I am changing my dose from 125 mcg of thyroxine to 100mcg and 10 mcg of T3, but felt unwell until I took 30mcg T3. Why is the dose higher?

[purple69]

My TSH was normal, around 1, before treatment change but was not symptom free.

[shaws Administrator]

I'm glad your increase has made you feel better.

Your cells obviously need the higher T3 dose. Maybe your T4 was not converting into enough T3. T4 is inactive and T3 is the Active hormone and we need enough of it in our cells for us to function normally.

This is a link and links within may not work:-

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

Before the blood tests came in people were dosed with NDT until their symptoms went. Nowadays it's usually according to where the TSH is,whether or not you feel well.

An excerpt from Dr Lowe:-

Our treatment team uses the TSH level only initially to help clarify a patient’s thyroid status. But during treatment, we completely ignore the level. The reason is that the TSH level is totally irrelevant to normalizing the patient’s whole body metabolism and relieving his or her suffering. The only clinical value of the TSH level is to see the effect of a particular dose of thyroid hormone on the pituitary gland’s "thyrotroph" (TSH-secreting) cells.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[waveylines]

As a general rule of thumb they normally recommend that the t3 is about 20% of the total dose but everyone can be different! to feel well. Some people need a more. 10mcg of T3 was less than the 20% suggested as a starting point. You may need more because you are converting less well or it maybe that you needed more of thyroid hormones dose in total and were effectively under prescribed.. The main thing is that the combination that you are taking works for you.