Why am I so tired?

[Eshep]

I was taking 18.5mg of T3 and was undermedicated and felt like crap. I want to have another child, and I know you need to have t4 in order to do that, and docs don't like a pregnant woman on just t3. So I decided to add t4 (Synthroid) 37.5mcg. It helped with some of my symptoms, but I believe I dropped my t3 dose too soon (after 2 weeks on t4 I dropped my t3 dose to 9.5mcg. Is this likely the reason for my extreme fatigu? I was thinking that the t4 would make up for the missing t3. I have now been waiting a month and I am still so tired. My question is, did I cut the t3 back too much too soon? And why didn't the t4 make up for the amount of t3 I decreased. I do not have an issue converting. Did I just not wait long enough or was my dose too low?

[greygoose]

I think it's more complicated than that. You said you were under-medicated on 18.5 mcg T3. So, you then went and replaced it with 37.5 mcg T4, which is the equivalent of 12.5 mcg T3 - so you reduced your dose when you were already under-medicated. T4 takes six weeks to be fully synthesised in the body, but you dropped your dose of T3 after two weeks only. So, yes, you are grossly under-medicated, and that's without taking into account how well or how badly you convert, and that is why you are so fatigued. You're taking practically nothing! Why didn't you add in 50 mcg T4, which is a normal starting dose? And then wait six weeks before lowering your T3.

[Eshep in reply to greygoose]

I am new to all of this.

Do you think raising my dose of t4 to 62.5mcg and t3 to 15mcg will help me get where I need to be? Or should I just go up to 75mcg t4?

[greygoose in reply to Eshep]

You should never raise both at the same time. I thought your aim was to cut out the T3 and be on T4 only, no? In which case, just increase the T4. But I don't understand why these strange doses. 62.5 mcg? What size are your tablets? A starter dose is normally 50 mcg, and increases 25 mcg every 6 weeks. Can you not just increase to 50, hold for six weeks and then go up to 75? You must not increase by too much at a time, or too often. You can't 'get to where you want to go' in one leap. And, to be honest, I'm not even sure where you want to go. What are you trying to do?

[Eshep in reply to greygoose]

Good question. I am just so sick of feeling like complete crap constantly. I got a little over zealous and now I'm worse off than I was. I thought of raising the t3 back so I would feel a little less terrible until the new higher t4 level kicked in. My goal is to reduce the t3. But if I have gone to fast, I thought I might should go back closer to where I was and start this process over.

I actually raised my t4 dose after a month of 37.5mcg to 62.5mcg about two weeks ago. But I haven't had any relief since lowering my t3 too quickly.

I'm at a loss for what to do because I feel so much worse than I did and I have to function because I have a 9 month old.

I need to be more patient it sounds like. The strange dosages are from only increasing t4 doses by 12.5, which clearly I regret now.

I was desperate to feel better so I thought maybe raising my t3 dose back up a bit would give me some relief until the higher dose t4 kicked in.

Should I just stop where I am and stay on the 62.5mcg and 15mcg of t3 for the next 6 weeks until testing and see how I feel at that point?

[greygoose in reply to Eshep]

OK, I understand better, now. I would suggest you leave your T4 as it is for now, and put your T3 back up to the old dose, tomorrow. Then just hold things as they are for six weeks. You really need to build your T4 up slowly, before you start reducing your T3. And that is going to take a while. So, yes, lots of patience is needed. In the meantime, you need to feel the best you can, of course. So, just put your T3 dose up again, no need to restart completely from the bottom.

[Eshep in reply to greygoose]

Thanks Greygoose!

[greygoose in reply to Eshep]

You're welcome.