Thyroid & metabolic rate
One of 4 mechanistic pathways to 🔋 Energy & fatigue · 10 options
Thyroid hormone sets the pace of every cell. Hypothyroid fatigue comes with cold intolerance, constipation, dry skin and weight gain — and the common failure is testing TSH alone, which misses impaired T4→T3 conversion entirely.
TSH alone is not a thyroid panel. Normal TSH with low free T3 is impaired conversion, and it is the single most common thing missed in fatigue — you need the full set to see it.
TSH (Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone)Free T3 (Triiodothyronine)Free T4 (Thyroxine)Reverse T3Thyroid Antibodies (TPO + TgAb)Selenium, BloodIodineFerritin🦋 Thyroid — First Look covers these in one panel →
What engages this pathway
Ordered by how directly each one acts on the mechanism above — never by how much trial evidence exists. Each links to its full breakdown with dosing, half-life and vendor.
🧬 Selenium
Cofactor for the deiodinases converting T4 to active T3, and it reduces thyroid antibodies in Hashimoto's in multiple trials.
🧬 Iodine
Substrate for thyroid hormone. Both deficiency and excess cause hypothyroidism, and in autoimmune thyroid disease high-dose iodine can make things considerably worse.
🧬 Zinc
Required for T4→T3 conversion and for thyroid receptor function.
🧬 Iron
Thyroid peroxidase is an iron-dependent enzyme — low ferritin impairs hormone synthesis before it causes anaemia.
🧬 L-Tyrosine
The amino-acid backbone of thyroid hormone.
🧬 Thyroid Support
A cofactor blend aimed at the T4-to-T3 conversion step rather than at hormone production. Rational where conversion is the bottleneck; useless where the gland itself is failing.
🧬 Vitamin A
Required for thyroid hormone receptor binding at the nucleus.
🧬 Guggul
Increases T4→T3 conversion in rodents; weak human data and many drug interactions.
🧬 Ashwagandha
Raised T4 and T3 in a small randomised trial in subclinical hypothyroidism — with the caveat that this makes it a poor idea in hyperthyroidism.
💉 GC-1
A thyroid-β-selective agonist designed to raise metabolic rate without cardiac effects. Mechanistically elegant, no human fatigue data.
The other 3 routes to energy & fatigue
Pick the pathway that matches where you are actually stuck. An appetite drug does nothing for someone who already undereats.
Want the protocols behind these?
Dosing schedules, stacking, cycle timing and Coach Cam's notes live inside the Academy — plus the full interactive Vault.
Join the Academy — $10/mo →← Open this pathway in the interactive Vault
Frequently asked questions
Thyroid hormone sets the pace of every cell. Hypothyroid fatigue comes with cold intolerance, constipation, dry skin and weight gain — and the common failure is testing TSH alone, which misses impaired T4→T3 conversion entirely.
10 options are mapped to this pathway in the Vault, including Selenium, Iodine, Zinc, Iron. They are grouped by the mechanism they act through rather than ranked by how much trial evidence exists — 6 carry clinical validation and 4 are mechanistic predictions.
TSH alone is not a thyroid panel. Normal TSH with low free T3 is impaired conversion, and it is the single most common thing missed in fatigue — you need the full set to see it. The markers worth checking are TSH (Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone), Free T3 (Triiodothyronine), Free T4 (Thyroxine), Reverse T3.
Unproven is not the same as ineffective. Of the 10 options on this pathway, 6 have clinical validation and 4 are graded theoretical — meaning the mechanism is sound but the specific human trial has not been run, which is true of a great deal of what works in this space. Nothing on this page is ordered by evidence tier, because sorting by trial count would bury the compounds you came looking for.