Should I take thyroid hormone

[Rafi1239]

I have a few interesting health issues and I hope you guys can help me out because I'm pretty lost myself. I am insulin resistant, not diabetic or pre-diabetic according to my BG levels and my Hba1c on my bloodwork. How do I know that I am insulin resistant? my urine smells sweet. I also have acne, a disease that is known to be common amongst individuals with insulin resistance hence why low carb diets work well to treat it. I also suffer from Raynauds syndrome, white hair and fatigue. All symptoms of hypothyroidism. I recently had a full thyroid panel done and these are my results

TSH:1.69
T4: 6.5 ug/dL range: 4.5-12.0
T3: 93 ng/dL range: 71-180
Free T3 Serum: 2.9 pg/mL range: 2.0-4.4
Free T4 Direct: 1.39 ng/dL range: .82-1.77

Even though according to the ranges I am not clinically hypothyroid or subclinically hypothyroid, I have all the symptoms of hypothyroidism. Gray hairs are not common amongst my family and I have them at a very young age. Im in my 20s. Raynauds is also not common amongst my family and I did not have Raynauds until a few years ago. I also do not have any autoimmune disorders. Any ideas? Should I possibly use Natural Dessicated Thyroid or T3 to increase my levels and see how I feel?

BTW most doctors have not been of much help.

 

[sweetpeat]

You seem to be rather low in natural t4 production, but conversion to t3 looks pretty good. Low t4 can sometimes be caused by too few calories or not enough protein, among other things. So looking at your diet first is a good idea. Peat recommends 80-100 grams protein. He doesn't give calorie recommendations as far as I know, but I would guess 3000 to be in the ballpark for someone your age, depending on how active you are. Avoiding PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) would be another thing to do in regards to a pro-thyroid diet.

If you've already been following these recommendations for a while, then it's possible thyroid supplementation would be the next step. How are your temps and pulse? It would be good to get in the habit of taking these readings, especially if you do decide to experiment with thyroid. Since you have low t4, then something that contains t4, like NDT, would probably be a good place to start. Many people have good results with it. But honestly it requires some experimentation to find what works for you.

If you search the forum, you'll also find some suggestions for insulin resistance, though it too may improve with a higher metabolism.

 

[tara]

Rafi1239

I like Sweatpeats suggestions.
Some of us use chronometer or similar to get a rough idea about other nutrients we are getting in our diet, too - eg calcium, magnesium, etc.
Some of the minerals and vitamins are necessary for good sugar handling - eg some of the b-vits, potasium, magnesium - so you could check that you are getting generous amounts of them, and seek other sources if not.

 

[Rafi1239]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Sweetpeat, I actually have raynauds so my hands and feet are extremely cold all the time. I do eat a large amount of food and I exercise and take quite a few supplements to fill in any nutrients that I do not get from my diet. I think my diet is pretty on track and I use tracking apps too. Perhaps I could benefit from taking T3 or NDT but I am not sure how I would go about it. How often would I have to retest and at what dose should I start

 

[tara]

post 117776 I actually have raynauds so my hands and feet are extremely cold all the time.

If Raynauds is the thing where you lose circulation in fingers or toes, I've had mine go white on me a number of times in the past - not recently though. Getting metabolism up generally should help. Specifically, attending to breathing may make quite rapid change to this. Chronic hidden hyperventilation tends to reduce circulation to the extremities. If it is severe, tehn I think Raynauds may be one of the possible results. How's your breathing? Relaxed, nasal, diaphragmatic? When you sleep too? If not, these are trainable.

post 117776 I do eat a large amount of food and I exercise and take quite a few supplements to fill in any nutrients that I do not get from my diet. I think my diet is pretty on track and I use tracking apps too.

There are so many different ideas about diet around, and even on this forum there are many variations. So this doesn't tell us much about what and how much you are eating. Adding a thyroid supplement while in a deficient diet can worsen deficiencies and cause more stress. I don't know if this applies to you, but I'm won't have an informed opinion about whether it is time to try a thyroid suplement until after considering at least food, breathing, temps and resting pulse first.

I'm guessing you are male, but not sure. Normal calories for an adult male in late twenties is of the order of 3000, more if exceptionally physically active, or under 25 (not from Peat). Peat recommends 80-100 g protein for low thyroid folk - euthyroid folk may do better with more.

Low carb diets seem to often worsen insulin resistance.

I've seen commentary here about gray hair being associated with high serotonin (stress hormone) and copper deficiency or disregulation. Some people here seem to find acne responds to zinc and/or vit-A (not carotene). There are threads on serotonin, and if you haven't read Peat's article on it, I'd recommend it.