LDN Hypo to Hyper - With Labs - Question and Answer Forum - Elaine Moore Graves' Disease and Autoimmune Disease Education

Web Site Search

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

..:: Q & A ::..

THE Q & A

Welcome to The Q&A with Elaine Moore. Registered members are invited to ask any question of Elaine Moore on autoimmune diseases, Graves' disease, other thyroid diseases and subconditions, laboratory work, traditional and complementary medicine, triggers and environmental influences, thyroid and immune disorders in pets and animals, and other relevant areas of inquiry.

Each thread represents one question with one answer and will only appear at the time it is answered. Once answered, further replies cannot be made to the same thread since each thread represents only one question. A new thread will need to be started for additional questions.

Questions are answered solely by Elaine Moore, a medical writer and clinical laboratory scientist, MT, CLS, with more than 30 years of experience in immunology. Moore has also authored and edited over a dozen books in the area of health sciences and is an editor for McFarland Publisher's Health Topics Series.

Copying of any posts is prohibited without permissions.

The Q & A with Elaine Moore

Notice: No notices today.

Forum

Discussions

Question and An...

LDN Hypo to Hyper - With Labs

2/28/2009 7:20 AM

scorpiochiq

Joined: 2/26/2009

Posts: 5

LDN Hypo to Hyper - With Labs

Hi Elaine,

Had a blood test yesterday morning... I usually use the hospital lab because other labs aren’t as accurate and they use the old lab ranges, but they are no longer accepting out patients, so I had to go the regular lab.

*taken 8:40am, 21st day of cycle, 10 days after being on ldn, but 2 days after stopping it

sodium 141 (135 - 145)
potassium 4.0 (3.3 - 5)
TSH <0.01 (whoa, low)
FT4 9 (10 - 20)
FT3 5.5 (2.6 - 5.7) (hosp lab for this is 4 – 6.8)
cortisol 347 (170 - 540)
Anti TPO - NEGATIVE!!!
Anti Thyrog - NEGATIVE!!!
Thyrog <0.2 (<50 range)

Estrogen 336 (usually I am around 500ish at this time)

Progesterone 37.3 (4 – 50) This is low for me

Previous labs – about 4 weeks before using the hospital, so, note the current lab ranges for T3

TSH 0.01 (0.4 -3.8)
FT4 11 (12 - 21)
FT3 5.3 (4-6.8)
cortisol 410 (170-540) @ 9am
sodium 141 (135-145)
potass 4.3 (3.5-5)
Estrogen 886 (really high for me)

Progesterone 61

Ok, so this is my take ... my antibodies dropped (this lab just does 'negative' or 'positive' so i don't have numbers, but it used to be 400+ for anti-thyr and 110 for anti-tpo). So, antibodies dropped, everything got into the cells, and relatively, i went hyper?. But, as you can see, its hard on my adrenals because my blood cortisol levels, for the past 15 blood tests have been over 410 in the morning, if not 500. What’s your take on it Elaine? I guess I should lower the armour. Should I take adrenal supplements? Any recommendations?

3/1/2009 1:22 PM

Elaine

Joined: 8/1/2008

Posts: 3166

Re: LDN Hypo to Hyper - With Labs

Hi,

You show absolutely no signs of adrenal insufficiency and have probably been misinformed about adrenal exhaustion. In adrenal insufficiency cortisol levels are very low. Your cortisol level is higher than most people's that we see in the lab, and a high cortisol is not considered desirable. Higher cortisol levels are seen in people with chronic stress and other conditions. Most people with a cortisol level near the high end of the range would be asking about ways to reduce it. People in the medical profession generally strive for levels near 170.

Antibody-wise, TPO antibodies are markers of thyroid inflammation. Thyroid inflammation falls when there is adequate thyroid hormone and it increases in inflammatory thryoid disease. Thyroglobulin antibodies are seen in both Graves' disease and Hashimoto's thyroiditis but they're much higher in people with HT.

Your TSH is low because your FT3 level is high, most likely too high for your body's needs. Your FT4 is likely too low for your body's needs. Your dose of Armour isn't really working. Armour has a slightly higher ratio of T3 to T4 than humans make. For many people, especially those who have trouble converting T4 into T3, Armour works fine. For others, FT3 is too high relative to FT4.

Ideally, you'd be on a lower dose of T3 and a higher dose of T4. Options would be to try levothyroxine alone using a higher dose like perhaps 0.15 mg levothyroxine. Then if your FT3 is below mid-range you'd add T3 (Cytomel) or you'd use 0.1 mg levothyroxine with only 1 grain (60 mg) Armour.

You want to rely on FT3 and FT4 to find an optimal dose of replacement hormone. TSH is frequently misleading on people on Armour, and if you have TSH receptor antibodies these antibodies falsely decrease TSH. Stress reduction techniques would be a good step toward helping to reduce your cortisol levels. Best, Elaine

Page 1 of 1

Forum

Discussions

Question and An...

LDN Hypo to Hyper - With Labs

TO USERS: Q&A posts are visible to all readers. Users can delete their own threads at any time. Users must provide information which is true and correct to the best of their knowledge as well as provide sources or references to any health / medical information if not taken from personal experience. All users including the moderator must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Advertising and self-promotion is not allowed. The moderator or site administrator has the right to ban users with or without warning for not following the basic rules of this site. All posts by default are not to be considered that of medical professionals unless otherwise indicated. As sole moderator, Moore has no conflicts of interest in the sponsorship of this forum.

HOME | ARTICLES | BOOKS | BLOG | Q&A | RESOURCES | ABOUT | CONTACT | SUPPORT

ELAINE-MOORE.COM
Elaine Moore Graves’ Disease and Autoimmune Disease Education
Copyright © 2008-2011 by Elaine Moore. All Rights Reserved.
These pages and their content, including all articles and images are not to be copied, reproduced or printed without written permission. All articles are copyrighted. All images are copyrighted or licensed to use.

SITE LAST UPDATED 23 JAN 2011

ABOUT THIS SITE
This site is self-funded exclusively by Elaine Moore. Moore has no other external sources of funds and receives no monies from government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, Amazon, or other commercial entities to operate this site. There are no conflicts of interest in the operation of this site.
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.

DISCLAIMER
The information at this site is true and correct to the extent that all information contained herein about the benefits or performance of any diagnostic or treatment are backed up with scientific evidence such as medical journals, reports, articles, and other relevant materials.The educational information provided within is designed to help users better understand the nature of disease and the solutions available. Nothing contained on this website should be construed as or is intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment. Under no circumstances is a particular treatment recommended and in all cases it is recommended that a physician be consulted for any treatments. Reference to any specific commercial or noncommercial products, services, processes, companies or trademarks does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Elaine Moore does not host any form of commercial advertisement, does not sponsor or endorse any products or services that may have been mentioned at the site. This excludes mention of her own copyrighted materials, articles, and books. The opinions, views and recommendations of individual registered members of this website, specifically as it pertains to personal inquiries at the Q&A forum or comments made to blogs, are their own and do not necessarily represent those of Elaine Moore.