T3 and swollen ankles

[Naturegirl8]

T3 and swollen ankles. I've been taking T3 for about 3 months now, very gradually increasing the dose until I felt healthy. Only issue is my ankles have started swelling during the day, not a lot but noticeable for me as I never had this before. Should I be worried? Anyone know why this is happening please? Many thanks.

[puncturedbicycle]

I have always found my ankles swell when on too low a dose of t3 but recently I was on a little too much and realised my feet and ankles were swollen. Is it possible you're on a little bit too much t3?

[Naturegirl8 in reply to puncturedbicycle]

Thanks for your speedy response. How to tell if they can swell either with too much or too little! I am self medicating on T3 and gradually upped the dose to 75ug a day, taking 25 at 4.30am as recommended by Paul Robinson's book to help adrenal insufficiency caused insomnia. My insomnia is hugely better, almost 100%, from having been very bad for some years and never sleeping through the night. In his book he recommends slowly increasing dosage until you get overt symptoms of too much then drop back slightly. I have never had racing heart, overheating, raised heart rate or blood pressure. I am also taking 40mg T4 daily as prescribed by GP, who said my levels were acceptable and therefore refused to increase my dosage despite huge hypo symptoms, which prompted me to do my own research and go on T3. Basically I feel so much better now, I just wanted reassurance that the oedema was not a dangerous sign.

[puncturedbicycle in reply to Naturegirl8]

I guess what I'm saying is if you never had the swollen ankles when you know you were underdosed, if they are a new thing that has come along w the higher dose of t3 it is likely that they are from slightly too much t3. If you had them when underdosed and they went away at some stage and came back then it is a matter of maybe seeing what happens if you experiment a little bit w a slightly lower dose, and if no joy then a slightly higher dose.

Are your doses split? If so are they at regular intervals? Leaving it too long between split doses or making one of my doses too small used to give me hypo symptom breakthrough in the form of swollen feet.

If you feel well and are sleeping well etc you may want to just carry on doing what you're doing and see if it goes away. Elevate your feet when you can, keep them cool, massage them, wear compression socks to see if that helps, look out for meals that contain too much salt etc. Maybe some minor troubleshooting will solve the problem.

Oedema might be a sign that something is slightly off but if you are otherwise healthy, you know your heart is ok, if both legs/feet are swollen and not just the one, if you have no pain or redness in the limbs, there are no other significant changes, if it is just slightly swollen ankles, I don't think that indicates anything serious.

I'm not a health professional just a punter. If you have any further concerns a visit to your gp might help clarify whether or not this is cause for concern.

[thyroidnodules in reply to puncturedbicycle]

I am on thiroyd ndt and my ankles and feet swelled up a lot - mostly where my sock marks were . could not get rid of it. dropped my meds by a quarter of a grain and they are a lot better now - its just a patience game getting the dose right. I am on 1 3/4 now and this is the best I have felt in years. even managed to go out for a drink last night and not feel too bad the next day.

[Clutter]

Naturegirl8,

Have you had a thyroid function test to check FT3 remains within range?

[Naturegirl8]

No, I'm self medicating, with the help of Paul Robinson's books, and don't want to involve my GP

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Naturegirl8]

Suggest you get private blood test done - also be good idea to check vitamin D, folate, ferritin & B12.

Medichecks or Blue Horizon do Thyroid & vitamin bundle for £99 - either DIY finger prick, or small fee for private clinic to do blood draw

[Bethechanger in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for the advice. For now I am stepping back on the T3 until ankles return to normal and see how I feel. Don't have the money to pay for tests right now.

[silverfox7]

Yes you need to get some results sorted. It is quite easy to go over without realising as the feeling for over and under can be very similar. You can expect different results if you are taking any form of T3. The TSH will. E very low and even zero, FT4 can fall to halfway down the range as your body is getting extra T3 but your FT3 must be in range though at the top end. A little over may be a blip so retest in a few weeks to make sure it has dropped back overwise you need to lower your T3 and retest better though if you get the test and post your results with the ranges, then the advice will be more actuate

[heathermr]

If your TSH is very low, which the blood tests will confirm, I suspect your T4 will be working against some of the T3 by producing Reverse T3 when converting T4. This Reverse T3 has the effect of blocking some of the receptors for the T3 and therefore stopping some of your T3 medication working. I do not have a TSH due to a head injury and I spent years very ill being treated with both T4 and T3. It was only when I spoke to Paul Robinson and read his book that I realised that I would be better off without the T4 because my TSH is virtually zero. I have been on just T3 now for well over 6 years and I am much better, loosing some of the weight that had piled on and becoming much more active. I have now managed to reduce my T3 slightly as the weight has dropped off.

Heather

[Naturegirl8]

Not sure how this site works...am receiving messges / responses via email but cannot access them here!? Basically, I dropped down to 50 ug of T3 from 75 and ankles back to normal within 48 hours. Thank you to those who replied, I am very grateful <3

[miriammsm]

I had the same symptoms a couple of months ago, when I was trying to raise T3 and drop T4: Although I had changed my dose only a little (T4 from 100 to 88 to 75mcg, T3 from about 9 to 12.5 mcg) it was a complete disaster: very swollen ankles, my upper body also looked swollen, I put on weight, my period, which is very regular, was delayed, insomnia and other for me unknown symptoms ( even before treatment). The results of my next blood test were also much lower than the previous one. It got better when I raised T4 again. I wonder if T4 has functions T3 doesn't have. I can't raise T3 much without feeling nervous. (And T4 only doesn't work for me.) I keep trying...