Prior to treating my hypothyroidism I really didn’t even know that i had hypothyroidism. My Dr pinpointed some things on my blood work and explained how medication might help. That was 8 months ago. Here are those lab results.
free t3 (2 - 4.4): 3.1
free t4 (.82 - 1.77): 1.45
TSH (.45 - 4.5): 2.3
I worked my way up to a grain of T3/T4 and never really noticed much until now (6-8 months later). I have very little energy. Tired all the time. My resting heart rate is 40. Body temps between 96.4-97.2. Feeling depressed. In other words I feel like I am doing much worse. My next set of labs is on Tuesday.
Question: Do you think my blood work warranted medication? What were other options I could have taken before going to medication? Any advice is appreciated.
Doesn’t seem like you needed any medication. Do you have any physical symptoms such as sweating more or heart palps? What about anxiety, moodiness, irritability?
Based solely on your thyroid labs, I believe you’ve been going down the wrong road wasting time, sure TSH isn’t perfect, but the other two don’t rise to the levels that would explain your symptoms, I would expect TSH and fT3 to look much worse given your symptoms.
You have a low heart rate, have you had your heart thoroughly checked?
Is your doctor ordering more testing than just thyroid labs?
@systemlord I actually have had my heart very thoroughly checked. Ultrasound and EKG. My suspicion is that the t4 is converting to rt3. My low body temps and low heart rate are some of the main hypothyroid symptoms.
@galgenstrick My moodiness and irritable nature I attribute to feeling hypo. Tired and down.
Does anyone think I could have just skipped the thyroid meds and gone with coq10 and iodine?
There was no reason to put you on on thyroid medication.
What was the docs justification to do so?
I think your symptoms are not being caused by your thyroid.
Have you had a sleep study done?
I would expect to see TSH much higher if rT3 was higher.
This could easily be testosterone related, these symptoms could have one of many different causes. Lots of people have irritability, feel tired and run down, but that doesn’t’ mean it’s thyroid related.
Your symptoms could be caused by 100 different things.
@johann77 Most of his reason was bloodwork related and he asked me questions like “do you ever get tired after lunch?” and things like that. In hindsight I should have been more hesitant. After this bloodwork I’ll probably drop this Thyroid medication.
@systemlord For the sake of keeping this on a productive track I would just like to point out that the quantitative and qualitative data can all be categorized as evidence of hypothyroidism. Is low HR and low body temps an indicator of a testosterone imbalance? Sure the symptoms could indicate 100 different things but I am asking about the Thyroid because I have never had the symptoms before starting Thyroid medication. I refer back to the original questions in my OP.
I have not had a sleep study done by I wear 2 different oximeters at night and occassional ly i have a drop in 02 and it vibrates which prompts me to turn to my side. I get a sweet graph everyday telling me how I slept. Its awesome.
Iron is needed for energy within the body, a ferritin 70> is needed for optimal thyroid function. If you’re iodine deficient, then iodine is needed, but if iodine is perfectly fine you could cause more problems. Iodine alse renders TSH useless for diagnostic purposes, you will see an increase in TSH when supplementing iodine.
Also testosterone keeps the cardiovascular system healthy, since I stopped TRT 7 months ago my veins are narrowing and am becoming cold, especially in legs and feet because blood flow is no ideal. My veins were larger and bulging out of skin when on TRT, now they are almost not visible.
Did you have low heart rate already before the start of the medication? If yes, did anything change on medication?
40 is really low, even for hypothyroidism.
ECG was ok you said, no indication of an AV block?
@systemlord Gotcha. I am on TRT at 38. Never had to donate. Total T is around 1000. Free T around 25-29. Estrogen about 30. No AI. Workout everyday. BP is 119/?. Deadlift 530 but also run sprints. So I am very “healthy”. Before Thyroid meds My resting heart rate was around 55.
@johann77 Heart was found totally healthy from the ultrasound.
Then I would say the thyroid meds did more harm than good.
Crazy to put you on T4T3 with these values in the first place.
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Doesn’t everyone get tired after lunch? Good thing is if you quit thyroid meds, you will usually bounce back to natural levels in your own. Hope it all works out for you.
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Alright gents I got my labs back and here are the results. If I miss anything please just let me know and I’ll edit this post. Your input is appreciated.
38mcg t4 / 9mcg t3
free t3 (2 - 4.4): 3.4
free t4 (.82 - 1.77): 1.38
TSH (.45 - 4.5): 2.78
rt3 (9.2 - 21.4): 19.2
pre thyroid treatment
free t3 (2 - 4.4): 3.1
free t4 (.82 - 1.77): 1.45
TSH (.45 - 4.5): 2.3
Your thyroid needs to be evaluated 6 weeks after starting a protocol. T4 has a similar half life to testosterone and takes 6 weeks to normalize in your system.
You also cannot eat any minerals, especially calcium, until a few hours after taking the medication. Ideally you would adopt intermittent fasting and not eat anything until 3 hours after taking the meds.