I am looking for help from the community on T3 and T4 - I am about to start self-medicating with T3 today and was thinking of 25mcg initially a day. What do I reduce my T4 by to work with this? Should I also monitor my heart rate for a few days?
Any suggestions/advice would be welcome!
Some Details:
My Thyroid was removed 20 years ago.
I am on 125 mcg Levoythyroxine a day
Female - Age 40
Last Blood Results were:
T3 3.2
T4 24.4
TSH 2.2
Also taking Iron, Calcium, B12, Magnesium, Vit D, Zinc supplements daily.
Written by
westmarch
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Most would reduce levo by 50 and take 25mcg of T3 to start with. If you want to be a little cautious take 12.5 T3 for two weeks and then increase (if you feel o.k.) to 25mcg with levo.
I would monitor your pulse/temp before you begin so you have a starting point. Then take both several times a day when starting the combination. If your pulse goes to high or your temp is too high you can reduce levo slightly.
I take 20mcg with my T4 and when starting only took 5mcg am & 5mcg pm to start with.
I noticed massive positive changes almost straight away but suffered a headache (which appears common) for about three days and a feeling of heat in the body..
After one week I increased the dose to 10mcg am & 10mcg pm. If your heart speed up too much just reduce dose. I agree with shaws to reduce T4 dose by 50mcg.
25mcg is rather too much. Start with 6.25mcg added to your current 125mcg Levothyroxine to see how you react to it. After a week or two you could take a 2nd 6.25mcg T3 dose bedtime or evening. I don't think you need to reduce Levothyroxine dose because TSH is high and your FT4 will convert better with the T3 dose/s. Ideally, you'll retest 6 weeks after being on 12.5mcg T3.
I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical guidance from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions.
I agree with Clutter that you may not need much or any reduction in your T4, at least when you start T3. I've been taking T3 with T4 for about 6 months, and my FT4 dropped immediately. It seems that more is being converted to T3. I've had 2 blood tests, and each time, my FT4 was mid-range, having previously always been over range.
I tried to drop my T4 as my endo wanted (he wanted me to drop from 125mcg to 75mcg, but this was a disaster). I can only manage about 50mcg less per week.
Initially, I took only 5mcg T3 per day, and I worked up to 25mcg. For about 5 months, I felt no negative symptoms, but now I'm starting to feel over-medicated, and a blood test confirmed that my FT3 was too high. I've recently dropped my T3 to 12.5mcg per day. I have one or two days a week when I take 25mcg less T4 than I used to.
It feels to me as if I needed extra medication to make up for 15 years of under-medication, but that now, my tissues are appropriately filled with the T3 needed, so that I can manage with a lower maintenance dose.
Given that the bulk of the population have their FT3 and FT4 a little over half way through the range, that is where I want mine to be.
I'm afraid the whole thing is about trial and error, and we all need to find what works for our own body.
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