Fast pulse 106 bp 136/87 was on t3 5mcg and 50 mg Levo for 10 days then noticed overstimulated although felt good. Stopped T3 and Levo now.

[minus]

What next? I have rung gp surgery about having tsh and t4 tested as last blood test it was well over range when I was on 150mg Levo, although t3 was only 4.6 that's why I took big risk of self medicating on tiny dose of t3 to try and raise t3 levels in the hope my sex hormones might sort themselves out, I still have zero libido and still using c-pap for sleep apnoea which was all diagnosed same time as thyroid. My tpo antibodies are down to 50 but anti thyroglobulin have increased from 738 to 976 that is why I decided to come of birth pill, as I read it increases antibodies and affects thyroid absorbtion, 3 weeks ago. My ferritin was 98 folate was over range and iron was high in range, did active b 12 test that was 115 and high in range serum was 360 . I think my cortisol might be too high as I feel anxious and wired about 4am and wake up tossing and turning and at night find hard to switch off and wind down. Think I may need adrenal saliva dhea

Test. Wondering whether to try t3 only but scared I will get high bp and pulse too high, t4 only gave me palps and sweats at 150 and put me over range. T3 gave me energy boost, but in combo with t4 both raised bp. But will t3 be better on own? Will high or low cortisol affect t3 uptake? How do you sort out adrenal issues? Would natural thyroid be a gentler way to get t3 and other hormones l dare I try it next? Worried I'll end up in a and e with heart problems after this latest episode, so have stopped t4 today and t3 until pulse lowers to 70_80 beats. Am I being silly? Any advice pls.

Minus

[SilverAvocado]

Let me get this straight:

Recently you were on 150mcg of T4, and the blood test showed your fT4 was over range and fT3 was 4.6?

So you changed your dose to 50mcg of T4 plus 5mcg of T3, and stayed with it for ten days until you had this very high pulse?

The questions I've got are :

1) Did you make that large dose change all in one go? What made you reduce the T4 so very much? Usually you'd reduce the T4 by around 20mcg to correspond to that amount of T3

2) Was your blood pressure and pulse raised immediately on the new dose, or was it only raised on day 10?

I have recently been changing doses, and I have had a really terrible time for about the first week of a dose change. This includes several anomalous pulse and bp readings both very high and very low, that last for a day or less. My pulse, temp and BP take 2 or 3 weeks to settle at all.

But you've made an enormous dose change, and are on only about half the dose you were on before. So I would expect your body to behave very strangely. You will probably take considerably longer to stabilise than the 2 or 3 weeks of a small change. Being underdosed can cause high bp for many, so that is a possible explanation.

[minus in reply to SilverAvocado]

Hi silver avocado, in answer to question 1. I'd say I lowered t4 from 150 to 100mg for 2 weeks then down to 75mg for a week then down to 50mg then added 2.5 mg t3 for week then upped to 5mcg + 50 mg t4. On 10th day I noticed pulse had got higher and bp.

I'm now taking t3 on its own and had only 3mcg this morning and will gradually titrate up depending how I feel etc. Is this a crazy way to go t3 only? What so you suggest? I'm fed up with thyroxine.

[SilverAvocado in reply to minus]

I don't know much about going T3 only. I'm sure you can find good posts about it elsewhere in the forums.

In general you want to stay at probably-correct doses for about 6 weeks, and then get blood tests and assess where you are. 6 weeks is about the time it takes to settle in to a given dose.

If you've historically had difficulty raising doses, I would make especially sure that adrenals are doing well, and that ferritin, folate, vitamin D and B12 are at optimal doses. This is advice given a lot throughout the forum, so you can find a lot of info about how to do it.