Another clue as to why TSH doesn’t suppress with thyroid replacement therapy

mcs

Member
In my case, FT3/FT4 levels are within range (upper limit of FT3) but the pituitary hormone TSH has not been responding to thyroid replacement as I previously posted on.

More investigation reveals that I carry the Thr92AlaD2 variant which predisposes me to a T4-T3 conversion defect (+/+ [C/C] for this SNP) via decreased DIO2 enzyme. This may be why some patients seem to fail T4 monotherapy. There may also be as-yet unknown thyroid hormone resistance selective pituitary variants in my genome that could be why my TSH hasn't suppressed on meds.

Combination (T4/T3) therapy is warranted, but at what ratio? NDT has a 4:1 T4 to T3 ratio and there is some dispute as to whether that is an optimal level for functioning (some say too much T3), as research suggests there is a wide variance in the ratio in humans.

Some people have dropped the dose of NDT and added T4 to adjust the ratio to a tolerable level. Lots of tweaking involved.

Bottom line: In addition to everything else discussed here, it would seem that individual thyroid genetics need to be taken into account as well.
 
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Lakshman KM, Kaplan B, Travison TG, Basaria S, Knapp PE, Singh AB, LaValley MP, Mazer NA, Bhasin S. The effects of injected testosterone dose and age on the conversion of testosterone to estradiol and dihydrotestosterone in young and older men. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Aug;95(8):3955-64.

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