Thoughts on thyroid hormone resistance NOT caused by RT3

[Guest guest]

Hi

I've been thinking about the subject of thyroid hormone resistance and

want to bounce some ideas around.

My starting point on this journey was a 36C body temperature and a bad

dose of brain fog.

I started on Natural (at that time the JMI brand) around 10 years ago

and had to get up to 6 grains spread in 3 doses before I felt well.

Over the following 9 years I found I needed yearly increases until 12

months ago I was on 12 grains and functioning reasonably well. Armour

then reformulated, I crashed, came back to the Internet and found out

about RT3.

After a 3 month course of T3 only I cleared the resistance related to

RT3 and felt a lot better, I have continued improving since then while

staying on T3 only. I had to increase dose from my post clearance dose

and I am now functioning well with no hyper symptoms on a dose

fluctuating between 150 and 175 of T3 a day.

I don't have labs but I am sure my FT3 will be over range on that

dose. I have a temperature running slightly low still, typically

around 36.8 in the afternoon. I am sleeping well and generally feel a

lot better than I have for probably 40 years looking back.

My working theory for what has happened to me is that I have " tissue

resistance to thyroid hormone " from some unknown cause (probably

genetic, my mother was not diagnosed but I suspect she was hypo). On a

T4/T3 combination I needed a large dose to get enough T3 into me, that

led to excessive RT3 production from the excess T4, and caused

resistance to build up more, this time RT3 being the cause. Once the

RT3 had cleared I was then back down to my " starting level of

resistance " and need to take a dose of T3 that is considerable higher

than " average " to overcome that. If I ever took enough Natural or T4

to give me the amount of T3 that I need to function then resistance

would start building immediately.

For people like me who have tissue resistance from some other cause

apart from RT3 then " T3 only " is the only way of treating it that is

not going to lead to worsening resistance.

I suspect I am in an extreme minority and " most people's " resistance

is caused only by RT3 but it's worth bearing in mind that there are

more causes of resistance than RT3 and that all resistance may not

clear after RT3 is cleared. In that case an " above range " FT3 will be

necessary for them to clear hypo sysmtoms and temperature and pulse

rate remain the mosr reliable indicators of metabolic status.

Sorry this is a bit long but I am thinking out loud as it were.

Nick