T3 Therapy: An Option When T4 Isn’t Working for You		

I’m writing this article so that you can have information which might be of 
benefit to you.  I was going to wait until I had been on the protocol for a 
year, but, what the heck, I thought I’d get the information out there so that 
others might read it and evaluate it for themselves.
A brief history about me:  I’m a clinical laboratory scientist. I had been taking 
T4 medication for 6 years and just got worse, tried Armour and couldn’t 
tolerate it (side effects of jitteriness, high BP, clamminess).  I fired my MD and 
endocrinologist and hired an ND.  He started my on time-release T3 and, after 
two weeks, my symptoms of fatigue, constipation, inability to concentrate, 
weight gain, coldness, peeling nails, thinning hair, etc., started to improve 
tremendously. Now I can concentrate again, have energy to do things, have 
normal digestion, and have hope that SOMETHING is working! It’s been two 
months now, not a long time I know. 
The way this method works is that I started on a low dose of 7.5 mcg and 
increased until I felt better.  I am now slowly reducing the dose and weaning 
off of the medicine. The theory is that one’s own thyroid can begin producing 
and using its own thyroid hormone.
As I understand it, the rationale for this treatment is that, for some people, 
stress such as childbirth, loss of a loved one, divorce, loss of a job, etc., can 
cause them to produce an excess of reverse T3, a molecule similar to the 
active form of the hormone, T3. This reverse T3 blocks cell receptors and 
prevents active T3 from entering cells and functioning normally.  The result is 
a generalized slowdown of metabolism and the accompanying hypothyroid 
symptoms so familiar to us all.  
Some people are able to reset their thyroid hormone balance without 
medication; others can’t and so get locked into the vicious cycle of producing 
more and more reverse T3 and shutting down their rate of metabolism even 
more. 
On this protocol you may have noticed that T4 is taken out of the equation.  
This is because T4 is used by the body to make T3; but it is also used to 
make reverse T3. In order to reduce the amount of reverse T3 being made, it 
is necessary to stop taking T4. The idea is that the reverse T3 which is 
blocking cell receptor sites will be cleared so that active T3 can enter the 
cells.
There is a bit of controversy about this method.  What protocol which 
deviates from the one-pill-for-all philosophy of mainstream medicine hasn’t 
caused a bit of controversy? Most mainstream doctors either aren’t aware of 
this protocol or don’t want to take the risk of going against the status quo of 
prescribing T4 and doing annual TSH tests. The controversy stems from the 
fact that the doctor who developed this protocol, Dr. E. Denis Wilson, named 
it after himself.  Yet, how many doctors and researchers name syndromes and 
protocols after themselves?  Think Heimlich maneuver for one. (Sorry, but I 
felt we needed a little chuckle here.)
If you have been reading the scientific literature and the forums, you will have 
probably noticed that no one protocol works for everybody. Some find success 
with T4-only therapy, some with Armour, some with T3 added to T4, some 
with T3 only. I fall into this last group.  It wasn’t until I stopped my T4 (which 
was a bit scary because I had been on it for six years) and started the T3.
Time-release T3 works for me, releasing T3 into the bloodstream at a slow, 
steady, constant rate.  Other T3 meds, such as Cytomel, often cause side 
effects, probably because they release T3 all at once.  T3 is a very powerful 
hormone. It directs the complex machinery of cell metabolism, signaling every 
organ system and cell to function: brain, bowels, muscle, sugar and fat 
metabolism, skin, hair, nails. No wonder the symptoms of hypometabolism and 
hypothyroidism are so varied and complex. And, if left untreated, 
hypothyroidism can cause such severe problems as infertility, heavy menstrual 
bleeding, atherosclerosis and high cholesterol levels, depression, skin problems 
and arthritis, to name a few. Every body system is affected by the 
malfunctioning of the thyroid system. No wonder we feel as if we are dead, 
have no energy, can’t think straight, gain weight and feel sluggish and achy 
and overweight and cold.  
I hope this information helps those of you for whom T4-only therapy or Armour 
have not worked.  
Judy

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