No improvement on T3: Hi I posted over a week ago... - Thyroid UK

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No improvement on T3

lucylocks profile image
14 Replies

Hi

I posted over a week ago regarding my daughter. She is self treating with T3 using CTM3

by Paul Robinson.

She had a really good week when she got up to 35mcg, she increased to 45mcg. then 55mcg. then felt she was back to square one. The replies I received were for her to go back to the dose she felt well on which was 35mcg.

She took 35mcg. for a week and increased to 40mcg two days ago. but she is not feeling any better.

She is taking all the usual supplements.

We do not understand why she is not feeling any better.

The only thing we can think of is that she has had a very bad occurrence of vaginal thrush so if she has candida would this stop the T3 from working.

Any advice as always gratefully received.

Many thanks browny

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lucylocks
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14 Replies
shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator

When your daughter dropped back down to her 35mcg dose on which she felt well before - did she then feel unwell on the 35mcg?

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to shaws

Hi Shaws.

She felt well initially on the 35mcg. dose, then felt worse when she rose to 55mcg. so she missed a full days dose then went back onto 25mcg. for a day then 35mcg. the next day, stayed on that dose for a week and has risen to 40mg. the past two day.

She has not felt any improvement at all since feeling bad on the 55mcg. and then reducing the dose.

shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator in reply to lucylocks

Some people do o.k. on Paul's method of the CTM3 method but some don't.

55mcg of T3 is quite a large dose the equivalent of 250mcg of levothyroxine. Sometimes it's difficult to know whether it's too much or too little - symptoms can be similar.

I take T3 only myself, but I use Dr Lowe's method - in that whatever he prescribed to his patients, (either T3 or NDT) it was a once a day dose. His reason for this is it worked best. He also took T3 himself and I think I've mentioned this before that his dose was 150mcg of T3 as he was resistant to thyroid hormones. Our Receptor T3 cells have to be saturated with T3 and the effect of this saturation sends out 'waves' which lasts for between 1 and 3 days.

I cannot access the archived website for Dr Lowe at present and only hope the site is being upgraded.

I have taken/tried T4 (levo) - not a good experience: T4/T3 - an improvement, NDTs - several but one was best for me and now it's T3 alone.

Now, and am well, I take T3 only once daily. I am not advocating that your daughter does the same but it could work better. I don't feel unwell anymore or have symptoms.

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to shaws

Thanks Shaws,

If she took the daily dose once a day, when is the best time to take it?

shaws profile image
shawsAdministrator in reply to lucylocks

I would take it as soon as she gets up with a glass of water and wait approx an hour before taking food - some wait a shorter time. Or she can take it at bedtime, last having eaten 2 hours previously or 2 1/2 hours if it was a fatty meal.

Maybe start again at 35mcg seeing she was good on that before. She can then forget about it till next day/night.

I do hope it works for her as it is very disappointing when you begin a regime and it doesn't work as hoped for. Sometimes it can be the fillers/binders in tablets which make you feel worse.

Don't be in a rush to increase. The 35mcg might be all she needs but give it two weeks at least on the 35mcg.

She should take her temp/pulse several times a day (around the same time) until she settles on a particular dose which works for her (hopefully 35mcg approx - 120mcg levo approx).

What works for one person doesn't always work for another but thankfully there is a couple of choices (if only the GPs could prescribe).

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to shaws

Thank you Shaws,

I'll pass all info. onto my daughter

Poshpenny profile image
Poshpenny

Have you done the adrenal saliva test? The thyroid and adrenals are closely connected, and maybe that's the problem, she needs more adrenal support.

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to Poshpenny

Hi

The last adrenal saliva test she did was last May, it showed she has really low am. cortisol, something like 1.7 range 12 - 20. Low noon, high late afternoon and high evening.

She is doing the CTM3 which is suppose to help the adrenals.

PinkNinja profile image
PinkNinja in reply to lucylocks

Perhaps the timing of doses needs to change. I afraid I don't know enough about the protocol but perhaps someone else on here will know.

It may be that the 55mcg was too much for her adrenals to handle. Is she taking it in small doses throughout the day and monitoring her vitals to see when the next dose is required?

Hopefully someone with more knowledge will come along soon. How frustrating for your daughter :(

Carolyn x

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to PinkNinja

Yes she does take it in small doses throughout the day,

Vitals are all still on the low side.

galathea profile image
galathea in reply to lucylocks

If she has early morning adrenal of only 1.7 then t3 only will most likely be aggravating the situation.. I understand the method is supposed to help poor adrenals, but maybe more help is needed in the form of cortisone.

Has your daughter had any testing done by the doc? The morning cortisol is exceptionally low.

G

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to galathea

Hi

thank you for your reply, my daughter originally saw Dr. Skinner who prescribed levo. she got up to 175mcg with no improvement. She asked her G. P. for a blood cortisol test which came back at 46.

She stopped the levo. and a few weeks later blood cortisol result

was 214, had Short synathen test but endo. said she did not have Addison's.

Since then she has tried NDT, HC and now T3

It seems she had improvement on all initially then goes backwards.

Poshpenny profile image
Poshpenny

This sounds quite like me. I tried adding t3 to my NDT because I felt under medicated, initially it seemed fine. But, I was getting quite anxious a lot of the time, and I didn't think it was doing all it was cracked up to do, I was up to 37.5 mcg on top of 1 1/2 grains erfa so about 50mcg T3 in total. Didn't mention it when I went to see my private dr because I'd done it on my own. He really upped the adrenal support, I stopped the t3 to see if his way worked, and I have to say it has (so far) I am now taking 2x nutri adrenal extra plus a couple of homeopathic solutions, a mallow root preparation, masses of vitamin C and Adrenomax. I think that's everything, but these latest additions are definitely an improvement. My body temp has risen 0.2 degrees so far.

lucylocks profile image
lucylocks in reply to Poshpenny

Hi

She has tried Dr. Wilson's miracle powder (not quite sure of the name) for adrenals and it did not help so did not look at other adrenal support and went straight to HC which like I say initially helped then did not.

We will look again at adrenal support, maybe try the nutri adrenal extra.

Do you mind sending me a PM of your private doctor.

thank you browny

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