Continued Good Health Using T3 Thyroid Hormone and the Circadian T3 Method

Note from Paul Robinson: I found this fascinating – I hope you do too. It is a an example of using much lower doses of T3 and the circadian T3 method. Sue still has thyroid function and does not have Hashimoto’a thyroiditis.

Hi Paul, some time ago I promised I would update you formally on my ongoing journey with CT3M, and eventually here it is! The reason it’s taken me so long is because I’m so busy these days…

Briefly, I suffered from hypo symptoms for about 20 years. Blood tests were always ‘in range’, and I’ve been diagnosed by various GPs in the past as depressed, fat, lazy, obsessive and having ‘early stage CFS’. I became fatigued in 2008 and unable to function due to pain and exhaustion. I researched my symptoms and everything pointed to hypothyroidism. After joining an online hypo forum, and then seeking the advice of a private thyroid specialist, I tried firstly NDT, and when this made me toxic, I went onto T3 only (62.5mcg split into 3 doses, 8am, 2pm, 6pm). This, at the time, was supplemented with Prednisolone (5mcg), as my adrenal tests showed very low cortisol levels.

I improved significantly on this protocol, but wasn’t brimming with energy, and had good days and bad days. It was whilst on holiday that I remembered reading your views on taking T3 early in the morning, and because I was waking early with the Spanish sun shining through my window, I gave it a go. I had an instant improvement, didn’t need to sleep in the afternoon, and even went walking in the hills on a couple of occasions. I stopped the Pred pretty much within a week (not advisable, I know), but my body simply said that I didn’t need it. My doses were 25mcg at 4.45am, 25mcg at 1pm & 12.5mcg at 6pm. I was walking 3 miles every day for the next few weeks, feeling absolutely marvellous, and for the first time in decades could remember what having boundless energy felt like. Disappointingly, I started to struggle after a few months and have spent the last 9 months titrating my doses until I have arrived at what feels like my ideal protocol. I now take 6.25mcg (quarter tablet) at 4.30am and 6.25mcg at 10.30am. Very occasionally I take another 6.25mcg at 4.30pm, but only if I feel a bit dodgy.

In June, I swam a lake for charity. I’ve also written two novels in the last 12 months. Today I moved the furniture out of my bedroom, painted the walls and put the whole lot back in again. I have my eye on a triathlon next year…

I cannot begin to express my excitement and relief at getting the best days of my life back thanks to you and your CT3M protocol. Had you not suffered, researched, battled and shared your life story, I would still be living a ‘half-life’ believing I was a fat, lazy, depressed failure. I’m so grateful to you Paul.

Two months ago, I woke up one day and knew I could at last lose weight. My body often tells my mind when it’s ready for change! I’m on my own version of the paleo diet, having pretty much cut out non-nutritious carbs, including wheat (dire cold-turkey withdrawal, but worth the agony). I never knew I had a gluten problem until I gave it up… I’m 28 pounds lighter, not hungry, not craving anything. In fact I’m a fat burning machine! I’m lifting weights and starting to look great (still a long way to go).

But everything those doctors said to me about being lazy and greedy, about having no willpower and driving myself into a diabetic, coronary early grave, was hogwash! I sort of always knew it, but didn’t have a solution. Now I have – it’s CT3M.

I have never had a hypo diagnosis through a blood test. Yet 12.5mcg of T3 has transformed my health. It took 4 years to find the answer, but every step was vitally important. The missing key, which took me from nearly well to really well, was CT3M.

Thanks Paul! As Ghandi said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they listen.” I look forward to they day that doctors listen to you, so that everyone can feel the way I do now.

Keep up the fight!

Paul: I asked Sue how she had arrived at the low T3 doses and this is the interesting reply she gave me:

The issue I had with my T3 dosing was that my blood pressure was always high (ish), even though I had hypo symptoms. I experimented for a while, but when I stepped back and thought about it, I decided that the blood pressure was the significant factor. I also remembered a doctor saying to me that if you take too much T3 your body sometimes “shuts down” to protect itself. Logic told me then, that I was taking too much (blood pressure) and my body was shutting down (hypo symptoms). On this basis I gradually reduced my dose over a period of a few months. The hypo symptoms lessened and I felt better. I continued with this until I was taking nothing. After a few days of zero T3 I felt like I was “walking off a cliff”. Not a good feeling. I therefore took a small dose of 6.25mcg at 4.45am (always my optimum timing), and felt better immediately. I experimented with a second dose, eventually settling at 6.25mcg at 10.30am (5 hours after first dose). I sometimes get palpitations around 7-8pm, and make a point of adding a third dose of 6.25mcg at 4pm the next day. Usually I can identify what has caused me to need the third dose – things like late nights, heavy exercise, swimming freezing lakes etc!!

The other thing which catapulted me into amazing levels of energy was cutting carbohydrate out of my diet. I’ve been on the paleo diet for months, but always struggled to stick to it consistently. The day I woke up and thought “I’m fixed” I  knew I could now lose the weight. Having said that, the withdrawal from sugar, grains and gluten was horrific for 5 days, and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. The fact that I was able to stick with it showed a massive difference in my metabolism. The thyroid hormone was exactly where it should be, the energy train was working and the gluten problem I didn’t know I had, was being rectified. After 5 days my headache went and I coughed my lungs up all day (odd, but must’ve been something to do with the gluten?). Since then I’ve felt amazing, and am losing weight easily. I have a lot to lose, but everything works the way it should now.

I guess the other conclusion I’ve drawn is that the problem for me was probably  exhausted adrenals more than any massive thyroid problem. Once my adrenals got a bit of T3 at the time they needed it, my health came flooding back. Which is why I’m getting away with such a small dose of T3. There may come a time when I don’t need it at all? Also, I suspect, my need for T3 links to my peak requirement for cortisol, ie early morning & before 1pm. Again, this may mean I won’t need T3 forever. I never stood a chance of getting this diagnosed by a GP or endo. I believe there are thousands of fat knackered middle-aged women enduring the ‘half-life’ that I had. I’m literally buzzing with energy these days. Couldn’t have wished for or imagined it was possible to feel this way!
S
xx

Latest Update by Sue

I changed my T3 dose a little in November – now 12.5mcg at 4.45am, plus 6.25mcg at 10.45am. Very occasionally I add an afternoon dose (6.25 at 4.45pm), but only if I’m clearly hypo. I was experiencing a little bit of headachy tiredness upon waking, so upped the early morning T3 from 6.25mcg to 12.5 & it did the trick.

Also, I’ve lost 3 stones in weight since September 2012, and just recently met a wonderful man to whom I’m now engaged (hence the hectic lifestyle just now).

One of the main things I’ve noticed having now got my condition under control is that as the thyroid symptoms ease, other symptoms come to the fore. I’m currently using a natural progesterone cream to tackle lingering PMS symptoms, with some encouraging results. I’m obsessive about the food I eat and the things I choose to put on my skin – all as natural as possible.

I remain deeply suspicious and distrustful of the medical profession, and have full and total control over my own health.

I dread to think where I would be now if I hadn’t sought an alternative to the NHS’s dismissal of my health!