I have been eagerly awaiting my blood results for the past 10 days. They came this morning and what a shock to find that all my results had fallen.
In April 2015 my results were:-
TSH 1.150 (0.27 - 4.20)
FT4 22.14 (12 - 22)
FT3 5.1 (3.1 - 6.8)
August 2015:-
TSH 1.78 (0.27 - 4.20)
FT4 13.34(12 - 22)
FT3 4.5 (3.1 - 6.8)
I had changed my 75 mcg Aliud Levothyroxine to50 mcg Aliud and 12.5mcg Tiromel T3. My question now is what is my next step? Do I add back in another 25mcg of Levothyroxine or do I add in more T3?
All suggestions will be gratefully received. I expected great things of T3 and this has completely thrown me.Some things have improved and some things are slightly worse.
j_bee
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nightingale-56
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...it happened to me yesterday and I wrote to HU ! If you go down to the VERY bottom of this page - there are lots of things on a black background. On the right click onto the word English ( which maybe in Spanish or Portugese ) and things should correct themselves. If not the first time - then possibly the second.
No problem. Ikeepgetting the odd spanish word on my computer this morning, but as I have been conversing with spanish friends (not much spanish on my part though) I just thought I had mucked it up somehow. Hope it gets sorted soon.
Thanks for voicing what I was thinking Clutter. Really must begin to listen to myself. Sometimes it is the right answer. Two weeks ago I felt as though I was improving, but have since been going downhill again. Yours si much appreciated advice.
Very confusing getting a lower T3 result. Not what I was expecting at all. T4 yes. Hard to explain how I am feeling, but some things are better, pain better and mood also. Constipation beginning and tiredness such as I haven't felt for along time is worse. Constipation has not been a problem for many years.
Have not been to GP as they haven't shown interest for 5 years, so am self-treating. Endo knows I am trying other things, but do not see him until December.
Blood draw was taken at 9 am on fasting since 9pm the evening before and no meds were taken until after the draw. Been at this game too long not to know what to do now!
Nothing else changed and all vits and mins are good. Could possibly still be adrenals, although am taking support for this.
Your final bit of advice is what I am going to do. Please see answer to Clutter. Was just so surprised to see that T3 had fallen even more. Am trying to get back to 5.6 where I felt reasonably good at.
Hi You are taking plenty of T3 as FT3 is right. When tak,ing T3 , the other readings will go down. This is fine as T3 most important and causes T4 and tSH to drop. So long as the FT3 is OK which it is that is fine, if you feel OK.
Hi Jackie, unfortunately my FT3 has lowered from 5.1 to 4.5 and I am now not feeling so good, so need to know whether to raise my dose of either T4 or T3. All vits and mins and other bloods are good apart from cholesterol which is only 5.9 and HDL, LDL and Triglicerides in range, so don't think it is particularly high anyway.
Hi Nikki, Felt good on 75mcg Goldshield Eltroxin but when changed to Mercury Pharma, had skin problems, BP high and temperature low. Now on Aliud (self-funded) things were improving, but T3 only 5.1, whereas on Eltroxin it was 5.6, so am trying to get it back to that at least.
J-bee, I'm not as knowledgeable as some of the other posters, but my instinct is that if you want to give T3 a good try, maybe you should raise that.
If you don't get improvements in blood to reflect the raised dose, at least then you can draw a line in the sand and say T4/T3 combination isn't for you
I really need to raise my T3 (see other answers above) as that is the thing that has changed the most. First I am going to raise my T4 again and see how that goes. Then will raise T3.
Hi j_bee, don't know if this is of any help or not but I am now feeling well on 75mcg T4 plus 12.5mcg T3 (Tiromel) in morning and 12.5mcg T3 mid afternoon.
Since taking T3 my Ft3 has increased from 4.5 to 6.6 (3.1 - 6.8). When I was on 100mcg of just T4, FT3 went down to 4.2, so I think that this is the right dose for me.
Good to hear your advice and to know that it can work out well. I have only ever been on 75 mcg Levothyroxine and my FT4 has always been 5.6, so not too bad. With the change of Levo from Goldshield Eltroxin to Mercury Levothyroxine my level went down to 5.1, so added 12.5 mcgTiromel to try and raise this level back to 5.6, higher would be good.
Glad you have found a dose that is good for you and think I have now got a bit more trialand error to cope with. Thank you for your findings.
I still keep a page to day diary and record dosages, symptoms, temperature, how I'm feeling, etc. as phoenix said, memory (or lack of, in my case) can still be a problem! I was also ill on Mercury Pharma Levo, it felt as if I was losing my mind. But, onwards and upwards now! (Hopefully)
Hi, J bee. You have gotten some great advice and guidance in response to your post, none of which I can improve on except to say that, since you are self-medicating, I encourage you to keep a log of your daily temps and heart rate and especialy what dosage of thyroid meds you are on and how you are feeling and your reaction to dose changes.
When we are in the notorious 'brain fog' of thyroid under-treatment, our memory is shot and not to be trusted. A high heart rate will be a tip off that you are getting too much thyroid meds or too much t 3. You want to be bringing up your body temp (if too low) and it can help you gauge when you are getting close to optimal.
Hi Phoenix thanks for your reply. Have been keeping a log of BP and temps since the beginning of taking T3 and all was going in the right direction and is still good. Temprising from about 36.5 am to 37.0 at bedtime, so all good there. BP was coming down and stabilising much as it was on Goldshield Eltroxin. All this went haywire when I was put onto Mercury Pharma Generic Levothyroxine, so was pleased the T3 was working in that respect, just was so surprised that everything was lowering except my TSH.
Good for you, J bee. Smart girl to be tracking things. I have heard terrible things about the Mercury product from other posters on this list. I take NDT so am unfamiliar with dosing t4/t3 separately. But what you are doing (tracking temps/heart rate/bp and symptoms) is
exactly the way doctors treated hypo years ago before the discovery/invention of the cursed TSH test.
Lucky you Phoenix being able to take NDT. I tried, but it gave me terrible anxiety symptoms and I was so shakey on a very low dose and could not get past 3 days,plus it put my BP up even higher. Hope yopu continue to do well. Thanks for advice.
Your response to NDT sounds like my sister's. She was dx hypo in the eighties, and has hashis. She did wonderfully on Synthroid. After my successful transition from Synthroid to NDT, I convinced her to give NDT a try. Her reaction was just like yours, especially the way her heart pounded and her bp skyrocketed. Scared her to death. She couldn't get back on Synthroid fast enough...lol.. and continues to do just fine on it.
So, NDT isn't always the be-all, end-all that some folks make it out to be. For those who have a simple conversion issue, NDT is marvelous. And thanks for your well wishes. The same to you, my friend.
Nice to see your name in print again tegz. Hope you are well. Thank you for adding a bit extra knowledge to help my problems. I am finding it very difficult to raise my T3 at the moment as mentioned on various posts over the past 5 years since the change to generic T4. It has lowered my T3 drastically and I can't seem to raise it even though all vits and mins are optimal. Bloods are good, ferritin, folate etc, and BP and temp are fine. Think you answer is very apt and I am waiting to see what my next bloods are in 4 weeks time as to what is my next step. Probably to up the T3, being very careful not to overdo it.
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