Self medicating T3 dosage

[Flowers2]

Hi All

If you are self medicating with T3 - please can you advise what dosage are you taking. I am just starting with T3 and split a 25mcg tablet into 4. However I'm not sure if that's too low to make any difference. Any advice appreciated. Thavk you

[cjrsquared]

Are you also on levothyroxine? If so by how much are you dropping your dose?

[Kitti1 in reply to cjrsquared]

Hi Flowers2

Do you have any blood test results including t4 and t3 ? Depending on your results it may not be necessary to reduce your levo. For example if you t4 is only mid or low in its range and t3 the same. There is no need to reduce your levo.

It really is important to start and increase your dose low and slow.

Firstly because you may not tolerate t3, a few people can't. Also because changing doses of thyroid meds puts strain on your system, particularly your adrenals. So you have to give your body time to adjust.

Start with the 1/4 - 6.25mg. Stick with that for at least 4 to six weeks before increasing. It is best also to test again before increasing, depending in where your t3 is up to now.

[Flowers2 in reply to Kitti1]

Thank you. My free T3 is 3.6 (range 3.5-7.8) Free T4 24 (range 9-22.7) Tsh 0.2. I started to put on weight and felt myself slipping backwards again with all the usual under active symptoms, so decided to start the T3. Tolerated well so far and have not adjusted my 150mcg levo down. Gp won't prescribe T3. I know where I felt best as I keep a chart recording all my thyroid tests and my fT3 levels were 5.8 then but with a lower ft4. So I think my conversion as got worse. What I don't know is what my next BT will look like if I'm taking T3. Next BT in August as that's the earliest they will do it.

[Clutter in reply to Flowers2]

Flowers2,

You can increase to a second 6.25mcg dose but I would stick with 12.5mcg for 6-8 weeks and have a thyroid test including FT3 to check levels. You can order private thyroid tests from thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

[Kitti1 in reply to Flowers2]

It looks like it would be a good idea to drop your levo by 25mg then test after 6-8 weeks as Clutter says. With your t4 so high theres more chance that the t4 will become reverse t3 and is probably why you feel worse when your t4 is high. The reverse t3 will get in the way of the active t3, blocking receptor cells. So you wont get as much benefit from the available t3 and upping the t3 dose wont be effective. Have you had your reverse t3 tested ?

You can always have your bloods done privately so you can monitor you dose changes yourself.

[Flowers2 in reply to Kitti1]

Thank you Clutter and Kitti. No i've never had reverse T3 tested. I have to fight for T3 EVERY time as it is. I'll drop levy by 25mcg then and up the T3 to 12.5mcg per day for a couple of months and see how I feel. Thank you for your guidance.

[Flowers2 in reply to Kitti1]

I am not able to draw blood myself. I'd feel too squeamish and I don't know where else I could get it done. My surgery won't do it. What do other people do?

[Kitti1 in reply to Flowers2]

There's lots of places that can do blood tests by post. Blue Horizon and Medichecks ate often recommend on here. Most of their tests can be done with just a finger prick test. Its pretty painless and easy to do, on the whole. Alternatively you can ask for a vacutainer then either get a medical professional to do it for you ( I have a friend who is a nurse at a gp surgery ) or you can pay a little extra for them to either send someone to you or refer you to a cliniuc near you where you can get it done.

I know blue horizon do a reverse t3 test but it is pricey.

Hope your feeling better soon 👍

[Flowers2 in reply to Kitti1]

I could do the finger prick test I didn't realise that it would be so accurate and thought it would have to be a proper full vial of blood taken from a vein. Thanks for the info. I'll investigate.