Was on 100mcgs of Levothyroxine. Started T3 five days ago 12.5 mcg. Increased today to 25mcg as was feeling very hypothyroid. Understand 25mcgs of T3 is equivalent to 100mcg of Levothyroxine. Is it possible I may need more than 25mcg of T3?
When thyroid blood tests are done when taking T3, are you still meant to stop taking T3 24 hours before blood tests as with Levothyroxine?
janeold25 It's recommended to have last dose of T3 12 hours before blood draw when testing.
Not sure anyone can say whether you will need more than 25mcg T3.
I'd increase T3 by 1/4 tablet about every week until you feel symptom-free. Take pulse/temp and if either goes to fast/high, drop to previous dose.
If you are taking T3 only your blood test wont correspond because the blood tests were invented for levothyroxine only. I still leave 24 hours gap but your T3 will be high (but may still be in range) and your T4 low, probably TSH too. It is how you feel which is the prime factor.
please clarify a bit for me, what do you mean by prime factor? T3 vs TSH as dosing indication?
Also, why 24h after T3? In my case, on a combo taken in the morning (125 T4 and 20 T3) and in the afternoon 12.5 T3 I thought the closest tthing to reliability of test should be to skip the afternoon T3 in the day before the morning when they draw blood, therefore having approx 24 h from T4 and 12 h from T3.
I may be too close with the T3? In accordance to the link below it doesn't really matter anymore in my case, such test were not designed for a combo 
recoveringwitht3.com/blog/w...
By prime factor. I mean - by how the person feels. If still symptomatic may need a small increase. If you feel good it would seem to be the optimum dose for you.
I am not medically qualified I can only go by my own experience and I have always taken my doses of whatever, i.e. levo, NDT, T3/T4, or T3 once daily so have no problems with blood tests. You are following another method from me which I know nothing about and am sorry I cannot advise.
understood, thanks! I wish it would have never been necessary that either of use to have to search relief like this.
In this modern day and age when they can send a man to the moon, they refuse to allow us to take thyroid hormones which suit us. They could easily go back to NDT which never needed a licence as it has been in use since 1892 in different forms and was - if not cure- the patient lived. Previously they would have died - no doubt about that.
Some 'old wives' tales can be better than modern meds. Although we certainly need many of them. I think it is because we are dealing with hormones and we are all so different and doctors/endos nowadays haven't a clue so we should be allowed to trial different ones on our own.
well, as you probably know, self medicating your HRT it's a mix of "how I feel" and "what my test results look like"
My understanding is you've switched from T4 to a T3 only; I haven't been so radical, just went from T4 to combo T4/T3. I've undergone a full thyroidectomy due to Basedow Gravves and I've been using T4 since 2014 to sep 2016 and combo after this point, but I have learned some lessons/conclusions that I would like to share, only to be considered as being valid for me:
- there is a small seasonal fluctuation on HRT need between seasons, on winter months the regular dosage seeming insufficient sometimes
- there is a different dosage need between output levels, both physical and mental; the more I exercise and active I am , the bigger the chance that tests and feel good index would point out to a small increase of hormone
- body weight doesn't have a big impact on necessary dosing; lean mass anyway....I've lost about 15% of total weight and didn't felt the need to reduce dosage.
- there is not enough emphasis in strongly recommending to mind the absorption window; I think I've crashed two times due to relaxing the conditions, to recap I would recommend - water only, one hour before anything else to drink or eat or minimum two hours after, two hours minimum away from supplements or other medicine, if possible.
- T3 dose split works for me, a shot in the evening puts me to sleep almost like a sleeping pill, but I didn't had trouble sleeping anyway, except some past episodes due to a mix of factors. Also levothyroxine at night had some calming, sleeping mode effect.
- there is no such thing as a fast track into this bloody thing of HRT; on one hand any change of medication, dosage, type, timing, split, whatever, takes time to both feel as symptom relief and witness as test results and on the other hand there are variations over time.
- right state of mind is key in this game; personally the biggest hurdle I've encountered is the means of hypothyroidism playing with my mind, mood and cognitive abilities. While on T4, affected by brain fog and slow cognitive functions, frugal, superficial memory, etc.. I thought T3 would relieve this and indeed it worked with the first pill, but I've recently found out that hypothyroidism acts the same under T3 as it does under T4.
The key is to find what, when and how much works for everyone, there is no recipe, it takes time, determination and the ambition to prevail over this condition. This has been and still is the hardest battle of my life to day and I honestly and sincerely hope that never again to face a ordeal like this one.
Hope this helps
Oh, and to actually be on topic, yes, it may be the case that the equivalent T3 to be insufficient. I've started from 175 T4 (my last T4 only dose) and I am currently on a combo of 125 T4 and 32.5 T3 (equiv. 130 T4) and I've had good tests on both schemes, except now I am feeling better.
Hi, I started on t3 18 months ago having been on 125mcg t4 only. My t4 was reduced to 25mcg daily, and 20mcg t3 added. I felt better instantly, but could not shift weight and wasnt 100%. Over the past year my dosage has increased to 30mcg t3, and 25 and 50 mcg t4 on alternating days. At long last Ive lost a stone in weight and feel great, like the person I was before diagnosis. I have felt rubbish if my TSH level was above 1.
Sounds great, congratulations! Had this scheme cleared all hypo symptoms? What type of symptoms did it relieve (e.g. impossibility to lose weight) and, what symptoms (if any) only diminished? What was your diagnostic/condition of your thyroid?
I hope you won't find this battery of questions too intrusive, my interest is to understand other people's experience with this dancing on a wire....
I was hobbling about like a 90 year old, my feet and ankles got really sore after walking for more than 10 minutes. I was tired. I was two stones overweight despite loads of swimming and a good balanced diet. The worst thing was bloating. My whole body looked swollen, it was so depressing. Within 2 days of taking t3 my feet and ankles reverted to normal and I felt generally better. Its taken this final dosage rise to help with my weight. I still get a pounding heart most days, but it is less than it was a few months ago. I feelbest when my tsh is less than 1. Sadly my docs dont check anything else. Thinking about doing a blue horizon screening when I get some money! Also got great advice here about vitamins and minerals. I remember feeling good when I started taking magnesium. This site has been amazing, way better than any gps Ive seen. Xx
I'm glad to hear you're recovering well! And yes, you're right, this site has saved lives, it's a certitude.
I know. Hope you find solutions that work for you soon x
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