Help with dosing of t3

[Ava1986]

My last blood test were

Tsh 0.8 (0.4-4)

T4 20 ( 9-25)

T3 4.1 (3.8- 7.8)

I was only taking 125mcg of levo. Still had horrendous symptoms; severe constipation, weight gain, tiredness, hair falling out and vision issues.

I am now taking t3 at 6mcg twice a day morning and afternoon and have reduced t4 to 100mcg. I am going to the toilet more frequent and have more energy but other symptoms remain.

Where do I go from here as I don't know wether to increase t3, reduce t4 etc but would be nice if my eyes wernt constantly blurry dispite a perfect eye test.

[Nanaedake]

Hello Ava. Some of your problems could be low nutrition, vitamin or mineral deficiencies which we seem to suffer from when hypothyroid.

One of the admins posted this the other day about hair loss.

healdove.com/disease-illnes...

It would be a good idea to get your doc to test vitB12, vit D, folate, ferritin since our thyroid meds don't work efficiently unless all of these are optimal.

[Ava1986 in reply to Nanaedake]

Interesting read but I can't see it being the issue as I take healthspan vegetarian multi vits daily. I would imagine they would be enough on top of a healthy diet of salad, veg and fruit?

[Nanaedake in reply to Ava1986]

Have you had your vitamin levels tested with a blood test? If not, how do you know whether you have deficiencies or not? How do you know whether the multivitamins are the right thing to be taking?

If you do actually have deficiencies, multivitamins don't contain anything near enough to address them. A lot of multivitamins contain iron which interact with levothyroxine unless taken at least 4 hour apart and the iron can interact with other vitamins in the preparation I believe. I'm no expert, just reading and learning along with everyone else on here.

Hypothyroidism causes low stomach acid and PH imbalance and it seems as though this likely causes problems with vitamins absorption from even an excellent health diet. So many people here have found it necessary to check vitamins and then supplement in addition to eating a very healthy diet, often going gluten free if they have thyroid antibodies.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Ava1986]

Ava1986 Multivitamins don't contain enough of anything to be of any help, and frequently use the wrong and least absorbable form of ingredients.

Is this the one you take healthspan.co.uk/shop/vitam... size=120

B12 - 10mcg- if you had a B12 level lower than 500 you'd need at least 1000mcg daily and they use Cyanocobalamin which is the wrong form, methylcobalamin is best

D2 - 10mcg - 400iu. If you had a Vit D level of less than 50 you'd need something like 5000iu daily if taking D3, it's believed D2 is less effective

Calcium - 200mg - shouldn't be supplemented unless tested and found deficient

Iodine - 150mcg - shouldn't be supplemented unless tested and found deficient

Iron - 14mg - iron will cancel out everything else, it must be taken at least 2 hours away from other supplements as it affects their absorption

Zinc Oxide - wrong form, usually found in ointments for burns

Folic acid - should be methylfolate

You really should test your levels and supplement what's necessary at the appropriate dose. Thyroid hormone can't work unless nutrient levels are optimal.

Vit D

B12

Folate

Ferritin

[Ava1986 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Yes they are the ones I think, package is different.

[Ava1986]

I will need to find the letter but it said something about vitamin d and ferritin? Being ok, to be fair I don't have the best consultant hence my decision to self medicate with t3, thus the question on what I should do next in regards to t3 and t4. When I take the t3, after an hour I feel amazing and my energy levels return but by the evening I feel vile but I work 12 hour shifts two days, two nights as I am a paramedic and just want to be able to adjust my meds so that I can give patients 100%. But scared of going hyper.