There’s a lot of great info on this forum related to identying thyroid issues but I haven’t seen any posts on specific protocols used to deal with it and I wanted to get your thoughts.
My latest thyroid labs came back as follows:
TSH - 4.3 (.4-4.5)
Free T4 -1.3 (0.8-1.8)
That’s all the doc measured although previous labs indicated high antibodies.
A doctor at Defy medical suggested I’d Benedict from dedicated thyroid.
One Endo wanted to put me on a low dose synthroid
Two other doctors said I didn’t need anything because I feel fine generally (other than occasional night sweats and some brain fog - but since starting TRT I feel pretty damn good overall)
Last three days - oral body temps were:
96.6
96.5
96.5
This is with a new digital thermometer.
Mid morning temps weren’t much different. No wonder why I feel cold all the time.
I have supplemented with selenium only 200 mcg /'day for a month before my latest bloods which showed a high TSH. I just switched to a multivitamin which had this plus iodine at 150 mcg but I only take half the multivitamin since the dosing of other vitamins is extremely high (Life Extension 2xday)
Based on this, I set up a consultation with Defy Medical. They were the ones who checked for low thyroid in the first place and wanted to put me on some desiccated thyroid but I wanted to find a doctor close by to treat me, only to waste time and money with Endos telling me I’m fine.
From reading all of the reports, and information here – this is really an eye-opener. I have had such incredible brain fog and lack of energy for many years – and my family has a history of low thyroid. I wonder if this was my issue all along rather than having low normal testosterone.
These have the needed iodine and selenium that a multi-vit can provide.
Note that high dose iodine will increase TSH as expected.
Not mid-morning but mid-afternoon, to see what peak temperatures are achieved.
This thread does not discuss if you were using non-iodized salt etc. Another problem with split thread, loss of context. With your low body temperatures, if not using iodized salt, check body temps of others in your household.
Thank you – yes indeed, in fact my wife has a low body temperature, as well as a TSH of 6.5. We hardly ever use any type of salt. I saw from previous posts and the thyroid sticky that this is, in actuality, not a good practice – we will be using some ionized salt going forward
If you introduce iodine without first getting selenium you are at risk if creating a thyroid autoimmune disease or setting a preexisting case on fire. You wife may have thyroid nodules, but with TSH=6.5, the level of any hyperthyroid nodules is quite low. Low iodine can progress from hypothyroidism to hyper. TSH can also be increased by thyroid autoimmune disease. Women are very prone to these problems. Thyroid autoimmune panels are available.
I have only seen one report of a doctor ever asking about iodine intake.
Many multi-vits have 150mcg iodine and 150-200 mcg selenium. 200mcg suggested for you both and take for at least a week before introducing iodine.