You were taking 1gr of NDT split into two doses. 1 grain is equal to around 100mcg of levo. So your doctor halved your dose at a stroke so I think that's why you don't feel so good.
Blood tests were invented for levothyoxine alone (T4) so they cannot correspond if we take NDT which is T4, T3, T2, T1 and calcitonin. Your FT3 is low should be nearer 4.
Thanks shaws. Sustained Release T3- by a compounded pharmacy. I was very ill on 1 grain.
my post a bit confusing. Sorry.
On one grain felt terrible. Then early this week switched to 5omcg of t4 and cytomel 5 mcg twice a day.
I would take the t4 at 7 am . The cytomel around 11 and 5. Crying, chills, muscle weakness, ache- just ill.
Last night I started the SRT3 7.5 mcg
So...., as of last night:
I am taking
7am- t4 50mcg AND SRT3 7.5
7pm-SRT3 7.5
I posted a more detailed history on different thread....not sure how to link it here. It gives info about doing t3 /cytomel only this time last year and had AMAZING 5 weeks- then crashed. I'm guessing it is bc of t4 being cleared out of body. Dr said I was not on enough t3- but I did NOT feel any better increasing the dose.
Dr Lowe who was an expert on T3 would not recommend sustained T3. He studied about T3 and he took it himself. He took his dose in the middle of the night so nothing interfered with the uptake either before or after his dose. Due to hypo our digestion is slow.
We have to have an empty stomach before and after taking T3 and it is the only Active Thyroid Hormone required to run our whole metabolism.
He only prescribed it for his Resistant patients, otherwise he prescribed NDT.
The aim is a TSH of 1 or below with a FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of the range most of all the patient has no clinical symptoms and feels well.
I have read that sustained release T3 isn't recommended by a doctor who was also an Adviser to Thyroiduk.org.uk before his untimely death.
All his thyroid hormone resistant patients took T3 only. One daily dose. He himself took 150mcg in the middle of the night, so definitely nothing interfered with his dose.
According to Dr Lowe T3 is needed to saturate all of our T3 receptor cells and is the only Active Thyroid Hormone. Levothyroxine is inactive and has to convert to T3 but often we're underdosed and doctors try to keep our results within the TSH range when we should have it at 1 or lower.
I also take T3 only. I take one daily dose when I awake with one glass of water and wait an hour before eating. I am well with no clinical symptoms. The problem when splitting doses is that our T3 receptor cells may not have sufficient at a time: we have to have an empty stomach before swallowing T3 and if we've eaten protein then, as our digestion is slow, we have to wait about 2 to 3 hours before taking next dose. Your life then revolves around being hypo rather than forgetting we're ill with no clinical symptoms.
If on T3 only you start on a dose and it is always taken with one full glass of water and wait an hour before eating. After 2 weeks add 1/4 tablet always taking note of your clinical symptoms (or relief of) and so on every 2 weeks until you feel much better with relief of symptoms. Take pulse/temp several times a day when starting and if either goes too high as you progress drop to the previous dose. Hopefully this will be you optimum dose.
Dr Lowe only took a blood test for the initial diagnosis and thereafter it was all about how the patient 'felt'. I shall also give you another link from Dr L as he was so disgusted about how we are diagnosed/treated he wrote a book. I only have three chapters but I'll give you one.
What we have to do in order to recover. It is worth it though when our symptoms are relieved.
(I am not medically qualified but had undiagnosed hypothyroidism for a long time and didn't get well with levo and had far more clinical symptoms than before being diagnosed).
If you have a sensitivity start on 1/2 tablet of T3 (12.5) of 25mcg T3.
Hi - well first off you really need to stop jumping around between meds and give your body a chance to settle with something. Timescales with thyroid are long, 6 weeks between dose increases of t4 for instance, as it does take the body time to settle. Second, since you have been taking meds with an element of t3, you really need to have all your nutrients at optimum levels for it to be accepted and work effectively with your body. I have looked back at your earlier post and see that you are less than optimum for both vit d3 (optimum 100-120) and ferritin (optimum 100-130). I can't see any result for folate or vit b12? You say that your health appeared to crash after an anaesthetic - that suggests b12 could be an issue as some anaesthetics severely deplete it.
So, for ease of reference, could you give us the latest results you have for all of these, with the ranges, and we will be able to advise a bit better.
In the context of hypothyroid, tests on adrenals (cortisol, dhea, etc) and hormones, can be a bit of a red herring initially until thyroid levels are normalised. This is because all of these both interact with and are dependent on thyroid hormones for stability. These will frequently correct themselves, though a few do need extra measures, once thyroid levels are sorted. And in the context of t3, nutrients are often the starting point and the rest may be just noise.
hi startagaingirl. thanks for reply. I don't have b12 / folate labs, but actually will schedule to have these nutrients measured. in the past (very old labs- can't put my hands on them0, my b12 is typically top of range or over. I do take a b vitamin- I guess practitioner assumes it is enough.
This time last year, I had such a beautiful response to t3 only and crashed in 5 weeks. From my other post, I eventually went off all thyroid meds for 8 weeks this summer. I felt terrible- but not as badly as restarting them. I feel so ill - don't get out of bed. i guess I'm not confident that I am on the right track. so hard to believe someone can be so incapacitated in life and not have something that is very obviously wrong. sorry to whine. feel very very hopeless.
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