T3 and High Blood Pressure

[Numberone1]

Im very disappointed. I do suffer a bit with high blood pressure and I managed it with medication.

If you look at any of my earlier posts you will find that I take only T3 and that I was recently referred to an endocrinologist who supported my use of T3 and doubled it. I have been doubling it slowly. I also try to take T3 the Paul Robinson way ie take my vitals while taking.

It is by doing this that I am able to see my blood pressure regularly and it has shot up. I can only say that this is from the increased T3. I really don't know what to do about it. My GP was always against T3 and now I am probably going to have to go to him about the blood pressure situation.

Any suggestions?

[Freelie_Wheelie_1983]

Ask for a second opion from another gp or doctor or specialist Hun

[Numberone1 in reply to Freelie_Wheelie_1983]

I fought for the endo I see who I was referred to on the NHS but saw privately for longer time with him. It was amazing that he recommended T3 and now I feel dreadful that I have high blood pressure with it.

Im wondering if there is a way to get this to work without that side effect.

[sulamaye]

How much t3 are you on? Is your BP higher all the time or are you seeing a spike after a dose? It could easily be high BP that has little to do with the t3, a coincidence. The first thing I do when I get a funny symptom - heart beating too loud eg - or artrial fibrillation - I stop the t3 for a day or half my dose and see what happens. As you know it passes quite quickly through the system which is very helpful. I would try this first, also if it is the t3 I would expect to see spikes after doses. My BP has actually come down on T3 only once I got the dose right. More is not necessarily better also, you may just be taking too much. As I said how much are you on and how much t4 did you used to be on?

[Hidden]

Just a thought. Paul Robinson has a Facebook group 'Recovering with T3' you could join and ask advice there perhaps. Paul posts regularly and the admins in the group also appear to have a lot of experience. They won't advise if you're taking NDT unless you're in the process of transferring to T3. But if you're taking T3 only, they will help.

[Heloise]

drmalcolmkendrick.org/2012/...

Your adrenal gland has more control of blood pressure along with the vagus nerve and may be reacting to high FT3.

[QUE6T-33 in reply to Heloise]

Or could the sympathetic nervous system is reactive due to

low or high Cortisol ?

[Eddie83]

What is your FT3? If it is in the lab's normal range, you should simply tell your GP to look for a scapegoat elsewhere.

[Numberone1 in reply to Eddie83]

My FT3 is above the normal range but my TSH is still high also. The endocrinologist knows those figures and still told me to double the dose from 20mcg T3 to 40mcg so its is worrying me.

[Eddie83 in reply to Numberone1]

Have you taken a look at the phenomenon of T3 Resistance? Also I wonder how your T3 dose compares to mine while I was on T3-only. While I was on T3-only, I found my correct dose was about 62.5mcg daily, and that worked out to about 0.82mcg/kg body weight. Also, I do think we patients are taught by our doctors to be obsessed by lab tests, but the real test is: if you increase your dose and do not go hyper (I am assuming you know what hyper feels like), and feel better than you have been feeling, then does FT3 really matter? It is a fact that medicine is an experimental science, in spite of the authority that docs like to project!

[Eddie83 in reply to Numberone1]

BTW which normal range are you using? My doc was using a lab that dictated the range 2.3-4.2 pg/ml. Then he switched to another lab, and the range became 2.77-5.27 pg/ml. I took at look at "normal" ranges a few years back, and discovered there are multiple "normal" ranges, and one of them tops out over 6 pg/ml. So, we are back to the base question: how do you feel?

[Caze]

I was doing CT3M on T3 only but experienced high systolic BP when I tried to raise my dose. I wd be OK when I first woke up but my BP wd go up after getting up dressed and washed etc. typically 160/76 fr eg. I have low am cortisol. Just wondering if you hve an adrenal problem too and if you hve done a saliva test.

[Numberone1 in reply to Caze]

Mine is high when I get up and then goes down during the day and as I take the doses of T3. But its still higher than it should be.

[Numberone1 in reply to Caze]

When the top of the range was 6.25 my FT3 was 22! I still felt undermedicted.

[QUE6T-33 in reply to Caze]

hi - do you think BP rises if adrenal levels are lowered ?

I've read elevated Cortisol can increase BP.