need help with my Thyroid

torrential said:

Vince,

As you know all too well "Thyroid" is a broad topic and symptoms seem to be either waived off or misdiagnosed/mistreated by MD's of all stripes. Nobody can be bothered to look for root causes!

You're a smart guy - what do you think may be going on?

I have just a few basic questions: Are you consuming thyroid supporting nutrients? Are you aware of / do you believe in Dr. Brownstein's iodine protocol? Have you checked out STTM? Adrenals under control?

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HarryCat said:

Your free T4 is marginal and your free T3 is low. Have you ever tried a higher dose of Armour?

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Vince said:

because of low TSH doctors are afraid to raise my thyroid Armour (personaly I do not believe low TSH will hurt me}

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CoastWatcher said:

how long have you been taking Armour?

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Vince Carter said:

This is one I'd like to see the reverse T3 number.

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Vettester Chris said:

Vince, obviously your serum levels are nowhere at a level that is desired.
Free T4 is at 29.8% of reference range
Free T3 is at 4% of reference range.

* Ultimately, you would probably like both of these to be in the 50% to 80% area of reference range for optimal results; factoring that Reverse T3 is also at a desirable ratio.

On your dosage, 2 grains for some can be very low. 3 to 5 grains is actually quite common with Armour, and I know some guys that even take a little more.

I agree with the statements above on Iodine and Selenium. A little kelp and selenium supplements can go along way, as little as 225mcg of iodine/day can do wonders.

It wouldn't be the worse thing to titrate your grain dosage up 1/2 grain every week to 2 weeks, maybe get to 3.5 -to-4 grain range, and check labs compared to how you feel. I also agree that Reverse T3 needs to be factored each time. If one of the variables with cortisol, iron, electrolytes, etc., are out of balance, then higher amounts of FT4--> RT3 is going to be evident. That will be problematic if administering larger doses.

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torrential said:

- rT3 is important, particularly if you have a history of or tendency towards very low carb diets.
- "Adrenals" have a variety of symptoms. You might not need to start with testing. Dig in a little to see if any of it applies to you.
- Thyroid antibodies are important to check once in a while: one could have or develop Hashi's and not know it. There are three, TPO, TGAb, and TSHRAb.

- Kelp. I used to do that too, assuming that natural is better. I've discovered that I was wrong for a couple of reasons. The biggest is that the iodine is accompanied by the other halides you really don't want, specifically bromine and fluorine. The second biggest is that the dose is too small. If you look at the (sometimes heated, often dogmatic, highly polarized - very much like TRT!) iodine discussion, you'll see that the microgram level RDA is intended only to prevent overt cretinism. Conspiracies aside, there seem to be clear arguments in favor of milligram level protocols specifically the one designed Dr. Brownstein which appears to have significant health benefits for at least some people.

Vince, hopefully this is not too far off topic. You didn't ask about iodine but it's hard to talk about thyroid without talking about what drives it. Recently my (well known well respected) doctor berated me for silently stopping iodine supplementation (I ran out and kinda forgot). I had started feeling like my old low T self and indeed tests showed my T-related numbers had all dropped unexpectedly and significantly (two rounds three months apart). We were scratching our heads until I mentioned omission of iodine, specifically Iodorol and supporting nutrients in particular selenium. Wrist slap, time wasted, lesson learned.

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