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Poll for People with Hashimoto's Who Have Taken LDN

While taking Low-Dose Naltrexone did you change your thyroid dose or type of thyroid treatment?

  • No, my dose and treatment remained the same.

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • Yes, I decreased my dose.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yes, I increased my dose.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Yes, I changed to a different medication or treatment.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I am currently taking T3 (liothyronine sodium).

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • I am currently taking T4 (levothyroxine).

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • I am currently taking natural dessicated thyroid.

    Votes: 2 40.0%
  • I am currently taking something else for thyroid (for instance: iodine, selenium).

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • I am currently taking LDN (low-dose naltrexone), but no prescription thyroid medication.

    Votes: 1 20.0%
  • I am currently taking LDN and a prescription thyroid medication.

    Votes: 3 60.0%
  • I am no longer taking LDN.

    Votes: 1 20.0%

  • Total voters
    5

picante

Senior Member
Messages
829
Location
Helena, MT USA
If you have taken LDN and you have / used to have Hashimoto's (high thyroid antibodies), please click on all choices that apply to you.

I'm a tad confused about which questions I should ask to get the information I want. So please give details in the comments if you have something to add.

I can't vote yet because my ND has just prescribed LDN for me. I talked to a pharmacist at Skip's, who told me that LDN addresses the actual cause of the autoimmune thyroid disease, instead of just throwing thyroid hormone at it.
 

daisybell

Senior Member
Messages
1,613
Location
New Zealand
I can't answer your poll as I have Graves rather than Hashimoto's but I have been able to stop my carbimazole since taking LDN (which is fortunate as I can't now tolerate it anyway!).
 

2Cor.12:9

Senior Member
Messages
153
If you have taken LDN and you have / used to have Hashimoto's (high thyroid antibodies), please click on all choices that apply to you.

Hi picante. I've been on LDN for 3 1/2 months and worked up to 4.0. I have CFS and Hashi's. LDN has helped with other things but not the fatigue. I had thyroid labs 2 months after starting LDN and my FT3 and FT4 looked good, but the Reverse T3 was very high. That means that the FT3 is not operating properly at the cellular level - I've read that LDN can help with high RT3 but I'll have to wait and see.

It's frustrating trying to deal with both CFS and Hashimoto's as they share so many of the same symptoms.

I take Synthroid and Cytomel and have slightly lowered the Synthroid hoping that it will help bring the RT3 down.
Here's a couple of links that might help:

https://www.nahypothyroidism.org/thyroid-hormone-transport/
http://www.ldnresearchtrust.org/sites/default/files/Dr Kent Holtorf LDN and thyroid dysfuncton.pdf[/QUOTE][/QUOTE]
 

picante

Senior Member
Messages
829
Location
Helena, MT USA
I've read that LDN can help with high RT3 but I'll have to wait and see.
I'd like to read about that, if you can find a reference. If not, don't worry -- I'm an expert web searcher.
I take Synthroid and Cytomel and have slightly lowered the Synthroid hoping that it will help bring the RT3 down.
A lot of people get high RT3 when taking thyroxine. How long have you taken it? The best way to keep RT3 down is to not feed it with thyroxine. T4 is needed to make RT3; you can't make it from T3.
It's frustrating trying to deal with both CFS and Hashimoto's as they share so many of the same symptoms.
Yes, and I find it's frustrating trying to deal with both Hashi's and the T4-to-T3 conversion problem. Apparently, we need glutathione for that conversion, and those of us with ME/CFS tend to have low glutathione due to methylation problems.
 

2Cor.12:9

Senior Member
Messages
153
i
I'd like to read about that, if you can find a reference. If not, don't worry -- I'm an expert web searcher.

A lot of people get high RT3 when taking thyroxine. How long have you taken it? The best way to keep RT3 down is to not feed it with thyroxine. T4 is needed to make RT3; you can't make it from T3.

Yes, and I find it's frustrating trying to deal with both Hashi's and the T4-to-T3 conversion problem. Apparently, we need glutathione for that conversion, and those of us with ME/CFS tend to have low glutathione due to methylation problems.

We also need Selenium for thyroid conversion. I just stated taking 400 mg. of Curcumin (the active ingredient in Turmeric) as it has so many great properties including anti-viral and anti inflammatory. I know it is powerful because my husband just started taking it for degenerative arthritis in his shoulder and the first night he was able to sleep on his side for the first time in ages. From all I've read curcumin's anti-inflammatory properties could help with fatigue and pain in CFS due to inflammation in the brain as well as inflammation in Hashimoto's. Here's an interesting article on that. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2637808/

Elevated Reverse T3 can be caused by any number of problems including CFS. Regardless of the underlying cause the mechanism involved it is a failure to properly convert T4 to T3 - it’s a thyroid hormone transport problem. The info below can be found on pg 31 of this link to a presentation called:

LDN and Thyroid Disorders Kent Holtorf, MD Holtorf Medical Group National Academy of Hypothyroidism

http://www.ldnresearchtrust.org/sites/default/files/Dr Kent Holtorf LDN and thyroid dysfuncton.pdf

Thyroid Hormone Transport pg. 31

•Conditions associated with reduced mitochondrial function, inflammation or immune dysfunction are associated with impaired thyroid transport

•Conditions include insulin resistance, diabetes and obesity;68,69,71,70,73,74,75,76,106 diabetes;69,73,74,75,76 neurodegenerative diseases;73,83,84,85,86,87) aging;73,74,88-100 chronic fatigue syndrome; 73,101,102 fibromyalgia; 73,103,104 migraines; 73 chronic infections; 73 cardiovascular disease; 73,99,104,105,108 and nflammation and chronic illness; 73,109,110,111

•Thus, standard blood tests can be very unreliable if any of these commonly occurring conditions are present and therapies that reduce inflammation (such as LDN) would be expected to improve dysfunctional thyroid transport.1-107
 
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