Starvation Mode is Real, and ugly

Marla, how are things going???

D

Hi !! thanks for asking...

Things are actually going very well. My husband, bless his heart, has been tireless in surfing the 'net trying to find some answers, since the doctors are clueless.

He found a website on "Reverse T3." Layman's terms, since I'm such a dope and can't explain my way out of a paper bag-- T4 (Synthroid) is supposed to convert to T3 in your body. T3 is responsible primarily for metabolism.

In many thyroid patients, the T4 removes the wrong molecule in its conversion, and reverts to "Reverse T3." However, since there are still the correct number of molecules, it still fits into the T3 receptors in your body....

following me?

Sooo-- when this occurs, your body thinks it's fine because the T3 receptors are all nicely filled...your body will test fine for T3, but there will be no improvement in symptoms.

A very, very few doctors will realize this and put their patients on a T3 supplement, (Cytomel).

My husband found a website detailing all of this-- I ordered T3 online, stopped taking my Synthroid and I'm down 5 pounds. I'd gained 5 after stopping the Synthroid, so it was obviously doing SOMETHING. It had finally stopped the gaining, eventually. But, it wasn't helping me lose.

The T3 seems to be the ticket. I'm increasing the dosage every couple weeks as I gauge how I feel, check my body temperatures and all that jazz. If I have heart palps or jitteriness, I know to back off. My energy is 1000% better. I don't pass out the second I hit the pillow at night. I'm bounding up stairs that a month ago I labored up. I'm hoping to see some improvement in the hair area-- I'd lost a bunch of hair-- hope it grows back. It fell out in the worst stinking spot-- on my bang line....blech. So I've had to change my part....worse things could happen, I know-- I'm considering it a blessing that that's all that's happened. And I'm also going to be interested to see at the end of the day if I have any improvement in my psoriasis and arthritis.

I'm eating 1800 calories, working out five days a week and am presently on 62.5 mg of Cytomel, taken in two doses throughout the day. It's been about two weeks, so I'm actually going to increase today to 75 mg and see how I feel.

Emotionally, my spring is back-- I'd given up, and was tired of fighting. In the weeks before the T3 arrived, I had stopped working out and begun to accept as my new reality my obesity. To say I was depressed would be an understatement. That's really why I'd stopped updating here-- I was whupped.

I'm hopeful again for the first time in over a year.

Thanks again so much for caring-- really means a lot.

OMG... I am so happy to find someone else that is experiencing the Reverse T3 issue! My dr put me on a very low dose 5mcg T3 once a day and for three hours out of my entire day I feel human! I asked to have it increased and she refused... some excuse about my tests were fine and she didn't want to push it. After another three months of gaining weight and feeling like XX*&^^% I decided to double my dose anyway. I took it twice a day.. and started feeling even better! I am still taking the synthroid at 5:30 am. I am going to start taking the 5mcg every three hours... Im just scared of doing this without the Dr;s approval. I am not having jitters or heart palps at all... just feeling sooooo much better when I take the T3.

Susay-- the website I sent you actually encourages you to go off Synthroid all together. According to them, the T4 you're adding to your body with the Synthroid is doing nothing more than converting to RT3-- food for thought.

I'm back under 200 again as of this morning-- only 30 more pounds to go..... :ohwell:

Happy it's moving in the right direction. I get very discouraged especially now that summer's here-- nothing fits me. Last summer, I'd already begun growing and my cute summer clothes from 2009 didn't fit-- you just can't imagine the frustration. I was training for a half marathon last spring and early summer, eating 1400 calories and growing out of my clothes. Doctors were clueless. Maddening!!

So happy it seems to be behind me. I know I have a long road ahead, too, and I need to keep my wits about me and stay smart-- I'm on an 1800 calorie base right now, and that's the lowest I can go at my present weight.

I also bought an old-lady pill reminder for my supplements.... I NEVER could remember to take these blasted things. Fiber, multi-vite, vitamin B, vitamin D, acidophilus, and my BP pill-- I haven't missed a day in over 3 weeks since buying it. Something to be said for old-lady reminder tools.....

Thanks to everybody for their support-- I read the starvation mode threads out there very sporadically. It irks me that there is such folly on these boards, and people don't realize "metabolic damage" is possible. I'm living it. It sucks.

But, the very few times I tried to share the story to open a few eyes on other threads, it was shot down with every excuse out there for why they shouldn't eat back their exercise calories, how every body is different, blah, blah, blah-- yeah, okay, whatever-- Lord willing, you won't suffer as I have in my ignorance.

Must skedaddle-- thanks again, everyone.