Thyroid question

I am having one of the longest afib episodes I have ever had. Two weeks now. I have long thought that there was a thyroid connection to my afib and even Dr Natalie didn't recommend an ablation till my thyroid was stable. For years I was on mainly cytomel. About a year ago I switched myself to synthroid only because I had noticed that my T3 was frequently exceeding the upper limit and I was feeling anxious much of the time. When using the cytomel, my afib episodes had high rates and RVR. So I slowly switched over to synthroid and most of my docs were pleased. However the weight piled on despite reducing my calories and exercising regularly. Even tried intermittent fasting to no avail.

My latest blood work shows TSH at 1.5, T4 in the upper half of normal and T3 below normal. This happened around the time I started having afib which is how I ended up on cytomel . The recent blood work was run by my endo 10 days ago. No call from her, I am just in the habit of getting copies of my blood work. So I guess she doesn't think it is anything to be concerned with. I could go to a doc and get some Armor Thyroid which would be about half as much T3 as I was taking, but I am concerned that I would just be covering up a problem. What the heck could be causing this?

Lynn:

Sorry no one has responded to your post---you could take an Iodine supplement to raise your T3. I have taken Synthroid since I was diagnosed with Graves disease and had my thyroid nuked. Some people cannot convert T4 to T3, that may be your problem because your TSH is good and your T4 is a little too high. If you try taking iodine start slowly.

If your thyroid is out of whack, it does affect your AF problem---too much thyroid or too little. I had my first episode of AF when I had too much thyroid hormone.

Liz

Thanks for your response Liz. I have been taking 50 mg of iodoral for the past three years. I think it helps keep my T4 up just not sure why it's not converting to T3. I'm adding some thyroid support supplements to see what happens. From what I have read, the medical community doesn't know why this happens. Whatever the reason, I'm pretty darn sure that there is a connection to my afib.

Lynn:

Yes, Iodoral is what i took a few years back, my Holistic Doc. recommended it. My T3 is on the lower end of the scale, T4 is ok, too much t3 can make you hyper and can cause AF, so I watch it.

Liz

Lynn - TSH is just a preliminary guideline. Do you have a complete thyroid panel which would include the important numbers of Free T3 and Free T4, Reverse T3 and the thyroid antibodies? The "Free" indicates the amounts of active hormone available in the blood stream.

Thyroid function depends on whether you are able to convert T4 to T3. If not, then problems can arise. It's also not good to add a lot of iodine without knowing the full thyroid panel because too much iodine can promote an immune attack on the thyroid gland if there is autoimmunity present.

Jackie

Jackie,

Free T4 and T3 are as stated above. As part of this panel reverse was not tested. Past tests for hashi have been negative. In the past I have went off iodine for six months at a time. Weight has gone up and thyroid function has decreased. Basically, if I decrease iodine I need to increase synthroid. From my reading so far I am seeing that low T3 is not a thyroid problem per se, but an issue with the body's ability to convert T4 to T3. Although it seems to be recognized that reverse T3 can be increased when there is too much T4. I have now increased iodine slightly and am not falling asleep sitting up at 7:30 pm.

Lynn:

My Holistic doctor recommended that I take Iodoral which i did for quite a number of years and felt great. I quit taking it a few years ago because I started getting some hives. One of the women in my doctors office told me that she couldn't take Iodoral but that she could take Lugols Iodine without any problems, so you might consider it.

Liz

This harkenes back to a problem I had 10 years ago, pre iodine. So I am doubtful that has anything to do with iodine. Also, I've taken iodoral many years without this issue surfacing. The symptoms I experience in conjunction with low T3 are very dramatic so I have a very good sense of when I hit the low T3 zone. It's very mysterious.

There are some supplements that help, selenium and zinc both help… Also seven – keto DHEA helps… There is an article I read it's semi sensational but has a lot of good info to, here is the link : [www.restartmed.com]
Hope this helps a bit. I also found that if I was taking into few calories my T3 would crash, especially on a low-carb diet… I think he addresses that in the article though it's been a while since I read it

Ben

Ben,

Thank you for sharing this very informative article. It really pulls together a lot of issues that can effect T4 to T3 conversion. This is one if the best articles I have seen that covers thyroid issues for the layperson. Definitely some food for thought here.

My wife had a thyroid problem and the doctor wanted to give her medication. (Her younger sister had hashi and had her thyroid nuked).

Did some research and found www.sandracabot.com. Followed her recommendations. About 6 months later wife had another blood test and thyroid levels were within normal range. Doctor was amazed.

The effect of fluoride on iodine uptake by the thyroid gland?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/21/2017 07:08PM by Joe.

Joe - Yes, fluoride interferes with iodine and the thyroid needs iodine for function.
In the General Forum, I directed you to a link which gives archived posts on fluoride.

Jackie