New to board; trying to get better - high RT3, low ferritin, ETC

January 8, 2010

Hi everyone - I'm trying to sift through the 25,000 messages and think it's best

to introduce myself and situation, and get some feedback going.

Nutshell- had Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1996, rads killed my thyroid. Saw an endo

for 13 years who stuck me on levoxyl or synthroid and never explained anything.

all was fine until 9/08 when my hair started to fall out. (Of course, she

insisted that it wasn't falling out...it's the usual nightmare, I've since

learned. I've lost more than half of my hair....)

My recent journey has taken me through many docs, and in July I saw my first

holistic doc who was pretty crazy and slammed me on a high dose of Armour

without doing any bloodwork (she believed in treating to symptoms not to labs)

-- this was a total disaster; my hair fell out in handfuls, and I felt like I

was going crazy I was so hyper, so fast. Her response was that I must be

allergic to Armour and she put me back on levoxyl at 1.5x the dose I had been on

for a long time (150 mcg to 225 mcg). This was the low point.

Seeing a new doc as of Sept, who is great. She ran full labs and found that my

RT3 was the highest she had ever seen...and I started this quest for a " PhD "

in learning about this condition! I had never been tested for anything but TSH

and FT4 over the past 13 years.

Here is a snapshot of labs :

9/4/09

Ft4 1.96 range (.93-1.71)

TSH .042 range (.45- 4.50)

RT3 647 range (90-350)

Ft3 3.4 range (2.0-4.0)

Ferritin23 range (10-291)

We've been working with a combination of compounded T3, cytomel and levoxyl, and

I'm currently dosing at:

Levoxyl 75 mcg

CT3 35 mcg

Cytomel 5 mcg

I also just started on DHEA 25 mcg due to low testosterone (21, ref range

(6-82), and am taking Vit D (3000...whatever units) as that is also low.

Taking slow release iron with Vit C.

most recent labs :

11/20/09

Ft4 .92 range (.82-1.77) --this ref range changed between tests

TSH 2.6 range (.45- 4.50)

RT3 284 range (90-350)

Ft3 2.6 range (2.0-4.0)

Ferritin not tested range (10-291)

I still do not feel very well. I'm tired, my periods are terrible and although

my hair shedding slowed down a lot in late Sept/Oct., but I feel like it's

starting to get worse again. This is so distressing.

I am 48, have a stressful job in sales and travel frequently, and support my

stay at home Dad husband and 2 wonderful sons, 11 and 15. I have been a runner

since I was 20, peaking with a couple of marathons in 2002, and slowing down on

it due to arthritis and muscle pain. I started bikram yoga last year when all

the doctors prescribed " yoga " to stop my hair loss (such a crock....argh, makes

me so mad) and try to do both. Struggling with weight fluctuation too.

Nice to find this board. I'm sure I'll get into the rhythm of the posts, and how

to find information too.

Appreciate your time/thoughts.

(I am due for labs next week, and we're going to test Ferritin again to see how

that's looking.)

January 8, 2010

Welcome to the group! Here we use a ratio of FT3 to RT3 to know if you

stil have a problem wiht it and I can tell you that oyu DO stil have to

omuch RT3. Your ratio is 9.15 and need ot be at least 20 for you to feel

well. It si unlikly you will acomplish this while taking ANY T4 meds as

they are the precursors ot RT3 and by takign wnough T3 to supress any

production of T4 you will finally clear out all the RT3. BUT one thing

that wil lcontinue your problems and is possibly behind oyur hair loss

is oyur veyr lwo Ferirtin. Yo wilk most likly not tolerate enough T3 to

feel well until you bring this level up to 70-90 which si where most

hypothyroid folks feel well and their bodies cna utilize thyroid

correctly. Generally this takes 150-200mg of elemental iron daily and it

si stil pinfully sloew ( several months) to come up. But gradually as

oyu raise the ferritin you wil tolerate more T3 and more T3 will allow

your body to hold more ferritin an things wil start to improve.

--

Artistic Grooming- Hurricane WV

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RT3_T3/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HypoPets/

January 8, 2010

I'm sure there are many of us who would like the name of a good doctor in the DC

area!

> >

> > Welcome to the group! Here we use a ratio of FT3 to RT3 to know if you

> > stil have a problem wiht it and I can tell you that oyu DO stil have to

> > omuch RT3. Your ratio is 9.15 and need ot be at least 20 for you to feel

> > well. It si unlikly you will acomplish this while taking ANY T4 meds as

> > they are the precursors ot RT3 and by takign wnough T3 to supress any

> > production of T4 you will finally clear out all the RT3. BUT one thing

> > that wil lcontinue your problems and is possibly behind oyur hair loss

> > is oyur veyr lwo Ferirtin. Yo wilk most likly not tolerate enough T3 to

> > feel well until you bring this level up to 70-90 which si where most

> > hypothyroid folks feel well and their bodies cna utilize thyroid

> > correctly. Generally this takes 150-200mg of elemental iron daily and it

> > si stil pinfully sloew ( several months) to come up. But gradually as

> > oyu raise the ferritin you wil tolerate more T3 and more T3 will allow

> > your body to hold more ferritin an things wil start to improve.

> >

> > --

> > Artistic Grooming- Hurricane WV

> >

> > http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

> >

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/

> > http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/RT3_T3/

> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HypoPets/

> >

>

January 8, 2010