Reverse T3 Dominance
That's the latest theory about my health problems. My doctor went to a conference on thyroid stuff in Park City about a month ago and learned more about a substance called "reverse T3," which is produced at the time that the body breaks down T4 (which the thyroid gland produces) to T3 (which is the workhorse that the hypothalamus monitors).
If you follow the link, you'll see that rT3 looks very much like T3 except that one of the iodine atoms is attached in a different place. rT3 is inert but still binds to the T3 receptors, blocking the uptake of T3 into the cells. So you can have normal blood levels of T3, T4, and TSH (which they normally test for), but if you've got too much rT3, you probably don't have enough T3 in your actual tissues.
They gave me a new type of blood test a few weeks ago that isn't even FDA approved yet. I guess you look at the ratio of T3 to rT3 and go from there. My ratio is roughly 13:1, but I don't really know what that means. I got an increase in my levothyroxin (T4) dose, but I wonder if that's the best course of action, given that I can get actual T3 from the Armour dessicated stuff instead of the risk of having my stupid body create more rT3 from the T4 instead of T3.
I also have myxedema (water in the tissues) and low core body temperature. I've been taking my axial temp in the morning before getting up, and I'm averaging 96.7 after 2 weeks. Supposedly, an average below 97.6 is probative.
So maybe this will turn out to be the thing (she said, having been down this road before). If you're out there, Judy, maybe this is something you can get tested for, too. It's pretty cutting-edge, so most doctors don't know about it. Can't hurt.
Also, a few weeks ago my right iliac (inguinal?) lymph nodes were totally swollen. I thought that a subcutaneous infection in my face and ear canal (again!) had migrated south, because about a week prior I had idly popped a zit on my right hip. But then I took an actual look at my back porch (not an inspiring view, lemme tell ya) and saw a constellation of little blister guys, most of whom had scabbed over already.
That was on a Friday night, so I went to a walk-in clinic on Saturday and found out that it was a break-out of shingles! Yeah. Varicela zoster, right there on my butt. My father and his father had both had really painful shingles break-outs on their faces, and my youngest sister got some on her back while she was in college, but mine I couldn't even feel. Apparently, you're not supposed to get shingles until you're about 70, but since I already feel that old, what the hey.
At the clinic, they gave me a huge $100 antibiotic shot because of the ear-canal infection and the skin infection, plus some oral antibiotics. Then I went to my regular doctor a few days later for one of my regular appointments and they gave me a drug sample of Lyrica, an anti-convulsive, that is supposed to protect the nerves. It also induces some sweet sleeping and dreaming, so I was down with that.
I have to go back in on Dec. 5 to test both thyroid and shingles (which have now disappeared). If I don't have the antibodies for shingles, they'll give me the chicken-pox vaccine that they normally give old people. And I'll see what's happened with the rT3 and stuff.
Do I feel better with the increased thyroid dosage? Can't tell. I have to get all hopped up on stimulants M-F just to get through the work day, and I spend the weekend all crashed out. And it might be that the improvement is so gradual that it will be hard to detect at first. I still mostly feel like I'm firing on two cylinders, and with the stimulants I feel like a third one kicks in somewhat, but never close to four. (I was never a V-6, so that's out of the question.)
I have been going to the doctor for so long that the lab's in-house phlebotomist brought me back a keychain from his Alaskan vacation (where he's from) because he sees me so often. Sheez.
If you follow the link, you'll see that rT3 looks very much like T3 except that one of the iodine atoms is attached in a different place. rT3 is inert but still binds to the T3 receptors, blocking the uptake of T3 into the cells. So you can have normal blood levels of T3, T4, and TSH (which they normally test for), but if you've got too much rT3, you probably don't have enough T3 in your actual tissues.
They gave me a new type of blood test a few weeks ago that isn't even FDA approved yet. I guess you look at the ratio of T3 to rT3 and go from there. My ratio is roughly 13:1, but I don't really know what that means. I got an increase in my levothyroxin (T4) dose, but I wonder if that's the best course of action, given that I can get actual T3 from the Armour dessicated stuff instead of the risk of having my stupid body create more rT3 from the T4 instead of T3.
I also have myxedema (water in the tissues) and low core body temperature. I've been taking my axial temp in the morning before getting up, and I'm averaging 96.7 after 2 weeks. Supposedly, an average below 97.6 is probative.
So maybe this will turn out to be the thing (she said, having been down this road before). If you're out there, Judy, maybe this is something you can get tested for, too. It's pretty cutting-edge, so most doctors don't know about it. Can't hurt.
Also, a few weeks ago my right iliac (inguinal?) lymph nodes were totally swollen. I thought that a subcutaneous infection in my face and ear canal (again!) had migrated south, because about a week prior I had idly popped a zit on my right hip. But then I took an actual look at my back porch (not an inspiring view, lemme tell ya) and saw a constellation of little blister guys, most of whom had scabbed over already.
That was on a Friday night, so I went to a walk-in clinic on Saturday and found out that it was a break-out of shingles! Yeah. Varicela zoster, right there on my butt. My father and his father had both had really painful shingles break-outs on their faces, and my youngest sister got some on her back while she was in college, but mine I couldn't even feel. Apparently, you're not supposed to get shingles until you're about 70, but since I already feel that old, what the hey.
At the clinic, they gave me a huge $100 antibiotic shot because of the ear-canal infection and the skin infection, plus some oral antibiotics. Then I went to my regular doctor a few days later for one of my regular appointments and they gave me a drug sample of Lyrica, an anti-convulsive, that is supposed to protect the nerves. It also induces some sweet sleeping and dreaming, so I was down with that.
I have to go back in on Dec. 5 to test both thyroid and shingles (which have now disappeared). If I don't have the antibodies for shingles, they'll give me the chicken-pox vaccine that they normally give old people. And I'll see what's happened with the rT3 and stuff.
Do I feel better with the increased thyroid dosage? Can't tell. I have to get all hopped up on stimulants M-F just to get through the work day, and I spend the weekend all crashed out. And it might be that the improvement is so gradual that it will be hard to detect at first. I still mostly feel like I'm firing on two cylinders, and with the stimulants I feel like a third one kicks in somewhat, but never close to four. (I was never a V-6, so that's out of the question.)
I have been going to the doctor for so long that the lab's in-house phlebotomist brought me back a keychain from his Alaskan vacation (where he's from) because he sees me so often. Sheez.