T3 Dosing Help please

[Swanagegirl]

Hi,

For those of you taking only T3 advice please.

How did you take your doses - split doses ?

I was taking T4 worked initially for a year then it stopped working & Reverse T3 test showed off the scale high levels. So stopped T4 & started T3.

I'm on low dose 25mcg split dose.

Blood test results due next week.

However clearly not on enough T3 as piling on weight ( never had a weight problem). I'm eating plant based gluten free diet from December ( was vegetarian gluten free before that).

I want to feel better. I have Hashimoto's (anti bodies super high) also have Addison's Disease - adrenal failure,Pernicious Anaemia, Coeliac Disease,vitiligo plus a few other autoimmune things

[SlowDragon Administrator]

As you are vegetarian and Hashimoto's presumably you have had B12, folate, ferritin and vitamin D tested?

These need to be at good levels. You certainly have a lot on your plate

Some on here take T3 all in one go, often at bedtime

Personally I take 20mcg cut up as 5mcg 4 x day

Plus I take 125mcg T4

You probably need higher dose. 25mcg is not much if not on any Levo as well

Essential to get FT3 tested. Request GP does so. If they put on blood form that you are on T3 only lab should test

[Swanagegirl in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you did bloods today at Hospital so I expect I might be able to get next week.

I have Pernicious Anaemia so self inject B12, Folate was good on last bloods, Ferritin could do with going up & vitamin D good but could go higher.

Yes my life is super stressful. I have two young Adults with same conditions as me plus more both on two medical pumps - I am 24hr carer to them.

[Heloise in reply to Swanagegirl]

Swanagegirl, if you don't take a digestive enzyme or HCL to increase digestion you cannot metabolize minerals which are sooo important for us.

Also, Dr. Lowe was a proponent of T3 only treatment which he himself took and always said to take the whole lot at one time whenever you choose. It has to do with flooding the cells so it is evenly distributed.

[Swanagegirl in reply to Heloise]

Thank you.

Its so tricky to work out whats best. I know ( through blood tests ) that I clear Hydrocortisone super quick . It should last 6 hours but for me I peak the drug in one hour & its gone by end of second hour. So from that I think the likelihood is that the same will happen with the T3.

Please give me some pointers re the digestive enzymes/HCL that you mention.

[Heloise in reply to Swanagegirl]

It would be a good idea to get newsletters from functional medicine doctors. We've had wonderful docu-series from people like Dr. Tom O'Bryan, Izabella Wentz, Datis Kharazzian who is doing research at Harvard University. He recently talked about absorbing minerals and that even the supplements can't be absorbed for the same reason you don't get it from your food. It's actually similar with fats. A well rounded digestive enzyme like this iherb.com/search?sug=digest...

iherb.com/pr/Now-Foods-Beta...

Read the reviews for more information.

Later you can look into proteolytic enzymes later if you are over forty especially. These also help with detoxing of the blood stream.

You are probably going to need 50 mgs. of T3.

[130396 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi

Just seen you’re on combo t4/t3.

Can you tell me what your blood results usually look like on this combination please

[Clutter]

Swanagegirl,

How much Levothyroxine were you taking prior to switching to 25mcg T3?

I used to divide 60mcg T3 daily into 3 x 20mcg doses.

[Saggyuk in reply to Clutter]

Yes, I did the same when on T3 only - 3 x 20mcg. morning, hour before lunch and hour before dinner.

In my experience, I started struggling when my thyroid stopped producing it's own T4 so had to add T4 back in.

Be careful with a restrictive diet, there's loads of things you may be missing that your body and thyroid need

[Clutter in reply to Saggyuk]

SaggyUK,

I took mine roughly every 8 hours.

[Swanagegirl in reply to Clutter]

100mcg of Levo but I don't think was enough - but Dr wasn't that interested in assisting me & then I worked out wasn't working anyway following ReverseT3 test which I did privately.

T3 I have been trying to work out myself.

I will have results of T3 etc next week some time, but from what I was reading in Recovering with T3 Book by Paul Robinson that none of the tests mean that much if you are only on T3.

I did not take my morning doses of T3 before tests.

[Clutter in reply to Swanagegirl]

Swanagegirl,

25mcg T3 is equivalent to 75mcg T4 so you may be undermedicated.

Thyroid tests will show whether you are biochemically under or overmedicated so how can they be meaningless?

If you've been off T4 for a few months rT3 will have cleared. You may want to consider changing to T4+T3 combination.

[Bellaowl in reply to Clutter]

I take 40mcg/ day, 20 in morning, 20 at night. If I take less than this my metabolism goes down quickly- I think this mayb connected with CFS/M.E

I’ve never taken T4 long term- only as an emergency.

Bella 🦉