:HYPERTHYROIDISM ?!? help me with supplements

[calamassi86]

Hi everybody,

Lately i suspect to have hyperthyroidism.
I experience:

- weight loss
- brain fog
- fast heart beat
- bad sleep


For the past 3 months I've been supplementing these daily:

- collagen (to gain weight)
- msm (for skin)
- magnesium (regular bowel movements)
- l glutamine (gut healing - energy)
- alcar (neuro defense)


I'm sure the cause is in these supplements. From my research, ALCAR is fine.

I found some bad relations between collagen and hyper-T instead. Not much about the others supplements.

Id like to spot them and remove them from tomorrow.

THANKS A TON

[Barb135]

TSH is good for diagnostics, but not necessary...

T3 uptake is an indirect measure of the T4, which you did. Looking at the T3 uptake, one would believe that your T4 is over range, but your Total T4 is clearly not over range.  

Total T4 shows the total amount of T4 that's in your blood.  Of the total T4, most is bound by protein and can't be used.  We recommend testing Free T4, instead so we can see how of T4 in your blood is not bound by protein, so is free to be used/converted to T3.  Your Total T4 is, actually, relatively low in the range and not indicative of hyperthyroidism, at all.  We don't know how much of that is bound by protein, thus, not usable.

T7 is estimate of Free T4, equivalent to T4 Index; both are  estimates of Free T4.  Your result indicates that your Free T4 "should" be about 54% of its range.  Typically, we recommend that Free T4 be about mid range, so going by that, yours would be slightly high, but not what we'd consider hyper...

Unfortunately, you don't have anything that gives any idea of what your Free T3 might be.  Free T3 is the hormone that's used by nearly every cell in your body, while Free T4 is considered a "pro-hormone" and must be converted to Free T3.

If you can afford it, it would be very helpful to go back to the lab and get the actual tests for Free T4 and Free T3 done and this time you could add the TSH.  This would tell us exactly what's going on without having to make any guesses.  However, from these tests, it doesn't appear that you have hyperthyroidism, at least, when these tests were done.  

It's possible you could have Hashimoto's, which can swing from hyper to normal or hyper to hypo... Can you get antibody tests done to determine if you have them or not?

[Barb135]

It's good that you got thyroid testing done.  I'll be interested in seeing the results.

You're right that many of us have vitamin/mineral imbalances and supplementing with one thing, without making sure everything else is adequate can cause a lot of problems.  

There are certain vitamins/minerals that those of us with thyroid conditions are often deficient in and once we know if you have a problem, it would be good to address possible deficiencies, as well.  There are also, other common deficiencies that people without thyroid conditions have, many are the same as those with thyroid condition, so those need to be addressed.

Yes, many of us have become supplement junkies and those who sell supplements help promote that mindset.  It's become a money issue, not a health issue.  Many supplements have become fads and aren't necessarily needed or good for us.  

I've become a firm believer that we are what we eat and if we eat right, we may not need a lot of supplements.

I've taken collagen and have never heard of nor had experience with becoming hyper, but neither has it done me a lot of good...

When you get your thyroid test results, please post them, along with the reference ranges and we'll go from there...  

[calamassi86]

thanks
i will

[calamassi86]

Here the results, my bad I didnt do the TSH but only the basic thyroid test, hopefully is enought to detect something:

T3 UPTAKE: 37 (range 22-35)
T4, total: 7.2 (4.5-12)
T7: 2.7 (1.4-3.8)


What do you guys think ?

[Barb135]

Have you had your thyroid function tested?  You should have tested for Free T4, Free T3 and TSH.  If you haven't been tested, it's impossible to tell if you have a thyroid condition.

That said, collagen, won't necessarily help you gain weight - I've read articles that say to use it for weight loss... Magnesium is used for constipation, which is, typically, present with hypothyroidism, not hyper.

I strongly recommend that you stop the supplements and get proper testing done to find out whether you actually have a thyroid condition, then you can go from there.  If you have hyperthyroidism, you may need prescription anti-thyroid medication...

[calamassi86]

i had a thyroid blood test done yesterday, ill have the results in 3 days

i stopped already collagen cause i found comments from people saying they got hyperthyroidism after supplementing collagen

alcar and magnesium should be fine

not sure about l glutamine and msm




anyway i have been stupid in supplementing daily, for several years, without testing if i had deficiencies

we all are becoming supplements junkies :(




im sure i have many imbalances in my vitamins/minerals levels