T3 on full or empty stomach?

[Welchy1]

Hi,

So I'm taking a T4/T3 combo but am looking to increase my dose of T3 in order to get it up in the top 25% of the reference range (as recommended - as I still have symptoms).

I understand that T4 needs to be taken an hour after food and 4 hours after any calcium or iron rich food but do the same rules apply for T3? I'm assuming not as it is the active hormone unlike T4...

Your collective feedback/ wisdom would be great as ever!

Thanks in advance,

Welchy

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

I have always understood that thyroid hormone should be taken on an empty stomach, one hour before or two hours after food, and I take that to mean Levo, T3 and NDT. I may be wrong, but to be on the safe side I take my T3 on an empty stomach.

[Welchy1 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks Seaside Susie... I also read that T3 could be taken sublingually to avoid absorption issues in the gut.. I take it that's not been your experience?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Welchy1]

Everything I have read says that T3 shouldn't be taken sublingually because the molecules are too big to be absorbed that way. I've never tried it, don't see the point. It's designed to be swallowed with a glass of water, same as Levo.

[Welchy1 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks

[shaws Administrator in reply to Welchy1]

No thyroid hormones can be taken sublingually, the reason being is that the molecules are too large to be absorbed by the tongue. Therefore, you are not absorbing the amount you are putting in your mouth.

[BadHare]

It's an hour before & two hours after food, & 4 hours away from other supplements.

[heathermr]

I am on T3 only and take all of my T3 sublingually in small doses throughout the day. T3 molecules are perfectly capable of passing straight into the blood stream from the mouth. The myth that the molecules are "too large to pass into the blood stream" is literally just a myth. The science is that all the cells that line the blood stream are the same size be they in the stomach, gut or mouth and T3 passes easily through these cells dropping the sodium part once in the blood stream. In this way the T3 can get to work quickly and easily and it saves trying to fit doses in between food, vitamins and other medications.

Heather

[shaws Administrator in reply to heathermr]

Some may take thyroid hormones sublingually but I doubt it will provide the benefit that one full dose, on an empty stomach, with one glass of water does. This is due to the fact that T3 has to saturate all of the billions of T3 receptor cells. Its work then begins and that one dose lasts between one to three days.

All Thyroid Hormones should be taken once daily. Why would someone want to make life more difficult. It's bad enough to take thyroid hormones for our whole remaining lifetime. Also by splitting doses our lifestyle isn't normal as we have to interrupt our day by continually nibbling tablets throughout the day and may have to take a larger dose than would be required.

Excerpt:

Our long clinical experience shows that in general, patients respond far better to T3 alone than they do to T4 alone. Moreover, our safety monitoring of patients shows that the responsible use of T3 alone is as safe as the use of T4 or T4/T3. By "responsible use," of course, I mean employing the same precautions that are appropriate to the use of any thyroid hormone product.

January 30, 2002

Question: I'm a physician who has just begun using T3 in my practice. One thing I am concerned about is the short half-life of T3. Shouldn't patients divide their daily dose up and take part of it at least twice each day, or instead use sustained-release T3? It seems that this would allow the effects of T3 to continue through the day rather than stop midway or in the evening?

Dr. Lowe: The short time that T3 is in the circulating blood isn't the limit of its beneficial effects on the body. When T3 binds to T3-receptors on genes, the binding regulates the transcription of mRNAs, and the mRNAs are later translated into proteins. The transcription and translation initiated by the binding of T3 to T3-receptors occur in waves, and these waves far outlast the T3 that started them at the chromosomes. Moreover, the newly synthesized proteins themselves far outlast the transcription and translation. As a result, a single dose of T3 will be long gone from the patient's system before he or she experiences most of the benefits of that dose a molecular and metabolic yield that may smoothly spread out over one to three days.

web.archive.org/web/2010103...

[heathermr in reply to shaws]

I find that taking T3 sublingually works far better as it all reaches the blood stream quite quickly and saturates the cells giving me an instant get out of bed and get going kick! Taking the tablets via the stomach does have its problems- the minute you swallow them the stomach acid is generated and it will work on the medication digesting it. The problem is that once started the process does not stop and some of the T3 will be digested completely before it can be absorbed in the gut ready for passage into the blood stream. Taken sublingually all of the T3 reaches the blood stream saturating the cells ready for action- none is lost to digestion.

I had enough of a fight to get T3 and my Endo would only prescribe it under condition that it was taken under a multi-dose regime. I have tried taking it all in one dose but even a large dose of 75mcg does not last all day and I am exhausted by the afternoon. I also have Hypothyroidal dementia and my husband can tell when I have missed a dose as I become very muddled and confused. I also have epilepsy and have been told to keep using the multi-dose system as they thought a large single dose of T3 might have triggered fits. Nothing was ever proven so I continue on my multi-dose regime.

Heather

[Welchy1 in reply to shaws]

Thank you Shaws, that's super insightful and something I can probably share with my Endo

[shaws Administrator]

You can take both together with one glass of water on a fasting stomach .

[Babette]

T3 can be taken one hour after food. Don't have anything other than water for an hour afterwards.