Many thyroid advocates claim that your T3 and T4 levels need to be on the high end of the normal range or else something is wrong. To remedy the situation, they usually advocate taking a higher dosage of your existing medicine or adding in T3 or T4 in isolation on top of it.
A new study just came out that supported one of several reasons I’ve argued against this strategy. (1)
In the study, it was shown that the adults whose free T4 levels were on the high end of normal faced the greatest risk for heart disease. In fact, they showed an 87% greater risk of having any kind of heart disease and twice the risk of a fatal heart attack.
This risk was true whether or not the person was on thyroid replacement therapy.
The lack of thyroid hormones can certainly cause a litany of symptoms from fatigue to weight gain to hair loss. But this does not mean that at all levels, more is better.
If you only feel well when you take a dose of thyroid that pushes your T3 or T4 levels up or your TSH down, it means something is wrong. The most common culprit is your adrenal function, you can learn how yours is for free at www.adrenalquiz.com.
Many assume that since a high thyroid dose makes them feel better it must be safe and good. With this line of reasoning, you could assume that cocaine was safe and good like we did back in the early 1900’s.
To your best health,
Dr. C