I really need help! after being rushed to hospital with being over active thyroid and having reduced medications from 90 to 85 mg.....

[flashinthepan]

now my t 4 levels are pretty low as hell! I am now at 0.8 and my t3 is at 5.3 after dropping my medications from 90 to 45 then increased it back up to 85. I was low on medications and my doctor gave me a prescription for 85 mg liothyronine. been taking this dose for a week and since then my energy levels have slumped despite bashing in 100 pounds worth of fruit per two to three days! although I paid around 10 pounds for the stuff. I am doing my best to follow a gluten free hypothyroid diet and slimming world diet....it is really hellish trying to remove more of the excess weight!

I had problems with the standard levothyroxine as I have conversion problems. I tried pig thyroid and got up to 4 grain and 20 mg of liothyronine and my levels were always low but within normal range. I had to give up due to low income!

so I am now wondering if I should take a small dose of t4 with t3? I am at my wits end here!

[humanbean]

What symptoms did you have that required you to be rushed to hospital?

[humanbean in reply to humanbean]

And why are you eating pounds and pounds and pounds of fruit?

[flashinthepan in reply to humanbean]

trying to reverse this bloody condition. forgot to mention pounds and pounds of vegetables!

[PinkNinja in reply to flashinthepan]

Eating lots of fruit will not reverse hypothyroidism, unfortunately. It is most often caused by disease that partially or totally destroys the thyroid and unfortunately the human body isn't able to grow a new one. It's not quite as resilient as the liver but wouldn't things be so much easier if it were! I would happily much my way through an entire orchard to be rid of this wretched disease but unfortunately it wouldn't work. Eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg is important for health but in conjunction with the other things our bodies need like healthy, natural fats, proteins and complex carbs and fibre. Being healthy will help our bodies to cope with the disease better than eating fast food and other rubbish though.

If you are taking only T3 your T4 level will be low. This is a normal state of affairs for someone taking only T3. You may find that replacing some of the T3 with some T4 might help. It may mean that your levels don't fluctuate so much but you may also find you get symptoms again if you are not able to convert it well enough.

Unfortunately everyone is so different as to what works for them. If only it were as easy as taking a little white pill, which is what most of us are told when we are diagnosed!

I hope things settle down for you soon.

Carolyn x

[flashinthepan in reply to humanbean]

massive amounts of energy from no where I thought I was on a big amount of coffee. I was warming up I had racing pulse high blood pressure feeling disorientated. doctor thought ok you sound like you have a thyroid storm. my previous thyroid test was t4 1.1 and t3 was at 8 normal range 5 to 6.9.

was kept in hospital for several hours as there was only two doctors at the hospital. the nurses were useless.

then my levels just dropped to 5.3... and my t4 to 0.8 and things started calming down at 6 am....rather mad..never experienced this in my life!

[PinkNinja in reply to flashinthepan]

Do you take your T3 all in one go or in several doses? Although many people can take it in one go, some of us need to split the dose into two, three or even four smaller doses. I crash in the afternoon if I take mine all in one go so I take two doses: one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

[Clutter]

Flashinthepan, FT4 will usually be low/below range when taking high dose T3. Are you sure FT3 range is 5-6.9? Most are broader 3+ to 6+. FT3 8 is over range and may make you feel overmedicated but FT3 5.3 is usually good.

I feel better on T4+T3 combination than on T3 only and was unwell on T4 only. If you felt well on 4 grains NDT perhaps you should try T4+T3. 4 grains contains 152mcg T4 + 36mcg T3 and is equivalent to the 85mcg T3 you are currently prescribed.

Changing diet for 2/3 days isn't likely to bring immediate benefit. You need a balanced carb/protein diet for several months before you are likely to notice benefit.