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Raw Thyroid

I cant seem to find out if this feeds the other glands enough to stay healthy, I feel better, but it's only been a few days
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Avatar universal
Well, you have a few misconceptions going.

TSH is a hormone produced by your pituitary.  It's a messenger from your pituitary to your thyroid saying "I want more thyroid hormones".  That is TSH's only function.  Your cells do not use TSH, and TSH is not involved in conversion of T4 to T3.  That's a separate process and happens mostly in your liver (and other smaller sites throughout the body).

RAIU (radioactive iodine uptake scan) shows the actual functioning of your thyroid, so it would tell you if it's working at all or not.  The chances of getting your thyroid going again after RAI are very slim.

It sounds like you didn't have a very good thyroid doctor.  Changes in thyroid meds have to be made in very small amounts, otherwise patients swing from hypo to hyper (as you well know).  A good thyroid doctor will manage your care without putting you through those swings by making smaller adjustments, doing proper testing and treating your symptoms, not your numbers.

Raw thyroid from the health food store has no measurable amount of T3 or T4 in it.  It's illegal in the U.S. to sell anything with measurable T3 or T4 without a script.  It takes T4 quite a while to get out of your system after you discontinue it, so your current great feeling won't last long once your thyroid hormone levels drop since you don't have a working thyroid.

Desiccated porcine thyroid (which contains both T3 and T4) is not available in the U.S. without a script.  Online pharmacies do sell it, but I'd use extreme caution since no one has yet come on the forum to vouch for any of the online pharmacies.  My impression is that some are legit, and some are stealing your money.

You're right that thyroid hormones regulate metabolism.  However, your body temperature falls because your metabolism is slowed.  It's not the lower temp that's causing the rest.  Every cell in your body needs thyroid hormone to function, so, yes, you can die from lack of it, but not due to hypothermia.  The body getting too cold is an effect (symptom) of cells starving for thyroid hormone, not the cause.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that assuming your thyroid was successfully irradiated and "killed", you are going to start feeling very hypo, very soon without meds.  I'd encourage you to find a good thyroid doctor and get back on meds as soon as possible.  You've obviously had a bad experience with your doctor(s), but there are good ones out there.  You are going to be hypo for the rest of your life, so it's well worth the time to find a good doctor who you can work with.  

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649848 tn?1534633700
COMMUNITY LEADER
Your thyroid does not produce TSH; your pituitary gland does. The pituitary produced the TSH in order to stimulate your thyroid to produce more hormones.  The hormones produced by the thyroid are T3 and T4, mostly T4, which is then converted to T3 for use by the cells. Most of the conversion takes place in the liver, though some does take place in other parts of the body.  Thyroid hormones are used by every single cell in the body.

Tests you need to be getting on a regular basis are TSH, Free T3 and Free T4.  These will tell you the status of your hormone levels.  

Once your thyroid has been "killed" off by RAI, you won't be able to "get it going again".......

Raw thyroid purchased at the health food store has no measurable thyroid hormones in it.  It's simply bovine thyroid tissue.  Not all T3 medication is porcine; there are also synthetic versions.  You will need a prescription in order to get any type of T3 medication, and should only be used following proper testing.  
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Avatar universal
Correction, the Thyroid regulates your metabolism and your body thermostat... therefore if the body is too cold inside due to a non-functioning thyroid... the other areas of your body suffers and you can die... let's say from hypothermia... it affects all parts. your brain, emotions, digestive systems, your immune system... etc... it affects all of it because the body gets cold
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Avatar universal
What the feeds other glands means that your thyroid produces the TSH hormone, it breaks down the T4 into T3 and your kidneys, liver, other major glands uses traces of it... to stay healthy... it's not all about your thyroid... I am hypothyroid... they shut it down with radioactive iodine horsepill in 91... as we could not get it regulated... I was hyper prior to that... the thyroid is still there... but not functioning so they say... I don't know if there is a test to see if it's functioning at all ... I'm hoping to get it going again ... anyway... I was on Levo for a long time, overdrugged as usual... so I only took half, full dose was too much (hyper) and half dose I'm still tired somewhat... ... Now I'm on Raw Thyroid from The health Store... and I feel great... I have good energy and don't ache so much (go figure) so I'm looking for T3 which I think is Porcine Thyroid... without ordering it online
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Avatar universal
Please provide a little more background information.

Do you have a diagnosed thyroid disease or disorder?

Are you taking thyroid meds?

What do you mean by "feeds the other glands enough to stay healthy"?  What other glands?
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