Your resting heart rate is a reflection of your autonomic nervous system which is mediated by norepinephrine and adrenaline. In addition to checking your basal body temperature, you should also be monitoring your resting heart rate.īecause hypothyroidism is well known to cause a slow heart rate (5) or low pulse (6). Step #2: Check your Resting Pulse or Resting Heart Rate This patient was started on Armour thyroid and did lose weight after her body temperature had improved, but notice it took about 4-6 weeks for her body temperature to improve on the medication.
This reflects what should happen with body temperature when starting thyroid medication and is an indication that the medication is working to increase metabolism. You can see her body temperature is quite low and the pattern is very chaotic for the first 10 days of her cycle.Īs she reaches ovulation her body temperature increases and stays constant and then after ovulation, it remains high and constant. The image above shows a hypothyroid patient that I treated with NDT and her body temperature over the course of a month.
* Note that medications may interfere with the reliability of this test (medications like beta blockers, narcotics, diabetic medications, blood pressure medications and antidepressants) Anything less than this indicates that your metabolism may be slowed. It showed that patients taking thyroid hormone (even doses that lower the TSH to 97.8. The researchers tested their resting energy expenditure (this is a way to test for basal metabolic rate or metabolism) both before they added the thyroid hormone and after they suppressed the TSH. Patients in this study were given T4-only medications and treated based on their TSH. We can look at some studies to help us understand: So how does this all relate to Levothyroxine and weight gain? Nowadays it’s VERY uncommon if someone has their stress managed, has no issues with blood sugar/insulin/leptin, has a normal menstrual cycle, is not overweight, has never done yo-yo diets, or has normal adrenal function.ĭo any of these symptoms or situations sound familiar?Ĭhances are high that you are dealing with 1 or more of them.Īnd in states such as these, your body will turn T4 into reverse T3 as a way to “put on the brakes” and slow down your metabolism and cause symptoms of hypothyroidism. Most Doctors will prescribe T4 medication under the assumption that your body will have no problem converting T4 into T3.Īnd in a perfect world, a world without stress, inflammation, or other hormonal imbalances – it would. Levothyroxine and Synthroid are both T4-only medications. What causes your body to turn T4 into the inactive reverse T3? Levothyroxine and Synthroid are Both T4 only Medications So if you understand this concept the next question you should be asking yourself is this: The more reverse T3 in your bloodstream the less you can rely on normal thyroid blood tests to give you any actionable information. Turn into Reverse T3 which blocks thyroid action, lowers metabolism, and makes patients feel like they are hypothyroid (this is what you DON’T want to happen but ends up happening in many patients on T4-only medications) Turn T4 into T3 which enters into your cells and activates genetic transcription (this is what you WANT to have happened and what most doctors assume is happening)Ģ.
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(This image shows what is required to convert T4 into the active free T3 hormone, it also outlines what causes your body to turn T4 into the inactive reverse T3)ġ. The problem is that T4 doesn’t always convert to T3: In order for T4 thyroid hormone to be active in your body, it MUST be converted to the active hormone T3. T3 is what enters your cells and turns on the genes that increase your metabolism, help with hair growth and give you energy. By itself it doesn’t do anything for your body except act as a reservoir for T3 and T3 is the active thyroid hormone in your body. What you need to understand is that T4 is an inactive hormone. Your thyroid, under the influence of TSH (if working properly), pumps out primarily the thyroid hormone T4.
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DOWNLOAD NOW T4 to T3 Conversion Matters… A lotīefore we talk about how Levothyroxine and Synthroid can cause weight gain we need to talk about some basic thyroid physiology.
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