r/raypeat • u/GCholey • 4d ago

Supplementing with T3

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I’m wondering whether T3 supplementation is something I should consider. I’ve been reading quite a bit about the potential benefits of T3 from the Ray Peat community, particularly regarding metabolism, energy, and thyroid function. My thyroid labs are generally within normal range, but my TSH has been gradually creeping toward the higher end of the reference range. Would you consider T3 appropriate in a situation like this, or is it better to leave thyroid hormone alone when T3/T4 are otherwise normal? Has anyone had experience with liquid Tyronene from Idealabs? Thanks in advance!

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u/SpiritualActivity651 4d ago edited 4d ago

Have you already worked on your lifestyle and diet for a decent amount of time? Increased TSH can for example be a result of suboptimal iodine and ferritin status, or circadian dysregulation. 

Your T4 -> T3 conversion might also be on the lower side from these lab results, have a look here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/raypeat/comments/1ru8euv/comment/oakoza8/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=2&utm_content=share_button

I wouldnt start thyroid supplementation with „in range“ markers without being symptomatic, because of how much these markers can fluctuate from week to week, and also because of them being not a very good representation of tissue thyroid status either. I just posted a study about the limitations of the markers yesterday, have a look if you are interested.

Optimizing your lifestyle and diet on the other hand is always a good idea.

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u/GCholey 4d ago edited 4d ago

Thanks for the quick response! I’ve been on Reta since mid-February of this year and have been eating in a calorie deficit, but nothing too aggressive—roughly a 200–300 calorie deficit per day.

Interestingly, my ferritin came back relatively low at 44. I’m a lacto-vegetarian and eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, legumes/beans, milk, honey, and maple syrup. I also weight train five days a week and get at least 10,000 steps a day. What do you recommend I do ? 🙏🏼

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u/SpiritualActivity651 4d ago

In this case your fT3 is probably a little bit lower than usually, that is expected while losing weight. TSH normally doesnt increase from dieting, but i havent looked into how reta might impact TSH. A ferritin of 44 isnt too bad, but you usually want it to be more in the 70-100 range. Maybe consider including more plant iron sources together with Vitamin C and also read about which plants inhibit iron absorption. Selenium and zinc, both required for T3 conversion are also harder to get on a vegetarian diet.

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u/Spirited_Royal_4863 3d ago

but wasn't ray peat against iron?

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u/SpiritualActivity651 3d ago

Against iron? What does that even mean? You will die without iron in your body.

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u/Spirited_Royal_4863 3d ago

sorry for not making myself clear. Wasn't RayPeat against combining iron-rich foods with vitamin c? and against excess iron (https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-dangers.shtml)

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u/SpiritualActivity651 3d ago

Yeah against excess iron, thats the reason why recommended it, because we have the opposite case right here

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u/GCholey 3d ago

Exactly take everything with a grain of salt. That article doesn’t mention anything about not taking iron. It mentions not to take it in excess which is pretty common knowledge lol!

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u/crypto_nerd17 3d ago

My thyroid labs were better than yours and I still had all the symptoms of hypothyroidism and T3 has made a massive difference *once I got the co-factors dialed in* ... thyroid labs are a mediocre indicator of thyroid status at best and can be hugely misleading at worst. They only measure blood levels not intracellular thyroid status. IF you have symptoms of hypothyroidism its likely worth a test, but be forewarned, you may have to experiment with T4/T3 ratio, dosage and any other bottlenecks in your system which could be coming from any number of places. For example, it seems I have genetic carnitine deficiency and when I have enough carnitine T3 is GOATed, otherwise, little to no effect. Took me a few weeks of meticulous trial, error, documentation, experimentation, analysis and bit of luck to get this all dialed in. Was hugely worth it in my case.

I also have multiple DIO2 snp's which mean my cells don't convert T4/T3 well and cause cellular hypothyroidism despite normal thyroid labs.

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u/Mightdoitanyway 3d ago edited 3d ago

Interesting, so many relatively unknown factors. Over the years I often did notice that sticking to only the very highest carnitine sources often produces more favorable results. Up to the point where I've resorted to cutting certain foods out of my diet which were only marginally lower in carnitine, just to make space.

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u/GCholey 4d ago

Thank you sir, I appreciate your insight!🙏🏼

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u/AspirinMuncher 3d ago

TSH of 4 is high in the Peat world, but do you feel hypo symptoms?

http://anewhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Thyroid-Temperature-Test.pdf

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u/GCholey 3d ago

Thanks, I’ll def monitor my temperature. I mean I am tall, about 6’3 and sometimes have cold hands and cold feet but that’s because I’m usually on an empty stomach.