Have been on 75mcg thyroxine and 10mcg Liothyronine for the last few months.
I must admit that I was quite shocked at how low the FT4 and FT3 figures seem to be.
Endo has suggested I drop the thyroxine to 50mcg and increase the liothyronine to 20mcg.
Surely this will be the equivalent of taking 150mcg of thyroxine won't it and my TSH reading will all but drop off the radar and then I will get a letter saying I am being over-medicated??
I also asked about the tingling in my hands and feet and was told that this wouldn't be related to thyroid problems, but I have read that it can be a symptom of being hypothyroid
So will just have to wait and see what happens on the new dosage.
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Twitchen
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Do you have the reference ranges for those results? They vary quite a bit from lab to lab.
I would advise the following tests; serum iron, ferritin, folate, vitamin b12 and vitamin D for starters. The tingling could be due to low vitamin b12. It certainly was in my case. It is a common deficiency in hypothyroid patients. All of the above could be contributing to your symptoms.
Had liver function test and some others a while ago. Only got the LFT results and B12 and folate because the doctor couldn't get the second sheet to print
B12 268
Folate 10.8
Have been supplementing B12 for the past couple of months at 2000 mcg per day (Solgar dissolve under the tongue ones), but somebody said I should also take folate. Also seriously thinking about ordering some of the liquid magnesium to see if this helps.
Yes, low magnesium could also be the culprit. Hypos are often low in B12 and magnesium due to difficulty absorbing vitamins and minerals. So if the tingling is due to either of these, it is indirectly related to hypo problems!
Twitchen, I'd trust your endo on this. He's obviously aware that T3 can suppress TSH and that some patients need a suppressed TSH to feel well. The additional T3 will raise your FT3 and improve your symptoms.
Dr Toft states in Pulse Magazine, "The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l.
In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance.
But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l.
This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l)."
Your Endocrinologist sounds good. I am on T3 alone and doing fine and feel healthy. This is a link which answers questions about T3 and you will see that it is a safe hormone but, obvioulsy, as the thyroid gland blood tests are based upon us taking levothyroxine, when taking T3 alone they will be different. This is an excerpt:
Rather than being a hormone, T4 is a “prohormone.” That means that enzymes have to convert T4 to T3 before T4 benefits us. T4 is no more a hormone than beans in an unopened can are a food. For all practical purposes, canned beans become food only when a can opener frees them so you can eat them. Hence, T4, like canned beans, only potentially benefits us, but actually does so only after being freed from its metabolically unusable form.
T4 is the inactive hormone and T3 is the active one which we need to function.
In my view, this is the perfect way to treat patients on thyroid gland hormones. It is the 'Proper Use of Thyroid Hormone' - go to the first answer to question.
Lol this is so good he compared dr wilson to hitler...hahaha..i have learnt one thing!!from even a bad doctor you can hear 1 potentialy beneficial info!! Dr wilson is lunatic....but at least he was somewhere on the track and right about t3....
Btw there is not a single doc there who doesnt say 1 stupid thing at a time, but that doesnt mean he doesnt say 90 good things....i value dr ray peat what he says about thyroid, but some of his other work i just can not believe like omega 3 fatty acid is to be avoided lol
hm if this is so then the lvl of t4 would not mean anything? i am thinking maybe thats why before 1960s patients could take huge amounts of natural dessicated thyroid.....becasue their body used only t3?....i found a post of one patient who noticed t3 part is giving him a boost and he was taking 3 tablets of 100t4+25t3 :)......my combo therapy just arrived tomorrow i am starting :)))...
is it possible not to convert at all?....i think everyone converts something...but problem in conversion is getting high rT3 that cloggs up space for active T3.....and conversion depends so much on your body condition in that particular day are you hugry are you stressed, are you doing sports bla bla
today iw as thinking that sport may actually produce rt3! and decrease metabolism!.....you know why? some people who do sports professionaly, stop doing it and get fat! thats not just the calory math
It's quite possible that extreme sport may do that.
I think that the reason people patients before 1960 could take huge amounts of NDT is that they didn't have the TSH test and stupid doctors thinking that they were hyper just because their TSH was suppressed! They actually had decent levels of T3.
I think it is perfectly possible that some people don't convert at all, for whatever reason. And that is why I find it rediculous to say that T3 is x number of times stronger than T4. If the T4 isn't converted it has no strength at all!
I have taken up to 6 grains of Armour with no signs of hyper and my T3 was over-range. But I seem to need it that way.
Thanks for all of the helpful replies. Today I have started on the new dosage so will see what happens.
I am never sure of the best time to take the it. After years of taking T4 first thing in the morning, for the past couple of weeks have changed to late evening, but can't say I have noticed any difference.
T3 I was taking about mid-afternoon when it was just 10mcg, but will now take 10mcg in the morning as well. I have thought about taking it with the T4 but not sure if it is wise to combine the two.
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Blood test results on thyroxine
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Latest blood test results after reducing Levo
