Hi there,
Just want to wish you all a merry Christmas and happy new year, I know it's very hard over the holidays if you are feeling unwell but hopefully you all can have as good a Christmas as possible.
I've had a great amount of advice about various things, but this is where I'm at now. I recently saw an endo on the NHS he was very understanding and advocates t3 use but says in our area it's not available on the NHS. So he said I could arrange to see him privately and he would give me a prescription that way and I could source it from wherever was cheapest for me. I haven't been able to afford the private consultation fee, so I've managed to source some from somewhere anyway. I should get it soon, I've spoken to my gp and he is happy to support me taking it and try to sneak in a t3 test on my thyroid monitoring. I've just had a medichecks thyroid ultravit rt3 and am awaiting the results, so won't start t3 until I have these. All nutrients are fine and i take a combination that works for me. I've spent quite a few years sorting d, b12, zinc, magnesium, iron, folate, probiotics, fish oil, vit c etc. Also gluten free and I've cut dairy. I've been working my way through the list of things to sort before starting t3 and I still feel bad, I know it's the thyroxine, I have felt progressively unwell and disabled since being on it. In comparison I was fine before thyroxine!
My questions are
1. really where do I start with dosing as although the gp wants to help he is really guided by tsh heavily and I know that's not the full story. I have 25mcg tabs coming that can be broken into 4, I've been told they have scores on them to break into 4.
2. Where would you start with dosing t3? And should I expect any nasty side effects?
I'd rather be expecting it than it sneak up on me and I panic. I know it's best to dose more than once in a day as half life is 4 hours roughly, the endo told me this as well. I am discharged from endos NHS list, waiting to hear if I could rejoin. Im nervous about t3 as I have POTS and I have heard t3 can cause horrible palpitations, I get plenty of those already and take beta blockers.
3. I take dihydracodeine and bisoprolol, I read recently they are contraindicated with thyroxine, does anyone know why this is? No dr has ever told me it's an issue.
4. The other issue that showed up on the tests endo did was a low serum cortisol. It was pretty low so I had an urgent Synacten test and that was fine, endo was happy that synacten was "Normal" no further action.. but I wonder can I still have issues with cortisol if a synacten is ok?
I'm on alternate day differing doses of thyroxine, 1 day I have 150mcg and next have 125mcg, and I keep rotating like that. This dose has helped a few symptoms but I find after an increase I get hyper symptoms, that's a change from hypo, but slowly they return, so I've been on this a round 2-3 months now and most hypo symptoms are back. I'm freezing, gaining weight, puffy and swollen, ache all over and exhausted.
I cannot wait for this to change I am sick to my stomach of thyroxine!!!!
Thanks so much in advance for any advice x