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What if the patient improves at first, but then stops feeling as well even though the temperature is holding?

What if the patient improves at first, but then stops feeling as well even though the temperature is holding?

If the T3 therapy improves a patient’s symptoms at all, it is because it has increased the patient’s body temperature patterns. That is a very good sign because it suggests that the patient’s symptoms are at least to some extent temperature-mediated. During T3 therapy, it is not uncommon for a patient’s temperature to drop back down again (due to compensation, see p85), or for it to become unsteady (c24), and therefore for the patient’s symptoms to return. When a person first starts the T3 therapy, it is easier to keep the T3 level steady because one is building on a steady endogenous foundation of T3. For this reason, the beginning of a cycle often provides the best opportunity to see if the symptoms are temperature-mediated and T3-responsive. At that point of the cycle, if the temperature can be raised close to normal, it has a better chance of being steady also. And a temperature that is sufficiently normal and steady is what is required for clinical improvement. Of course, as a cycle wears on, and as the doses of T3 increase, the chances of “muddying the water” (making the T3 level unsteady) also increase. If the T3 therapy improves a patient’s symptoms to any degree, it is likely that the symptoms are to some extent temperature-mediated. At that point it becomes less of a question as to whether the T3 therapy is on the right track. The question becomes, “Can the T3 therapy be adjusted in such a way (e.g., with increased compliance, T4 test dose, cycling the patient on and off therapy) that the patient’s temperature and symptoms improve and remain improved (c28).