Hi Nawchem,

It's reassuring to know that hyper symptoms are short-lived.

No, those aren't my temps over two days. My average daytime temp is 98.3 plus or minus 0.3, occasionally 0.4, averaged over a three week period.

I spoke to Val a couple of weeks ago. She said that my temps show a slight "wobble" but my iron is "perfect" and suggested that I should have no problem doing 12 weeks of T3 after which I should be able to wean myself off it and "be normal". She said that too low carb is a plausible cause for high RT3 and resultant high lipids and says she keeps her carbs at around 60g per day for that reason. (I have increased mine from 30 to about 50 - but I'm finding it difficult for fear of going too high and losing the benefits of keeping my blood sugar down.)

No, I don't have any major hypo symptoms: not cold, a little drowsy in the afternoon but I've stopped taking naps since my blood sugar has come down. My temps are not optimal. But I exercise well and most days I have great energy. And I have been losing weight over the last two months.

Re "shutting down thyroid production": As I understand it taking T3 for six weeks will reduce the production of T4 to very low levels and after 12 weeks... "provided there is enough (T3) to suppress TSH and stop T4 production then clearance will occur."
http://thyroid-rt3.com/howisit1.htm

I haven't read that one has to stop thyroid production before T3 will work.

I have ordered some cynomel. It will take another couple of weeks to arrive. In the meantime I'm doing a saliva test. I'm taking my time with this. Although high lipids are a cause for anxiety they are not life-threatening in the short term. A competing theory is that reducing carbs causes lipids to surge for the first ten weeks to six months and that they will come down by themselves. Dr Eades calls it 'transient hyperlipodemia'. It's possible that my surging lipids will resolve by themselves. On the other hand Val says,

i. I have plenty of T4
ii. I have low T3
iii. There is no reason to have high T4 and low T3 except for the presence of high rT3.
Therefore "you do have an rT3 issue."

Sounds quite plausible.