He suggested i may need 300mg per day but said see how you get on. After weeks i went to the GP who refused to increase the dose as my tests again were normal. I have struggled with tiredness for years, now my symptoms have worsened and the GP has suggested i need anti depressents ( sorry spelling, it's late) for my low mood and apathy.I have tried to take them but make me feel worse. I have again had a THYROID FUNCTION TEST, normal again.i am seeing the GP tomorrow and know i will be fobbed off again, i believe the levothyroxine is not working for me , i have gained over a

stone the past year,GP says it is my age and to be expected!I am at the end of my tether and was wondering if i can self medicate the T3 Myself.I know the GP won't agree with me.Any advise welcome.I am new to this forum and saw the mail story hence joining for more information.

July 7, 2011

Hi Sally

you might be interested to read this - lot of info on that site about using

thyroid to control mood problems. only flaw with it is it's not indexed very

well. the site was created by a US psychiatrist

http://www.psycheducation.org/thyroid/details.htm

T4 acts directly on the brain, not just via T3

Generally it's taught that T4 thyroid hormone works by getting converted to T3.

This makes people wonder about the logic of using very high doses of T4. Why

don't you just give T3?

Well, as the diagram below (next section) shows, thyroid hormone actions and

regulation are extremely complex. But a new study (Caria, 2009) makes it clear

that thyroid hormone, in the T4 form, acts directly on the brain. Indeed, this

research shows that a region of the brain which seems to play a central role in

mood, the hippocampus, is directly regulated by T4. And T3 had the opposite

effects, acting more like epinephrine in this region. At least in rats.

==

chris

>

> My immediate reaction is that you are low on T3.Â The brain particularly

likes

> T3 and indeed some psychiatrists now use T3 for some of their patients.

July 7, 2011

Hi ,

I sympathize with you and I am in the same boat only I put on 2 and a half stone

in 6 months after an op in june last yr. I am really battling to lose the weight

but am only on 125mg a day and my GP will not increase it any more. He wanted to

drop it back to 100mg a day which I was on for over 18 mths with no difference

at all. Why do they have to be so difficult and add to the frustration of it

all......

Bridgette

>

> Hi

> I have had an under active thyroid since age 21 now 47. The T4 had worked for