Hashimotos and cytomel weird stuff

[jlsweetie]

Hi,
I've been through it the past 6 years. Long story short I've been battling a chronic illness(cpn) and finally recovered from it and got my immune system up. Ironically my immune system started attacking my thyroid (hashis) as well as my sebaceous glands (sjorgrens). Neither have showed up in my labs although I haven't retested for the sjorgrens since my immune system started working again. But my question is about hashimotos. I have all the ugly symptoms even down to ammonia smelling urine, nightsweats and low blood sugar. So my dr tried me in the wilsons temp protocol. I took the sustained release t3 and I would get all the way up to 75mcg and for that day I felt great! Temp went up and all sx disappear. But the next day I would take the same dose and low and behold-my temp would plummet and I'd feel tired again. So then we figured that wilsons wouldn't work since I couldn't keep my temp up so he decided to try me on cytomel since I did respond somewhat to the SR t3. Well, he put me on 25mcg twice a day. The first day was great. Felt gret and temp went up. The second day I felt awful. So tired and sleepy I couldn't hold my eyes open. My temp dropped and I have felt bad since. I've been on it for a week now. I feel like cytomel is making my autoimmune sx worse. I'm so tired I can't get out of bed. None of my hypo sx have returned yet but my skin is so dry and the fatigue is killing me. Can anyone help?? My labs show nothing. They never did. The only thing they show are high WBC and high absolute neutrophils. Has anyone taken cytomel and it made them sleepy?? Thanks in advance.

[gimel]

Please post your thyroid related test results from before starting on thyroid med.  Please include their reference ranges.  

[jlsweetie]

Thx for replying:) I don't have them off hand but I'm not resistant and I don't have any food sensitivities so I'm just wondering why the cytomel makes me so sleepy and sick and the SR. T3 doesn't.

[gimel]

You say that your labs never show anything, but I expect that is because they are within the so-called "normal" ranges.  Being in range, however, does not mean they are optimal.  

The reason I wanted to have a look at your thyroid test results was to try and understand why your doctor would have decided to use the Wilson's protocol.  Hashi's attacks the thyroid gland and causes diminished output of T4 and T3.  Having both at optimal levels, not just anywhere within their ranges, is very important.  Your Free T4 should be at the middle of its range, at minimum, and your Free T3 in the upper part of its range, as necessary to relieve symptoms.

Also, unless you were tested for Reverse T3 and found very high, it makes no sense to me to treat with T3 only.   Were you even tested for Reverse T3?  Reverse T3 dominance is sometimes treated with T3 only, but that is kind of a last resort to reduce Reverse T3 levels.  

I also wonder about  your ferritin level and your cortisol level.  Both need to be optimal when taking thyroid med. Low levels can cause unwanted reactions.  Have you been tested for ferritin and the 4 point saliva cortisol tests?.  

As for the reaction to the Cytomel versus the SR T3 I expect it is related to getting the full effect of the Cytomel dose within the first 3-4 hours as opposed to the extended release.