Some of you may recall my being put onto a T3 / T4 combo back in December. Thank you to those members who helped me get hold of the T3 when it was refused by my GP. Incidentally, my GP sent a very rude letter to my endo stating that there is no medical evidence that T3 is of benefit and also that GP's do not know how to manage patients on a T3 /T4 combo in the community. So frustrating. Anyway, after my initial 30 tablets cost me over £200, many helpful members came to my rescue and I now source my T3 from Greece.
Unfortunately, my bloods do not seem to be playing ball on the T3/T4 combo, and I wondered if anyone could shed any light on my results.
December 2015 - pre T3 (was taking 125 thyroxine):-
TSH - 0.47
T4 - 19
T3 - 4.1
February 2016 - (taking 100 thyroxine and 20mcg T3)
TSH - 6.4
T4 - 10.1
T3 - 3.2
Has anyone any thoughts, because I don't get it!!!
Was there any difference in the conditions surrounding each test? Timing of blood draw, time since previous dose of thyroid hormones, had you eaten?
What conditions normally apply when you take your meds? Time, other meds taken, meal times in relation to taking meds?
Which brand of T3 are you taking? If it is the NHS provided brand you could do a site search and a web search for any references to the batch no of your T3. It may be a faulty batch.
It looks like your T3 is doing nothing at all, and your results are showing the effect of having your levo reduced and you being under-medicated as a result.
I didn't take any thyroid meds on the day of my test (endo advised not to) but I had the bloods taken at roughly the same time of day on an empty stomach. I feel so hypothyroid now, I feel ill, whereas I thought I would feel marvellous once the T3 kicked in. I was taking NHS Mercury Pharma £200 stuff (!) but am now taking Uni Pharma from Greece that I have higher hopes for.
I agree with you it is weird, the endo has advised me to keep levo the same but up my T3 by 10mg. Do you know how long ado sage increase takes to have effect? Thank you for your time replying. 🙂
I would expect you to notice a 10mcg T3 increase within a few days, certainly no more than a week.
The fact you are supplying your own T3 is good - at least you don't have to fight with a doctor who is more concerned about his/her budget than your health!
If you still don't feel any improvement on the extra T3 I'm not sure what to say or how to explain it.
I fought the doctors and lost, they just wouldn't pay it, but covered up the reasons so they didn't have to admit that the refusal was down to cost!!
I will persevere with the extra T3 and see what happens, my plan was to go T3 only eventually, I'm not sure that will work out!! Thanks for your help.
Have you considered t3 only treatment. When I got rid of Levo all together & got my t3 dose to optimum I feel totally human again!
There are lots of factors that can stop your t3 getting into your cells. Are you supplementing appropriately? A 10mcg raise in dosage isn't going to make an inch of difference if it's not penetrating you cells in the first place.
I would seriously consider t3 only treatment. For me it changed everything. Look up Paul Robinsons blog. X
I'm on T4 /T3 combo but not good.. I've been worried about going on T3 only but reading some of the info on Pauls blog about needing it to be taken VERY seriously & not using bloods to get to the right dose.. I found it all very confusing & a bit of a worry 😳
I've a friend who works in the pharmaceutical industry, who has mentioned quality of ingredients being an important factor in how well a drug works. This came up when I asked about the potency of co-codamol for pain relief, as 1 branded Kapake has the efficacy of two of the generic co-codamol that's routinely given out on prescription. We all know this at my local pain clinic, yet most doctors insist it's the same, as it says so on the box. It could be the one you bought is not as good as others, & a change of brand might help, if you can find out which others seem more effective. I tried a different NDT & had a bad reaction, so I'm not taking chances with anything other than WP from now on.
You could have a build up of RT3 in your system which could be why it looks like the T3 is not doing anything, you might need high dose T3 for a few months to get the rt3 out of your system, this is what happened with me! I went on T3 only, in March, managed to clear Rt3 by July and have since been on T3 only, tried to add Levo a couple of weeks ago at just 25mcg and cut down the T3 to just 5mcg per day but I was feeling hypo with hyper symptoms which is how I am with Levo alone! As T3 is so unstable I have now ordered Thyroid WP to take alongside the T3 to try and stabilise it all! For more info on the above read DR John Lowe's book called The metabolic treatment of Fibromyalgia which is actually all about thyroid disease! Or try Paul Robinson book on healing with T3! Either way make sure you get advice before treating yourself with T3 only, it needs to be constantly monitored! Good luck x
Yes, I agree with Acunatang. Clarycat, I was going to suggest measuring your reverse T3 as this might be stopping it entering your cells. Go private for the the test, I think it is called Horizon or Blue Horizon - something like that - in the UK. In the US we have True Health Labs amongst others and they link to the US lab in some way.
It is a bit expensive at first finding out your status and how you are reacting to drugs, but it drops off quickly once you can link your symptoms to different doses and brands of drugs.
For what it is worth, I get my T3 from Greece also and I have had no problems. It's always nerve wracking when you buy a medication off the internet - so I thought I would pass that along.
Sorry to hear you are having problems with your T3/T4 combo. I also started on this combo in December (20mcg split 10 and 10, and 25mcg thryoxine). I have never felt better. I am on a trial of the T3 and am worried that when I go to see the Endo again she may not continue with it. Therefore I want to be prepared and wondered if you could pm where you bought your T3 from in Greece? Many thanks, and I do hope you get things sorted as I do believe T3 is the way to go once you have the right amount.
Thank you all so much for your invaluable help. I have considered that I may not be supplementing properly. Can anyone give me some advice as to what I should be taking? I know I am deficient in vitamin d and am taking 2 x 20000 supple,nets a week as prescribed by my endo. When I spoke to my endo about NDT, he was non too keen. Can I take Thyroid WP alongside levo and Liothyronine?
Once again, thank you lots and lots
C xx
Ps... I have also considered T3 only treatment, again endo non too keen.....
It would be helpful if you would put the units on your T3 & T4 readings, with ranges. FT3 and FT4 are preferable because they take Thyroid Binding Globulin out of the equation.
I take 15mcg T3 and 75mcg T4 daily (1:5 ratio, just like you) with excellent results. It would appear that the brand of T3 you are using, isn't doing anything at all. Do you take your thyroid hormones well away from mealtime? I would be tempted to procure another brand of T3, to see if result is the same.
There are syndromes in which people cannot absorb T3. Since rT3 is made from T4, I would not suspect in this case that rT3 is the problem. But you cannot figure that out unless you have rT3 tested.
Your numbers were so much better on T4-only, so I would ask: what was it that you did not like, about how you felt when on T4-only?
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