Going bach to levo T4 only from T3 and ndt

[Eliara2]

Hi,

Im going back from T3 / NDT on levo due to many symptoms. I decreased t3 and increased t4. Now two days im on levo only, but facing strange feelings, dont feel good, like my body is asking for t3. Is this temporary, a transition or I need to worry :/

I thought it is tricky to go / start with t3, but getting back on t4 is even more difficult :(((

[greygoose]

Why didn't you do a direct swop? Why go onto levo only?

How much NDT were you taking?

[Eliara2 in reply to greygoose]

replied bottom.

[Lann1969]

Have you had your blood work done recently? You need to know your free T3 and Reverse T3, I think going back to Levo isn’t going to help you, you need to know if you are low T3 first, give the T3 only a chance , start slow and low and increase weekly and spread out dosage to three times a day when u are at 15mcg , 5 3 x a day then increase by 5. If you are high reverse T3 then you will need to lower T4 or even completely stop if hypo symptoms persist. Be patient especially if your free T3 is under 3.7 (mid high end of range)

[Eliara2 in reply to Lann1969]

replied bottom.

[Eliara2]

greygoose, Lann1969 - I tried NDT, took ~4 months, was at 3.5 grains (FT4 12% and FT3 88%) and got huge throat pain, but the pain was really bad. I didnt know from where it comes, in inet couldnt find any solution eather. I thought, maybe T3 doesnt reach my cells. I was recommended by some fellow to do a T3 only method and see if throat pain goes away. It didnt. I was with T3 with the dose 40mcg and after month FT3 was 43% and FT4 in minus. But I couldnt rise the T3 dose, the feelings just got worse.

So, it gave me understanding, that I cant tolerate that much T3, probably. Bcs of my sore throat, I decided to go with T4 only till my throat will recover. Coming down from T3 to T4, I was taking less T3 and adding T4, but throat didnt get better, so I thought I will remove T3 completely, so my throat recovers faster. After a week on T4, only now I feel some improvement in my throat.

When I will do good with my throat, I will sure mix T4 + T3 or T4 + NDT. Not sure though what would be better to add to my T4 - NDT or T3.

I took LT T4 only ~10 years - 150mcg and did bad all the years.

So my story =(

P.S. in my country I cant make rT3, I need to send the blood test to Germany via my Dr, but it takes time.

[greygoose in reply to Eliara2]

An rT3 test isn't useful, anyway. If your FT4 is high in range, your rT3 will also be high in range. But, if your FT4 is low, and your rT3 is high, you will have no idea why. Many things can cause high rT3, but the test doesn't telly what's causing it. 40 mcg is not such a high dose. I take 68.75 mcg T3. If the T3 is not getting into the cells, you need a high dose to saturate the receptors.

[Eliara2 in reply to greygoose]

yeah, I also thought if I make rT3 and it will be low or somewhere in the middle, anyways it will not say if T3 goes into my cells, since there is no lab value which shows whats happening in the cells.

I couldnt rise my T3 when I was on T3 only, I know I was low. When I tried to rise T3, I got pain in my heart and pressure. And then being low, after month I felt very bad, so I stopped it.

maybe I just cant tolerate high doses of T3. I need T4 :/

[greygoose in reply to Eliara2]

Surely taking a low dose of T3 is better than taking no T3 at all. Unless you have very good conversion. Do you know how well you convert?

Have you had your vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin tested? If they are low, that could be why you can't raise your T3. How about cortisol? Have you had that tested?

You're right. Testing rT3 will not tell you how well the T3 is getting into the cells. Everybody has some rT3, it's a natural process. But, even if it's high, that has nothing to do with how much T3 is getting into the cells.

[Eliara2 in reply to greygoose]

My conversation 8 years back was bad, if I see my old lab values, but in that time I did know nothing about the optimal values of ft3 and ft4. So my FT4 was higher as FT3, and Drs of course have no idea about it as well >:E

After taking many supplements for 5 months last year, my FT3 was higher then FT4, like ft3 55%, ft4 43%. But then I was taking levo 150mcg and needed to go higher. But I started NDT.

I checked all B and D and iron, all fine. Ferritin was low, but took for some time high iron dose, so now it is ~90.

Cortisol in salvia was also fine. All in ranges at least. Im taking some adrenal support supplements as well.

Now I take again 150mcg levo, will have to take after some 6 weeks blood test and see where Im now after ndt and T3 only treatment.

Now I will proceed with T3 veeeeery slowly if I add, otherwise you donno where you are and body really needs much time to adapt to new dose. Or maybe now T4 will be enough, will see. I think, if you add T3, then you can play with it like without the end, lowering T4 and and raising T3 (and the other way around), it is never ending game

Today I feel better already..

[greygoose in reply to Eliara2]

Well, that's good to hear!

But, you're right. It all needs to be done very, very slowly. And we need to learn to read our bodies, and understand what they're telling us. And that isn't always easy.

Good luck!