Well, I went to see my doctor, he had reduced my dose, and I am not feeling any better. The good news is that I brought him an article about RT3, he read it and then said "it wont hurt to test it" and ordered the test...and wanted to keep the article! I will do it next week and calculate my ratio after that.
According to my numbers I need an increase, however I never feel well despite the increases or decreases. We will see what this test says.
If the test is normal, I will ask my doctor for an increase...even though my numbers as of now are not bad. Definitely. If my FT3a and FT4 are not above the range I do not think I will get hyper. Thanks.
Waiting for my test results now...
Depending on regular MD's today isn't always enough for some things. If they wont do something, then go find a different type of doctor.
I'm assuming you might not know any Naturopaths or chiros that are interested in natural heath. There are some good ones out there. Ask around. Or if there is a non-franchise healthy food / supplement/ vitamin store near you, someone there will know a good contact, probably will have their card. They usually work with a lab that will do non standard tests but insurance wont cover it.
Reverse T3 is treated with T3 only. Some have done it here, but they don't hang around on the forum too long.
I think most take adrenal support till it gets better or at stressful times, then back down to a lower maintenance dose of whatever it is they take. I tried many adrenal supporting supplements before I figured out what worked. There is always talk about this on the adrenal forum.
Thank you all for your responses.
I requested reverse T3 test to my doctor when I started treatment, two years ago. He refused for some reason I cannot recall now. I just checked my tests prescription and reverse T3 is not there.
I also checked a website suggested for STTM to test reverse T3 and it costs $150. I will request it to my doctor in two more weeks when I have my appointment if he refuses again I guess I will have to try that site.
What is the treatment for reverse T3 dominance?
L. Moose: I am taking Naturethroid. I have been taking between 3 and 2.75 grains since last September. In the beginning my numbers where very up in the range, but last March they started to drop, even though I have not varied my dose that much.
Weird.
My doctor only has tested adrenals with the regular blood test. It seems he does not care about that very much.
If you take adrenal supplements is that for ever or just for some time?
Your symptoms do not read / look like hyper. Unbalanced adrenals can cause what you have going on. An RT3 test would be valuable per above.
Couple of questions:
What brand dessicated thyroid med were you on? How long at 3 grains?
Ever have a adrenal saliva 4 point 24 hr test? MD's wont do this. Forget them. Can order from a naturopath or chiro. About $150.
I did this test and took adrenal support supplements - it worked. Adrenals do not seem to fix themselves and get 'out of whack' from being in an extended hypo thyroid state too long. Low adrenals give a mixed feeling of hypo and hyper thyroid at the same time.
I agree with gimel. Like him, my TSH runs very low (latest was once again < 0.01. As gimel said, this is very common for those of us on thyroid medication, especially, those of us who are adding a source of T3 (cytomel or dessicated med)
If your doctor is worried about you having a low TSH, and that you are Hyper, then I think the concern is needless. A suppressed TSH is a frequent companion of taking high doses of thyroid meds. This does not mean you have become hyper, unless you also are having hyper symptoms, due to excessive levels of FT3 and FT4, which you do not have. As an example I have had a TSH level of about .05 for over 25 years without ever having hyper symptoms. In fact I continued having lingering hypo symptoms, like you, until learning about the importance of FT3 here on the Forum and after testing found mine to be in the low end of the range. After switching my meds to include a T3 source, and doing some tweaking, I now feel best ever.
Your FT3 could be tweaked a bit higher, but the extent of your symptoms makes me wonder if you could have a problem with Reverse T3 dominance. I think it would be a good idea to test for RT3, just to rule it in or out.