Every medical treatment has some risk. Doctors and patients don't proceed with treatments unless they feel that the potential benefits outweigh the risks. The WT3 protocol is a therapeutic trial which means that there is no test that can be done before treatment that can conclusively determine whether or not a patient will respond well to the treatment (in other words, that can conclusively determine whether or not they have WTS). In a very real sense the treatment itself is the test. Perhaps the only way to tell for sure whether or not patients really have WTS is whether or not they respond to normalization of body temperature patterns with the WT3 protocol and/or herbal treatment. Therefore, every patient that tries the treatment may not have WTS. Of course many respond well to the treatment and some don't. The ones that don't repond well may have WTS that was not successfully treated, or they may have some other condition instead or as well.

The WT3 protocol is generally very well tolerated even in patients who eventually do not respond well to the treatment. You can Click Here for more about the substantive risks of the WT3 protocol. You can also look around this question area for answers to more questions you may have.

Best regards,
Denis Wilson, MD  

First, you've had your thyroid removed and you're on 3 grains of Armour thryoid as a replacement. If your temperature remains low in spite of the Armour, that is more than enough to explain symptoms of fatigue and easy weight gain. Many patients with stories similar to yours have been able to get their temperatures up with the treatments we recommend and feel much better.

As you probably know Hashimoto's is an autoimmune condition where the body makes antibodies against its own thyroid gland. Interestingly, people with Hashimoto's can also tend to make nonthyroid antibodies as well, meaning they can also make antibodies against other parts of the body including the thyroid gland. This suggests that the autoimmunity that demonstrates itself as Hashimoto's might be bigger than just the thyroid gland alone. It appears that people can have a tendency towards autoimmunity. One study showed that when patients have their thyroid gland removed, they tend to stop making anti-thyroid antibodies. But I'm not sure that means their tendency toward autoimmunity (if they had one) has also been removed.

Interestingly, anti-thyroid antibodies often diminish when patients' body temperatures are normalized with the WT3 protocol and/or WTSmed Supplements.

Best wishes for feeling better,
Denis Wilson, MD  

I wonder what you mean by "instant." If you mean you get a migraine the second after you put the pill in your mouth or a second after you swallow it, then I would wonder about some sort of hypersensitivity to something in the pill, not necessarily the thyroid hormones themselves. On the other hand, if your migraines were related to the thryroid hormones in the Armour, I would be more inclined to think that they might be due to unsteady T3 levels resulting from the dose of "instant-release" T3 in the Armour. In my experience, side effects from thyroid hormones seem more commonly due to unsteady T3 levels than T3 levels that are too high (many times the patients' temperatures remain low and their side effects often respond well to taking their medicines more correctly on time and/or using a T4 test dose) (A T4 test dose is a technique employed in the WT3 protocol and not something that would necessarily apply in the situation you're describing).

The WT3 protocol involves starting a small dose of T3 mixed with a sustained release agent and gradually building the dose of T3 over days in an effort to bring the temperature to normal without taking more than necessary. On the other hand, Armour contains a set amount (usually considered the entire day's dose) of instant release T3 that may or not be enough to get the temperature up, and it releases it into the system at one time. It appears that when boluses (surges) of T3 are put into the system at one time they can destabilize T3 levels and make them unsteady and can lead to side effects such as migraines.

It's true that one of the reasons we don't recommend Armour is because of the T4 it contains, but that's more because many people don't get better until T4 is depleted from their systems, not so much because it's likely to cause side effects. If your temperature actually drops when you take the Armour then perhaps the T4 is playing a role in your migraines, but I would think that less likely.

The timed-release T3 does not have a trade name because it is not manufactured and sold by drug companies. It is made by pharmacists according to a doctor's prescription. If you want to try the sustained release T3, I recommend that you and your doctor read the Doctor's Manual, and your doctor can call Medaus Pharmacy. Of course, you could also go to a doctor on our List of Treating Physicians.

I hope you feel better soon,
Denis Wilson, MD