Plaque is the stuff of coronary heart disease. It is CONTROLLABLE, it is STOPPABLE, it is REVERSIBLE.
But you must be equipped with the right information on diet, nutritional supplements, and hopefully the avoidance of medication.
This is the blog that accompanies the 
Supplementation of the thyroid hormone, T3, is an underappreciated means to lose weight.
Thyroid health, in general, is extremely important for weight control, since even subtle low thyroid hormone levels can result in weight gain. The first step in achieving thyroid health is to be sure you are obtaining sufficient iodine. (See Iodine deficiency is real and Healthy people are the most iodine deficient) But, after iodine replacement has been undertaken, the next step is to consider your T3 status.
I’ve seen T3 ignite weight loss or boost someone out of a weight loss “plateau” many times.
Endocrinologists cringe at this notion of using T3. They claim that you will develop atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heart rhythm) and osteoporosis by doing this. I have yet to see this happen.
Adding T3 revs up metabolic rate at low doses. The idea is to push free T3 hormone levels to the upper limit of normal, but not to the hyperthyroid range. While an occasional person feels a little “hyper” like they’ve had a pot of coffee, most people just feel energized, clear-headed, and happier. And weight trends down much more readily.
Taking T3 by itself with no effort at weight loss generally yields only a modest weight reduction. However, T3 added to other weight reducing efforts, such as wheat elimination and exercise, accelerates the weight loss effect considerably. 5 lbs lost will likely be more like 8 to 10 lbs lost; 10 lbs lost will likely be more like 15 to 20 lbs, etc.
It’s also my suspicion that more and more people are developing a selective impairment of T3, making it all the more important. I believe that you and I are being exposed to something (perchlorates, bisphenol A, perflurooctanoic acid, and others?) that may be impairing the 5′-deiodinase enzyme that converts the T4 thyroid hormone to the active T3. Relative lack of T3 leads to slowed metabolism, weight gain, and depressed mood. While avoiding or removing the toxin impairing 5′-deiodinase would be ideal, until we find out how to do this, taking T3 is a second best.
The tough part: Finding a prescriber for your T3.
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I really want to lose weight that is why I am reading this kind of post. I think this post is a very well written post. I love everything that is written in that article.
T3 or any form of Thyroid medicine just for weight loss is highly dangerous. I have been doing this for over a year, starting with T4 and now mixing the two (worried about RT3). Unfortunately I am suffering severe side effects, angina, breathlessness, atrial fibrillation arrhythmia and many other things, i am too scared to come off them but I have and am doing my body alot of damage, which could be fatal (I should never had started). My advise is to only take the hormones via a doctor and only if you suffer from hypo.
Anon
I have taken both Clen, Anavar and T-3. I have seen moderate results with clen, extreme muscle mass gain with anavar, and the most leaning out and weight loss with the t-3. My only concern was that it took 4-5 months taking t-3 to lose 15 pounds and I was taking what I thought was the maximum. How can I lose 20 lbs of fat in 2-3 months and still maintain muscle? Should I switch to anavar from clen when I notice muscle loss?
Last post above by a 31 year old female that works out, eats right and wants to go from about 20% body fat down to 10% by April/May. I use to be a fitness model and have been off t-3 now for about a year, but still cycle clen. I hear alldaychemist is a good site.
I was under the impression that t4 gets converted to t3 what at the liver or cellular level? if your insulin resistant (or suffering from what some term the famine feast cycle from a history of reduced caloire diets or poor quality diets) you not converting to t3 or are t3 resistant you can be leptin resistance and insulin resistant you can be thyroid resistant to.
I would think one would need to get at the root of the problem, rather than treat the symptom, it could be caused by some chronic nutritional deficiency, regardless of cause, as long as your on the famine feast cycle (look it up) you will not lose weight permanently. nor cure metabolic syndrome or low thyroid that has no known cause.
there is a strong genetic compeonent I think some call it the thrifty gene, I call it the survival instinct myself which encompases more than just energy in and out.it encompases all metabolism, reactions to enviromental changes mental and physical adaptations and what not.
and I wouldn't be surprised if the real culprit for hypo or hyper thyroid for those not suffering a weight problem or metabolic synrdome is due to malnuturtion as well like vita d, cal, vita k, a, magnesium and other minerals defiencies.
these control the immune system dont they? maybe the genetic component is that your unable to absorb them as well and need to over compensate via taking in excess via foods.
but then I wonder about how nutritious our food really is. sure maybe the toxic enviroment may play a role like increasing the nutrient needs of the body in order to detoxify them. but I don't believe they directly cause a problem. everyone has these toxins in ther bodies in usa, but not everyone suffers health problems from it.
could be their genetic and nutritional status that determines that. but the only thing I know who takes t3 are those who suffer wilsons syndrome, stress induced reduction tha doesn't resolve itself after the stressor has past.
and then they only take it for a short time to get the body back into balance not as a weight loss tool.
Can you use T3 for weight loss w/o losing muscle? I have a prescription for 10 mcg a day that I haven't been taking, so I can start ramping up a bit.
This is nice post thanks a lot for this great post keep posting and updating the blog…..
Smith ALan
I am on t-3/t-4 therapy for hypothyroidsim. T-3 was added a month ago and although I feel better than I have in the past 3 years, I have had NO WEIGHTLOSS!!! I am an active female and eat well, I bike 15 miles daily. Confused as to why I am not seeing any results….
I was just diagnosed with hypothyroidism. My TSH was 5.4. Which is high on both the old and new scale. I weigh 384 lbs., do not sleep well, have swollen legs, and am sluggish and tired. I can loose weight when I eat right and exercise. My blood pressure and sugar are normal. I am also going for a sleep test for sleep apnea next week. Also just for info I had a ct scan just before my blood test and they did give me the contrast, (iodine). My doctor put me on t4, 25mcg per day. (levo) At the beginning of the year I started a diet and lost 50lbs in about 6 months. Then kinda got off the wagon and gained all my weight back. I was in the hospital a couple years ago and the doctors told me my sodium & potasium was really really low. Also I have access to cynomel. I am afraid to start the t4. And have some questions:
1. Is 5.4 that high for TSH? 2. What could have caused this to be so high? From everything I read it looks to me like 5.4 is very high. Why then would my doctor only put me on 25mcg? Everything I read says most people are on 75 to 125 mcg per day and their TSH is much lower than mine. 3. Should I ask my doctor to prescribe t3 also? If he will not should I start my own that I have access to? If so I would start very low dose say around 12.5 mcg along with my 25mcg of t4. 4. Could the ct scan caused my TSH to be high? Could having low sodium and potasium cause my TSH to be high? 5. Should I have another test done? Also have my t3 & t4 levels checked this time? He did not do those test the first time. I am afraid because I cannot gain any more weight! I am maxed out! My body cannot take any more. And just five pounds would be really bad. I do not want to take the t4 alone if there is any chance that I might gain additional weight. 6. One more question, is there anyway I can get my thyroid back to normal with out taking a bunch of medication? Like eating right, exercising, loosing weight. Or is the high TSH causing the weight gain? Because my diet is terrible.
Thank you.
9
Hi, Robert–
Iodine is the only way to restore thyroid function; since you got iodine-containing x-ray dye recently, it seems unlikely that iodine deficiency is at the root of it.
My personal view is that very few people should take T4 without T3–people feel better, are happier, lose weight much more effectively. The problem: the endocrinology and primary care community will fight you tooth and nail. This may sound cynical, but I attribute this to the fact that much thyroid “education” comes from the sexy sales rep who was hawking Synthroid.
Your T4 dose is low because it is wise to start gradually, else you can get hyperthyroid symptoms. Your TSH, by the way, is indeed in the hypothyroid range, sufficient to account for substantial health problems, including weight gain and heart disease.
Dr Davis,
1) My thyroid was radiated twice due to Graves disease 15 years ago. Since my thyroid is no longer functioning, would there be any benefit to taking iodine along with my synthroid and T3?
And
2) With the Graves disease, I developed thyroid eye disease, pretibia myxedema and Acropachy. Will taking T3 effect or aggravate those conditions?
Thank you,
Lisa
Dr. Davis, I envy your patients! I’m a post meno-hell 56 year old female who, until five years ago, has always been thin; underweight according to all height-weight charts. Over the last 4-5 years I’ve gone from 110 lbs. to nearly 150! I’ve always been able to cut back on intake and weight would fall off; now a normal for me day’s intake is a chicken breast or fish fillet/day and a cup of hot chocolate at bedtime (skim milk). Sure, I realize that as we age we tend to gain weight but this is way over the top and unhealthy. I’ve also been suffering from virtually all hypo symptoms except no difficulty conceiving and problem periods (for obvious reasons). I’ve been unemployed for years and have no health insurance so obtaining medical care is virtually impossible. Around 2 years ago I went to a low cost clinic; they said my thyroid numbers were within normal ranges but didn’t give me the numbers. They did send my cholesterol number, OVER 300, with instructions about diet and exercise. Not exactly news, duh. When the lbs. really began coming I began walking/jogging 2-3 miles/day, zero weight loss. I’m sick of freezing feet! I was stumped about why the corners of my eyebrows have disappeared until I began researching hypo. I’ve been on nearly antidepressant known to man. I finally located a free clinic last spring. The first Dr. I saw ordered lab work and said if it wasn’t definitive he would refer me to an endo. Drs. at the clinic rotate once/year. When I returned I saw a different Dr. He insisted my lab work was normal but, to shut me up, he put me on 25 mcg. of Levo. After 3 days I felt great but it wore off within two weeks. I returned to the clinic, the next Dr. said I’m definitely hypo and increased my dosage to 50 mcg. He wanted to titer me up to 125. Awesome… I thought. No change, I was still symptomatic. After a couple months I increased it to 75. Despite my raging symptoms the next Dr. decreased it because my TSH was very low. He’s a resident and will be a regular at the clinic until he’s finished with his residency. And, on each visit my weight has steadily increased. The next time I went in, my most recent visit, my weight had increased at an alarming rate. He told me to run 6 miles/day. When I was his age I did run, I had young knees! I’m sick of the blame the patient game. At the rate I’m gaining weight this woman, who has always been the skinny one, is going to weigh 200 lbs. UNACCEPTABLE. Clearly I’m the only person concerned about my health. I’ve scrimped and saved money when possible and ordered some T3 online last week. I’d rather die than be yet another morbidly obese American at risk for Type II diabetes. I’m sick of freezing year round. As I type my feet are so cold they’re almost numb. I’m scheduled to return to the clinic in a few weeks. They never give me my numbers but this time I’ll DEMAND them. I didn’t learn until November that my lab work from April did, indeed, indicate that I’m hypo. Most patients at the clinic are poor, unsophisticated, uneducated people who don’t challenge the Drs. I’m poor too but I’m a well-informed law school graduate with top-notch research skills. Yes, lawyers lose jobs too, age discrimination is pervasive. I don’t anticipate having begun taking my self-prescribed cytomel before my upcoming appointment. Hope springs eternal that if I do benefit from it I will eventually be able to convince one of the rotating, overall apathetic, Drs. to prescribe it. Ordering online will quickly become financially prohibitive if it really does help. A little cooperation from the medical professionals sure would be helpful.
I forgot. I’ve suffered from constipation since entering my 20′s. Bad pins and needles in hands and legs; arthritis since my 20′s that has become much worse over the years. Insomnia, physicians have been throwing antidepressants at me for decades. I’ve been told I have a “low normal” body temp since I was a kid. My mom was diagnosed with hypo last year at age 82 after developing an enormous goiter. Her Dr. said she’s probably been hypo for decades even though it never showed up in her labs. The list of why I need proper treatment soon is infinite.
Wendy, I read your post and I saw myself because I share both your symptoms and your experience. I gained 50 pounds in one year and cannot get it off, although people remark that I don’t eat much and they don’t understand why I am 184 lbs. I am fatigued all the time, I have difficulty losing weight, I have difficulty concentrating, and yes, I have cold feet (I have to wear socks to bed in the SUMMER). I have been trying to get multiple doctors to recognize that there is something wrong with my thyroid since 2007. I have been tested so often I feel like a pin cushion, and they always tell me my numbers are normal. I ordered copies of all my lab results and I can see that the numbers are going up, and I can feel that my symptoms are getting worse. I am a biochemistry student who would like to go to medical school eventually, and I cannot afford to keep listening to doctors tell me that the problem is not my thyroid when I know that it is. I was laid off from my job and spent a large chunk of my savings on an endocrinologist who insisted that my symptoms were due to a sensitivity to wheat, although I had been tested for 100 different allergens and the results all came back negative! I could not afford to continue paying him to not give me what I asked him for, which was a 1 month trial on thyroid medication. So I did it myself. I researched online, ordered T3, and gave myself a pyramid dosing schedule. I made sure I was aware of the side effects so that I would be able to recognize when to lower my dose. About a week or two after I started T3, I felt like my old self again. I had energy, I was losing weight, and I could concentrate. When I stopped taking the T3, all of my sympoms came back and I immediately put the weight I lost back on.I have been to 3 doctors since I completed my self-administered T3 trial, and I have specifically told them that the medication made me feel better, but they told me that it was because it would make anyone feel better because, as my last doctor told me, “it’s like speed.” However, my own research has indicated that if you are taking a dose that is unhealthy for your body, it tends to give you headaches and heart palpitations. So obviously my body responded favorably to the T3 since I did not experience those side effects. You should go to the website that the anonymous poster listed called thyroid-RT3.com to see how to pyramid dose and you should try it and see if you feel better. Then you can go back to those doctors and tell them that the T3 made you feel better and you would like to try that. Hopefully, you will get farther than I have. I am going back on T3 on my own. I would have liked to have it monitored by a medical professional but I refuse to live the rest of my life feeling like this. Right now I’m just trying to decide how long to cycle on the T3 and how long to cycle off without making my thyroid worse.
Lisa, this is way too late but….
what a lot of nutritionists don’t seem to realize is that the whole body uses iodine, not just thyroid tissue! it is the opinion of many TRUE specialists that the RDA is way too low, also. so unless you’re a seaweed fanatic, supplementing iodine is probably a good thing — but make sure you balance it with selenium — the two work as a team, and people who have had problems with iodine are frequently selenium-deficient.
good luck!