New And Could Use Some Advice :)

Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
5
Hello,

Like others here I have a chronic case of feeling crap-itis that has been variously described and diagnosed as fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Adrenal Fatigue. Symptoms are standard: joint and muscles pain and tension, extremely low tolerance for stress of any kind, mood swings, anxiety and depression, digestive issues, inflammation, non restorative sleep and sometime insomnia, brain-fog that started as a light mist and has progressed into more of a slurry or blizzard like conditions ;).

Last round of labs I had done were as follows

TSH - 1.63 - (0.27-4.20 ref range)
T4 - 10.8 - (12.0 -22.0 ref range)
T3 - 4.0 - (3.1 - 6.8 ref range)

According to the doctor this was all 'fine' . . .

Im did a little digging and found this, from Chris Kesser in an article entitled 5 thyroid patterns that wont show up on lab test

Hypothyroidism caused by pituitary dysfunction
This pattern is caused by elevated cortisol, which is in turn caused by active infection, blood sugar imbalances, chronic stress, pregnancy, hypoglycemia or insulin resistance. These stressors fatigue the pituitary gland at the base of the brain so that it can no longer signal the thyroid to release enough thyroid hormone. There may be nothing wrong with the thyroid gland itself. The pituitary isn’t sending it the right messages.

With this pattern, you’ll have hypothyroid symptoms and a TSH below the functional range (1.8 – 3.0) but within the standard range (0.5 – 5.0). The T4 will be low in the functional range (and possibly the lab range too).


I fit the bill here, and I know my condition was brought on by chronic stress (rather an any organ or gland malfunction).

My question to all the seasoned Peaters out there is, could thyroid supplementation make a difference if the hypo is secondary rather than primary and if so what should I take - synthetic or desiccated?

Thanks you guys! I appreciate it!
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
Welcome whitepapercrane :)

Yeah, feeling-crap-itis is a bummer, isn't it?

I think Peat and Kresser would disagree about what the functional range for TSH is (or maybe I don't understand what is meant by functional range). Peat tends to favour TSH under 1.

Metabolism-suppressing stress can come from many factors - physical and 'psychosocial'. Before considering thyroid supplementation, first things I'd suggest is assessing whether you are currently meeting approximate basic physical needs, and whether you are doing anything systematically/habitually that is likely to lower thyroid function (some examples below). And I'd start reading Peats articles, possibly beginning with his ones on thyroid, fats, sugar.
Thyroid: Therapies, Confusion, and Fraud
Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone. (not sure what happened with the article naming here, it's actually called: TSH, temperature, pulse rate, and other indicators in hypothyroidism)

Meeting needs:
What nutrition are you getting? Calories, carbs, protein, micronutrients?
Regular sunlight?
Breathing relaxed, nasal, diaphragmatic?

Avoid physically suppressing metabolism:
PUFA - Peat and many of us here try to keep this as low as practical; PUFAs suppress metabolism in several ways - see Peat's articles on fats.
Undereating - one of the common adaptations to chronic energy deficiency is reduced thyroid function.
Chronic over-exercise - eg marathons etc - as above.
Goitrogenic foods - eg soya beans, mountains of coleslaw
Overhydration (drinking loads of water beyond thirst)
Hyperventilation (sometimes arises from other stresses, but can be self-perpetuating)
Living in a cold dark cave - ie too much dark and/or cold, not enough red light and warmth.

You can also monitor temps and heart-rate to get another readier way to assess what your metabolism is doing.

Once you've had a go at assessing and maybe improving current conditions, if you still think there is more to do, I'd come back and read a bit more and discuss before embarking on thyroid supps, and I'd approach it with caution - small doses, increment slowly. It may be helpful, but you need to have conditions to support it, too, or it may add to stress.

Good luck.
 
OP
whitepapercrane
Joined
Feb 4, 2016
Messages
5
Thanks Tara!

So kind of you to take the time :)

Will definitely be making some dietary changes and will see how that goes
 

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