T3

[rocky1608]

Hello I have now been prescribed t3 from Dr Toft as of 6th June. He cut my thyroxine from 300mcg to 150mcg and added 25mcg of t3 which I take half in the morning and half the afternoon. I have now been taking this for nearly a month and feel no different but have put on another half stone.Help.

[greygoose]

Good lord! He's given you a massive reduction in dose, there! Should have been 100 mcg tops. I thought he was supposed to know something about thyroid...

[rocky1608 in reply to greygoose]

I'm not due back to see Dr Toft until Sept.I don't know what to do as I can't stay at this dose till then.I thought adding t3 would help the way I feel plus help with my weight.

[greygoose in reply to rocky1608]

Well, it would, if you were taking enough of it. But, he reduced your levo too far and the T3 is not enough to compensate.

[rocky1608 in reply to greygoose]

Can I ask what levels you think I should be at please ?

[greygoose in reply to rocky1608]

Do you mean what dose you should be taking? Well, a good start would be reducing by 25 mcg levo, and adding in 6.25 T3. Then increase the T3 by 6.25 every two weeks until you get to 25, hold for six weeks and retest. I think his dose changes were much too brutal. If you don't convert very well, then starting on 25 mcg T3 would be quite a shock to the system. Personally, I would want to go more slowly and more gently.

[rocky1608 in reply to greygoose]

So from 300mcg to 275mcg?

Do you think I should go back up from 150 to 275?At the moment I just feel crap like I did on 300mcg.

As my next appt isn't until Sept I'm really worried I'll have put on another couple of stone by then plus I am really really emotional too.At the moment I feel like my throat is getting squashed although he did feel my thyroid but said it was fine.Im supposed to be going on holiday in Oct and can't afford to put more weight on which I am doing.

[greygoose in reply to rocky1608]

That would probably be a good idea. But, you'd have to reduce your T3 at the same time. The whole idea is to keep them balanced at this point. Do you have enough levo to do that?

Do you have any blood test results from when you were on T4 only? So that we can see how well you were converting? Presumably Dr Toft did some before putting you on T3, no?

[rocky1608 in reply to greygoose]

I posted my results a month ago on here (blood results on 300mcg thyroxine )they were taken just before I had my appt with Dr Toft.

[greygoose in reply to rocky1608]

Blimey! What a muppet your GP was! You wouldn't need to take 300 mcg levo if there was nothing wrong with your thyroid! lol

Yes, you have a serious conversion problem, that's obvious. But, I think the solution needed more subtle handling. So, if you can, increase your levo to 275 mcg and your T3 to 6.25 mcg and hold it there for two weeks.

Then you can add in another 6.25 mcg T3 and reduce levo by another 25 mcg. And, continue like that until you reach your 25 mcg T3. After that, you can see how you feel, whether or not you need to reduce your T4 any further. I think that might be far gentler on your system. But, it's probably not going to be an easy ride in the immediate future, because it's all been a bit of an upset for you, and your system needs to calm down. OK?

[rocky1608 in reply to greygoose]

So as I up the t3 just take it in one dose rather than split it?I'm supposed to get blood tests before I go to see Dr Toft and my go has already sent me a letter reminding me.Thats the Dr who says there is nothing wrong with me.Dont want to put you on the spot but in your opinion do you think I should leave my appt until I feel better ?

[greygoose in reply to rocky1608]

I think that's what I would do, yes. Once you've got things back on track, you'll be better able to cope with the appt. Tell him what you need, because he doesn't seem to have much idea, really.

Whether you should split your dose is rather a personal thing. Some people - like me - do better taking it all in one go. Others need to split. But, I certainly wouldn't advise splitting 6.25 mcg! It's too small a dose. As you increase, see how you feel, experiment a little. As long as you take it on an empty stomach, two hours after or one hour before food - just like levo.

[rocky1608 in reply to greygoose]

Ok Thank you so much for your help.

[greygoose in reply to rocky1608]

You're welcome.