T3 only medicine caused me problems. Advice needed.

Hello all, I'm new here. about a year and a half ago I had a bad reaction to a cortisone shot. I developed anxiety/panic after the shot. I started seeing an "alternative" doctor who found high antibodies to candida in my blood. We treated that for a year (and I'm still observing the diet). My thyroid labs were normal (T3 was low normal) and he put me on time released T3 medicine to try to regulate my body temperatures. My temps weren't very bad to begin with, but I felt pretty good on the T3 only medicine. I stopped it abruptly not knowing I wasn't supposed to. A few days after stopping I started getting dizzy and anxious. I went back on it but never could get it right again. We changed the dosages for a while and monitored my temps (running really high in the day), but the doc never wanted to believe the T3 medicine was now making me feel bad. I don't know what happened. I've been off the T3 med for about 6 weeks now and am seeing a new doctor. I'm supposed to do blood work again in a couple of weeks, but here are the current numbers:

TSH 1.31 (.4-4.5 mIU/L)
T4 1.9 (.8-1.8 ng/dl)
T3 3.5 (2.3-4.2 pg/ml)
T3 Reverse 27 (8-25 ng/dl)
All tests for antibodies and peroxidase antibodies are negative.

I also had high cortisol and did a saliva test which indicated "Stage 2 Adrenal Fatigue". I feel like crap. Can't sleep past 6 am and don't feel rested when I wake up. Having anxiety and lack of appetite. My new doc said that between the thyroid and adrenals it makes sense the way I feel the way I do. I'm seeing a therapist for the anxiety and the new doc gave me a beta blocker to try to help with the thyroid temporarily. Has anyone had a similar experience? I have had every test in the book done and everything came back negative, except for the thyroid and adrenals. Thanks!

So you've been off thyroid t3 med for 6 weeks.

How long (weeks) were you off med when this test was done? (It matters for accuracy and comments on your test results).

Do you have test results from before the Dr started you on T3? (for baseline).

To be accurate ion thyroid tests, you need to have a stale level of thyroid for the last 6 weeks. Either the same level of med for 6 weeks, or no med at all for 6 weeks. Jumping on/off will not provide accurate results worth commenting on. Thyroid T4 takes 6 weeks for sure, T3 only is most likely less, but its never talked about, so kind of unknown.

So if this test was accurate, you have high reverse T3 which you did not mention questioning. This can make you feel very "off", and its generally treated with only more T3.

High reverse T3 is the T3 hormone getting stuck in the thyroid receptors. Adding more T3 , forces it through like a plunger in a plugged toilet LOL (seriously though, thats how its fixed).

High reverse T3 is from stress and infection (a form of stress in the body).

"I'm going the first week of January to do it again." - good, you need to.

So you had slightly high T3 with lower in range T3 before starting thyroid med. Odd, but the ranges are just an average, and maybe you just have higher T4.

So........it would be interesting if your regular T3 went up after successfully treating the high reverse T3, see where I'm going?

Or you could also have a conversion issue from T4 to T3. Many do.

How are your liver enzymes? ALT, AST? Liver goes toxic from treating Candida, and T4 is coverted to T3 mostly in the liver. Should get better in time. But you should have been on herbal liver cleansers like milk thislte or alpha lipoic acid suppliment.

Do you have high Billiruban ? Ask Dr for test. This is called Gibalters sysdrome. Its a liver issue that they dont know much about. But it might make T3 conversion low.

T3 meds are also difficult to tolerate with adrenal stress. Are you treating with adrenal adaptogen herbs? There are 4 gensings, all different potencies, I like holy basil best.

some things to ponder...........

Sorry astro, I am taking rhodiola.

I beleive the labs are the free readings. The reverse t3 was the total. The calculated ratio from the website you mentioned was 1.8, which us way lower than she says is good.

My doc was giving me all kinds of stuff for parasites as he believes all problems are caused by parasites. I took flagyl and allopurinol together and it made my liver enzymes slightly elevate, so he told me to stop and then put me on 4 other different things. I don't think I have Lyme disease. I'm scared I do because I'm anxious, but I don't think I do.

Astroman, I really appreciate your help. I pulled up the email from my doc with the labs that I referenced above and the T4 and T3 readings were both free. Here is what what the doc said:

Thyroid levels are similar to when tested a few weeks ago. TSH isn’t suppressed and T3 is in normal range, so I don't think that the slightly high T4 is causing any issues. Reverse t3 is high relative to Free T3 which typically causes low thyroid symptoms. Sometimes we work on lowering the T4 which will lower the Rev T3, and sometimes we have to add T3 to compensate for the high Rev T3. IN your case, though, you are not taking T4 so we can’t lower it. We might consider adding lithium orotate to help with this, but I want to work on adrenals first and repeat labs later to see if that, along with change in your supplements, is naturally correcting the issue.

I also have low testosterone (I'm a male). She put me on a beta blocker earlier this week because I was complaining about anxiety. That's really my only major complaint. I have anxiety, no libido, low motivation, brain fog, fatigue sometimes, excess energy (seems to follow my cortisol pattern), and a lack of appetite and sour stomach in the morning. That's about it. If the anxiety and weird feelings were gone I wouldn't even be on this site. The other stuff would be an afterthought to me. I stressed myself out (business owner) way too much the last several years and am now seeing a therapist and have finally admitted to being sexually abused as a child. I have a lot to work through. Sure, I could have Lyme disease. Everyone could. My doc seems to think my problems are due to hormone imbalance, stress (and feeling bad is another stress), and emotional issues. I asked her about Lyme and she agreed it's a serious issue, but she didn't feel like I was clinically presenting with Lyme. She did say if we get my hormones balanced, resolve stress and emotional issues and I still feel the way I do, then it may be something to look into.

The doc checked all the antibody levels for candida. IgM is down to 1.1 from 1.5 a year ago. The doc said this was good and that it could still just be residual antibodies. IgG and IgA (I think thats it) were both clear. Anything over 1 is considered 'detectable'. I've been eating really clean for a year now. Food allergy test was great. Stool test showed no yeast. Immune function test showed normal. I haven't challenged myself with sugar or alcohol to see if I'd react. Doc said she does not think yeast is my problem at this point. I just want my thyroid and adrenals to work properly. My saliva test showed high cortisol in the morning, and it makes sense because I wake up anxious and worried.

Post Edited (wompwomp) : 12/25/2015 8:17:35 AM (GMT-7)

Like I mentioned (STTM has info on this), T3 can be hard to tolerate with stressed adrenal, which it seems you understand. No one here can really confirm this, its a really gray zone , that takes time from what I've gathered reading about it in the past.

Even recovering from Candida can take a long time, since it upsets the chemical process in your ability to detox.

propanolol - are you taking this fir high BP or hand tremors? Its also available in extended release to be taking once daily, so no up and down feeling. Its a pretty old drug that it quite safe. No thyroid issues from it that I know.

Astro,
Doc gave the propanolol to block some effects of the thyroid to see if it would provide some temporary relief. I don't know if it's working or not. I'm going to ask about the CD4 test you mentioned even though the doc doesn't think the candida is causing issues anymore. I worry about other infections but I just don't have any infection type symptoms.

@wompwomp

Thanks,

I suppose I should shop around for a new Endo doc. But like I said before, my history of anxieties seem to make doctors not take my physical complaints seriously. Sometimes it takes a whole lot of insistence on my part to even get thoroughly checked out. Otherwise they never would have caught my thyroid issue, my Gerd, my gastritis, my ulcers, andthe other issues that they thought was all in my head because of constant anxieties.

The good thing about seven years of therapy, and learning how to deal with the stress and anxieties. Now I don't have to increase my symptoms by the coping skills I've learned. With therapy, it doesn't cure what happened, but it does lighten the emotional loads.