A clinical trial in progress to investigate T3 in the treatment of fibromyalgia

Oh the heels of my last blog post (see right below this if you are reading right on the site) comes something VERY interesting, and which thyroid-patients-in-the-know have already known about for a good ten years!

Namely, Dr. Ian Carroll, MD, MS, and Dr. Jarred Younger, PhD of the Stanford Systems Neuroscience and Pain Lab are currently enrolling patients for a clinical trial investigating T3 for the treatment of fibromyalgia. (Fibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome which causes widespread musculoskeletal pain and debilitating fatigue, also aching, twitching, burn sensation, joint issues).

Of course, patients who switched to desiccated thyroid the past ten years (or have used synthetic T3 in their treatment) already KNOW the truth from experience (which is usually always pooh-poohed by clinical-trial-worshipping, clinical-presentation-ignoring, medical professionals.).

Namely, fibromyalgia is usually the result of undiagnosed hypothyroidism (due to the inane TSH lab test) and undertreated hypothyroidism (due to the worst medication ever thrust on patients, aka T4-only, or Synthroid, Levoxyl, levothyroxine, Eltroxin, Oroxine, etc.) i.e. you need direct T3, the most powerful thyroid hormone, to adequately treated hypothyroidism.

i.e. we’re all kinda going duhhhhhhhh here.

But, if a clinical trial is needed to prove what we already know (and so has Dr. John C. Lowe known it for many years), it’ll be just one more underscore of the truth. Go to the following to read more and/or enroll: http://snapl.stanford.edu/t3/

P.S. the Bobbsey Twins of the failure of the TSH labs test and treating with T4-only: Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

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Does your inner ear itch?? Got an email from a gal who was on Synthroid for 7 years, and for the last 5, had torturous deep inner ear itching. And guess what?? It went away just two days after switching to desiccated thyroid. Yup, another long and pathetic symptom of a poor treatment. (If you still have it on desiccated thyroid, see what mistakes in your treatment you need to identify and change, which is also Chapter 11 in the STTM book with a little more details added.)

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Yippee!! Direct Labs is the third lab facility to partner with STTM in offering the kind of labs that patients who frequent STTM know are important in their quest to feel better and educate their doctors. Unfortunately, they don’t offer saliva like the other two, which are Healthcheck USA and MyMedLab, but they have all the other labs you may be interested in. You can view them by going to STTM’s Recommended Labwork page.

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12 Responses to “A clinical trial in progress to investigate T3 in the treatment of fibromyalgia”

  1. Lily

    I believe these are the results of this study.
    https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00903877

    It seems only 8 patients were involved in the trial with 33 ruled out due to not meeting the criteria.

    Reply
  2. Laura Fraser

    I tried to find the results of this study, but apparently they have never been published.

    Has anyone ever been able to track this down?

    Reply
  3. Bonnie Hayes

    PS… The T-3, when I took it in high doses DID relieve the Fibro pain. The trade off was not worth it at that time, but I can attest that it stopped the pain. Of course the sweating, insomonia (complete!) anxiety and hot flashes were not worth the high dose. But I strongly believe that T-3 is a plausable treatment for FM/CFS!

    Reply
  4. Bonnie Hayes

    Thanks Janie-
    Two years ago, I had every test known to man done, including the adrenal 24 hour one (through the functional Doc)… It was normal, but I am sensitive to epinepherine, and the GNC wiz said it would not interfere with my conditions or meds. The internet goes both ways on the issue, so I think I’ll give it a try. With the thyroid, menopause and Fibro, I have a triple wammy to my metabolism and fat distribution. I have never had the fat on my mid section and hips that has suddenly appeared. Don’t know if it’s menopause, thyroid, or fibro, but I really am uncomfortable, and I eat very little, to no avail. If the HCG somehow wakes up the sleeping metabolism, (like the t-3 did) withouth the major side effects, It seems logical that it might work. I know there is no magic bullet to lose weight, but honestly, I can eat nothing and gain weight, so traditional methods don’t work for me. And I am pretty dilligent in my ‘diets’. So I guess I’ll give it a try and report my results/side effects. I’ve tried everything else, so why not?

    Reply
    • patrick van zandvoort

      hi Bonnie, you can try circadian rythms, which means you only eat within 9 hours (so 15 hours resting per 24-hours). So you start breakfast at 9.00 and have diner at 17.00 at the last. And afterwards nothing (only water). See this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erBJuxVR7IE

      Reply
  5. Bonnie Hayes

    I have had Fibromyalgia and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis for over 15 years (diagnosed the same day) My biopsied Pre-cancerous thyroid was removed 5 years ago, and the Fibro flared and has been horrid since. A functional medicine doc prescribed t-3 (25 mcs) that sent me into a 10 day sweating, anxiety ridden, sleepless 3 week attack, that netted a 30 lbs weight loss and a deep depression, but stopped the pain. Couldn’t live like that, so he tried 5mcs of t-3 (cytomel) and I had same symptoms. Obviously, I fired him and quit. Have been with a new naturopathic md for 1 year, and worked up to 2 mcg’s of t-3 along with .15 t-4. Lab numbers look good, but I am gaining weight. I still can’t lose weight, but am sleeping better with fewer flares. I’m wantin to try HCG for the weight loss and want to know if there is any danger. I’m on other meds for fibro too…clonozapam, flexeril, oxicodone. Is HCG Safe? for someone on these meds?

    Reply
    • Janie

      Bonnie, I would strongly recommend doing a 24 hour adrenal saliva test, because what happened to you when you were first put on T3 sounds like a problem with your adrenals. Many people feel HCG is safe, but you can do some internet research and decide for yourself, too.

      Reply
  6. daniella cox

    very helpful blog http://coolinginflammation.blogspot.com/search/label/anti-inflammatory%20diet following his advice + changing my diet, loads better

    Reply
  7. If Only

    If only fibromyalgia was simply the result of hypothyroidism! I’m on Armour and it hasn’t made a lick of difference in the fibromyalgia or my fatigue. I only developed hypothyroidism in the last year or two, whereas I’ve had fibromyalgia for 10 years. Anyone who thinks that treating fibromyalgia with thyroid meds is enough to make it go away, probably doesn’t have fibromyalgia

    (From Janie: there have been many cases of fibromyalgia which went away when these folks raised high enough with desiccated thyroid (and in the case of Armour, now chew it up to make it more effective) as well as treated adrenal fatigue if it was found. That has been reported frequently over the years on patient groups. But yes, there do appear to be some cases of fibro harder to kick, possibly pointing to other causes. But if you are hypo, just make sure you have covered all bases: https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/things-we-have-learned or Chapter 3 in the STTM book with more detail )

    Reply
  8. pat

    I only wish that T3 or Desicated Thyroid was the sole answer to Fibromyalgia

    My husband and now our daughter are both Hypothyroid as a result of Hashimotos and have severe Fibromyalgia
    My husband was originally on synthyroid then a mix lof that and T3 then T3 alone and for last 5 yrs Armour Thyroid …..diet and lifestyle etc are perfect beyond perfect

    While his life is now worth living the Fibromyalgia will not shift
    our daughter was hit hard with fibro and the battle to get her Armour is on going but T3 has not resolved her pain

    hence there must be another factor they need to face and research

    Reply
  9. Alana

    As I commented on you last blog post – this is VERY encouraging and I do believe that things are going to change for the better for fibromyalgia sufferers in the near future. How are the endo’s and doctors that have forcefully held us back going to live with themselves?! Now we just need that study to prove the TSH testing is crap and that the free T3 range is too small and also that we don’t ACTUALLY need reverse T3 to survive and be healthy (as I am on T3 only treatment for too much reverse T3 at the moment and my doc has been a little concerned about my low T4 and reverse T3 levels and my high free T3 levels – no symptoms though and still slightly low temps – feel better than I have in a long time!).

    Reply
  10. ian carroll

    Thanks for the press re our study. feel free to copy info from the website as we are sorey in need of subjects who are willing to participate.
    Ian

    Reply

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