i have come in range with both but felt horrible..im not sure of the numbets but was told purfect..but i deside to stop t4 for 3days and remain on t3 12hr apart..for the 2 first days i was stil awlful but woke today feelun more calm an able to mentally operate til lunch time til i got symptoms which r off n on n morning...so i took a t4 at lunch an omgosh i got symptom almost straight away...how do i gauge my meds to wher i feel well?? as alsorts is goin on from breathless to blanks heat ups an more...im really scared to touch my meds but im feeling awlful n wana be better dont see endo till may but wana be well before that time to show him wher i feel best...not him tel me
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farie02
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I'm sorry you are feeling bad and sometimes we feel so bad we don't want to continue on the medication, just have you have tried to do.
Do you have a print-out of your latest blood tests, with the ranges? It will be very helpful if you can as it helps members to comment.
When you had your blood test did you leave about 24 hours between thyroid hormones and the test? If you take thyroid hormones at times other than first thing in the morning, you have to leave a gap of 2 hours each side as food can interfere with the uptake.
You may not be over-medicated but maybe sensitive to something in the tablet particularly as you appear to have had a reaction shortly after taking T4. . So if you can tell us what dose you are taking of T4 and T3 that can be helpful too.
Don't worry, sometimes we aren't well enough to think about getting a print out. It is difficult to tell only by giving your dose as we all take different doses. You are taking the equivalent, roughly of 100mcg which may not be sufficient. The fact that you felt unwell after taking levo would suggest that make of levo may not suit you. Ask your GP for a prescription and get another make of levo from the pharmacist as it could be the fillers/binders in the one you're taking you may be affecting you. If the same happens, Discuss with your GP and he may prescribe T3 only until your see your endocrinologist. Or he can phone the Endocrinologist. Bearing in mind they just think we are overwrought (they would be too if meds weren't working for us). The dose of T3 you are taking is low and maybe GP could prescribe 20mcg equal (in effect) to about 80mcg of levo.
Remember to leave 24 hours between thyroid hormones and your blood tests.
My gp are all goin buy my levels not how im feeling and saying im a mental health paitent..yet its onlt after taken my meds im out of control mentally n i dont no wat else to do...thet are all fighten me which is making this so hard..
I make 7.5 of T3 equal to about 25mcg levo. If you take twice daily its around 50mcg. Even so, together with 50mcg levo it might be too low for you.
Don't believe the doctors when they say you have a mental health disorder as many people have been given the same diagnosis becuase of the doctors reliance on the TSH alone. This is an excerpt from Dr Lowe and go to the date April 22, 2007 to read it all:-
There are two potential sources I know of for people feeling awful when they are on T4-replacement. One source is the extremely low dosage that doctors typically prescribe nowadays. A low dose of T4 can effectively reduce TSH secretion. The lower TSH can in turn lower the thyroid gland’s output of thyroid hormone. At the same time, low-dose T4 may not compensate for the thyroid gland’s reduced output of thyroid hormone. The patient then has too little thyroid hormone to properly regulate the metabolism of most of her body’s tissues. She then ends up with abnormally low metabolism and troubling hypothyroid symptoms. I’ve written about this before on drlowe.com.
The second possible reason for your bad reaction to Synthroid is that T4-replacement simply won’t work for you. It doesn’t work for many hypothyroid patients. In a recent study in the United Kingdom, for example, T4-replacement left 50% of patient suffering from hypothyroid symptoms (Saravanan, P., Chau, W.F., Roberts, N., et al.: Psychological well-being in patients on ‘adequate doses of L-thyroxine: results of a large, controlled community-based questionnaire study. Clin. Endocrinol. (Oxf.), 57(5):577-585, 2002.) Unfortunately, through faulty reasoning, these researchers concluded that a much smaller percentage of patients suffered from symptoms despite being on T4-replacement. They are mistaken about the percentage. The evidence is overwhelming that T4-replacement is the lousiest approach to thyroid hormone therapy. I’ve documented the widespread failures of the approach in two critiques:
I believe our instinct tells us more than the doctors. We know we are ill but they cannot 'see' because they don't take symptoms into consideration and also have been brain-washed that levothyroxine suits all. It might suit many but there are others, myself included, that don't recover.
Im getting shocking hyper symptoms..could t3 b interactin with the t4..?? Ive been to many doc but they al stuck on wat the last one has done n said n find it hard to get any wher cos they wont do trials with my meds to find my levels...
If you are getting what you think are hyper symptoms - they could be due to not being on sufficient hormones, i.e. anxiety, palpitations, hot flushes which are so similar to both high/low of hormones. They are very disabling and, I assume, frightening as we aren't in control and all these sensations are not normal for us.
T3 and T4 cannot interact because they are hormones which our body produces naturally when healthy. It can be the fillers/binders in them that can affect us so that's why it's a good idea to try to make sure you're given the same make each time.
Before you change any dose of medication try and get a copy of your results from the surgery (we are entitled to them and cannot refuse even though we might feel a bit strange as we've never had to do that before). Tell them you want them for your own records and you will get
a copy each time you have a blood test. You can then post them on a new question for comments.
If I was a betting person, I think you may not be on sufficient for you or maybe it's levo. It's good at least that they've given you some T3 but the T4/T3 combination is quite low for many.
I was forever in and out of A&E before being diagnosed (no-one ever did a thyroid hormone test). Again, when I was on levo was always very unwell. I am fine now and am sure if you can get your hormones sorted out you will feel much better. To enable your T4 to try to convert to sufficient T3 (which it is supposed to do naturally), take some Vitamin C along with your levo. You can put get powder or tablets which dissolve in water, so put it in your water (1 glass) when you take levo and hopefully it is helpful.
Your blood test results, with the ranges, can give an indication to our members if hypo/hyper. It's no good doing anything willy-nilly trying to resolve it yourself, we have to take a pro-active approach which you are doing already. In the end when we know sufficient we can take decisions ourselves.
Unfortunately, it is like trying on a bra - one might fit and exactly the same size in another make wont. So it's the same with thyroid hormones trial and error.
I suffer racing thoughts an feel wired..but at the same time i may hav gluten issues an if so ther are glutens n filler/bindets of synthyroid..so i will have to lern bout it..i was over n t4 last post n just over for t3.. how long does it take for symptoms to reduce when over the mark as im sensitivte to change..
I am goin to ask at next appointment to try just t3 as im not converterting anyway
fabie02
It can take up to 6 weeks to feel the benefit of a change in your med dosage.
Meanwhile you may experience hyper and hypo symptoms whilst your body readjusts. Any rushed doses will just sit in the body and cause further intense symptoms. You must increase slowly (every 6 weeks, get blood tested, then adjust meds to suit).
Remember that your physical and psychological problems are down to an altered metabolism caused by your thyroid issues.
You need to listen to the good advice previously given by others on this forum, have confidence that you will get better and stop messing about with your meds.
I too have recently suffered major psychological issues but taking control really helps. Educate yourself in order that you can make informed choices and listen to others and choose what good advice to act on.
I already have my favourite advisors on this forum who have suffered a lot of what we have and are well informed and helpful people.
Unfortunately many doctors do not have a lot of interest or training in thyroid conditions and it is up to us to help ourselves.
Good point Flower07 about it taking a while to level out knowing at times the ups and downs of these hormones we are taking can make us feel very bad. I
Years ago, I found that I didn't do well on Synthroid, but due to Hashimoto's Disease I cannot take Armor. I started looking at the different generic T4 pds. and their fillers to see if a filler in Synthorid might be tripping some switch for me. I found it had many more fillers than Levoxyl and other generics.
Synthroid has "Talc" in along with lactose, some kind of other sugar etc.
The endo's nurse didn't balk when I said Levoxyl and 1/2 that dose please, but I know by the special hand out given he is into Synthroid ONLY, and only prescribes it by your body weight. It doesn't matter what your personal history has been even with back up labs, you weight 145, according to him, you take 100mg. Synthroid. I refused, got .50 of Levoxyl, re-added my old 1/2 tab of cytomel and although I went through major hair loss and other symptoms, things seem to be leveling out.
I know that in the past I have blindly followed what I clearly felt made no sense, I may fall prey to that again, but by looking fillers up I've avoided a larger dose of synthroid and heart medicine too. That was prescribed, I realized I'd been dehydrated , the doc wasn't paying attention really and because my blood pressure was high prescribed a beta blocker. I had it filled, but first I realized I had no magnesium or potassium in me. I took those instead and with 3 days 120/80.
I am not recommending not taking your medicines, especially heart medicine, rather with a new twist on an old saying, look for the zebras when the docs are giving no causes or reasons to take more, less, or something new. I was told that after more than 2 medications are added to our bodies science doesn't know what the interacts could be because there is no way to study that.
I am on 5. Your mileage may vary in the UK, but in the US, the endos DO NOT LISTEN. A good GP with open ears can help us better.
Ho farie02, how coincidental because I have felt exactly the same way, felt utterly lousy and stopped my Levo which is the brand I have taken for 3 years with no problems, I decided to stop the Levo as I had a terrible night of no sleep and a feeling I had had a gallon of caffeine, I continued with t3 twice daily and I felt sooooo much better and my facial swelling has gone! I decided to try 25mg of Levo lag night and omg the palpitations started and another restless night. I tolerated my t3 really well and feel so much better with hardly any anxiety. I'm day now and starting to feel a little cold and sleepy on an afternoon so my levels must have dropped so can't decide wether to maintain with an increase in t3 or add a small amount of t4 before bed as I usually did hmmmmmm
I want to try just t3 but its only coming up 3weeks..but can say ive noticed changes an as soon as i take t4 hyper symptoms hard even didnt sleep well..but i 2 was just tryin t3 n felt really low hence i took t4
The dose of 7.5 T3 you were taking, I am assuming you took it twice per day? I was very unwell, like many people, although 'bloods' were good. That doesn't make a blind bit of difference if you feel awful are going to the A&E often with palpitations, taking betablockers to help.
As soon as I stopped T4 and took T3 instead, I began to get well. Even though you were taking 50mcg T4 and (I assume) 1/2 tablet of T3 per day if they are telling you that you have a mental health problem it could be that you are not converting T4 to sufficient T3. Unless there is good conversion we remain ill. T3 is needed and to find out you have to have a Free T3 blood test. This is an excerpt and I bet you that none of the doctors are aware that it is T3 we need to function normally (our brain contains the most T3 cells):
FT3 = FREE T3
T4 converts to T3 and is the only thyroid hormone actually used by the body's cells.
The approx. reference range for Free T3 is 4 to 8.3
We at Thyroid UK believe that you need to know your Free T3 level too because this will often show low if you are not converting, and high if you have blocked receptor cells. Even if you are converting, the body needs the extra T3 that a normal thyroid produces. There has been some research to show that people feel better on a mixture of Thyroxine (T4) and Triiodothyronine (T3). Effects of Thyroxine as Compared with Thyroxine plus Triiodothyronine in patients with hypothyroidism – The New England Journal of Medicine Feb.11, 99 Vol. 340. (Click here for this article).
So am I.Mine is also interacting with other drugs taken and am also changing drugs too so don't know which effect is due to what tab' - am going through specialists but you feel so awful don't u? All I know is that I'll get there eventually,I feel like a dead person walking at snails pace and spend most of the time in bed!My working life is non existent at the mo,thank heavens I work for myself .
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