Home » Health & Wellness » Thyroid Disease » The New "T3 Treatment" Thyroid Solution or Unethical Experiment?

The New "T3 Treatment" Thyroid Solution or Unethical Experiment?

© M. Sara Rosenthal

Treating hypothyroidism with combination T3 and T4 therapy seems promising new therapy. This article looks at some of the unknown risks of T3 therapy, and explores whether those who have received the therapy were fully informed about the risks of T3.

A Brief History of T3 There are two thyroid hormones produced by the thyroid gland – thyroxine, known as T4 (four iodine atoms), and triiodothyronine, known as T3 (three iodine atoms). If you were to break down exactly how much T4 and T3 is secreted by your thyroid, you’d find that 90% of the thyroid output is T4, and only 10% is T3. Although these hormones have the same effect in your body, T3 is four times as powerful as T4 and works eight times as fast. It’s akin to a juice in a bottle and frozen concentrate. T4 can also “turn into” T3 by shedding an iodine atom if your body requires some thyroid hormone – fast!

Over the years, many of my readers have written to me about just not “feeling right” on their thyroid hormone pills, even though their TSH levels were normal, and they were apparently on the right dosage. An article published in the February 11, 1999 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reported on some dramatic findings for thyroid patients. Apparently, when the thyroid hormone with 3 iodine atoms (T3), known as triiodothyronine, was added to their regular thyroid hormone replacement pill (which is thyroxine, or T4, the thyroid hormone with 4 iodine atoms), people felt much better. A cocktail of T3 and T4 helped relieve depression, brain fog, fatigue and other hypothyroid symptoms. In this study, 33 patients with severe hypothyroidism were treated alternatively with pure thyroxine (T4) or a lower dose of T4 plus triiodothyronine (T3). The article concluded that “treatment with thyroxine plus triiodothyronine improved the quality of life for most [hypothyroid] patients.”

This may explain why some patients have felt better on alternative thyroid drugs such as the natural Armour Thyroid, Westhroid and Naturethroid, which contain T4 and T3 naturally, and the synthetic T4/T3 drug Thyrolar. T3 can also be added to your regular thyroid hormone pill as simply an additional pill, known as Cytomel(r), which is simply pure T3 or triiodothyronine. This comes as surprising and welcome news for many thyroid patients who thought they were suffering from phantom hypothyroid symptoms.

A survey conducted by The Thyroid Foundation of America found that 59% of survey participants complained of persisting hypothyroid symptoms, such as muscle aches, lethargy, and/or depression.