Question:
I wanted to pick your good brains regarding a change in my thyroidtreatment status...I have Hasimoto's Thyroiditis...

I have been doing very well on a combo dose of T4 and T3, and was aboutto bring down my T4 dosage a tad (from 150 mcg to 137 mcg) just beforeI had a flareup of Rheumatoid Arthritis. During this flareup of RA theinflamation caused a painful swelling on my lower right side, so tenderthat near the fourth day of the flareup it hurt when I laughed. Thisflareup also tried to go for the soft tissues in ym eyes (that was afirst).

Since this flareup, my body seems to react to the T3 I tke as thoughthey are placebos. Thinking that perhaps ne compounding pharmacy hadgiven me a less-than-potent batch of T3, I had another compoudningpharmacy prepare a batch of T3. The second compoudning phamracy doesnot refrigerate its T3, the first one does, but I had had an impotentbatch of T3 form the first compoudning pharmacy about a month ago andtheir replacement batch did work.

After obtaining T3 from the second compounding pharmacy, andexperiencing it as having little effect, I tried taking two 2.5 mcg T3capsules at the same time (I usually just take one 2.5 mcg T3 capsulein the a.m. and one in the late afternoon). I felt only a slightimprovement in my symptoms from doing this. Today, I took two 2.5 mcgT3 capsules at the same time, and an hour later a third 2.5 mcg T3capsule. The result has been no alleviation of symptoms.

I am beginning to wonder today if the flareup of RA I recentlyexperience, just before T3 medication began becoming ineffective, mayhave damaged my liver. My understanding is that the liver producesThyroid Binding Globulin (TBG), which binds with T3 and T4, preventsthem from being flushed out through the kidneys and circulates T4 andT3 throughout the body.

As you might imagine, the prospect of this being the case has me morethan a touch worried.

I am going to go out to the drugstore today and get some fresh MilkThistle (it is supposed to be good at helpiong the liver to cleanseitself). And next week I am going to send a fax to my new Endo askingthat he retest my T3, T4, TSH levels and add a TBG test. We justtested my T3, T4, and TSH levels, and my T3 levels (before the RAflareup) were just a touch on the high end of the normal range. Iwasn't surprised. That is why we were going to reduce my T4 from 150to 137 mcg.

If it turns out that my liver has in fact been damagae dby the RA, toyour knowledge is there any way of introducing TBG directly to thebloodstream as a supplement?

Answer: Looking it up, you must have awfully severe RA to be on methotrexate.

My family doctor told me the pain in my hips was rheumatoid. When Iwent on Cortef (hydrocortisone), it went away. Hydrocortisone is knownto relieve rheumatoid arthritis, and in low doses must be far saferthan methotrexate. It's also relatively inexpensive.

I suspect that a large portion of those who need Armour, have some kindof adrenal problem. That's because too little cortisol and you can'tconvert T4 to T3, and too much cortisol makes rT3 instead of T3.

An adrenal problem might be why you need T3 to begin with. I'm sureyou know, that hydrocortisone is an anti-inflammmatory. (Of course, Idon't know how safe Cortef brand is, after all our congressmen tell usit might be unsafe to import drugs from Canada, and the insert saysit's manufactured there.)

Also, if your pharmacy compounds your T3,that has to be a lot moreexpensive than Armour Thyroid. (Which I know is called "Thyroid" inCanada, and if it's the same thing I got recently that was labeled"Thyroid" as a generic equivalent, I would order it from the USA. Iwas willing to try generic when the pharmacy gave it to me, but twoweeks later I wonder how I could possibly be so brain dead and tired,then I remember I'm taking generic. I chew my Armour, it tasted lessrank, I guess that meant not as potent. So, I tripled my dose and itstill had little effect. Dangerous to triple your dose unless you haveInderall on hand, by the way, in case your heartrate escalatesdangerously, but it didn't accelerate at all. That tells me it'sworthless.)

Anyway, just because you do well on time released or other form of T3,doesn't mean you won't also do well on Armour. It's cost effective.I've used time released T3 and Armour. My wife does great on the timedrelease,as for me, I do slightly better on the Armour, and it's a lotcheaper.