Taking T3 only in one dose a day

That's a really interesting reply of his. Particularly about T3 making a patient more sensitive to other things, like coffee.

Two nights ago I was exhausted after a previous night of little sleep (I have a sleep problem) and I took a nap at 6.30pm. My heart beat was fairly strong, but nothing else. I woke up at 9pm and then back to bed at midnight. But at midnight I had moments of an irregular heart beat. But I'd taken no more T3 (last dose in the afternoon) and all I'd done was have a decaff coffee. I'd also been careful not to eat sweet things and chocolate.

I did a quick bit of googling and found that decaff coffee can make people less sleepy, not just caffeinated. So that was the most likely reason my heart went irregular!

What does Dr Lowe mean by "metabolic rate"? "Many patients taking T3 have TSH and T3 levels like yours but still have severely low metabolic rates."

Thanks,

Totoro x

Thanks Shaws. This is very interesting. I used to take my T3 all in one go but I was not on a high dose. I got on very well with T3 only. Shame they decided "everyone has thyroxine" and "it's better". How wrong they were!

I think I will try taking my T3 all in one dose. I am only dosing twice a day now rather than 3 times. I will try increasing my morning dose and decreasing my afternoon dose and see what happens. Perhaps this is the missing part of the puzzle.

That's very interesting, especially the Nov 2005 reply. I was told about 35 years ago by my unbelievably, appallingly rude GP that I shouldn't take ephedrine. No explanation given. (One of many GPs who simultaneously assured me there was nothing wrong with me). I took it once by mistake and found out why.

I had a similar reaction at the dentist just a few years ago when I forgot to tell them I needed adrenaline free injections. I had such severe palpitations I nearly passed out on the floor. The dentist was very calm and very kind and he and his nurse waited patiently til it passed, even making me wait for half an hour in the waiting room afterwards before they would let me drive home.

Does some of the T3 not get into your blood or does get into your blood but doesn't pass into your cells?

Grey, I thought you took T3 AND NDT?

When I took my T3 at night it slowly gave me terrible heart pounding, I suspect it messed up with my cortisol though I don't have the proof.

I get on HEAPS better with dosing once a day when I wake up now

but yes, unless one tries one does not know

I have only recently added some NDT and I take 160mcg T3 and 1 grain of Erfa, will up the Erfa I know already but will not go any higher than 3 grains as in the past I could not tolerate any more than that, then if I still need anymore I'll up the T3 This process will take a while.

Grey - most interesting post! Are you saying that mentally you've experienced an improvement when taking the whole dose at night? Physically you're saying that you're not quite there yet?

Thank you so much for sharing. Reading other people's stories of what happened to them and what helped and what didn't gives me ideas of what to try to try and get myself better and also the strength to give different plans a go.

This site and the people here give so much more information than I could ever get from a doctor or endo.

I'm now taking 60mcg in the morning and 25mcg later in the day. I'll see how this goes and then think about taking more in the morning.

Totoro x

Not 10 tablets, no, because my tablets are 25 mcg and I have 75 mcg capsules. So that works out at 2 tablets and 2 capsules. lol But it doesn't keep me away at all.

It really is amazing, isn't it, how medical bodies can not recognise things that are staring them in the face but make up other things to explain them, such as fibro and CFS. We really haven't left the dark ages yet.

Grey

It is so frustrating that mainstream medicine doesn't seem to be able to acknowledge adrenal insufficiency until someone has a full blown Addisonian Crisis! My nephew's wife, who has had Hashimoto's for ten years, spent most of last year moribund & unable to function in between being taken to see GP at regular intervals. All he did was play around with her levo dosage. In February this year, in despair, her husband and mother took her to A&E where she was diagnosed as being in a full blown Addisonian Crisis! They had taken her in the nick of time. Why did she have to suffer all that time and not be treated until her adrenals failed altogether? it beggars belief!

Hello,

>the nhs don't recognise adrenal fatigue, only Addison's (low) or Cushing’s syndrome (high)...

It's not specific to the NHS, conventional medicine in general does not recognise 'adrenal fatigue' - which is a popular concept in alternative medicine. Conventional medicine does recognise adrenal insufficiency however. Addison's disease represents the most severe form of adrenal insufficiency, but milder forms also occur. It is untrue that conventional medicine only recognises adrenal insufficiency if it is very severe, although mild forms are sometimes missed.

Adrenal insufficiency is diagnosed using the Synacthen (ACTH) test, which is carried out quite frequently in NHS hospitals. The short Synacthen test is most popular. The Synacthen test assesses the ability of the adrenal glands to produce cortisol when stimulated.

If a Synacthen test proves that a patient's adrenal glands are unable to produce normal quantities of cortisol on stimulation, the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency applies, not adrenal fatigue. Some alternative practitioners diagnose adrenal fatigue based on symptoms alone or using tests which have not been demonstrated to be valid - this is what conventional endocrinologists disagree with.

The most common causes of adrenal insufficiency in the UK include autoimmune adrenal disease and prolonged steroid treatment (which leads to adrenal suppression and eventually adrenal atrophy).

Adrenal insufficiency is usually treated with standard hydrocortisone (cortisol) tablets, usually about 20-30mg per day in 2 or 3 divided doses. The dose is temporarily increased during times of severe physical or mental stress

A new controlled release formulation of hydrocortisone has recently been launched in the UK for the treatment of adrenal insufficiency. The brand name is Plenadren and it is supposed to mimic the natural variation in blood levels of cortisol during the day. Plenadren is expensive (approx. £400 per month) and hasn't been proven to lead to superior patient outcomes vs conventional hydrocortisone tablets. I expect it won't be used very much. Certainly, I have not yet seen a prescription for it.

Your doctor is wrong about that. The body needs T3 at night to carry out repairs and heal itself.

As for T3 only staying in the body for 6 hrs, Dr Lowe has a theory about this. I can't summerise if for you because I'm not sure that I understood all the finer details, but Shaws gives the link above if you're interested in reading it. After I read it, I thought no, I don't believe it! But I have a great respect for Dr Lowe and thought well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating! So I tried it. The rest, as they say, is history! lol

Hugs, Grey

I worried that I might go hyper if I took my 85mcg all in one go.

I'd been slowly increasing how much of my daily T3 I took in the morning. I was taking 40mcg then 25mcg 4 hours later and then 20mcg in the late afternoon. So I figured I was already taking 65mcg all within 4 hours.

I tried taking 85mcg all in the morning in one go and I didn't go hyper, not in the least. It surprised me a bit. I did crash in the afternoon. Now I'm taking 60mcg in the morning and 25mcg later on.

You could try taking it all in one go but I'd do it on a day when you're not planning on doing much later on just in case you crash in the afternoon. Or you could try taking 30mcg and then 10mcg later on. See how you go.

Totoro x