Short answer: Your fatty liver is slimming down.

Longer answer: here .

Great article, Nancy.

I'm going to be careful to watch my choline intake.

More great stuff on choline -
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocent...ernuts/choline/

Interesting comment by Chris Masterjohn in the article:

"One thing to look out for is that extended low-carbing can decrease thyroid function, which will cause a *bad* increase in LDL-C, and be bad in itself. So be careful not to go to extremes, or if you do, to monitor thyroid function carefully."

How should we monitor our thyroid?

A Free TSH test, also called FT3. Low carb AND low calorie dieting can reduce the amount of free, unbound T3. The symptoms are regular hypothyroid symptoms, like cold intolerance, sleeping a lot, low body temperature, etc.

Down regulating FT3 is a survival thing though. When the body thinks it is starving, it turns down the metabolism. It can defend the fat mass with a fierce determination. YMMV of course.

This is interesting. I did the Free T3 test and the result came in slightly low: 269 mg/dl. I found this comment from awriter:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/archive/...p/t-404752.html

She says, "For the last 3 years my Total Cholesterol has climbed, climbed and climbed every single time I had a blood test, until it finally reached just under 400! My calculated LDL was almost 300."

This sounds familiar. Mine has been doing that over the last four or five months. LDL calculated was 212 last test. It was 125 six months ago.

(Triglycerides are also stubbornly high - latest 164. I suspect that fat in the liver is not the cause as my AST/ALT tests were low and ultra sound revealed no abnormality.)

awriter says that after doing T3 treatment cholesterol dropped to 187.

She also comments on excessive low carbing:

"It appears that any amount of carbs that keeps YOU in ketosis (which varies in everyone) is the magic number. For me, I need to now stay in the 50-70g a day range."

and

"Like so many on this forum, I believed that if low carb was good, VERY low carb, or zero carb was better."

I think this 'magic number' idea is interesting and "lower the better" deserves reconsideration. My goal for low carbing is to get blood chemistry in order: not weight loss (although I'm losing weight fast!).

I would also like to explore the thyroid issue further. Any suggestions of how to take this further would be appreciated.

FT3 and RT3 are important. It's also recommended that you check your adrenals with a 24 hour saliva collection test and have a good comprehensive iron panel done. If you start treating with t3 before your adrenals and iron (and B12) are adequate you won't be able to tolerate the T3.

Here's a good site to get you going. It's a companion document to the Yahoo RT3 group: http://thyroid-rt3.com/

Thanks Nancy. I'll look into those tests. Not sure if we'll have them in Thailand.


I've done:

Ferritin: 140
B12: 465

Thanks for the site reference too.

There's more involved in the iron testing than just ferritin. Read about it on the link I posted.

While your B12 is in range, it might be best to have it topped up. To that end, I'd just do some sublingual methylcobalamin supplements. Maybe 5,000 mcg once a week or 1,000 mcg more frequently. Remember to let them dissolve very slowly under the tongue, otherwise they don't work so well. I take mine at bedtime and let it dissolve while I'm sleeping.

Thanks again Nancy. I saw the link about the iron panel and will investigate.

Thanks also for confirming my suspicion about the B12.

...

I've just been investigating lab tests:

RT3: not available: but I've read that Free T4 over 1.4 suggests high RT3. Mine is 1.7

24 hour saliva test not available. Some serum adrenal tests are available. However, I don't think I have any of the adrenal symptoms (exercise intolerance, blood sugar issues). I'm monitoring temperature. So far so good.

Iron panel: all of the items (Saturation, Serum, UIBC, TIBC) are available and I did that test today.

Given the lack of RT3 and adrenal tests, what to do? Try low dose T3 and monitor side effects?

I guess I'm getting off topic. I'll take my thyroid questions to the thyroid forum.

Okay, the thread didn't get bumped when you edited your last reply. I'll answer your post in the thyroid area.