Posted by JGalt on October 29, 2001, at 10:55:22
In reply to Re: Need Info on Thyroid meds and their effects!, posted by Noa on October 26, 2001, at 18:58:11
I did some reading on this in the past. Just reading TSH is kinda like looking at IBM when you want to know how the stock market is doing. It doesn't always help. T4 levels, I do not believe, are that important. The reason being that your body converts T4 to T3, which is primarily what your body uses for metabolic and other reactions. Thus I would say the tests involving T3 are most important. If you have your results and T4 and T3 were both low, then you probably should take synthroid, if only T3 is low, take cytomel. There's a subgroup of people with hypothyroidism who have what is known as Wilson's Syndrome. In Wilson's syndrome, the body shows normal T4 levels, and normal T3 levels, but you still are hypothyroid. The reason being that your body is sabotaging the conversion to T3, and the hormone is spinning in the wrong direction. Thus a reverse T3 test is also good to have. If you have it you take cytomel, nothing else is going to do much. The last test I can think of that'd I go with for thyroid is to test for hashimoto's autoimmune thyroiditis (sp?). Here your body continously sends out T3 antibodies, but your T3 production remains the same. I can't remember the name of the test for this, I believe its acronym is FAMA. Its still a fairly rare diagnosis, but if you're looking to prove yourself thyroid sound, it might be appropriate. Well that's the only tests I can think of that I'd bother with. I wrote that off the top of head so if anyone finds any inaccuracies, don't shoot me.
JGalt
poster:JGalt
thread:82320
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011025/msgs/82570.html