Low t4 at .63 ( range .82-1.77) Low tsh at .046 ( range .45-4.5) Low reverse t3 at 6.4 (range 9.2-24.1) Normal t3 at 151 ( range 71-180) Normal free t3 at 3.5 ( range 2-4.4)
My LLMD appointment isn’t until Thursday. If someone could help explain, I’d appreciate!! Thanks!
Posted by Garz (Member # 52095) on :
hard to help without context:
what thyroid condition have you been diagnosed with?
are you taking thyroid medication?
do you still have a thyroid gland - or have you had thyroid surgery/ablation?
your results suggest you are taking a mostly T3 based medication (desiccated animal thyroid or T3 or T3/T4 mix) but that is just a guess based on the relatively high T3 and low T4 and TSH
Posted by BW2019 (Member # 52041) on :
I have been diagnosed with hypothyroid.
Yes, I am taking medication. My daughter recently changed.
Right now, I take
IC Lyothronine Sod 5 mcg tab ( 2 in morning, 2 in afternoon) AE Thy.Ext.113.75 mg SR cap (1 in morning)
I have just copied down wihat the two bottles of prescriptions say on the front. I got my lab results and my appointment is not until Thursday. any feedback and helping me understand this would be much appreciated.
Posted by BW2019 (Member # 52041) on :
Also, yes, I still have a thyroid gland I am now, I have not had any surgeries.
Posted by lymenotlite (Member # 33166) on :
This isn’t directly connected to test results interpretation but recently I read that fatigue is the most common lyme symptom. So if you are tired, that is common. What has body temp been? Do you have an LLMD or someone who might be able to connect your symptoms, or not, to a lyme treatment?
Early on with lyme I had a very low body temp and was given T3 for nine months and this was around 2010. Of course I was perpetually tired.
From Dr. K. in 2006: “Filling up the body’s mineral reserves has always been the most essential part of our heavy metal detox program. It is also the most essential part of our Lyme treatment.”
I had some Lugol’s iodine by J. Crow in the basement. A couple of days ago I used a single drop on my wrist and it did help with fatigue. There has been a swelling around my right ear for a long time that I cannot get rid of so today I put a drop of Lugol’s directly on that area. That application did effect my balance, which has been off for a long time, and it almost put me to sleep. The swelling has gone down but I regard this as an experiment in the early stage.
Posted by Garz (Member # 52095) on :
OK ref the medications that pretty much explains the results
the IC Lyothronine Sod 5 mcg tab is pure T3 prescription medicine
this dose will raise most peoples T3 to something like the normal range ( although response to T3 is highly variable - as its a complex condition)
the other medication is likely some form of animal thyroid extract - but without knowing which one is hard to say what exactly is in it in terms of which and how much thyroid hormones.
if its something like the most common one Armour Thyroid - its just freeze dried animal thyroid. these have more T3 vs T4 than human native thyroid - so would also tend cause the result in humans to be to raise T3 more than T4.
combining the two would tend to give relatively high T3 vs T4 compared to normal human thyroid hormones as measured in people without thyroid disease. which is what we see in the results you posted.
the relatively high T3 is suppressing TSH a little more than normal - but that is expected as T3 is more active than T4 at this.
your reverse T3 is also low because the body is not converting as much T4 to T3 and reverse T3 - because there is less T4 about - due to the low T4 supplementation strategy.
this may all be as intended by your endocrinologist/doctor - so although it does not perfectly mimic the normal human range in healthy people - many doctors feel their patients do better on mostly T3 supplementation - others better on a balance of T3 and T4 combined - and there is a lot of trial and error involved due to the highly individual and variable responses to treatment.
overall I do not see anything there as a cause for great concern. There are very few good endocrinologists out there and the fact that you have one who is willing to treat you with T3 and natural thyroid products is a big plus as in many countries these options are hard to access.
I would just learn as much as you can about the thyroid system functioning so you can enter into an informed discussion of the merits and consequences of treatment decisions with your care provider as its likely something that will affect your quality of life - for the rest of your life.
lookup Dr. Westin Childs for some of the best resources on how it works(I have no affiliation but find his freely provided information about the most useful I have come across).
Posted by BW2019 (Member # 52041) on :
Thank you!!!
Posted by Rivendell (Member # 19922) on :
I think tsh is read backwards. The lower the tsh number, the higher the thyroid level. The higher the tsh number, the lower the thyroid level.