Temporary addition of Liothyronine added by my Endocrinologist but reluctantly given as he does not think it will help me with my fatigue.

[fifi6]

Morning all, I have started T3 this weekend after many months of persuading my Endocrinologist I have been feeling no better on Levothyroxine, experiencing extreme fatigue, lack of concentration, feeling cold etc. He has reluctantly given me 5mcg along with 75mcg of Levothyroxine. He has said this is only for a 3 month trial as Liothyronine has not proven to be effective with helping with fatigue of Hypothyroidism. I was just wondering if this small amount would make any difference and when would I expect to feel any improvement? Also, I have gained a vast amount of weight whilst being on Levothyroxine over the last 8 years despite being a runner and active person. Does anyone have any experience of weight gain on Levothyroxine and will Liothyronine help with weight loss? Any help would be much appreciated as I am at a loss as to what to try next. Thank you

[humanbean]

He has said this is only for a 3 month trial as Liothyronine has not proven to be effective with helping with fatigue of Hypothyroidism.

You can divide hypothyroid patients into two basic groups - those who do well and feel well on levothyroxine (T4) and those who don't. The first group is by far the majority - about 85% of patients seem to do well on T4. The 15% who do poorly (and end up on forums like this one) usually need to add some liothyronine (T3) to a reduced dose of levo, or need to take T3 and nothing else, or they need NDT (Natural Dessicated Thyroid), or any combination of treatments you can think of.

Now imagine you are a research scientist investigating T3. Which group of patients would you test T3 on? You'd think it would be the unhappy group. But I've never heard of any research being done purely on the unhappy group. At best a random sample of patients is used. Since the unhappy group are hugely outnumbered by the happy group any results that show an improvement on T3 are drowned out by the majority, some of whom might hate T3.

The 5mcg of T3 may help you. But if your real requirement is for 50mcg T3 (for example) then 5mcg may do very little. You can only try it and see what happens.

[gabkad in reply to humanbean]

Ah, but Humanbean, even the happy on T4 group are happier when T3 is added.  But when I've looked at the TSH readings for the 'group', these are usually high.   

[humanbean in reply to gabkad]

I don't doubt it.

But there are some strange people who would rather suffer than admit that their levothyroxine is not working well for them. I know two hypothyroid people who are like that (a friend and a relative). They would swear until they were blue in the face that their problems are "caused by Something Else" and not their thyroid, because their doctors told them so, and their blood tests are "Normal". It gives them the perfect excuse to ignore the suggestions and advice from a thyroid-obsessed nutcase (i.e. me).

[humanbean]

Also, I have gained a vast amount of weight whilst being on Levothyroxine over the last 8 years despite being a runner and active person. Does anyone have any experience of weight gain on Levothyroxine and will Liothyronine help with weight loss?

Weight gain on levothyroxine is very, very, very common. For many patients it is one of the most distressing symptoms of hypothyroidism and the standard treatment, since society makes so many judgements about people based on what size they are.

If you take T3 as part of your treatment, in sufficient quantities to make you feel well, there is a chance you could lose weight. There are no guarantees. But the chances are better with some T3 than without it.

This is one of the more recent success stories :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

But be aware there are plenty of people who've lost nothing or very little.

It's easy to say, but the goal of treating hypothyroidism should firstly be to maximise your health, rather than worrying about losing weight. But as a larger lady myself, I know exactly how you feel.

[BadHare]

Would 5mcg make a difference? It's such a low dose!

[fifi6 in reply to BadHare]

I don't think it will make a difference! I'm very tempted to up my dose myself as I have been given a large amount of Liothyronine by Parmacy! Would increasing my dose to 10 or 20 much be of any benefit? So confused as to what to do !!

[BadHare]

I'm new to T3, & have been taking NDT for less than a year, so I'm not the best person to help. The UniPharma T3 I take is supposed to be weaker than others, & I've upped to a whole 25mcg a day, instead of only half a tablet, on top of my grain of NDT. I'm getting the approximate equivalent on 130mcg of T4, with no feeling of overdoing the dose.

Perhaps increase by 5 or 10mcg each week, on top of your T4, until you start to feel better, & monitor your pulse & temperature for changes

I notice a prickly feeling if I've had too much, which happens within a few hours, but this only lasts a day or so, after I drop the dose again. I've had no such sensations since adding the T3.

Good luck!

Mel

[faith63 in reply to BadHare]

If you do not convert well and take t4, the pooled t4, will stop the t3 dose from working.  It is called high reverse t3 or rt3 dominance.

[fifi6 in reply to faith63]

Hi, i am very new to all of this as have been just taking the Levothyroxine for over 8 years and feeling awful. I had never heard of T3 before I started reading up on alternative medication. I should have researched and tried to improve my health years ago! I stupidly went with the doctors advice and believed that Levothyroxine was the only treatment for Hypothyroidism. How would I know if i had high reverse T3 or T3 dominace? Should I stop taking the Levothyroxine and pay privately to get some more Liothyronine? Thank you.

[faith63 in reply to fifi6]

Do you have any free t4 labs or free t3 labs at all?  This could help us determine if you are converting..

[fifi6 in reply to faith63]

Hi faith63, thank you so much for replying. My Latest results are TSH : 0.38 (0.35 - 5.50) Free T4 : 15.3 (10.0 - 19.8) Free T3 : 4.2 (3.5 - 6.5) My endocrinologist said he is happy with the results but did agree to the 5mcg of Liothyronine on a 3 month trial but very hesitantly. I did increase it to 10mcg as the pharmacy gave me too much. I have dropped my Levothyroxine from 100 to 50. I have been taking my new dosage and Liothyronine for a week and I feel so tired. Really not sure what to do now I am really fed up with feeling fatigued all of the time. Unfortunately I do have Lupus which does complicate things but Im convinced it is the Hypothyroidism which is causing the fatigue. I am beginning to think I shall stop all medications as they are not helping with any of my symptoms.

[fifi6]

Thank you, will try increasing the dose gradually and see what happens.

Fiona

[faith63]

i doubt a tiny dose like 5mcgs, will help your fatigue either!  I hate doctors..