# Reverse t-3



## eacraz (Apr 18, 2012)

Howdy!!

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with Reverse T-3. Almost a month ago, I had some blood work done.

Here are the results:
TPO Ab 939 IU/mL RANGE: 0-34
Antithyroglobulin-Ab <20 IU/mL RANGE: 0-40
Free T4 1.37 ng/dl RANGE: 0.82-1.77
Free T3 4.0 pg/mL RANGE: 2.0-4.4
TSH .018 uIU/mL RANGE: .450-4.5
*Reverse T3 41.4 ng/dL RANGE: 9.2-24.1*

As you can see that my Reverse T-3 is off the charts. It looks like everything else is starting to get better, I think??

Any input regarding my Reverse T-3 number would be much appreciated!! :hugs:


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## DaBears (May 1, 2013)

Hi! I've done some research on Reverse T3. Provided a couple of links below for you to check out.

Your FT3/RT3 ratio looks low. Use calculator below which will help with unit conversions.

*Info on Reverse T3*
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/reverse-t3/

*Reverse T3-Ratio Calculator*
http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/rt3-ratio/

Hope this helps!

~ Mitch


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## lainey (Aug 26, 2010)

What type of replacement are you on?

Reverse T3 is an inert form of T3 produced by the rapid conversion of T4. Originally, the test was used to help detect hyperthyroidism. With your labs, TSH is very low, Free T3 is high in the range.

High reverse T3 is often the result of too much exogenous T3.


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

I'll chime in here, with the limited info I know about Reverse T3, it's essentially the inactive version of T3, and keeps your body from absorbing the active T3. So your FT3 labs wind up looking okay due to all of the Reverse T3, all the while your body is starving for T3 behind the scenes.

Don't feel too bad -- my Reverse T3 was somewhere in the mid-500's. (My doc said she had never seen one that high, LOL). I was also told it can be indicative of overall inflammation in the body. This would make sense to me, as I was not on any exogenous T3, but was dealing with rampant inflammation (gluten sensitivity and liver disease).


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

eacraz said:


> Howdy!!
> 
> I was wondering if anyone is familiar with Reverse T-3. Almost a month ago, I had some blood work done.
> 
> ...


This can happen when the person is over medicated w/T3 or if the person is on T4, it may not be converting to FT3 but rT3 instead.

Mitch has provided some good links for you!

The thing is, your numbers do look good so I would do a re-check before doing anything. You have to be feeling good; do you? Sometimes there is a lag time on these various labs.

Tell me if that makes sense to you!


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## iroczinoz (Aug 15, 2011)

Probably too much of your T4 is converting into rt3.

What kind of dosage are you on?

Usually to clear out high rt3 people tend to go onto t3 only.

You may also want to look into estrogen dominance I am pretty sure high rt3 is a possible symptom of being estrogen dominant. You need to get estrogen and progesterone measured around day 18 of your cycle then do some basic maths.

You may want to read the estrogen dominant symptoms to see if you have a few or not.


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## eacraz (Apr 18, 2012)

Thanks for the input everyone!! :hugs:

I am currently on 120 mg of Armour. I have been taking it for almost a month & 1/2. The blood work was done prior to the increase of the Armour dosage. During the blood work, I was on 90mg of Armour. Is my body having adverse of affect to the Armour med?? Resulting in the high REVERSE T3...

Having the high REVERSE T3 & IODINE DEFICIENCY kinda has me worried a tad. I don't want to have a setback, since my other numbers are looking good.

The thing is that I am still wicked tired. That is why the dr ran the loading iodine test. She doesn't think it is low iron based on my previous extensive blood work. She said that if I had iron problem, it will show in the red blood cell count/result thingy(technical term). :winking0001:


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## lainey (Aug 26, 2010)

If you have had an increase, you would really need labs to tell where your levels are.

Your free T3 was well up in the range before the increase, there is no telling what it is now.

Fatigue is also a symptom of overmedication.


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## eacraz (Apr 18, 2012)

I thought that the symptoms of over medication is heart palpations, shakiness etc. I wouldn't think fatigue was a symptom as well. Good to know...

Here are my labs BEFORE THE INCREASE TO 120MG.

(ON 90MG OF ARMOUR FOR THIS LAB WORK)
TSH .32 (.45-4.50 mU/L)
F T3 3.2 (2.0-4.8 pg/mL)
F T4 1.0 (.8-1.7 ng/dL)
REVERSE T3 19 (11-3 ng/dL)
TPO-ab >1000
THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES <20
8 AM CORTISOL 24.4 (4.0-22.0 ug/dL)

Thoughts?? :hugs:


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## iroczinoz (Aug 15, 2011)

Your cortisol is high which could also be effecting your t4 to t3 conversion and high cortisol is also known to raise rt3.

In your case also look into estrogen dominance do any of the symptoms look familiar?

Possibly adrenal fatigue too.


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## eacraz (Apr 18, 2012)

iroczinoz said:


> Your cortisol is high which could also be effecting your t4 to t3 conversion and high cortisol is also known to raise rt3.
> 
> In your case also look into estrogen dominance do any of the symptoms look familiar?
> 
> Possibly adrenal fatigue too.


The dr does believe that I have adrenal fatigue and I am on supplement by Dr. Wilson. I just can't get my head wrapped around this disease. At with the increase of medication, I still have all the symptoms. :sad0049:


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

eacraz said:


> I thought that the symptoms of over medication is heart palpations, shakiness etc. I wouldn't think fatigue was a symptom as well. Good to know...
> 
> Here are my labs BEFORE THE INCREASE TO 120MG.
> 
> ...


Your cortisol should be checked again, and more thoroughly, to make sure you don't have Cushing's syndrome. That would really derail the hormone train and be good to know. If you can get 24-hour testing that would be best. Either take-home urine collection or a saliva test kit. If your doc is more conservative and "old school", ask for the urine collection, separated out into multiple time periods. If your doc is more alternative, you could do the saliva swabs, where you collect one about every 6 hrs.


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## eacraz (Apr 18, 2012)

Hi everyone!!

I wanted to post my latest blood work and it has my REVERSE T-3 result. It looks like it dropped from my previous result. Yay??

*Blood Work from 05/21/13:*

*TPO AB 973 IU/mL RANGE: 0-34*
*ANTI Ab <20 IU/mL RANGE: 0-40*
*FREE T4 1.11 ng/dl RANGE: 0.82-1.77*
*FREE T3 3.4 pg/mL RANGE: 2.0-4.4*
*REVERSE T3 23.6 ng/dL RANGE: 9.2-24.1*
*TSH <.006 uIU/mL RANGE: .450-4.5*

_PREVIOUS BLOOD WORK about 8 weeks ago:_
TPO Ab 939 IU/mL RANGE: 0-34
Antithyroglobulin-Ab <20 IU/mL RANGE: 0-40
Free T4 1.37 ng/dl RANGE: 0.82-1.77
Free T3 4.0 pg/mL RANGE: 2.0-4.4
TSH .018 uIU/mL RANGE: .450-4.5
Reverse T3 41.4 ng/dL RANGE: 9.2-24.1

I am currently on 120 mg of Armour. My symptoms have subsided just a bit. But there are days where I think I got hit by a MACK truck. I am still tired and the brain fog is still lurking around. I am going to insist on testing my FERRITIN the next time I get blood work done.

Could I be over medicated? From what I know (which is not much) that my recent blood work looks ok.

Any thoughts?? 
Thanks for being a such a great support group!! :hugs:


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## bigfoot (May 13, 2011)

Umm, you could be over-medicated. Certainly by looking at only your TSH, but we all know that isn't super dependable. Or perhaps you just can't handle that high of a dose of Armour. I am running into this problem myself. Tried to increase from 1 1/4 and hit the wall. Felt over-medicated. Totally fatigued, spaced out and loopy, poor memory, awful brain fog, tired, weak, etc. I throttled back a bit to 1 1/4 grains of Nature-Throid (similar to Armour) and things improved.

Maybe you just can't handle that much T3, or perhaps those TPO Antibodies are taking things for a ride. Hard to say exactly. But it is good that your Reverse T3 dropped a bit!

hugs6


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