Higher prevalence of ‘low T3 syndrome’ in patients with CFS: A case-control study

[pattismith]

Being in a low T3 state could be very different from low T3 syndrome.
Found this when looking at adrenals - scrolling down to low thyroid function and it seens to be saying the same re hypometabolic state, but looks at it a little differently.
Not a scientific paper but i found it interesting
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....igue-and-low-thyroid-gland-function/5298/amp/

Yes I agree, and I regret that some scientific papers doesn't seem to make any difference between Low T3 state and Low T3 syndrome.

Do you have any links to these studies on Fibromyalgic patients by Dr. Lowe? I also wonder if he was only prescribing them T3, rather than a combination of T4 and T3 which might stymie the usefulness of the T3.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J425v02n02_04

 

[Sing]

https://www.tandfonline.com/keyword/Euthyroid

I found more of Dr. Lowe’s studies by following this link in the good article you shared above, @pattismith

Thanks!

 

[CFS_for_19_years]

https://www.tandfonline.com/keyword/Euthyroid

I found more of Dr. Lowe’s studies by following this link in the good article you shared above, @pattismith

Thanks!

Here are a few more of his articles and editorials:
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/doSearch?target=default&ContribAuthorStored=Lowe, John C

 

[pattismith]

I do have the low T3 syndrome….

16.3% of CFS patients of this group had fT3 below the normal range and were considered affected by the Low T3 syndrome.

Interestingly, from this paper about Myotonic Dystrophy , DM1 patients have decrease Free T3 level.
Hypersomnia and exercice intolerance are common symptoms in DM, so I wonder how many DM patients we may find as ME/CFS subgroup (2/63 Fibro patients were found to be actually DM2 affected...

 

[Aerowallah]

The study also says, "Additional analyses indicated that CFS patients had a lower urinary iodine status..."

Could a simple remedy for some here be increasing iodine intake?

 

[pattismith]

The study also says, "Additional analyses indicated that CFS patients had a lower urinary iodine status..."

Could a simple remedy for some here be increasing iodine intake?

Some people here tried iodine supplementation to increase thyroid hormones. It works, but be careful as they experimented hyperthyroidism + auto-immune thyroiditis on the long run (I did as well).
Your anti-thyroid auto-antibodies must be monitored regularly if take iodine.

 

[Aerowallah]

Thanks.

Did you mean to say everyone here who benefitted at first later developed auto-immunity on iodine supplements?

Even with doses under 1000 mcg one has to worry?

I've eaten salt-free (my bad) for 50 years, and I thought my CFS had vanished in seconds with a nascent dose of 500 mcg--and the calm energy lasted all day...But today it took 750 mcg to get the same effect. Should that tell me anything? Thanks again!


PS Just read this in Kresser--"It appears that iodine may only pose a problem for people with Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune thyroid diseases in the presence of concurrent selenium deficiency..."

https://chriskresser.com/iodine-for-hypothyroidism-like-gasoline-on-a-fire/comment-page-10/


PPS I've done more reading, and I think your succinct comment stands. I had fine thyroid numbers seven years ago after a virus triggered my CFS and I was hoping I was simply deficient in iodine. I guess I'll test for that while keeping an eye on antibodies. Rgds

 

[pattismith]

Thanks.

Did you mean to say everyone here who benefitted at first later developed auto-immunity on iodine supplements?

Even with doses under 1000 mcg one has to worry?

I've eaten salt-free (my bad) for 50 years, and I thought my CFS had vanished in seconds with a nascent dose of 500 mcg--and the calm energy lasted all day...But today it took 750 mcg to get the same effect. Should that tell me anything? Thanks again!


PS Just read this in Kresser--"It appears that iodine may only pose a problem for people with Hashimoto’s and other autoimmune thyroid diseases in the presence of concurrent selenium deficiency..."

If you do more research you will find the link between iodine intake and both auto-immune thyroiditis and hyperthyroidism. Kresser is wrong: I was not Hashimoto prior to take iodine, and I always supplemented Selenium heavily during my iodine intake. That said, it took 2 years to turn badly, so if you monitor your Thyroid hormones + anti-thyroid antibodies, it's ok.

When it happened, I switched to a very low iodine diet + lipoic acid and my thyroiditis calmed down within 5 months. I just stopped the diet one week ago, but my thyroid still needs to be monitored.

 

[Aerowallah]

Kresser talks about the success of low-iodine diets. But Izabella Wentz describes seronegative Hashis in which some 10-20% of hashis people don't present with antibodies, and for the rest antibodies can fluctuate daily and show normal depending on the day of testing and other circumstances. The more I read it does seem that one has to be pre-disposed to thyroiditis in some way, and viruses triggering CFS can pre-dispose one...

 

[pattismith]

Kresser talks about the success of low-iodine diets. But Izabella Wentz describes seronegative Hashis in which some 10-20% of hashis people don't present with antibodies, and for the rest antibodies can fluctuate daily and show normal depending on the day of testing and other circumstances. The more I read it does seem that one has to be pre-disposed to thyroiditis in some way, and viruses triggering CFS can pre-dispose one...

my auto-antibodies didn't fluctuate daily, they rose steadily during several weeks and then regularly went down during the last few months, making a very nice curve.

 

[Aerowallah]

Patti, during those two years how much iodine were you taking daily at the max?

 

[pattismith]

Patti, during those two years how much iodine were you taking daily at the max?

I was following the dose advised, I will try to find it

 

[Aerowallah]

That would be great to know. I'm trying not to stir up any autoimmunity with 250 mcg daily or maybe as much as 375, with good thyroid numbers on a three-year old test. Maybe pulsing a few months on a few months off would be safe, too.

 

[pattismith]

That would be great to know. I'm trying not to stir up any autoimmunity with 250 mcg daily or maybe as much as 375, with good thyroid numbers on a three-year old test. Maybe pulsing a few months on a few months off would be safe, too.

it was Iodio Puro from Dr Giorgini, from fucus
1 drop a day = 225 mcg iodine per day
Again I had a low thyroid syndrome (for years) before taking iodine + selenium, with no auto-immune thyroiditis, maybe some TPO antibodies just beyond the limit only ….

 

[Aerowallah]

Thanks, Patti.

 

[pattismith]

I have Fibro/ME for 35 years...

I was in this 16.3% ME/CFS subgroup with a low T3 syndrome in March 2018

Then 1.5 years later I got autoimmune thyroiditis and hyperthyroidism....

And now, 2 years later, I finally got the answer of all these issues: iron deficiency...

This subset of ME/CFS shouldn't have been so ill: a simple treatment with iron might have fixed their useless suffering.. .

I do have the low T3 syndrome, and I have read lots of scientific papers about it and found not any evidence of rT3 interfering with T3 activity, so I assume it is only an hypothesis, although quite a reasonable one.



0.1% lower is only a mean average drop of fT3, it does not mean much. It just mean that fT3 levels in CFS groups are probably very diverse, and that only a subgroup have low fT3. This is confirmed by the following sentence:

"FT3 below the reference range, consistent with the 'low T3 syndrome', was found in 16/98 CFS patients vs. 7/99 controls "

So 16.3% of CFS patients of this group had fT3 below the normal range and were considered affected by the Low T3 syndrome.

16.3% is not the majority of CFS patients, but it is all the same a rather important subgroup of patients, so I think it is important to screen it from the begining when the disease just starts.

The fT3/rT3 ratio may be more acurate to do the screening.