Raising t3

[Frances0008]

I’ve been taking t3 on top of my t4 for nearly three weeks now.

My t4 had been reduced by my doctor to the point where my t3 was 20% below range, exhausted and in a lot of pain.

In the three weeks since taking t3 I have felt significantly better. Most of the pain has gone and I am able to do basic physical household chores without needing to lie down.

But it’s not all gone. My joints and muscles are still sore tho not really painful. And I’m still tired and sleeping a lot, tho not to the same level.

My question is - how long would you expect it to take before your body recovers from a serious t3 slump? Am I being impatient or should I increase my dose? I have already added 20mg t3, is it wise to add more so soon?

Many thanks

[Frances0008]

Also just to add, I am a poor converter, hence why I am adding t3

[Judithdalston]

I assume your doctor has reduced your T4 because he/she was unhappy about your TSH being too low. So when you were taking more levothyroxin ( with FT4 about 19 in range), how high was your FT3? Have you tested your folate, ferritin, Vit D and B12 to make sure they are optimal in upper end of ranges, to help with good thyroid health and conversion, and take selenium, magnesium, zinc etc? Everyone is different, depends for eg on how long your cells have been short of FT3, and how short.... you might still need more t4 too. I added 25 mcg T3 slowly back in April due to 12 years of poor conversion on levothyroxin only ( and diagnosed with fibromyalgia), reduced my levothyroxin by 50 mcg, to find my FT3 went down, now back on 125 mcg levothyroxin and raised to 37.5 mcg T3 ( not retested yet as had bad Fibromyalgia flare)... and still might need more T3. I am doing this DIY, with help of forum advice, and private purchase of T3. I am amazed that by body has needed so much more T3: my basal temperature has not raised over 36C, nor has my blood pressure/ pulse been raised. Others on forum seem to find just the extra 6.5 mcg T3 is enough to make them feel ok in just a few weeks.

[Frances0008 in reply to Judithdalston]

Hmm yeah. I’m finding that t3 isn’t as powerful as everyone says! I would have thought 20mg would have had more an impact as it’s equivalent t4 value would be 60-100 !! That would put me well over what I’ve been on before. I used to be on 200 t4, got reduced to 125 t4, I crashed badly. My t3 is always about half the range of my t4- so before I had elevated t4 to achieve reasonable t3.... I guess I should test again before raising but I don’t want to be spending all my money on repeated tests every couple of weeks! My resting heart rate was 73 yesterday morning which suggests I’m probably still ok to raise more. Just not sure if I should wait a bit longer....

[Judithdalston in reply to Judithdalston]

I'd certainly give it abit more time, I started on 1/8 th of a 25 mcg pill and did feel it almost immediately- loosened up and removed some pain from my hips my hips, and raised it very slowly as I did have palpitations etc, but with hindsight think it was hypo related as by the time I got to 25 mcg about 6 weeks later ( then on lower levothyroxin too) my palpitations had gone and highish bp also gone down. what brand of T3 are you taking?

[Frances0008 in reply to Judithdalston]

It’s from Greece. Called uniPharma. I’m not getting any palpitations or any signs of being hyper yet. This morning my resting heart rate was 65, and my blood pressure is still sort of high. I’ve still got lingering joint and muscle pains in my right arm, tho it is greatly improved. Not right yet tho. Still weak and tired. It does feel like I could increase it more. I did start from a pretty low place after my doctor kept reducing my t4 until I was a total non functioning mess and loads of pain! How long did you wait to test?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You need to stay on EXACTLY same dose of T3 for 6-8 weeks and retest thyroid and vitamin levels

Usually the advice is to start on 5mcg and increase to 10mcg (2 x 5mcg as split dose) after week or so. Hold at that and retest 6-8 weeks later

As you have already jumped to 20mcg you definitely don't want to go higher without testing

Essential to gave good vitamin levels for T3 or T4 to work

When were vitamin D, folate, B12 and ferritin lasted tested?

What supplements do you take?

Just seen recent results on previous post. Your ferritin was too low at 33. Eating liver or liver pate once a week should help improve.

Or other iron rich foods, plus vitamin C helps improve iron absorption

B12 borderline