Is T3 dangerous?

Dear Concerned Patient about T3: We definitely appreciate your concern. 🙂

But there appears to be some misunderstanding in the “way” the concern is stated. It’s worded as if the use of T3 (which is the active thyroid hormone which changes lives) can “directly cause” those problems all by itself…as if T3 is a destructive/vile/menacing thyroid hormone that should be totally avoided at all costs, thus T3 should never be mentioned. 

But the reality, based on years of experiences, is that a large body of patients have reported and observed that having T3 in their treatment, and used in the right and optimal way (which is mentioned often by Stop the Thyroid Madness, aka STTM), has totally changed their lives for the better. 🙂

STTM, both the book and the website, tells readers what patients have learned in the right way to use T3. 🙂 It removes all those lingering symptoms of hypothyroidism in a brilliant way — unlike how T4-only has caused problems, or being underdosed can cause problems.

T3 and adrenals

Additionally, STTM mentions (based on patient-reported experiences and observations) how important it is to look at one’s adrenals when using T3. Namely, if we have stressed adrenals (high cortisol, or low cortisol, or a mix of both, or low aldosterone) and we start on or raise a thyroid med with T3 in it, we might see hyper-like symptoms, such as anxiety, faster heartrate, heart palps, shakiness, internal vibrations, etc. Or we might see T3 go quite high in the blood, not making to the cells, which we call pooling. And all the latter is what T3 “reveals”, not what it causes. T3 can reveal if someone has stressed adrenals.

It’s important to underscore that not everyone has stressed adrenals when they start on or raise T3. But those who do will notice what was just mentioned. Thus, we learned that if those are revealed, it’s time to lower T3 until the hyper-like symptoms are gone, do a saliva cortisol test, and get the doc to prescribe a blood test for aldosterone. Then treat, which Chapter 6 in the STTM 1 book with the blue gray cover is all about.

What we as patients have learned: We need T3 as well

Through all this time that STTM has been around, we have noticed consistently from patient reports that having the active thyroid hormone T3 in their treatment, and achieving an optimal free T3, changes lives far better than just being on T4-only (a storage hormone). Far better!! That’s whether it’s via Natural Desiccated Thyroid (NDT), or T4/T3, or in some cases, T3-only (though it’s useful to have some T4 since it can be converting to some T3 in the background if you are healthy and NOT converting to rising RT3).

The problem with being on nothing but T4 is that one is solely dependent on the ability to convert T4 to T3. And not only are there mutations (DIO1, DIO2, etc) which can negatively affect the ability to convert, but even life stresses can negatively affect conversion, plus raise RT3, the inactive thyroid hormones….even for those who do better on T4-only than others. 🙁

Even a healthy thyroid gives us some DIRECT T3. So it makes sense to imitate that. 

Right amounts of T3

There are three parts to this information about the use of T3 as mentioned by patients and Stop the Thyroid Madness:

1) We start on lower amounts (because T3 is powerful and we want to ease into its use), then patients raise in lower amounts until they find the amount that takes away lingering hypothyroid symptoms. For the majority, the latter usually happens when the free T3 is “around” midrange.

2) But patients have learned the hard way that stopping raises right when they have started to remove symptoms, (which also seems to correspond to a midrange free T3) can result in an eventual return of those hypothyroid symptoms, also called a backfire. The individuality is when that backfire happens if we stop when our free T3 is midrange. It can be within a few months or beyond a year or more. It’s individual. So we learned to get our free T3 in the upper part of the range (US range especially), beyond where most of our symptoms started to go away at midrange. Thus, our good results didn’t backfire with a return of our symptoms. For more detail on what patients have learned and observed, you gotta read and be informed! https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/optimal/.

3) As mentioned above, we also learned that if we starting having hyper-like symptoms (anxiety, higher heartrate, heart palps, shakiness, internal vibration and etc) when raising a thyroid med with T3, or we are seeing our free T3 go super high, it’s time to stop those raises, go back down to where we didn’t have the hyper-like symptoms, and order a saliva cortisol test (far more accurate than blood) plus ask our doctor for a lab prescription to test Aldosterone. Then we study Chapter 6 in the updated revision STTM 1 book with the blue gray cover and share this information with our doctor.

Also see the chapter in the same updated revision STTM 1 book about T3.

Besides revealing adrenal issues, are there other issues that can cause heart problems?

1. Going far too high with T3:  Sometimes a patient just keeps raising and raising until they are literally on too much, meaning a free T3 way above optimal. That is definitely not a recommendation on STTM based on patient experiences in getting well. Going too high can also happen inadvertently. For example, some can go too high when they notice symptoms they think are related to continued hypothyroid, when those symptoms aren’t related, such as symptoms of Lyme disease, toxin exposure, mold inhalation, reactivated EBV, or other issues. So raising T3 might be the wrong way to go! I, Janie, went too high twice while in grief because of the way grief muddled my mind!

2. Staying too low with T3:  Yup, did you know that some patients have also reported heart issues from staying on too low a dose of T3, or not getting an optimal free T3?  And often, that’s because of having a doctor who is scared to death of T3, and doesn’t encourage you to raise to get optimal. They also don’t let you raise because they think the normal low TSH with T3 in our treatment means “hyperthyroidism” as if we have Graves’ disease. But we don’t! You see, when you take T3 in your treatment, the pituitary sends less of the messenger hormone TSH. You end up suppressing your own release of thyroid hormones, even if that release isn’t enough anyway due to a sick or damaged thyroid. Thus, by underdosing, you will eventually become worse. And in some, that equals heart issues. 

All this is where you need to study the two chapters — Chapter 5, and especially Chapter 6 in the STTM 1 book with the blue gray cover!! You’ll see all the details informed patients have reported about, and how they learned to treat the issues. And do you know WHY it’s important for YOU to learn all this in detail?  Because with STTM’s emphasis on years of “patient-reported experiences and observations”, we are light years ahead of most doctors in knowing what is going on, and how to get well. And sadly, some doctors or thyroid associations tend to keep us sick because they aren’t caught up. So by being knowledgeable, you can respond to what you know will make you worse, and kindly yet firmly suggest what you need. Or in some cases, you can recognize that you’ve made a mistake, and/or you need a much better doctor. 

P.S. There appear to be scammers on Ebay or Amazon who are sending out the 2011 version with the red cover, in spite of the blue cover showing. No!! Get a refund. It’s the updated blue cover version you need, and the publishing company will alway send you the right one! A lot of updates are in the latter one. 

Important notes: All the information on this website is copyrighted. STTM is an information-only site based on what many patients worldwide have reported in their treatment and wisdom over the years. This is not to be taken as personal medical advice, nor to replace a relationship with your doctor. By reading this information-only website, you take full responsibility for what you choose to do with this website's information or outcomes. See the Disclaimer and Terms of Use.