Abnormal low Reverse T3

Do you have the #'s and its range?

If you dont already, always ask for a copy of the original lab results, which may not be the same as your clinics interpretation of the lab results. Change of terminology can be confusing.

And one needs to know if the result was "calculated" or "not calculated", sometimes a little math is required and that can be found on "stop the thyroid madness" page.

Reverse T3 is T3 that not fit into cell receptacles, no fuel gets used then. So there is a range where T3 might fall into the "reverse" category.


**No one wants reverse T3*
The highest part of the RT3 range would be the worst case scenario, resulting in very hypO symptoms.
The lowest part of the RT3 range is not as bad, but still hypo.
No reverse T3 is perfect.

The original lab results should have this interpretation, and should say if it was "calculated" or "not calculated" that was the terminology used for a long time.

Cannot see on my lab results ( patient portal) if it says calculated or not.

Reverse T-3 is 7
(Range is 8 - 25)

Free T4 is 1.22
(Range is 0.89 - 1.76)

Total T3 is 65.5
( Range is 60 - 181.0)

TSH is 1.28
(Range is 0.55 - 4.78)

My doctor put me on Liothyronine 5 mcg

That’s a small amount of synthetic T3, can take near food to(unlike t4), some drs don’t know this.

It’s powerful , small size but can still be split with a cheap pill splitter and take the halves separate times a day to spread out your energy.

Energy from t3 is only about 6 hrs long. And most drs don’t tell you this either, but you can sure goggle it, very common to do.

i would not be worried by the very slightly below range RT3 - likely a small anomaly due to general ill health
as astro says your results all look fine except for a moderately low T3 result
this is likely due to poor conversion

which in turn is likely driven by chronic inflammation (I'm basing that on the fact that you are on a Lyme forum so likely have lots of symptoms of ongoing inflammation)

you may well benefit from small supplemental doses of T3

but you may also want to look into ways of improving your natural conversion of your own hormones as ,ultimately, medication is a poor substitute for the finesse of the natural system.

mainly ways of reducing inflammation and providing nutrients needed for optimal conversion.
its a rather in depth topic to cover it all here

but the most useful source i have come across is this one:
https://www.restartmed.com/t4-to-t3-conversion/

Diet and exercise won't change. I've heard that for years. No matter how much workouts I did or healthy eating it just wasn't enough. Brings me back to the days before Lyme treatment when mainstream docs told me nothing was wrong with me and just to lose weight and eat right.

Sometimes you do need medication for an intervention/supplementation. I have untreated PCOS and insulin resistance as well. Sometimes blood work results arent telling ( regarding thyroid)

I'm hoping seeking out a second LLMD will help, someone who just doesn't treat Lyme but an array lf other things. It would be great to see a Functional Medicine or NaturalPathic physician for this as some ppl do. I can't however, pay out of pocket a new LLMD as well as a separate FM or NP doctor ( unless they accept insurance)