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thyroid results and looking for reverse t3 info

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
HI
i think i am hypo.. and here are my labs .. wondering if i need to treat RT3? thank you

1 ¾ GRAIN NATURETHROID. total dosing.. 20 mg HC

AM DOSE 38 mcg T4, 9 mcg T3- pm DOSE 28.5 mcg T4, 6.75 mcg T3

T3 TOTAL 93 ( 76-181)
T 3 FREE 2.9 ( 2.3- 4.2)
T4 FREE .8 ( .8- 1.8)
T3 REVERSE 19 ( 11- 32)
VIT D 1, 25 (OH) 2, TOTAL 50 (18-75)
VIT D3 1, 23 (OH) 2 50
VIT D2, 1, 23 (OH)2 <8
IRON TOTAL 126 ( 40-175)
% TRANSFERRIN SAT 38 ( 15-50)
TOTAL BINDING CAP 333 ( 250-450)
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
If you follow the proponents of the RT3 group that is loosely based on Holtorf's research, then yes, you have an RT3 problem. Your RT3 ratio is 15 and should be greater than 20 for good conversion of T4 to T3. Those groups would say that you should do T3 only treatment for a period of time to clear out the receptors and allow the active thyroid hormone to work.

However, that theory is pretty hotly contested so you will have to make your own decision about whether or not you think T4 is important. I did T3 only for about 18 months and now do NTH. That is a better choice for me but everyone is different. I know many people that do well on T3 only and very few that do well on T4 only.

Had you taken your AM dose of thyroid when these labs were drawn?

Your iron looks pretty good. Your TIBC is still high though which indicates that your body is still able to use more iron. Are you supplementing?

I think your vitamin D levels look pretty good. I am no longer a fan of megadosing vitamin D.
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
thanks Ema.. i am confused about the T3 only.. i tried it before and the cytomel seems to make me feel kinda depressed.. i even have a generic cytomel.. i tried added cytomel to the NDT and felt depressed..at first i felt good then after a few days heavy depression.. .
no i had not taken my AM dose when these labs were drawn..
i am supplimenting with iron.. it has taken some work to get my saturation up from 22% to where it is now..
vit D is with supplimenting 10,000 iu.. that seems like a mega dose.. latly i have only been taking that a few time s a week instead of daily..
thanks for the feedback.. i am not sure what direction to turn.. my thryoid numbers were overall better BEFORE Hotltrof started me on their thyroid prototcol..... now i can't afford to see them and i seem to be getting worse over the past 2 years.. maybe i just need to increase the NDT... and give it more time- i dont seem to be able to well tolerate any of the synthetic meds anyway.. very sensitive.
c
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
also high rt3 can be a sign of increased stress from whatever cause and is a way your body slows it metabolism to try and recover. Sometimes it improves when treating the specific stress ie infection but sometimes your stuck in a high rt3 situation after the stress is gone, t3 treatment seems to help then. I would try to fix sleep, immune system, adrenal fatigue etc first and see if rt3 improves???
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
been working on the stress sleep immune and adrenal issues/support for over 2 years.. and still high RT3.. infact when i first had it testing i was working and under alot stress ..sick all the time.. now i have been on medical leave for 2 yaers..which is stressfull.but hte body gets alot more rest.. thanks!
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
been working on the stress sleep immune and adrenal issues/support for over 2 years.. and still high RT3.. infact when i first had it testing i was working and under alot stress ..sick all the time.. now i have been on medical leave for 2 yaers..which is stressfull.but hte body gets alot more rest.. thanks!
Treating the actual stress is the golden goose, just got to find that dam goose.
Are dhea and cortisol levels normal?
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
i guess the world world must have RT3 issues.. dhea and coritsol were both low .. supplimenting with dhea and HC
thanks
 

heapsreal

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10,089
Location
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When u tried t3 only were u on hydrocort as well?
I use pregnenolone for my cortisol and it did help my body temps some but still low but have read that pregnenolon/cortisol and t3 play off each other??
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
i wasn't on HC when i tried T3 only..but was on pregnanolone dhea combo from the Holtrof group..
i did try some T3 in addtion to the NDT a few weeks ago..and at first i felt better then depression kicked in ...

i have thought about going back to the dhea/preg combo at a lower dose-- as when i took it years ago it seemed to give me a boost.. i tried it for a couple days and noticed i felt really aggitated..
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
i found preg on its on overstimulated me even on very low doses as did dhea but both tested low. I slowly added dhea first in small increments until my dhea levels were in the mid range and tolerating well, when i got to this stage i tried the preg again and was able to tolerate it much better without being overstimulated. I think preg is good for energy and the dhea sort of controls it, dhea counter balances cortisol. I think the lower the initial adrenal hormones the more we over react to these treatments even herbals and adaptogens. In the past i have been able to tolerate ginseng with no problems but when i have used it when my adrenal hormones were really low i got overstimulated by this. My experience is that when we are really low on these hormones we have to increase them in small doses very slowly.
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
that makes sense.. i am taking 20mg of HC and when i had done saliva tests before HC even with the dhea/preg i was still low in cortisol.. i seem to be better able to tolerate the dhea from holtorf.. .i tried another brand at a very low dose and got very greasy really fast.. i dont get the "greasy" with the holtrof dhea.. is that strange? not sure what direction to try with the t3 ..to increase NDT or to add some T3 to it?? so hard to sort out all th is stuff when you are sick already.and each dr has me going in a diff direction... thanks for your ideas
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
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10,089
Location
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i think up stream hormones like preg and dhea can divert to different hormones in different people. Generally they say preg helps increase dhea but not in me but it did increase cortisol and testosterone, which is strange it didnt increase dhea. Too higher doses of dhea increased my estrogen levels and had no effect on my testosterone levels. I now use a lower dhea dose which seems to be working fine without the estrogen issues. Its just not black and white, its about trying something and testing to see what happens and adjusting from there, it can be a pain but thats all we got i suppose.

Maybe the t3 only needs to be used at really low doses as well. One site mentioned staying at 10mg of t3 for several months which is a low dose until temps improve. I have seen other threads where people are using much higher doses of t3. Its hard to work it all out, its a process alright.

good luck,
cheers!!
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
you are so right.. we all i suppose have to find the combo that works for us.. i had added only 2.5 mcg of T3 to the naturethroid a few weeks ago.. but then folks were freaking out because my free T4s were/are so low.
i haven't been able to get up to 10 of T3.. but even with antidepressants i can only tolerate a "pediatric dose"

shows i guess we can't for sure use a cookie cutter formula! i need to work on being consistent -- that is hard when i have gone so long not feeling well.
thanks for the encouragement..
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
you are so right.. we all i suppose have to find the combo that works for us.. i had added only 2.5 mcg of T3 to the naturethroid a few weeks ago.. but then folks were freaking out because my free T4s were/are so low.
i haven't been able to get up to 10 of T3.. but even with antidepressants i can only tolerate a "pediatric dose"

shows i guess we can't for sure use a cookie cutter formula! i need to work on being consistent -- that is hard when i have gone so long not feeling well.
thanks for the encouragement..

could the natural thyroid with t4 in it be stopping u from lowering rt3?
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
i guess it could be.. the funny thing is even with almost 2 grains of naturethroid my FreeT4 is really really low.. so i dont know what is converting to reverse T3. i guess i could try stopping the naturethorid and just taking T3.. or do i have to taper off the naturethroid? thanks
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
i guess it could be.. the funny thing is even with almost 2 grains of naturethroid my FreeT4 is really really low.. so i dont know what is converting to reverse T3. i guess i could try stopping the naturethorid and just taking T3.. or do i have to taper off the naturethroid? thanks
Im not familiar with natural thyroid dosing but if u have increased the dose over time i would say if u were going to stop i would taper off.
Another thing is if your on hydrocort sometimes it can supress up stream hormones like pregnenolone which are also needed for other reactions in the body and i think could also suppress progesterone production too. Sometimes a small amount of pregnenolone can help with this while on hydrocort. Another thing is to make sure u have enough iodine and look into tyrosine as both are used by the thyroid. Also maybe your t4 is getting converted to t3 and rt3 quicker then it should which would show a low t4 ?? Is body temp high or low?

The above im thinking out loud but maybe try the simple things first like increasing salt intake for iodine and small amounts of pregnenolone cream like 5-10mg and adjust from there. Not sure what your protein intake is like but maybe need to increase this for extra tyrosine or try tyrosine amino acids in the morning. If sleep has gone off the boil this could be a sign that progesterone is low and maybe hydrocort has suppressed pregnenolone?? Cortisol is generally needed to help t4 convert to t3, thats why im look at pregnenolone and hydrocort affecting your thyroid, does that make sense??
 

cb2

Senior Member
Messages
384
my free T3 is low.. so i dont thinki am getting much absorption really at this point. body temp has been all over the place and i have had a couple infection. been trying to track it.. with the thryoid meds it has been on the higher end..before thyroids it would often crash low.. i dont seem to tolerate progesterone well.. it blows me up like a balloon.. lots of water retention.