Can you lower dose from 25 to 6.25 in one go?

[Clara9]

Am running out of t3 the ones I ordered didn't come. Latest results showed too much t3. Can I lower dose from 25 to 6.25 in one go since I need to decrease meds and need to save the ones I have left as long as possible to new ones come in post?

[Clutter]

Clara9,

Yes. If you feel overmedicated you can skip T3 for 2-3 days to let the T3 wash out and then resume 6.25mcg.

[Clara9 in reply to Clutter]

Don't really know if I'm overmedicated it's so hard to know. I have a very short temper. Seems like I was able to cycle and run a bit on lower dose.

Thank you for your help

[cazlooks in reply to Clara9]

you can get over-medicated with t4's, but I was told by my consultant that t3's will be washed out of the system within hours, and that the body didn't store them.

I'm on NatureThroid and take 1 grain in the morning, 1 grain noon, then 1/2 grain evening. Without these the old knackered feelings start within hours; if I increase to 1 grain in the evening instead of 1/2 I have massive hyper-activity and I don't need a test to know that when I'm feeling that good I'm over-medicated

So, from my understanding and experience, when you reduce you will simply have a lot of tiredness so don't book yourself into any parties, and you may be vulnerable to virus's etc so take care of yourself.

It's confusing that different people have been told different things about t3. I wonder which is true?

[dizzy864]

18 months ago my GP ordered me to reduce my T3 from 3 x 20 mcg tabs a day to 2 and 1/2 tabs a day. I became very tired within 24 hours. Within three days, I had a bit of a headache. By the end of the week, I was feeling really ill. I had a constant, really bad headache. I could not function mentally. I persisted for just over another week before I put myself back up to my original dose. I got an appointment with my Gp a few days later and told him I could not put up with the lower dose any longer. He was not happy! He told me that I should have persisted longer to allow my system to get used to lower dose. I told him I was not going to do that. I was then ordered to reduce my levo from 100mcg to 75 a day. I lasted ten days on that before giving up and putting myself back on the 100mcg. I was so tired and starving. I just kept eating all of the time and was still starving.

My personal belief is that my body does not convert T4 to T3 as I felt so much better almost immediately I was put on T3. Unfortunately, I've not found a Gp or endo that is willing to try and confirm this. From what I've read, my reaction to reducing T3 was quite extreme, which I think supports my theory. I'm sure I'm not alone.

I would strongly advise against such a big reduction in T3. Even my gp wanted me to reduce very gradually. If you can't obtain more T3 quickly, I think your only option is to speak to your gp. Maybe you'll be lucky and he'll give you one prescription for T3.

Good luck.

[LAHs]

You can do that but I think you are going to feel ill. Our bodies are very sensitive to our levels of T3 - you can even feel the difference as the drop off during the day (T3 only hangs around for about 8 hours decreasing slowly). I do not see that you have much option though since you might run out altogether if your new shipment doesn't arrive in time (been there, done that!). You might want to try going to a doc to see if s/he will prescribe a tiny emergency dose of a couple of dozen pills to see you through - that is my plan B if I ever repeat that mess again. Mind you, prepare yourself for some lousy conversations, you will have to knock on more than one door (it took me about 4!)