Thyroid resistance but higher dosage doesn't help?

[confused85]

My situation is very strange. I tried in past many things (NDT, t3 only, t4 only, different brands, different dosing) but I can not find any way to feel better. But still I believe it has to be something about tyhroid hormones because each time I start taking hormones I feel great for 2 days.

I suspected that I have thyroid resistance. I decided to arrange dosage based on how I feel and not based on blood results. But I fail every time. If I take low dose (1 grain of NDT) I don't fell any different. If I go up, if feel more hypo. Higher is the dosage, more hypo I feel.

I tired in past 3 times with huge dosage. I started slowly first with small dosage (50mcg of levo, another try was starting with 25mcg of t3 only). With 50mcg of levo I felt first 2 days great, then on next days the positive changes vanished. After 2 weeks I increased dosage to 100mcg and soon 150mcg per day. I started to fell more hypo (very cold and tired). The exact the same happened when I tried t3 only. I started with 12,5mcg of T3. First 1-2 days I felt really great, had a lot of energy, the difference was very notable. After that I didn't feel any affect any more. And if I tried to add more I started to fell more cold and tired again, even if I tried 75+mcg.

I am so confused. Why I feel so great only for 2 days. One explanation could be that in 2 days my thyroid already starts producing less hormones due feedback loop. Or t3 receptors already detect extra t3 and are less responsive. But then why I don't continue to fell better when I add extra t3. Do anybody have any idea or explanation?

[Applegate]

Have you tried to take an adrenal support? It could be your adrenals that are tired and can’t cope with more. Everything works in synergy. Everyone who is on thyroid meds should be checking their adrenals. It’s the rule of the thumb. Also are you hashimotos or just thyroid.

[Annkapp]

I can only take a very small amount of NDT (I split a 16.25 mcg tab and take only a quarter of it.) because I have similar symptoms. I know it is not enough but it is something and I do get some energy benefit everyday. I have already worked on my adrenals for a few years. They are much improved but still kind of weak. I am now working on improving my liver function by taking NAC (or oral glutathione sometimes). I also have digestive problems which I feel is interfering. Cannot digest fats so taking HCL and pepsin, Bile acids (or bile salts) and Lipase enzymes. Since I have not been digesting fats I am taking fat soluble vitamins A,D,K, E to reverse deficiencies. I am hoping these things help my thyroid to work better on its own or allow me to tolerate a large dose of NDT. (Note: T4 doesn’t seem to do anything for me).

Also my mom is has problems taking enough Thyroid med as well and only takes hers every other day.

I would suggest you try either taking every other day or skipping on your third day since that is when you become intolerant.

Do you find you have any digestive problems? Do you get more fatigued after eating? I would like you feedback on that. Thanks.

[Poppy_the_cat]

Few years back I became thyroid toxic. I was not benefiting from any of the meds I took, even NDT.

I had to take Adrenal support to address Adrenal fatigue, problem is Adrenal fatigue is NOT recognised on NHS.

Recently ran out of Adrenal support, got lost in transit disruption with the snow..all I had was thyroid meds.

They made no difference to me whatsoever taking them on their own. Ten days without and I was on my knees.

Four days after being able to take Adrenal support and I'm starting to come back online...

Try and research it. If your adrenals are not working you will not be able to benefit from your thyroid meds.

Poppy

[SilverAvocado in reply to Poppy_the_cat]

Completely agree with Poppy_the_cat!

[Annkapp in reply to Poppy_the_cat]

Can you tell more about Adrenal support.

Who is the manufacturer? What are the ingredients?

[Poppy_the_cat in reply to Annkapp]

SilverAvocado is absolutely right too.

Our illness is not linear.

Taking one does not fix another.

Our condition is exponentially multifaceted... It's like 5- dimentional dominoes!!

Every element has an effect on several others that all need to be in tandem for it to work.

A Dr once compared the Thyroid to the Conductor of an orchestra. A pretty good image I'd say.

Check all the other components to the orchestra... vitamins, trace elements etc, as well as.

My particular brand of Adrenal support that works for me is;

ADRENAVIVE II.

procepts.eu

There is ADRENAVIVE I, But I found that was too weak, so I had to take too many tablets.

It's a bit trial and error. Like has been said keep a diary. Observe over the days and increase slowly.

Hope this helps.

Poppy the 🐈

[SilverAvocado]

Hi Confused 85, I am a big stickler for taking these things very systematically. The first thing is to make sure the most basic things are working well.

Do you have test results for: ferritin, folate, vit D, vit B12?

The next is to look at each of these trials of different kinds of hormone replacement. Do you have any blood tests before or during the trials? My suspicion in some of what you tried is that you went extremely quickly. For example staying on a T4 dose for 2 weeks and then increasing by 50mcg. Your body won't even be settled on the previous dose yet!

My experience with staying on doses is that symptoms continue to develop and change for several months. To really know whether a dose works for you you've got to try it for at least 6 weeks, and if you can stay a month or two longer than that you will know more. The first few weeks tend to be quite chaotic, sometimes feeling better, worse, new symptoms, etc. Blood tests can give you a big clue about how a specific dose is working.

Similarly, I'd ask you to be systematic with symptoms. On no thyroid replacement what symptoms do you have, how much activity can you do, how sick are you? And then how sure are you that each kind of symptom worsened or improves during the treatment? I find it can be very hard to tell whether I've improved a lot on different dosages, and some symptoms get worse as overall health improves. I take a lot of notes to try and record this, and also take temperature and pulse twice day.

Also, I'm not completely sure the doses you're talking about are high. I am currently on a pretty high dose of NDT, 7 grain. I've slowly raised to this over a 28 month period, at first raising a quarter at a time, but now I raise a half, sticking for at least 6 weeks on each dose. This means I'm completely sure I'm better on this does than any previous one. I've now just hit 6 weeks on this dose, but am going to stick for another couple of weeks because I have been getting more energetic in just the past week, and I want to see how that goes. I will then take a thyroid panel blood test (my freeT3 is currently over range), and probably increase half a grain again.

But in my case it was clear to me that NDT worked better than either T4 or T3, because I had tried both of them before until my blood tests looked optimal. So I was quite lucky in that respect. It sounds like you haven't found any one format feels better than the others, or even feels it is helping at all? The classic treatment for thyroid hormone resistance is a high dose of T3. This means several hundred mcg.

[silverfox7]

Got a completely difference stance on this. You are on a very low dose, increase and feel great then start to feel bad again. It could be that you actually need more medication. I thought back to me early days when I started on a low dose which was just a starter dose to get me body used to it. Retest after 6 weeks and yes needed some more so taking more given you a boost so feeling good but in real terms if that still isn't the right dose again you will feel you are going down hill again till the next increase. As these increases rise the feeling of rubbish after a few days should get less until you are taking whatcisxright for your body so then you feel good every day. Just a thought!