When will t3 Start working?

[Agnes79]

Hi. I HAVE BEEN taking 15 mg of t3 with 75 levo? It's been 10days now and I still can't see any improvement In my fatigue? How long does it usually take for it to kick in?

thanks a lot

x

[galathea]

Sorry agnes, but until your Ferritin is increased along with the d3 no amount of thyroid medication will make you feel better. The low ferritin is likely to be the cause of the fatigue and aches and pains are caused by low d3,

Its been a few weeks now since you found out you had low ferritin and low d3. What are you doing to increase them?

Xx g

[Agnes79 in reply to galathea]

thanks for the reply......I have been taking iron tablets 100mg twice a day and 5000 d3 every day for the last 5 weeks......when shall I see improvement??? I am desperate now.....also working as a teacher and being a mum of two seems like to much to handle at the moment😐 Why won't thyroid med help if I have deficiencies in ferritin and d3 ? Any advice on dosages to get me better more quickly..??? I am really bad...achy and fatigued.....feel depressed to be honest....

[Caesard]

After being T4 only and miserable (brain fog, attention/focus impairment, some depression, fatigue, dry skin) I have tried, under medical recommendation, Novothyral 100 (combo of 100 T4 20 T3) and started with half a pill, therefore 10 mcg T3. After half an hour I had some ear noise that subsided after a few minutes and felt immediately increased mental clarity. This is day 12 of such treatment scheme and all is nice and dandy, initial effect decreased a little but still getting constant clarity and energy, not comparable to my misery when on T4 only.

I was previously diagnosed with D3 deficit and currently taking supplements since 4 months ago. (doctor recommended to take continuously D3 supplements throughout the winter time.) Ferritin, B12, folic acid levels are within normal limits but closer to the lower side (maybe caused by 3 years of T4 only and last one with debilitating hypo symptoms, I honestly have no clue)

But that is me...

[humanbean]

I looked back at one of your previous posts and noticed that you were on 112mcg Levo at one point.

75mcg Levo + 15mcg T3 is equivalent to approximately 105mcg Levo. So still a slight reduction on what you were taking.

But one of your biggest problems is your ferritin. You mentioned that you are taking 2 doses of iron per day. Can you be more explicit, please. What exactly are you taking and what is the dosage?

Do you live in Poland or the UK or somewhere else? If you live in the UK then you can buy high strength iron tablets at a pharmacist without a prescription (if you know what to ask for).

With the ferritin result that you have you should really be given an infusion in hospital. Dosing with iron tablets is going to take many months. But if you are in the UK then getting the NHS to spend money is becoming virtually impossible.

[Agnes79 in reply to humanbean]

I am taking 100mg fe twice a day....is that enough???I live in London.....according to the gp my ferritin is very low but still within range.....hmmmm.....so she just said to supplement for 3 months.....I feel so bad! Achy and tired.....what shall I do?? Please any advice would be great!

[galathea in reply to Agnes79]

Well, what kind of iron is it? Some is more easily absorbed than others.... Are you taking it with vitamin C to help absorption? The most freely available one is apparantly the hardest to absorb....

i gave my mum spa tone sachets to get her iron numbers up and it worked great for her......

[Agnes79 in reply to galathea]

I'm taking sorbifer durukes.....ferrosi sulfas

[Agnes79 in reply to galathea]

is that good? What would you recommend?

[humanbean in reply to Agnes79]

There are lots of different kinds of iron supplements :

ferrous sulfate

ferrous fumarate

ferrous gluconate

iron bisglycinate

and probably a dozen others. They aren't all equal. For example, ferrous fumarate 210mg actually contains 69mg pure iron per pill. One sachet of Spatone contains 5mg iron. Iron bisglycinate (usually) contains 20mg iron per pill but can be dependent on brand.

This is why we need to know the exact stuff you are taking.

[Agnes79 in reply to humanbean]

I'm taking ferrous sulfate 200 mg per day...is that good?

thanks x

[humanbean in reply to Agnes79]

It doesn't sound brilliant, considering how low your ferritin is.

If you look at this page from the British National Formulary you can see the iron content of different kinds of iron supplement prescribed by the NHS :

evidence.nhs.uk/formulary/b...

When my iron was very low I took ferrous fumarate 210mg, one tablet three times a day. It took me nearly two years to raise my ferritin to optimal levels because I absorb it poorly.

If you go to a pharmacy and ask for

Ferrous fumarate 210mg in a packet of 84 tablets

the packet may look like this :

pointpharmacy.com/shop/file...

Those are the ones that are often prescribed.

A packet of 84 tablets is enough for 28 days, when taking three per day.

It is up to the pharmacist you ask if they agree to sell them to you. Some pharmacists insist on a prescription, but many don't. I buy from Tesco Pharmacy or Lloyds Pharmacy. If you can't get them from one place, try elsewhere.

Iron is poisonous in overdose, so it is really important to measure your levels regularly.

If you can't tolerate ferrous fumarate then there are plenty of other choices available.

There are other ways to raise iron levels besides taking ferrous salts.

One of the Administrators, helvella, created a document about iron which is very helpful :

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...

Helvella has other useful documents available to read. See the list on his profile :

healthunlocked.com/user/hel...

If you want to raise your levels quicker than you would with just ferrous fumarate, then you could add in heme (haem) and/or take ferritin supplements directly as helvella describes in his iron document. And you can always add black pudding or liver to your diet if you aren't vegetarian.

[Agnes79 in reply to humanbean]

thanks so much!!! I will go to my pharmacy tomorrow! Would the optimal level be in the mid range?

[humanbean in reply to Agnes79]

Yes, for ferritin you want it to be around mid-range or perhaps a tiny bit over.

You might want to keep tabs on other iron measures too. Your doctor is unlikely to measure anything except ferritin, so you would have to do this privately. This is the cheapest group of tests I know of, but I must stress I've never used this company myself. I know other people on the forum have though :

medichecks.com/find-a-test/...

For the above test you would buy it online. Then the company sends you a kit through the post providing everything you need to get a finger-prick sample. Then you have to post the blood back to the lab as soon as possible, posting it to guarantee delivery by 1pm the next day. Results are sent to you via email.

Blood should be taken Monday - Thursday, first thing in the morning, and posted the same day. As I said, pay for guaranteed delivery by 1pm the next day.

If blood arrives at the lab at weekend then nobody is there to process it. There are no guarantees that "old blood" will give the same results when tested on the Monday.

[Agnes79 in reply to humanbean]

thanks a lot! I havr ordered the kit already😊 I have also bought ferrous fumarate 210mg tablets and will start taking tomorrow....how long will it take to raise my levels enough so that I Start feeling a bit better? Not so tired and achy???

thankyou x