T3 new

[Ling477]

Hi I am currently on thyroxine and take 200 per day have been on this for 10 years and always been ok but the last 12 months feel all over the place and put a stone and half on despite healthy eating and excersize am going to doctors to ask about T3 but if he will not give it can you buy this from say holland and Barrett or anywhere else and how do you know how much to take?

[Clutter]

Ling477,

T3 is prescription only in the UK. Many health authorities insist a NHS endo recommendation is required before GPs prescribe T3 and some health authorities have banned the prescribing of T3 due to the extortionate cost in the UK.

If you post your recent TSH, FT4 and FT3 results and ranges members will advise whether you are optimally medicated on 200mcg Levothyroxine.

[Ling477 in reply to Clutter]

Thank you I will get these and post them

[Ling477 in reply to Ling477]

Been to GP and asked about T3 he doesn't feel it will do much but said he is happy to refer me to a specialist, he is running a full blood check of everything vit D, B12 my free T3 levels iron everything as he feels I am deficient in other things and my temp is also low I felt this was good news

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Ling477]

Sounds promising.

Ask GP to test Vitamin D, folate, B12 & ferritin

Do you know if you have Hashimoto's- high antibodies - if not ask for them to be tested

FT3 obviously needs testing......but labs often don't test it, even if GP requests it.

[Ling477 in reply to SlowDragon]

He has requested tests for everything you mentioned, I don't know about hashinotos I was really ill about ten years ago and collapsed and they didn't know what was wrong ran tests and said I had underactive thyroid and had to start thyroxine straight away, I also had to have a blood transfusion I have to periodically have iron transfusions as I don't absorbed iron so my ferritin levels iron stores get really low. I lost around two stone to start with but it's gone back on and I cannot get it off no matter what and have also started with water retention. My GP was good today though he said my weight will be linked to most likely deficency in other things which is why he is testing for other things so wants to check everything. Last time I had bloods done my T4 was 17 and TSH 0.25 whatever that means

[Saggyuk in reply to Ling477]

Any reason why you don't absorb iron - do you have any stomach issues? I couldn't absorb iron either and had water retention and felt awful but a gluten free diet significantly improved my health and deficiencies and many thyroid peeps find it helps. Might be worth a try

[Ling477]

I had every test done why but they couldn't find anything so now I just have the transfusions as and when I need them I might try a gluten free diet will need to research it though but will give it a go

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Ling477]

If you have Hashimoto's (and in UK it's by far the most common reason for being hypo ) then you may well find going gluten free really helps

Apparently, according to Izabella Wentz, the Thyroid Pharmacist, about 80-90% with Hashimoto's feel better gluten free, but only about 5-10% are coeliac

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...