>From: THYROID automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]>

>Would prefer not to change the lithium as it is the gold standard for =
>what I am taking it for -- and am convinced that many of the others I =
>have taken in the past have done a number on my thyroid also.

Doing  a quick search, it appears that even if labs are normal, lithium can 
make you hypothyroid at the cellular level.  Which means, even with high T4 
and T3, you can still be hypo -


http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p020156.html
"An increasing body of research supports the hypothesis that lithium alters 
cellular responsiveness to thyroxine in addition to inducing significant 
changes in the function of the thyroid gland. The induction of cellular 
unresponsiveness to thyroxine may account for the apparent efficacy of 
lithium in treating thyrotoxicosis. My colleagues and I reported two cases 
in which cessation of lithium appeared to precipitate a thyroid crisis, 
presumably because the presence of lithium prevented clinical manifestations 
of thyroid excess (Oakley et al., 2000).

Bolaris et al. (1995) documented altered binding of T3 in the CNS of rats, 
implying that a state of cellular hypothyroidism developed. Hahn et al. 
(1999b) studied the effect of lithium on gene expression in response to T3 
in different cells. In some cell lines, lithium reduced the transcription of 
mRNA in response to T3, while other cell lines were unaffected. This effect 
changed with duration of therapy and was deemed to be time-dependent and 
cell-line specific. Thus, the effect of lithium to alter cellular 
responsiveness to thyroxine is not uniform for all cells and may change with 
duration of lithium therapy."

I'm not sure you can do anything to counteract that effect.  Perhaps 
treating based on how you feel, as opposed to by the labs might be helpful.

Skipper

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