# Thyroid Hormone Insensitivity?



## CP900 (Sep 2, 2011)

Hey all,

It's been a while since I last posted on here. The good news is I'm doing better than I was when I last posted here:

http://thyroidboards.com/showthread.php?t=4890&highlight=cp900&page=6

But mentally I still feel sluggish and I'm not 100% me yet. I feel like most days I'm maybe 65% me, which is a lot better than the 0% me I felt back before I started thyroid medication!

I've made some observations throughout these two years though and I'd really like to know if anyone can make better sense of these things than I. First, my dose has been to some extremes. At one point, my thyroid dose was at 6 grains, 2grains/6 hours - I really was failing to respond symptomatically. Labs following revealed:

11/12
free t4: 1.2 [0.8 - 1.8ng/dL]
free t3: 8.3 [2.3 - 4.2pg/mL]
TSH: < .001 [0.4 - 4.5mIU/L]

My doctor freaked out and dropped me down (gradually) to 4 grains. In March of this year, labs showed:

03/13
free t4: 1.2 [0.8 - 1.8ng/dL]
free t3: 6.8 [2.3 - 4.2pg/mL]
TSH: < .001 [0.4 - 4.5mIU/L]

This June I was further dropped to 3 grains and labs revealed:

06/13
free t4: 1.2 [0.8 - 1.8ng/dL]
free t3: 4.5 [2.3 - 4.2pg/mL]
reverse t3: 16 [8 - 25ng/dL]

August of this year the 3 grains were spaced out to 1 grain/6 hours and labs revealed:

08/13
free t4: 1.2 [0.8 - 1.8ng/dL]
free t3: 3.8 [2.3 - 4.2pg/mL]

In 3/11 I had antibodies tested as well, which revealed:

Thyroglobulin AB - 29 [ref. < 20]

Thyroid Peroxidase - 23 [ref. < 35]

Throughout this whole period of time, I've never - not even once - felt hyperthyroid. Even with a free t3 almost twice the range the difference between 6 grains and 4 grains was barely noticeable. Why is that? I've been put on hydrocortisone, prednisone, and I've taken pregnenolone MLM (all for adrenal fatigue) concurrently and none of these cortisol sources changed this. It's really weird to see how sensitive most people are to free t3 levels and not be like that at all. I feel like I could be back at 8.3 and report no significant difference. However, an important point: I cannot seem to go lower than 3 grains. If I do, hypo symptoms creep up on me. I've tried going down to 2.5 and it becomes debilitating. So I can certainly become hypo quite easily, but not hyper it seems. I also do not seem to tolerate synthetic t4 or t3 well.

Another important thing: I've had Vit B12, D, and Ferritin tested. With supplementation I've been able to maintain a B12 and D at the top of the range. Ferritin I've boosted to about 60 so far. No significant changes in symptoms.

So I'm left to wonder, could my cells just be insensitive to thyroid hormones? Could I have some form of thyroid resistance, as in the receptors just don't respond like they should or are damaged in some way? I do have hashi's, which leads me to believe that antibodies are somehow connected. Reverse t3 was only 16 when my free t3 was 4.5 so I don't believe reverse t3 is an issue. What's really going on here? Any ideas?


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Could you please post the ranges for your lab results?

Also, have you ever had your thyroid antibodies tested?


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## CP900 (Sep 2, 2011)

Absolutely. I edited my post to include the ranges next to the values. I also added in the antibody tests I had done in '11.


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

CP900 said:


> Hey all,
> 
> It's been a while since I last posted on here. The good news is I'm doing better than I was when I last posted here:
> 
> ...


Since you have been spacing your grains out throughout the day, is it possible that you have taken a dose (1grain) with in the 4 hour window of T3 peak? If that is so, your FT3 tests are not in line w/what you are feeling.

Here is info on that.

Liothyronine (T3)
is almost totally absorbed, 95 percent in 4 hours.
http://www.frx.com/pi/armourthyroid_pi.pdf

What is the name of your thyroid medication by the way?

Your rT3 at this point is not an issue; we all are supposed to have some. That number looks like "some" to me.


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## CP900 (Sep 2, 2011)

Oh interesting. So 95% of the t3 is absorbed within 4 hours. Yes these blood draws would have been during that window. Would you recommend doing labs before taking the armour then? The kind I'm using is thiroyd by Greater Pharma. My response to this has been better than to brand name armour.

Actually, on the topic of timing, I came across a study today suggesting that t3 release in the body closely follows tsh release, peaking at night and lowest during mid day. Do you think this might be a more natural approach or one worth exploring?


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