Why Your THYROID Medication Isn’t Working (And What To Do Instead)

Why Thyroid Medication May Not Cause Weight Loss 0:00

Have you wondered why you're not losing weight with your new thyroid medication? I see a lot of patients who are overweight and then they were diagnosed with hypothyroidism by another doctor. They were then put on thyroid medications and they expected not only would they lose weight but they'd feel better, better energy, and better clarity of mind. And that certainly is possible if you get the right thyroid, dose, and medication. But let's look at this a little bit further. When it comes to thyroid hormone replacement, by far the most common thyroid that is given to Americans is the synthetic thyroid known as livoxyl levothyroxine.

You might know trade names as well as such as thinthroid. And so, basically, this medication is known as T4.

T4 vs T3 and How Thyroid Hormones Work 0:39

And, so in our human body, our thyroid gland does make T-4 and T3. Now, it makes more T 4 than T 3 because, in organs such as the liver and kidneys, there's some conversion factors that occur where the T four is converted into the t-3, but here's the key point. The T three, also known liothyronine, is the most metabolically active thyroid hormone. So in your cells, when you take thyroid hormone or when your body makes it, it attaches to receptors on the outside of your cell, gets into the cells and then has an effect on your cellular DNA, which then affects your metabolism, helps your mitochondria burn energy at a higher rate.

that if your thyroid levels are too low and you get your levels up, you could lose weight. But for people who take the standard thyroid medications, which are most people, and that's not happening, things seem like they're imbalanced, then it certainly could be the fact that you're not converting enough T4 into the more biologically active T3. And this can be tested with standard blood labs.

Testing T3 Levels When Symptoms Persist 1:35

Most doctors don't do this, but simply instead of just having your thyroid stimulating hormone, your TSH, along with your free T4, have your doctor run your total T3 and your Free T 3 so we can see what your key three levels are. And if your t3 levels, are low or deficient, then you need a change in your approach. Well, I hope you're enjoying the video. If you are looking for quality supplements, go to my website drstengler.com and there you can see the nutritional supplements I've been using with my patients for many decades.

They involve a lot of scientific research. Many of them I have created myself. So again, thank you for watching the videos and check out my supplement store at dr.stegler dot com. Now there's two ways you could help a person where their T3 is low when they're on the standard thyroid medication.

Ways to Improve Low T3 Conversion 2:17

You could have the patient improve their diet, their exercise, that could certainly help. Balance out their stress hormones. That can help the conversion. Make sure you're getting the nutrients required to convert T4 and T 3. For example, selenium is very important for that. Or with the patients, you also could switch their medication They could stay on their standard medication, and you could prescribe to them T3 in the regular pharmacies that's known as Cytomel. For the compounding pharmacies, which make whatever dose you want in a Biodenco form, it's called Liothyronine.

And so you can give the patient T-3, get their levels up and see how they respond. Certainly with a lot of patients I've noticed when they have suboptimal or low levels of T 3, getting those T three levels one of the protocols I've talked about can make a substantial effect in terms of your metabolism, but you should have more benefits than that. You should better energy, better mood, focus on concentration, skin health, you could have better digestion, and many other things because thyroid essentially

Benefits of Optimizing T3 and Next Steps 3:08

affects every cell in your body. So, if you're on thyroid medication and your metabolic seems like it's off, then yes, get your T3 levels checked, work with a doctor who can optimize your t3-levels and lo and behold more often than not you'll find that your metabolism and many other things improving your body as well.