Research Finds Most Patients Feel Better with Addition of T3, Not Levothyroxine (i.e., Synthroid) Alone!!!
by Mary J. Shomon

The February 11, 1999 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports on the results of research that found that "treatment with thyroxine plus triiodothyronine(T3) improved the quality of life for most [hypothyroid] patients."
The article is titled:

"Effects of Thyroxine as Compared with Thyroxine plus Triiodothyronine in Patients with Hypothyroidism"

by Robertas Bunevicius, Gintautas Kazanavicius, Rimas Zalinkevicius, Arthur J. Prange, Jr.. Research was conducted by the Institute of Endocrinology, Kaunas Medical University, Kaunas, Lithuania along with the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

How the study was conducted

Essentially, they took a group of 33 people who were hypothyroid, either due to autoimmune thyroid disease, or removal of their thyroids due to thyroid cancer. All the patients were studied for two five-week periods. During one five-week period, the patient received his or her regular dose of levothyroxine alone. (Levothyroxine is the generic name for the brand names such as Euthyrox, Levoxyl, Levothroid and Synthroid.) During the other five-week period, the patient received levothyroxine PLUS triiodothyronine (T3.) (Note: In the U.S., the brand name for T3 is "Cytomel." ) In the T4 plus T3 phase, 50 �g of the patient's typical levothyroxine dose was replaced by 12.5 �g of triiodothyronine (T3). A variety of blood, cognitive, mood and physical tests were conducted at various stages of the testing.

Results

From the standpoint of physiological effects, the differences between pulse, blood pressure, reflexes and a variety of other functions for T4 alone, versus T4 plus T3, were very small. Blood pressure and cholesterol in fact dropped slightly on the T4 plus T3.

Where the results were dramatic were in mental functioning. Patients performed better on a variety of standard neuropsychological tasks on the T4 plus T3. Patients' psychological state also showed improvement on T4 plus T3.

At the end of the study, patients were asked whether they preferred the first or second treatments. 20 patients said they preferred the T4 plus T3 treatment, 11 had no preference either way, and only 2 preferred T4 only. The 20 patients who preferred T4 plus T3 reported that they had more energy, improved concentration, and just felt better overall.

The researchers determined that "treatment with thyroxine plus triiodothyronine improved the quality of life for most patients."

The researchers also recommended that the ideal thyroid hormone replacement program for someone without a thyroid gland, or whose thyroid gland is nearly non-functioning, would be "10 �g of triiodothyronine daily in sustained-release form. . . along with enough thyroxine to ensure euthyroidism."

quote:

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Originally posted by SaltyOlPirate:
I'm still not clear on this.....Does doing AAS(sustonon, D-bol and Equipoise) mess with your thyroid levels?

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Originally posted by Fonz:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by SaltyOlPirate:

Yes. Steroids lower active T3 levels. That is why
the concurrent administration of T3 i necessary
during a cycle(25mcgs/day) as it will improve
protein synthesis and give you roughly 10% better
gains.

Godspeed

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Wow, I am learning new sh%t in my own thread, did not know steroids lowered active T3 levels.

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Originally posted by Shredder21:
Wow, I am learning new sh%t in my own thread, did not know steroids lowered active T3 levels.


[This message has been edited by Shredder21 (edited March 26, 2001).]

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