sweetpeat
Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2014
- Messages
- 918
Hi everyone,
I’m new here but have been lurking around the forum for several months now trying to learn as much as I can. I could use some help figuring out some recent lab work.
First some background. I’m female and 51 with a history of carb and calorie restriction to be “healthy” (sheesh). Started having some health issues in 2011 that got my attention (anxiety, dizziness) and started seeing a ND. She eventually put me on 30mg Armour in Oct. 2011. Looking back now on my lab work from that time, I realize I was probably just estrogen dominant because I had good total t4 but low t3. But, alas, ignorance carried the day and I obediently took the Armour.
I felt better at first but still had many hypo symptoms that wouldn’t resolve (low temps, dry skin, constipation to name a few). Over the years, she would raise or lower my dose a bit depending on the TSH, never according to how I felt. During this time, I stumbled upon Matt Stone and Gwyneth Olwen (youreatopia) and began re-feeding in Dec 2012. I continued to have good and bad days energy-wise but fatigue and brain-fog were progressively getting worse to the point that last winter I became nearly house-bound because I felt too drowsy to drive most days. My lab work of spring 2014 looked like this:
TSH: 4.270
Total t3: 128 (71-180)
Free t3: 3 (2.0-4.4)
Total t4: 5.3 (4.5-12.0)
Free t4: 0.65 (0.82-1.77)
So my doc raised my Armour dosage to 60mg and in August my TSH was 0.691. I began to realize my doctor seemed to have nothing else to offer me because my lab work is “normal” even though I spent most of my days feeling like a zombie. Sometime during the summer, I decided I’d had enough and would see what I could accomplish on my own with the information I was slowly assimilating from Ray Peat. I bought some Thiroyd from Thailand to see if a different brand of NDT would make a difference since I had read that people sometimes have problems with Armour. That was in September, so I’ve been on 60mg Thiroyd for about 8 weeks. I noticed no difference physically or mentally in switching brands.
I also realized that I’m estrogen dominant and probably have been for at least a decade. I’ve been taking Progest-e since July, 50mg or more per day depending on symptoms. I also have elevated liver enzymes, so I know my liver is struggling to process everything. I decided that maybe I’m having trouble converting the t4 in the NDT, so I started adding in some cynomel in early October. I’ve worked my way up slowly to around 10mcg split up throughout the morning and early afternoon, 2-3 mcg at a time, and I continue to take 1 grain of Thiroyd in the evening. My ratio of t4:t3 is roughly 2:1, if my math is right. Within a week or two of starting the cynomel, the brain fog cleared considerably, though there is still lots of room for improvement.
That’s where my new lab work comes in. I wanted to see where things stood after the changes I had made and hopefully be able to figure out what to do next as winter approaches. Here are the current results:
TSH: 3.11
Total t3: 146 (71-180)
Free t3: 3.2 (2.0-4.4)
Total t4: 1.7 (4.5-12.0)
Free t4: 0.36 (0.82-1.77)
Reverse t3: <5.0 (9.2-24.1)
I was quite shocked to see my t4 take such a drastic plunge! These results look to me like what you would see from someone who is taking t3 only. Does this mean that Thiroyd has less t4 than Armour…or none at all? And if not, then why isn’t my own thyroid gland kicking in? Three years ago my total t4 was 8.3 which is mid-range, so I know it’s capable. Or at least it used to be.
So, I’m not sure what to do next since I’m not sure how to interpret these results. Or maybe I’m putting too much emphasis on the lab work? But my TSH is higher than is best and I still have many unresolved hypo issues, so I feel I should probably be doing something. Ugh! Help! lol
I’m new here but have been lurking around the forum for several months now trying to learn as much as I can. I could use some help figuring out some recent lab work.
First some background. I’m female and 51 with a history of carb and calorie restriction to be “healthy” (sheesh). Started having some health issues in 2011 that got my attention (anxiety, dizziness) and started seeing a ND. She eventually put me on 30mg Armour in Oct. 2011. Looking back now on my lab work from that time, I realize I was probably just estrogen dominant because I had good total t4 but low t3. But, alas, ignorance carried the day and I obediently took the Armour.
I felt better at first but still had many hypo symptoms that wouldn’t resolve (low temps, dry skin, constipation to name a few). Over the years, she would raise or lower my dose a bit depending on the TSH, never according to how I felt. During this time, I stumbled upon Matt Stone and Gwyneth Olwen (youreatopia) and began re-feeding in Dec 2012. I continued to have good and bad days energy-wise but fatigue and brain-fog were progressively getting worse to the point that last winter I became nearly house-bound because I felt too drowsy to drive most days. My lab work of spring 2014 looked like this:
TSH: 4.270
Total t3: 128 (71-180)
Free t3: 3 (2.0-4.4)
Total t4: 5.3 (4.5-12.0)
Free t4: 0.65 (0.82-1.77)
So my doc raised my Armour dosage to 60mg and in August my TSH was 0.691. I began to realize my doctor seemed to have nothing else to offer me because my lab work is “normal” even though I spent most of my days feeling like a zombie. Sometime during the summer, I decided I’d had enough and would see what I could accomplish on my own with the information I was slowly assimilating from Ray Peat. I bought some Thiroyd from Thailand to see if a different brand of NDT would make a difference since I had read that people sometimes have problems with Armour. That was in September, so I’ve been on 60mg Thiroyd for about 8 weeks. I noticed no difference physically or mentally in switching brands.
I also realized that I’m estrogen dominant and probably have been for at least a decade. I’ve been taking Progest-e since July, 50mg or more per day depending on symptoms. I also have elevated liver enzymes, so I know my liver is struggling to process everything. I decided that maybe I’m having trouble converting the t4 in the NDT, so I started adding in some cynomel in early October. I’ve worked my way up slowly to around 10mcg split up throughout the morning and early afternoon, 2-3 mcg at a time, and I continue to take 1 grain of Thiroyd in the evening. My ratio of t4:t3 is roughly 2:1, if my math is right. Within a week or two of starting the cynomel, the brain fog cleared considerably, though there is still lots of room for improvement.
That’s where my new lab work comes in. I wanted to see where things stood after the changes I had made and hopefully be able to figure out what to do next as winter approaches. Here are the current results:
TSH: 3.11
Total t3: 146 (71-180)
Free t3: 3.2 (2.0-4.4)
Total t4: 1.7 (4.5-12.0)
Free t4: 0.36 (0.82-1.77)
Reverse t3: <5.0 (9.2-24.1)
I was quite shocked to see my t4 take such a drastic plunge! These results look to me like what you would see from someone who is taking t3 only. Does this mean that Thiroyd has less t4 than Armour…or none at all? And if not, then why isn’t my own thyroid gland kicking in? Three years ago my total t4 was 8.3 which is mid-range, so I know it’s capable. Or at least it used to be.
So, I’m not sure what to do next since I’m not sure how to interpret these results. Or maybe I’m putting too much emphasis on the lab work? But my TSH is higher than is best and I still have many unresolved hypo issues, so I feel I should probably be doing something. Ugh! Help! lol
Welcome sweetpeat! I haven't used any glandular products but have been very happy with cynoplus.
