Nothing appears to work

[hankpym]

One month of 25mcg of T3 (LA Pharma Cytomel) did nothing for me at all so for the last month I tried 1 grain of Thyroid S in the morning and 25mcg of the T3 in the evening.

I didn't feel any different and my blood test has just come back as the following.

TSH 1.8

Free T4 7.6

Free T3 4.48

So apart from my T3 dropping again (6 month in a row it has deteriorated) and T4 dropping dramatically. Not much has changed. All types of Thyroid medication appears to make no dent in my profile at all apart from making things worse.

If the aim is to get free T3 and free T4 firmly in top half of range the it appears the more stuff I take the more my numbers go in the opposite direction.

This time I made sure to take the last of the T3 exactly 12 hours before the blood test.

Not sure where to go next to be honest - try another brand? I can only get a very low dose of Levothyroxine from my doctors (32mcg) and they absolutely refuse to up my dose.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

We have read a number of people finding LA Pharma liothyronine seems "weak". Quite what that means in number terms (e.g. how 25 micrograms compares with Pfizer (King) Cytomel or whatever), I simply do not know.

But if that and 32 micrograms of levothyroxine (odd amount?) is all you are taking, it is no surprise that your FT4 and FT3 have dropped.

(Do you have the reference ranges? Just the result doesn't mean that much.)

Although T3 dosing varies considerably, a daily dose of 60 to 75 micrograms (the equivalent of three tablets a day) is widely mentioned in official document ssuch as Patient Information Leaflets for T3-only regimes.

[hankpym in reply to helvella]

No I don't take the Levothyroxine. I take the Cytomel with 1 grain of Thyroid S. I am prescribed so little Levothyroxine I am saving it up so I can try an extended 50mcg or 75mcg trial to see if that can work for me.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

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

These four vitamins need to be optimal for any thyroid hormones to work well. That's Levo, NDT or T3

Taking any dose of T3 almost inevitably lowers your own thyroid production considerably (or shuts it down completely)

So, if for example you need roughly 100mcg Levothyroxine plus 20mcg T3 per day from your own thyroid making hormones....If you then take 20mcg T3 your thyroid switches off.....but your still short of the equivalent of 100mcg Levothyroxine

Trying different brand of Liothyronine is one option

You could try initially to self treat with Levothyroxine to bring TSH down. Slowly increaseing the dose, 25mcg each time. Retest 6-8 weeks after each dose increase. Once TSH gets down to around one and FT4 is in top third of range, if FT3 remains low then you can look at adding small dose of T3.

When taking any dose of T3 it must be exactly same dose everyday.

At a loss as to why so many medics refuse to treat you correctly.

Are you very skinny?

[hankpym in reply to SlowDragon]

Skinny? no I am very muscular, ex-army and so have always been very active. Vitamins are firmly in range now so that is not the problem.

The Endo was adamant a month ago that if my TSH was below 5 then I do not need an increase. In fact he said as I was now in range I am fixed so should stop taking any thyroid treatment now.

[Peanut31 in reply to hankpym]

Hi

Is this correct your endo said

“I am fixed so should stop taking any thyroid treatment now”

If that’s correct I wouldn’t bother seeing the endo again.

You will be on thyroid medication for life, and another alarm bell ringing,

“My TSH was below 5 so I do not need an increase as in range”.

As reallyfedup said your TSH is above 1 and you have low T3 & T4.

You can purchase Levothyroxine privately or increase your NDT?

Presume you purchase NDT privately?

Best wishes

Peanut31

[hankpym in reply to Peanut31]

I had no idea I could purchase Levo privately, how is that done? I thought I required a prescription?

Both Endo's I have seen have been clueless on a number of things. I only still go as they seem to keep giving me blood tests which saves me money.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to hankpym]

Have you recently stopped smoking?

verywellhealth.com/cigarett...

This can increase likelihood of being hypothyroid for upto two years after quitting

Ever head trauma or whiplash?

Both can cause hypothyroidism too

theinvisiblehypothyroidism....

Or other severe trauma can upset Thyroid

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/313...

Suggest you email Dionne at Thyroid Uk for list of recommended thyroid specialists

[Angel_of_the_North]

Most people I've heard from reckon that LA Pharma is very poor (or even useless)

[Myro]

You are thinking about dose. Think about symptoms of hipotiroditis hipertiroidis and lack of iodine and conseqvences. Next thing to be chacked is estrogen progesterone ratio, cortisole level, vitamin D, selenium, D12 metilcobalmine ... Chain breake in most weak part. And thiroid, iodine, adrenal hormone, insulin and many more things are very long chain. I suggest to go on diet for person with troubles with low blood sugar. No much cost but worth to try. Analise goitrogens food and chemical staff in your environment. It cofuse chain.