Restoring patient wellness. Building physician practices.

Treatment Options

• WTS herbal medicines: The advantages of this approach is that it is simple, there is almost no chance of side effects, and improvement of symptoms usually occurs in 3 to 4 weeks.
• WT3 therapy: The advantage of this approach is that there is a greater likelihood of a more pronounced and longer-lasting effect, especially in patients with severe cases. However, WT3 requires a high level of commitment and discipline (e.g., taking the medicine on time). There is also a chance of some cardiovascular side effects, such as rapid pulse or palpitations. Although some patients dramatically improve within hours or days, others feel significantly worse before feeling better.
• WTS medicines in combination with WT3 therapy: The advantage of doing both at the same time is that this approach covers all the bases. WTS Medicines can often reduce the chance of side effects and extend the benefits of WT3 therapy. In our experience, this method has yielded the greatest success.

  WTS Medicines
  WTS Medicines are herbal and nutritional supplements designed to dovetail with WT3 therapy. Candidates for WT3 therapy that have abnormalities on the work-up can often be prepared for WT3 therapy with WTS Medicines. Many patients are able to recover their health through the use of WTS Medicines alone. In our experience, we have found that WTS Medicines can often extend the benefits and reduce the risks of WT3 therapy.

• Healthy Foundation: Healthy Foundation can often bring down elevated liver enzymes within 2 to 4 weeks. If appropriate, patients can also be weaned off prescription medicines that might be causing elevated liver enzymes.
• CardiaCare: CardiaCare and CardiaCare Plus can often bring pulse rates that are over 100 down into the 80s and can help maintain desirable pulse rates during WT3 therapy.
• Adaptogen: Patients with low blood pressure and orthostatic lightheadedness may benefit from adrenal support from Adaptogen. Many adrenal symptoms often improve with thyroid treatment alone. If desired, Adaptogen can be used at the end of the treatment for any remaining adrenal symptoms.
• ThyroCare: ThyroCare provides herbal and nutraceutical thyroid support and can help patients achieve the desired temperature. It can also be used to correct backsliding that may occur after the protocol.

  Some patients prefer to try WTS Medicines, such as ThyroCare, Healthy Foundation, and Adaptogen, and add WT3 only if necessary. Others like to try the WT3 and only add WTS Medicines if required (i.e., some patients need ThyroCare for help getting their temperature up or Adaptogen for adrenal support). Still others prefer to start WTS Medicines and WT3 therapy at the same time. WTS Medicines can often help patients become candidates for WT3 therapy when otherwise they might not be. For example, palpitations, high pulse rate, and other cardiac problems can often be normalized with CardiaCare.

  WT3 Therapy Procedures
  WT3 therapy involves taking incremental doses of T3, which is mixed with a sustained release agent (SR-T3). The dose is increased and then decreased until the body temperature is restored to 98.6° F. Most patients are not able to normalize their temperatures on the first cycle. The protocol involves additional cycles until the patient is able to maintain their temperature at 98.6°.
  We’ve started calling the protocol Wilson’s T3 therapy, or WT3 therapy for short, to distinguish it from different methods of using T3. Not all pharmacists compound the T3 consistently well, based on the fact that quite a few doctors and patients have noticed better results with fewer side effects when they switched to T3 compounded reputable pharmacies. It is important to work with an experienced pharmacy that has the right equipment, such as a V-blender that mixes the T3 compound thoroughly and consistently.

  Patient Time and Attention
  This involves taking medicine every 12 hours precisely to the minute, as well as monitoring pulse rate and body temperature on a daily basis. Patients should count on the treatment requiring a minimum investment of 3 to 6 months to complete.
  The patient will need to visit the treating physician about twice a month, although people with more complex cases often need to be monitored more frequently. Most patients have at least eight office visits. Experience has shown that patients who have adequate support and supervision from their doctors usually make fewer mistakes, stick with the protocol, and experience greater success.

  Monitoring Temperature
  When patients start with temperatures of less than 97°, it can take a while before their temperature gets into the 98.6° range. If their temperature is nowhere near normal, patients can take their temperature once a day. But as their temperature increases to 98.1° or 98.2°, it is important that they take their temperature at least twice a day. Take the average by adding two temperatures and dividing by two, or by adding three temperatures and dividing by three.

  Monitoring Pulse Rate
  In the morning, before taking their first dose of T3, patients should check their pulse rate, using a watch with a second hand and count their heartbeats for 60 seconds. It is easiest to feel the pulse on the wrist or the neck. Patients should monitor their pulses closely and never increase the T3 if their pulses are over 100 or if they’re having palpitations. Patients can run into trouble if they are not diligent about checking their pulse.

  Timing of T3 Administration
  T3 medicine needs to be taken exactly every 12 hours, twice a day, at the same times every day (for example, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.). If the patient finds out after starting that another time would be more convenient, you may advise the patient to wean off the medicine and start a new cycle. It is best to choose the administration time carefully from the beginning. Side effects occur more often when patients don’t take the T3 on time (to the minute). This can result in side effects or decreased benefits for up to 2 weeks.

  Dose
  The starting dose is 7.5 mcg of T3, twice a day (7.5mcg in the morning, 7.5 mcg in the evening).
  If their temperature remains below 98.6°, and they are without complaints, they increase the dose by 7.5 mcg every day. That means that on the second day, the dose would be 15 mcg in the morning and 15 mcg in the evening, on the third day 22.5 mcg in the morning and evening, etc.

  Do not increase the dose if:

• If the patient’s resting heart rate is more than 100 beats per minute or if the patient has any disturbing complaints, such as significant heart palpitations (disagreeable awareness of your heartbeat). However, the dose may be increased to treat other side effects, such as worsening migraines, panic attacks, or fluid retention.
• Temperature has reached 98.6 or higher, on average.
• Patient has reached the maximum dose of 75mcg, twice a day, or the maximum indicated by other related conditions or circumstances.
  It’s worse to have a pulse rate over 100 than it is to have a temperature over 98.6°. If the dose is increased when the resting pulse is over 100, the patient may start experiencing unwanted side effects. Having a temperature a little over 98.6° can give some extra leeway as the patients weans off the T3.

  ‘Capture’ Temperature
  When the temperature reaches 98.6°, the patient can stop increasing the T3 dose. Keep an eye on the temperature because it will likely go down again. This is called compensation and is perfectly normal. When this happens, simply continue cycling up to get the temperature back up to 98.6° (unless the patient is already on the maximum dose).
  When temperature averages 98.6° on the same dose of T3 for 3 weeks, the temperature has been ‘captured’. When this happens, the patient should plateau at that same dose.

  Plateau
  If the patient’s temperature is still low, even though the dose any can’t be increased higher (either because the patient can’t tolerate a higher dose or they on the maximum allowable dose), then the patients can stay on that dose for a time and then wean off in preparation for the next cycle.
  With each cycle, patients often are able to increase their temperatures with lower doses than were required on previous cycles. They may stay on a plateau for a few days or a few weeks.

  Weaning
  It is important to wean the T3 slowly enough that the daily average temperature doesn’t drop. Some people can decrease their dose every 2 days, but others may need to slow it down to every 4 or 8 days. The danger of weaning too quickly is that the temperature can drop more than 0.2° F. It is more important for patients to monitor their temperature while they are weaning off than when cycling up, to make sure you don’t lose any of the progress that they have made.

  Between Cycles
  Usually, patients can stay off the T3 for 2 days before starting the next cycle. If they are still having any side effects from the T3 once weaned off, they should wait until they have been free of side effects for 2 to 3 days before starting the next cycle.
  If their temperature doesn’t go up on the first round, it usually will on the second.

  Fast Compensators
  As soon as patients are given oral T3, their bodies begin to produce less. It should not be a surprise when a patient’s temperature goes up to normal on a certain dose, and then drops back down again after some time on that same dose. This hormonal compensation to a 7.5mcg BID increment of T3 can take from a few hours to 3 weeks to occur. On average, compensation will take 4 days. However, it is important to realize that compensation can be taking place even when the body temperature is not yet increasing.
  Around 10% of patients are fast compensators that compensate in less than a day. They can compensate so fast that they can overcompensate. For fast compensators, it is typical for their temperatures to go down instead of up during the first day or two of T3 therapy.
  Understandably, these more volatile patients are often more difficult to treat:

• Stress that it’s extremely important for them to take their medicine on time.
• CardiaCare or CardiaCare Plus should be taken religiously every day and as needed.
• T4 should be taken as needed. Some fast compensators will need to take a small T4 dose as described above every day (it’s important for the patient to feel comfortable and to be safe).
• Some patients will also benefit from adrenal support from Adaptogen or Adaptogen Plus. Low body temperature and low blood pressure due to decreased endogenous thyroid production can often lead to adrenal compensation, which is the secretion of adrenal stress hormones that increase the pulse rate and blood pressure and blood sugar levels.

  Although fast compensators can be very challenging to treat, they can also be very appreciative when they succeed. They are often very willing to support and encourage other patients once they finish the treatment.

  Support Procedures
  Some patients following the WT3 protocol still have difficulty getting their temperatures up to 98.6.° There are several procedures to support them:

• Adding ThyroCare (a WTS Medicine), one cap, TID will often bring their temperatures up to normal.
• Cycling up by an increment (3.75 mcg or 7.5 mcg) every 12 hours instead of each day can often help. Patients cycling up every 12 hours should be especially vigilant in taking their medicine precisely on time.
• Some patients will have other issues that need to be addressed such as heavy metals, toxicity, chronic infections, or chronic illnesses that continually cause a decrease in temperature.
• The use of WT3 therapy is often done as a therapeutic trial. Occasionally if a patient has seen no increase in temperature after three rounds, it might mean that is does not work for them. These patients can be helped in other ways that might take much longer, but are still effective. (For example, one patient had a temperature of 96.0° F and was not able to increase his temperature with T3. A hair test analysis indicated severe heavy metal toxicity, and a 9-month detoxification program eliminated most of his WTS symptoms.)

  Preventing Relapse of WTS while Stopping WT3
  Relapsing can be very discouraging for patient, but putting patients on a maintenance dose of the Healthy Protocol for a time almost always prevents them from relapsing. The Healthy Protocol consists of giving at least 2 of the following WTS Medicines: ThyroCare, Adaptogen, and Healthy Foundation.