Guest guest Posted March 19, 2012 Report Share Posted March 19, 2012 In someone who has no thyroid problems, their thyroid will make T4 where a small percent will turn to T3, and it is the T3 that the cells (of all your body) need to function properly. When the body starts to become dysfunctional due to lack of thyroid hormone in the cells there can be many reasons. It is always best to start with the easiest to do and the easiest to deal with. You would not treat a headache initially with chemotherapy. You would try an aspirin first and only if that does not work would you investigate further. So first we look for a reason why the thyroid hormone is not being effective. That could be because certain lack of vitamins being absorbed or taken are causing the conversion to slow or stop. If that is all sorted and still there are symptoms then the GP should be looking a step further. It could be that all the person needs is a bit of thyroxine and they are fine. Both my sisters have been on thyroxine only and have been fine. I was on thyroxine only for ten years and was perfectly OK before something else went wrong. So that is why we say T3 to be the last resort. As to whether T3 alone or Armour is better is just a matter of how your body reacts to them. A person with nothing wrong gets all the thyroid hormone from their own thyroid. If the thyroid hormone is lacking then it needs to be supplemented or even replaced if no thyroid hormone at all. I eventually had to have some T3 with the thyroxine. I was fine on that. However I was getting it from a private doctor which was costing me a lot of money. I found that it was cheaper for me to get Armour (in roughly the same ratio of T4/T3 in it as I was taking separately) so I tried this and it worked just as well for me. Had it not, then I would go one step further and try the T3 only, but Armour works for me so I have stopped with what my body is happiest taking. Lilian T3 only confused Hi please excuse my ignorance i am very new to all this,can anyone please explain to me on the forum why people say (as a last resort take T3)is it a bad thing to be on T3 ONLY,or if through choice would it bo Armour or T3 only,i am on T3 only but only been on it 5days 1x10mgs and working up to 3x10mgs over a 3week span, i think i could get Armour of my endo what would be best Many thanks Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic Messages in this topic (1) Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hi Ann, No , it is not a bad thing to be on T3 only. Our body runs on T3, levothyroxine (T4) is a mainly inactive thyroid hormone that has to convert to the ACTIVE T3. T3 is needed by every cell in your body and brain to make them function. However, for the majority of folk, they do fine on T4-only, because they don't have a problem with conversion or cellular reception. However, for others, T4 makes insufficient T3, so they need to add some to their T4, either synthetic or natural thyroid extract. Natural thyroid extract is great, because it also has other 'active' thyroid hormones, i.e. T2 and T1, plus calcitonin for the bones, and other unspecified enzymes. If these don't work, or if you have Reverse T3, then you need to take T3 only. In your case Ann, I think it was shown that you were pretty low in free T3 and in dire need of this active thyroid hormone, so give it a go, and see how you get on before deciding whether or not you want to experiment with natural thyroid extract. As your dose of T3 increases, you might want to try using the Circadian T3 Method which you can read about in 's Book 'Recovering with T3'. The process is simple: a) you take the starting dose 1.5 - 2 hours before you get up. you assess temperature, heart rate and blood pressure (you need a meter) and symptoms over the following few days. c) if the results aren't enough then you move the dose back by half and hour. d) repeat b+c until the dose gets to four hours before you get up but no more. e) if the results aren't enough then you go back to 1.5-2 hours before you get up with a little more T3 - 2.5-5 mcgs extra and repeat a-d. f) the adrenals respond very quickly but then they continue to respond to some degree over several weeks - so you need to allow more time for response when fine-tuning. It is like having a dial on the adrenals - turn them up or down. Neat! You have to track BP. The results can be so potent in driving adrenal performance up that it can send blood pressure and blood sugar up. Hope this helps Luv - Sheila Hi please excuse my ignorance i am very new to all this,can anyone please explain to me on the forum why people say (as a last resort take T3)is it a bad thing to be on T3 ONLY,or if through choice would it bo Armour or T3 only,i am on T3 only but only been on it 5days 1x10mgs and working up to 3x10mgs over a 3week span, i think i could get Armour of my endo what would be best Many thanks No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2012.0.1913 / Virus Database: 2114/4879 - Release Date: 03/18/12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hi Sheila,a big thank you again for being so-so very helpful in explaining things to me.Luv Ann > > Hi Ann, No , it is not a bad thing to be on T3 only. Our body runs on T3, > levothyroxine (T4) is a mainly inactive thyroid hormone that has to convert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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