The first thing that impacted on my then unlabelled illness, after my collapse w/ ME, was getting off the synthroid I'd been taking for decades. I asked a number of MDs for an alternative in that first year, and stayed w/ the GP who agreed. Then there were 5 years working w/ GP and compounding chemist trying various combinations of natural thyroid, T3, T4. When it was finally evident that none of these would work, rT3 levels significant, I began my own research and found John Lowe and his T3 protocol. T3 was, and remains, the thing that works for me.
I tried super physiological doses of T3 in 2010-11, following John Lowe's protocol. I'd spent many hours reading his info, even purchased his textbook, not wanting to miss any crucial point. And yet, he missed a crucial point. As I understood his protocol, I could expect to experience a relaxation of my nervous system, and if my symptoms did not abate, I should continue raising doses. However, it was only after I eliminated gluten that I got any relief. And there was zero mention of gluten in his huge book.:thumbdown:
My current experience is that there is a very delicate balance between my adrenals and thyroid. Well, not my thyroid gland, but thyroid medication. My gland is pretty much non-functioning. I had a major detox event in May which quite clearly centered on adrenals. At this point I was on 30mcg T3. As I listened to speakers in the Thyroid Summit, I tried to increase my T3. Didn't work: insomnia, adrenal pain. I took heart in someone in that forum emphasizing to not worry about getting temperature's up. Even when I was on about 120mcg years earlier, I never got up to normal temps.
Now, 4 months later, things are different. 1) Eliminating gluten cross-reactive and auto-immune stimulating foods. 2) 3 months on low dose naltrexone. 3)
No iodine, including no celtic sea salt. (Datis Kharrazian confirms this as necessary for many) 4) Ongoing attention to adrenals through coffee enemas (detox liver to relieve adrenals. Best solution I've found). Since my detox event in May I've no longer needed the adrenal glandulars that I relied on for 2 years.
I began experiencing weight gain and fluid retention, so began to increase T3. I'm now at 70mcg, and have had normal temps, tho not daily. I'll continue bumping this up, at 10-11 day intervals, per Rudy Dragone, one of the best of the Thyroid Summit speakers. I'll increase until it seems to be the right dose: no hyper or hypo sx. I also just learned to take thyroid rx away from B vits. I'd been taking them together, have only rectified this during this past week. (Datis Kharrazian)
I'm now, for the first time in my life, not ingesting anything to stimulate antibody reactions. I only learned from Dragone that there was cornstarch in my T3 rx,
and switched to compounded. I gave up relying on blood tests for anything following John Lowe's counsel. My GP doesn't even suggest them anymore. But I will request one at my next appt, as I'd like to see what they show.
