@maggie3 "I guess my concern is that my low t3 is just due to my body being tired and is an adaptation to the illness. "
I havent read all the responses so excuse any repetition.
Do you know about reverseT3? It is produced under stress, steals the building block of T3 (uses up T4), and blocks T3 receptors.
80% of what the thyroid produces is T4 (im geenralising, im sure youll do your own fact checking). You could say T4 is a transporter molecule. It has 4 molecules of Iodine, hence the 4.
At the cells, T4 is converted into T3 for cellular metabolism.
T4 can also be converted into reverseT3.
If you are producing reverseT3, initially there may be enough T4 to make both T3 and reverseT3. However, reverseT3 will block receptor sites for T3, thats why its called an inactive thyroid hormone - it doesnt switch the cellular metabolism on.
At some point, the T4 may may be converted to revT3 at the detriment of T3levels. Now you have low T3 and blocked t3 sites .
Next, in theory, if your body wants to make heaps of revT3, it will churn through all the T4.
This is just a guideline and not meant to be 100% accurate.
The reason for low t3 could be different for people. Certainly the stress of living with a chronic illness is enought to produce reverseT3. And certainly hypothyroid could be mistaken for ME.
My educated guess, is that if you have ME, thaking thyorid hormone will not address the fatigue or orthostatic hypotension , two of the most common symptoms - unless your ME is caused by low thyroid hormones. It may certainly help intially and feel like a real boon, but only time will tell.
If someone did have high reverse T3, then they may be able to flush it out using synthetic T3 liothyronine/cytomel etc. Its notoriously hard to get prescribed so youd really need an open minded/easy going/suggestible doc or a heap of science!
Whether a nutritional supplement will help 100% depends on whether you have a deficit of the nutrients you decide to take, and then whether they are ina bioavailable form / the body is able to tranform them into a form that can be utilised. Obviously iodine is essential! Iodine is in fortified bread, but apparently US started fortified with bromide instead?? And if you are gluten free, is that bread fortified with iodine? A lot of people use himlayan salt, but does it contain adequant iodine, or is it best to use sea salt or plain old fortified table salt, depite its canti caking agents! Its easy to google iodine sources and check we are eating those foods.
Any multivit or thyroid nutitrient supplement for 2 month initial trial is a good start if you are curious.
Low thyroid hormone can have affects on nutrient absorption as it adjusts everything from the amount of stomoach acid produced, to gut motility (and more thnings I dont know well enough to name!).
I hope you find your answers
