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rhosier · 08-18-2009, 10:55 PM

My wife has been complaining of general fatigue and many other symptoms that I felt sounded like they might be thyroid related. I ordered some tests for her and these are the results:
TSH 1.531 - Range .45-4.5
T4 6.3 - Range 4.5-12
Free T3 2.7 - Range 2.3-4.2
Reverse T3 253 - Range 90-350
Thyroid Peroxidase 51 - Range 0-34
Antithyroidglobin 28 Range 0-40
Vitamin D 30.4 Range 32-100

When I saw this I was a little surprised since it seemed like her TSH wasn't showing a problem, but her T4 and FT3 seemed low to me. Maybe the Reverse T3 is high and that is what keeps the TSH low or the fact that she had some antibodies was an indication of a problem. I recommended that she start taking vitamin D supplements at 2000 mg a day when seeing the results of that test as well.

We sent her off to a doctor to discuss the results and they suggested that she start taking cytomel 5mcg twice daily and monitor how she feels which she just starting doing today. The good news is that they are following up with tests on some other hormone levels including a cortisol saliva test which sounded good to me since she is very fatigued in the mornings regardless of how she sleeps.

Any thoughts on the test results or suggestions regarding the therapy so far or ideas on what to look for or do that we aren't doing already?

Thanks!

-Roger

midwest1 · 08-19-2009, 08:20 AM

She is hypothyroid due to Hashimoto's disease. It's typical for early Hashi's not to show up in TSH tests, which is why we Hashi's sufferers find it so absurd and frustrating that modern medicine doesn't yet understand this.

I suspect that your wife may temporarily feel a little better taking the Cytomel (which is synthetic T3), at least until her reverse T3 comes down. But for long-term thyroid replacement, she would do better on a combination T4/T3 replacement, because T4 is just as important as T3. A natural, dessicated thyroid product would also provide the other T hormones and calcitonin that her gland would make if it could.

Good luck to her!

javelina · 08-19-2009, 02:07 PM

Also, depending on the saliva cortisol results, if she is experiencing adrenal fatigue this can make it difficult to get good results with her thyroid meds. She will need to treat the adrenals before she's going to have much success with the thyroid hormone replacement.

I'd also suggest you check her ferritin and B12 levels. They are very often low with Hashi's. 2000 iu of Vitamin D isn't a very big dose, I'd go with about 6000 iu of D3 a day to bring her stores up.

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