May 9, 2024 • 22 mins
In this episode of Health with Hashimoto's, Esther, a registered nurse and holistic health educator, translates the complexities of thyroid labs, specifically focusing on T3, free T3, and reverse T3. Esther explains the importance and function of T3, its conversion process from T4, and how our body utilizes it.
Find this episode written in a blog format on my website: https://healthwithhashimotos.com/t3/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Thyroid labs can be super confusing. I mean, you've got T3, free T3,
reverse T3. Those are just the T3 ones.
What do they all mean? Which ones are important?
What do they tell you? What are you supposed to do with the information?
So many questions, so much confusion, and not just for you.
I have had providers that are like, I don't really know which labs to order
(00:23):
and which ones are important.
And they're like scratching their heads because this is a confusing issue.
You. It's not just for you.
So today in this episode of Health with Hashimoto's, I'm going to break it down
and I'm going to help you understand the T3 labs.
I've talked about other labs in past episodes. I will link those down below
in the show notes. And today is going to be all about T3.
(00:45):
But first, let's review like what is your thyroid? What are the labs in general?
And what do they mean for your health?
My name is Esther. I am a registered nurse. I am a holistic health educator.
I'm the mom of four boys, a homeschooler, half homeschooler.
Two of my boys are homeschooled. Two of them go to a public charter school.
(01:05):
And I'm like, I understand busy. I understand overwhelm. And I find that a lot
of women with Hashimoto's also are going, going, going.
They have so much on their plate, like juggling so many balls,
doing so many things. things and we don't have time to be confused.
We do not have time to dig into things and figure out what are all of these
(01:28):
acronyms, what do they mean, and how does it actually impact my life?
Because when you're juggling so many things that you want just the bullet points,
you want to know what actually matters.
So your thyroid is a little gland on the base of your neck at the front and
it produces thyroid hormone.
Every single cell in your body has a little receptor site for thyroid hormone,
(01:49):
but it wants it in a specific form.
So when your brain.
Gets told by your body that it's not having enough energy, that it needs more
thyroid hormone, and then your brain sends a signal to your pituitary gland,
which is at the base of your brain, which then sends a signal to your thyroid.
The signal that your pituitary gland sends is TSH, and you're probably very
(02:12):
familiar with TSH because that's the first thing that Western medicine checks.
They test this TSH, which is your thyroid stimulating hormone.
Your TSH is your your brain saying to your thyroid gland, hey,
I need a little bit more energy here. Can we produce more, please?
So the more elevated that your TSH is, the more your brain is asking for more.
(02:35):
It really means that your thyroid is probably not producing enough.
So your thyroid function could be low if your TSH is high.
So when your thyroid gland gets that signal and produces thyroid hormone,
it comes out in the form of T4.
T4 is thyroxine. It's basically the T is for your thyroid hormone and the 4
(03:00):
is for molecules of iodine.
So T4 is thyroxine and that's what your thyroid produces.
But the thing is your body can't use that T4. It wants T3.
Every cell in your body, the ignition switch is the T3.
So the T4 mostly goes to your liver and your small intestine,
(03:20):
and there it is converted to T3.
So one molecule of the iodine is going to be taken off.
The T3 is officially... Now, some of your T4 is converted to T3 in other tissues, but...
20% is in your liver, converted in your liver, and 20% is converted in your small intestine.
(03:41):
And it's about 40% of the T4 that's converted each day.
So 20 plus 20, 40. The bulk of your T4 being converted to T3 is done in those
two areas, your liver and your small intestine.
But like I said, it's also done
in other areas of the body. A lot of the organs and tissues can do some.
So now you know, your brain sends a signal to your thyroid, your thyroid produces
(04:06):
T4, your liver, small intestine, convert that to T3.
The T3 goes to all the cells in your body and says, hey, let's turn on,
let's have some energy, let's start working.
And then when your cells are working, then your tissues and organs are working.
And when your tissues and organs are working, then you're working and you feel like yourself again.
(04:27):
That's the goal. We want to feel like ourselves. We want everything to be online.
All systems go, right? Yes, that is what we want.
So when you're looking at your labs, how do you know what is like not normal?
Because there's so many different things to look at.
I remember the first time that a provider was like, I want to check your thyroid.
And it wasn't something that she ordered every day.
(04:50):
So she ended up like even calling the lab saying, which panel do I order?
Because different labs, they will bundle different.
So labs as you know, the corporation, they will bundle different labs as in
the tests together in a panel to make it technically easier for providers.
(05:10):
So they just order one panel and they get everything they want.
Well, there's so many different combinations of panels or different.
Lab tests within panels. I think on the at-home lab that I use,
and I can link that down below too, it's through Ulta Labs.
I think there's like four or five, maybe more panels of thyroid tests that you
(05:32):
can get. So it is confusing.
And I remember my practitioner like, okay, I want to know this and this and this.
So which one, you know, it's just, it's just confusing.
I think I I was actually relieved when that happened, because for the first
time, I thought, I'm not the only one who's confused by this.
You know, when you're in the emergency department, we all really try very,
(05:55):
very hard to have a good answer for everything.
And so if you ask a doctor a question, I mean, if they're coming in with labs,
they're going to know a lot of the lab work in their heads because they've studied for so long.
And if it's something that they're not familiar with, they will have just looked
it up before going into the room so they can answer your questions.
And that was me too. As a nurse in the emergency department,
(06:15):
I need to be able to educate my patients.
So if I had somebody who had thyroid problems, then I would look it up.
And if you've heard my story before, I would study thyroid stuff and I would
get it for just a short, short amount of time and then it would be gone.
I could not keep it straight in my head.
So when I heard my provider call the lab and explain what she wanted and try
(06:37):
to figure this out for the first time, I thought, oh, I am not alone.
This confuses other people too.
So let's make it a little less confusing. The first T3 that you can get on your
labs is just the total T3. It's usually called T3.
It's really not helpful for very much at all, unless they're checking for something
(06:58):
like Graves' disease, if they think that you have too much thyroid hormone in your blood.
So T3 is, it's not usually helpful.
I'm going to give you a bit of a disclaimer. Like like all of this information.
I've been studying thyroid for what, three years now, I think. I don't even remember.
I've read so many books. I've read so many articles. I've read so many research
(07:19):
papers and I cannot cite one place that I'm pulling this information from because
it's from so many different places.
And then I put that knowledge together.
The labs, it's the same way. I want you to look at the reference range for the
lab who drew your blood or who ran the tests because each lab is going to have
(07:40):
their own specific reference range.
The numbers that I give you here are based on what I found as the most common
functional medicine ranges.
And these came from multiple different sources. So I do not have one place to
cite because again, I was looking for the commonality.
(08:02):
There is so much disagreement among everybody in medicine, especially thyroid stuff.
So when you're looking at just T3, the best functional reference range that
I found is anywhere between 100 and 180.
If it is elevated, then you might have too much T3 in your blood,
(08:24):
and it might point to something like Graves, which is an autoimmune problem,
and it's where your thyroid puts out too much hormone.
So that was just T3.
Now let's talk about free T3. You'll see that one in your labs as well.
That, well, I say that you will see it. You might not see it.
You might have to ask specifically for it.
Free T3 is a measurement of how much T3 is actually available for your cells to use.
(08:50):
It's free it's free to be used
so that is free t3 it has a
more narrow range and it's between three and four when
i was looking at a whole bunch of different labs at their functional
reference ranges so between three and four now remember i said that t3 is like
the ignition switch it is what your cells need to be able to turn on so we want
(09:13):
to have enough t3 so that our cells can work and if our cells are working then
our tissues and organs are working and then you're working.
So if your T3, your available or free T3 is low, then you're not going to have
as much available to your cells.
And then you might feel hypothyroid.
If people feel like they have hypothyroid symptoms, you know,
(09:37):
if they're gaining weight, their metabolism is slow, they're feeling cold all
the time, they're constipated, they're feeling depressed, their hair is falling out, skin issues.
Feeling sluggish, having brain fog, all of these things can be hypothyroid related.
And you might feel all of those things. And your doctor or your provider says your TSH is normal.
(09:57):
Well, but you're still feeling hypothyroid. It might be that you don't have
enough available free T3.
You don't have enough for your cells to use.
So that is a a crucial number to look at. But then you ask like,
why? Why don't I have enough?
If your thyroid is producing T4,
(10:18):
and 40% 40 ish percent of it is supposed to be converted to T3 on any given
day, then why are why don't you have enough?
Well, that's the other thing that T4 can get turned into.
Sometimes it's turned into T3. And other times, your body is like,
nope, we need to rest to slow down to heal.
(10:41):
Because it is when you are resting and sleeping that your body is healing and
renewing and restoring.
So sometimes your body prioritizes those things. It increases the brake system.
So your thyroid produces the T4 and then your body is like, nope,
we actually don't need a lot of energy. We need to heal.
(11:02):
We have too much stress, too much cortisol.
So it makes more reverse T3. That's like the brake system.
It is your body saying, let's halt here. Let's slow down and heal.
Your reverse T3, everybody has some because on any given day,
about 40% of your T4 is being converted to T3 and about 20% is converted to reverse T3.
(11:27):
If that reverse T3 goes up, it means that your body is prioritizing the brake system.
It's going to do that, like I said, if it's under stress. That can be chronic stress.
It could be acute stress. So something happening right now. It could be inflammation.
There are a lot of things that can increase your reverse T3.
(11:47):
So increased cortisol or extra cortisol, that's the stress hormone,
that definitely does it.
So trauma, there is a big link between trauma and autoimmune problems because
it's such a trigger, especially for Hashimoto's.
When you have chronic stress and your cortisol is constantly elevated,
your adrenals, those are the little things that put out the cortisol,
(12:10):
they can get tired and then your cortisol can be too low.
Too low of cortisol can also cause problems with your reverse T3.
It can cause it to be elevated.
That's because your body really likes the Goldilocks range.
It wants it not too hot, not too cold. It wants your cortisol to be not too
high, not too low. Everything needs to be in the Goldilocks range.
(12:31):
And if your cortisol is too high, it can make your reverse T3 get elevated.
If your cortisol is too low, it can elevate your reverse T3.
And the specific mechanism for when your cortisol is low, and that leads to
increased reverse T3, is because when your cortisol is low, thyroid hormones
can actually build up in your blood.
(12:52):
And then your body, it says, oh, there's too much T4 in the blood.
It's not getting processed quickly.
And so then it makes excess reverse T3 or more reverse T3 to take care of the excess T4.
Does that make sense? so you have too much T4 and then your body produces extra
(13:13):
reverse T3 to take care of that.
It doesn't want to use it, it just wants to take care of it and to get rid of it.
There's another thing that can cause reverse T3 to be elevated and that's when
your iron levels are low and this is really the same thing as if your cortisol is low.
It's a different way to get to the same ending, I guess, because if your iron
(13:36):
is low, then typically you do not have as much blood cells.
And if you do not have enough blood cells, then it's not carrying enough.
And so you're going to have excess thyroid hormone that, again,
needs to be taken care of.
So you create increased reverse T3 to take care of the excess.
And the final most common reason for increased reverse T3 is if you're taking
(14:02):
medications that are beta blockers.
Those are usually for your heart, for your blood pressure.
Metoprolol is one of the most common ones. They're all going to end in an olol.
So metoprolol, propranolol, those are beta blockers, and those can also increase your reverse T3.
The most common thing that I see in the people that I talk to and in the Holistic
(14:24):
Hashimoto's course is stress.
It is the cortisol link when they are constantly stressed.
And so they have increased reverse T3. And that's what we focus on is lowering
stress levels and increasing resilience, because both of those things can help our cortisol.
We want to help our body thrive in the environment that we have.
(14:47):
Oh, I didn't give you the numbers. So the numbers that I have written down,
again, check with the lab that is doing your blood work.
For free T3, I have written down between three and four.
And so that's based on the lab that did my blood work or who has done my blood
work, it's based on looking at a whole bunch of different physicians and providers
(15:11):
online and the endocrine people.
Endocrine is just a fancy name for hormones. And of course, your thyroid hormone
is a hormone. So that's the free T3.
And then reverse T3, you know what?
I don't have a number for you. The lab that I was looking at and all of the
different ones that I researched, they said it should be less than 15.
(15:32):
So what if your numbers are low? What if you don't have enough available T3
or if you have too much reverse T3?
Then we want to address what's causing it. But while we're addressing it,
if your cells don't have enough,
then it might be time to talk to your doctor about a combination medication
therapy of doing both T4 and T3 and find something that works for you.
(16:00):
Everybody is different. I've talked to people who felt amazing on T4 only.
I have talked to people who felt amazing on a combination of T4 and T3.
I have talked to people who felt amazing with no medications.
If they took medications, they felt worse. You have to figure out what works for you, for your body.
(16:21):
So if you don't have enough T4, then you're not going to be able to convert enough to T3.
So you're going to need to have more T4. And that is medication.
Synthroid, levothyroxine, those are the most common ones. And if you want a
combination, then you can get
natural desiccated thyroid, that's NDT or armor or something like that.
(16:41):
But what you really want to do is you want to address why it's not converting.
Are you having problems with your liver.
Your liver does so much work every single day.
It is so hardworking and it works hard with your hormones, especially,
well, all of them, but estrogen.
Estrogen, it processes, and if it doesn't have enough time to process the estrogen
(17:05):
that's in your blood, it'll send it around and say, maybe I'll get to you next time you come through.
And then we get too much estrogen in our system and that's estrogen dominance.
And that can be really hard on the liver. And so that's why I did an entire
podcast episode a while back on estrogen dominance.
And we talked about things that you can do for your liver health because you
want your liver functioning really well so that it can do its job.
(17:28):
One of its jobs is to convert T4 to T3. So look up that estrogen dominance podcast episode.
Again, I'll put the link down in the show notes and figure out what you can do for your liver.
The thing that I do every day, super simple.
I just swallow a tablet of five different herbs. It's called Protandim NRF2,
and it helps so many different things in the body because it activates my body
(17:52):
to do what it's supposed to do, like create antioxidants, to create your master detox
thing, glutathione. You've heard of that, right?
Glutathione is so powerful for taking care of the stuff in our body and we want more.
And so this NRF2 activation, it makes my body, it activates my body to make
(18:12):
300% more glutathione. That's huge.
It also takes care of other detox pathways and supports my liver.
We want to support our livers so that our liver can do its job.
And then the other thing, do you remember where else I said that most of your
T4 is converted to T3? It's in your small intestines.
(18:32):
And that's why we talk about gut health. And that's why everybody needs to be
eating some sort of probiotic every day.
You know, you can get it from fermented foods. You can get it from a capsule.
I do have fermented foods every day. I've started making sauerkraut and I was
really scared about it at first.
I really was. It just, I don't know. It made me really nervous.
(18:55):
Also, I was scared of the taste. I just thought it was going to be gross. And it was gross.
And then I got used to it. And now I really like it. So I've been making sauerkraut
and I've been eating that. I make kombucha, yogurt.
I have different sources of probiotics in my diet. But I know that my gut wants more.
So I take a capsule every day. I personally use seed because I love that it
(19:17):
has a prebiotic and a probiotic together in the same capsule.
Well, together and yet separated. There is got like a capsule within a capsule
so that it works the best in your body.
But just like other things that are in synergy, like that protandum NRF2,
that's a synergizing thing. It works together in combination.
It's not one plus one equals two. It's like one plus one equals 10.
(19:41):
And that's what a prebiotic and a probiotic do together. It's that one plus one equals 10.
That's why I take seed because it does both. And like I said,
the NRF2 is also a synergistic recipe.
When you combine those five herbs, which are very common herbs,
you probably already take one, like ashwagandha or turmeric,
you're probably already taking that, right? Well, this.
(20:04):
Little capsule or this little tablet. It is those five herbs in a very specific ratio.
And they found that when they put those five herbs together,
they work 18 times more powerfully than just added together.
It is synergy at its finest.
And I love to do something, you know, that takes me 10 seconds,
(20:25):
pop it in my hand and swallow it.
And that impacts my health in such a huge way.
All right, so quick recap. Your thyroid produces T4.
Your body, specifically your liver and your small intestines,
convert that into T3, which is able to be used by your cells.
Your cells need T3 to be able to turn on.
(20:48):
If you don't have enough T3, that means you're either blocking it by elevating
your reverse T3, which is the brake system, or it means that not enough is being converted.
So you want to address the reason why. And while you're addressing it,
you might have to use medications.
There's nothing wrong with addressing the needs and taking medications.
(21:09):
And while you're supporting yourself by taking the medications that you need,
if you fall into that category, also come and join the Holistic Hashimoto's course.
Because in that course, we're going to talk about all of the root causes so
that you can support your body and do exactly what you need so that your body
can do what it's supposed to do.
(21:29):
That's the goal. We want our best health.
And so join me in the Holistic Hashimoto's course, where I will take you by
the hand and help you do the things that you need to do.
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
If you found this episode helpful,
(21:49):
would you please share it with a friend? I will see you next week.
Music.
Thyroid labs can be super confusing. I mean, you've got T3, free T3,
reverse T3. Those are just the T3 ones.
What do they all mean? Which ones are important?
What do they tell you? What are you supposed to do with the information?
So many questions, so much confusion, and not just for you.
I have had providers that are like, I don't really know which labs to order
(00:23):
and which ones are important.
And they're like scratching their heads because this is a confusing issue.
You. It's not just for you.
So today in this episode of Health with Hashimoto's, I'm going to break it down
and I'm going to help you understand the T3 labs.
I've talked about other labs in past episodes. I will link those down below
in the show notes. And today is going to be all about T3.
(00:45):
But first, let's review like what is your thyroid? What are the labs in general?
And what do they mean for your health?
My name is Esther. I am a registered nurse. I am a holistic health educator.
I'm the mom of four boys, a homeschooler, half homeschooler.
Two of my boys are homeschooled. Two of them go to a public charter school.
(01:05):
And I'm like, I understand busy. I understand overwhelm. And I find that a lot
of women with Hashimoto's also are going, going, going.
They have so much on their plate, like juggling so many balls,
doing so many things. things and we don't have time to be confused.
We do not have time to dig into things and figure out what are all of these
(01:28):
acronyms, what do they mean, and how does it actually impact my life?
Because when you're juggling so many things that you want just the bullet points,
you want to know what actually matters.
So your thyroid is a little gland on the base of your neck at the front and
it produces thyroid hormone.
Every single cell in your body has a little receptor site for thyroid hormone,
(01:49):
but it wants it in a specific form.
So when your brain.
Gets told by your body that it's not having enough energy, that it needs more
thyroid hormone, and then your brain sends a signal to your pituitary gland,
which is at the base of your brain, which then sends a signal to your thyroid.
The signal that your pituitary gland sends is TSH, and you're probably very
(02:12):
familiar with TSH because that's the first thing that Western medicine checks.
They test this TSH, which is your thyroid stimulating hormone.
Your TSH is your your brain saying to your thyroid gland, hey,
I need a little bit more energy here. Can we produce more, please?
So the more elevated that your TSH is, the more your brain is asking for more.
(02:35):
It really means that your thyroid is probably not producing enough.
So your thyroid function could be low if your TSH is high.
So when your thyroid gland gets that signal and produces thyroid hormone,
it comes out in the form of T4.
T4 is thyroxine. It's basically the T is for your thyroid hormone and the 4
(03:00):
is for molecules of iodine.
So T4 is thyroxine and that's what your thyroid produces.
But the thing is your body can't use that T4. It wants T3.
Every cell in your body, the ignition switch is the T3.
So the T4 mostly goes to your liver and your small intestine,
(03:20):
and there it is converted to T3.
So one molecule of the iodine is going to be taken off.
The T3 is officially... Now, some of your T4 is converted to T3 in other tissues, but...
20% is in your liver, converted in your liver, and 20% is converted in your small intestine.
(03:41):
And it's about 40% of the T4 that's converted each day.
So 20 plus 20, 40. The bulk of your T4 being converted to T3 is done in those
two areas, your liver and your small intestine.
But like I said, it's also done
in other areas of the body. A lot of the organs and tissues can do some.
So now you know, your brain sends a signal to your thyroid, your thyroid produces
(04:06):
T4, your liver, small intestine, convert that to T3.
The T3 goes to all the cells in your body and says, hey, let's turn on,
let's have some energy, let's start working.
And then when your cells are working, then your tissues and organs are working.
And when your tissues and organs are working, then you're working and you feel like yourself again.
(04:27):
That's the goal. We want to feel like ourselves. We want everything to be online.
All systems go, right? Yes, that is what we want.
So when you're looking at your labs, how do you know what is like not normal?
Because there's so many different things to look at.
I remember the first time that a provider was like, I want to check your thyroid.
And it wasn't something that she ordered every day.
(04:50):
So she ended up like even calling the lab saying, which panel do I order?
Because different labs, they will bundle different.
So labs as you know, the corporation, they will bundle different labs as in
the tests together in a panel to make it technically easier for providers.
(05:10):
So they just order one panel and they get everything they want.
Well, there's so many different combinations of panels or different.
Lab tests within panels. I think on the at-home lab that I use,
and I can link that down below too, it's through Ulta Labs.
I think there's like four or five, maybe more panels of thyroid tests that you
(05:32):
can get. So it is confusing.
And I remember my practitioner like, okay, I want to know this and this and this.
So which one, you know, it's just, it's just confusing.
I think I I was actually relieved when that happened, because for the first
time, I thought, I'm not the only one who's confused by this.
You know, when you're in the emergency department, we all really try very,
(05:55):
very hard to have a good answer for everything.
And so if you ask a doctor a question, I mean, if they're coming in with labs,
they're going to know a lot of the lab work in their heads because they've studied for so long.
And if it's something that they're not familiar with, they will have just looked
it up before going into the room so they can answer your questions.
And that was me too. As a nurse in the emergency department,
(06:15):
I need to be able to educate my patients.
So if I had somebody who had thyroid problems, then I would look it up.
And if you've heard my story before, I would study thyroid stuff and I would
get it for just a short, short amount of time and then it would be gone.
I could not keep it straight in my head.
So when I heard my provider call the lab and explain what she wanted and try
(06:37):
to figure this out for the first time, I thought, oh, I am not alone.
This confuses other people too.
So let's make it a little less confusing. The first T3 that you can get on your
labs is just the total T3. It's usually called T3.
It's really not helpful for very much at all, unless they're checking for something
(06:58):
like Graves' disease, if they think that you have too much thyroid hormone in your blood.
So T3 is, it's not usually helpful.
I'm going to give you a bit of a disclaimer. Like like all of this information.
I've been studying thyroid for what, three years now, I think. I don't even remember.
I've read so many books. I've read so many articles. I've read so many research
(07:19):
papers and I cannot cite one place that I'm pulling this information from because
it's from so many different places.
And then I put that knowledge together.
The labs, it's the same way. I want you to look at the reference range for the
lab who drew your blood or who ran the tests because each lab is going to have
(07:40):
their own specific reference range.
The numbers that I give you here are based on what I found as the most common
functional medicine ranges.
And these came from multiple different sources. So I do not have one place to
cite because again, I was looking for the commonality.
(08:02):
There is so much disagreement among everybody in medicine, especially thyroid stuff.
So when you're looking at just T3, the best functional reference range that
I found is anywhere between 100 and 180.
If it is elevated, then you might have too much T3 in your blood,
(08:24):
and it might point to something like Graves, which is an autoimmune problem,
and it's where your thyroid puts out too much hormone.
So that was just T3.
Now let's talk about free T3. You'll see that one in your labs as well.
That, well, I say that you will see it. You might not see it.
You might have to ask specifically for it.
Free T3 is a measurement of how much T3 is actually available for your cells to use.
(08:50):
It's free it's free to be used
so that is free t3 it has a
more narrow range and it's between three and four when
i was looking at a whole bunch of different labs at their functional
reference ranges so between three and four now remember i said that t3 is like
the ignition switch it is what your cells need to be able to turn on so we want
(09:13):
to have enough t3 so that our cells can work and if our cells are working then
our tissues and organs are working and then you're working.
So if your T3, your available or free T3 is low, then you're not going to have
as much available to your cells.
And then you might feel hypothyroid.
If people feel like they have hypothyroid symptoms, you know,
(09:37):
if they're gaining weight, their metabolism is slow, they're feeling cold all
the time, they're constipated, they're feeling depressed, their hair is falling out, skin issues.
Feeling sluggish, having brain fog, all of these things can be hypothyroid related.
And you might feel all of those things. And your doctor or your provider says your TSH is normal.
(09:57):
Well, but you're still feeling hypothyroid. It might be that you don't have
enough available free T3.
You don't have enough for your cells to use.
So that is a a crucial number to look at. But then you ask like,
why? Why don't I have enough?
If your thyroid is producing T4,
(10:18):
and 40% 40 ish percent of it is supposed to be converted to T3 on any given
day, then why are why don't you have enough?
Well, that's the other thing that T4 can get turned into.
Sometimes it's turned into T3. And other times, your body is like,
nope, we need to rest to slow down to heal.
(10:41):
Because it is when you are resting and sleeping that your body is healing and
renewing and restoring.
So sometimes your body prioritizes those things. It increases the brake system.
So your thyroid produces the T4 and then your body is like, nope,
we actually don't need a lot of energy. We need to heal.
(11:02):
We have too much stress, too much cortisol.
So it makes more reverse T3. That's like the brake system.
It is your body saying, let's halt here. Let's slow down and heal.
Your reverse T3, everybody has some because on any given day,
about 40% of your T4 is being converted to T3 and about 20% is converted to reverse T3.
(11:27):
If that reverse T3 goes up, it means that your body is prioritizing the brake system.
It's going to do that, like I said, if it's under stress. That can be chronic stress.
It could be acute stress. So something happening right now. It could be inflammation.
There are a lot of things that can increase your reverse T3.
(11:47):
So increased cortisol or extra cortisol, that's the stress hormone,
that definitely does it.
So trauma, there is a big link between trauma and autoimmune problems because
it's such a trigger, especially for Hashimoto's.
When you have chronic stress and your cortisol is constantly elevated,
your adrenals, those are the little things that put out the cortisol,
(12:10):
they can get tired and then your cortisol can be too low.
Too low of cortisol can also cause problems with your reverse T3.
It can cause it to be elevated.
That's because your body really likes the Goldilocks range.
It wants it not too hot, not too cold. It wants your cortisol to be not too
high, not too low. Everything needs to be in the Goldilocks range.
(12:31):
And if your cortisol is too high, it can make your reverse T3 get elevated.
If your cortisol is too low, it can elevate your reverse T3.
And the specific mechanism for when your cortisol is low, and that leads to
increased reverse T3, is because when your cortisol is low, thyroid hormones
can actually build up in your blood.
(12:52):
And then your body, it says, oh, there's too much T4 in the blood.
It's not getting processed quickly.
And so then it makes excess reverse T3 or more reverse T3 to take care of the excess T4.
Does that make sense? so you have too much T4 and then your body produces extra
(13:13):
reverse T3 to take care of that.
It doesn't want to use it, it just wants to take care of it and to get rid of it.
There's another thing that can cause reverse T3 to be elevated and that's when
your iron levels are low and this is really the same thing as if your cortisol is low.
It's a different way to get to the same ending, I guess, because if your iron
(13:36):
is low, then typically you do not have as much blood cells.
And if you do not have enough blood cells, then it's not carrying enough.
And so you're going to have excess thyroid hormone that, again,
needs to be taken care of.
So you create increased reverse T3 to take care of the excess.
And the final most common reason for increased reverse T3 is if you're taking
(14:02):
medications that are beta blockers.
Those are usually for your heart, for your blood pressure.
Metoprolol is one of the most common ones. They're all going to end in an olol.
So metoprolol, propranolol, those are beta blockers, and those can also increase your reverse T3.
The most common thing that I see in the people that I talk to and in the Holistic
(14:24):
Hashimoto's course is stress.
It is the cortisol link when they are constantly stressed.
And so they have increased reverse T3. And that's what we focus on is lowering
stress levels and increasing resilience, because both of those things can help our cortisol.
We want to help our body thrive in the environment that we have.
(14:47):
Oh, I didn't give you the numbers. So the numbers that I have written down,
again, check with the lab that is doing your blood work.
For free T3, I have written down between three and four.
And so that's based on the lab that did my blood work or who has done my blood
work, it's based on looking at a whole bunch of different physicians and providers
(15:11):
online and the endocrine people.
Endocrine is just a fancy name for hormones. And of course, your thyroid hormone
is a hormone. So that's the free T3.
And then reverse T3, you know what?
I don't have a number for you. The lab that I was looking at and all of the
different ones that I researched, they said it should be less than 15.
(15:32):
So what if your numbers are low? What if you don't have enough available T3
or if you have too much reverse T3?
Then we want to address what's causing it. But while we're addressing it,
if your cells don't have enough,
then it might be time to talk to your doctor about a combination medication
therapy of doing both T4 and T3 and find something that works for you.
(16:00):
Everybody is different. I've talked to people who felt amazing on T4 only.
I have talked to people who felt amazing on a combination of T4 and T3.
I have talked to people who felt amazing with no medications.
If they took medications, they felt worse. You have to figure out what works for you, for your body.
(16:21):
So if you don't have enough T4, then you're not going to be able to convert enough to T3.
So you're going to need to have more T4. And that is medication.
Synthroid, levothyroxine, those are the most common ones. And if you want a
combination, then you can get
natural desiccated thyroid, that's NDT or armor or something like that.
(16:41):
But what you really want to do is you want to address why it's not converting.
Are you having problems with your liver.
Your liver does so much work every single day.
It is so hardworking and it works hard with your hormones, especially,
well, all of them, but estrogen.
Estrogen, it processes, and if it doesn't have enough time to process the estrogen
(17:05):
that's in your blood, it'll send it around and say, maybe I'll get to you next time you come through.
And then we get too much estrogen in our system and that's estrogen dominance.
And that can be really hard on the liver. And so that's why I did an entire
podcast episode a while back on estrogen dominance.
And we talked about things that you can do for your liver health because you
want your liver functioning really well so that it can do its job.
(17:28):
One of its jobs is to convert T4 to T3. So look up that estrogen dominance podcast episode.
Again, I'll put the link down in the show notes and figure out what you can do for your liver.
The thing that I do every day, super simple.
I just swallow a tablet of five different herbs. It's called Protandim NRF2,
and it helps so many different things in the body because it activates my body
(17:52):
to do what it's supposed to do, like create antioxidants, to create your master detox
thing, glutathione. You've heard of that, right?
Glutathione is so powerful for taking care of the stuff in our body and we want more.
And so this NRF2 activation, it makes my body, it activates my body to make
(18:12):
300% more glutathione. That's huge.
It also takes care of other detox pathways and supports my liver.
We want to support our livers so that our liver can do its job.
And then the other thing, do you remember where else I said that most of your
T4 is converted to T3? It's in your small intestines.
(18:32):
And that's why we talk about gut health. And that's why everybody needs to be
eating some sort of probiotic every day.
You know, you can get it from fermented foods. You can get it from a capsule.
I do have fermented foods every day. I've started making sauerkraut and I was
really scared about it at first.
I really was. It just, I don't know. It made me really nervous.
(18:55):
Also, I was scared of the taste. I just thought it was going to be gross. And it was gross.
And then I got used to it. And now I really like it. So I've been making sauerkraut
and I've been eating that. I make kombucha, yogurt.
I have different sources of probiotics in my diet. But I know that my gut wants more.
So I take a capsule every day. I personally use seed because I love that it
(19:17):
has a prebiotic and a probiotic together in the same capsule.
Well, together and yet separated. There is got like a capsule within a capsule
so that it works the best in your body.
But just like other things that are in synergy, like that protandum NRF2,
that's a synergizing thing. It works together in combination.
It's not one plus one equals two. It's like one plus one equals 10.
(19:41):
And that's what a prebiotic and a probiotic do together. It's that one plus one equals 10.
That's why I take seed because it does both. And like I said,
the NRF2 is also a synergistic recipe.
When you combine those five herbs, which are very common herbs,
you probably already take one, like ashwagandha or turmeric,
you're probably already taking that, right? Well, this.
(20:04):
Little capsule or this little tablet. It is those five herbs in a very specific ratio.
And they found that when they put those five herbs together,
they work 18 times more powerfully than just added together.
It is synergy at its finest.
And I love to do something, you know, that takes me 10 seconds,
(20:25):
pop it in my hand and swallow it.
And that impacts my health in such a huge way.
All right, so quick recap. Your thyroid produces T4.
Your body, specifically your liver and your small intestines,
convert that into T3, which is able to be used by your cells.
Your cells need T3 to be able to turn on.
(20:48):
If you don't have enough T3, that means you're either blocking it by elevating
your reverse T3, which is the brake system, or it means that not enough is being converted.
So you want to address the reason why. And while you're addressing it,
you might have to use medications.
There's nothing wrong with addressing the needs and taking medications.
(21:09):
And while you're supporting yourself by taking the medications that you need,
if you fall into that category, also come and join the Holistic Hashimoto's course.
Because in that course, we're going to talk about all of the root causes so
that you can support your body and do exactly what you need so that your body
can do what it's supposed to do.
(21:29):
That's the goal. We want our best health.
And so join me in the Holistic Hashimoto's course, where I will take you by
the hand and help you do the things that you need to do.
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only.
Please discuss any concerns and plans with your trusted healthcare professional.
If you found this episode helpful,
(21:49):
would you please share it with a friend? I will see you next week.
Music.
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