T3 dose

Hello

Im thinking of switching to t3 for a trial period..im currently on 175 levothyroxine so how much t3 would i need?plus if i wanted to add 25 t3 to levo how much would i have to drop the thyroxine to please

[Greekchick]

Hello there!

My pharmacist has told me that 25 mcg of levo equals 5 mcg T3. So for example, if you are on 100 mcg of levo, you will need to take 75 mcg of levo and 5 mcg of T3.

In your case, with 175 of levo as your dose, you would need to reduce your levo by 25 mcg to 150 mcg and add 5 mcg of T3 as a starting dose. You may need to add more T 3 and lower your levo as well, of course, as you see how you feel on each dose change. Keep a record of your dose changes - don’t do it in an ad hoc way .

Please note - you can’t really just switch over immediately. You will have to introduce T3 very slowly - you can increase once every week. Otherwise it is very hard on your body. Some people go up by 5 mcg increments at a time. I am much more conservative and began with only 2.5 mcg at a time and added 2.5 each week. But that’s just me!

Also, there are other forum members who use different numbers. Please ask your pharmacist about this too - I am neither a doctor nor a pharmacist and this is just what I was told and doing myself. I don’t know what your condition is and so I am not telling you this is the right dosing.

Hope this is helpful and wishing you all the best.

[Hidden in reply to Greekchick]

Thankyou

[MaisieGray]

There is no agreement about what constitutes an equivalent dose because you are comparing apples and pairs; but often here, and in other fora I've been in, some members will use a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio but there is no hard and fast rule because in effect it's only a rule of thumb. So your 25 mcg T3 might be considered the equivalent of c75 - 100 mcg T4 by some; but often when people swap they can end up taking a dose that doesn't necessarily bear resemblance to what they thought they might, based on what they were taking previously.

[NWA6]

This is how I think of it and ofcourse everyone is different but I was on 175 Levo. Reasonably well (although with hindsight I now realise that I was never optimal) until 6mths after starting this I experienced Hyper symptoms. We were bang in the middle of house renovations and it was stressful. I was only given TSH test over a 6mth period (about 3 blood tests) which was suppressed at 0.03, so my Dr was adamant that I needed to decrease. I only agreed because I didn’t know any better and because my periods stopped and I had such anxiety and fight/flight feelings.

Anyway so ofcourse I went Hypo again and started looking at why I am not stable on Levo.

My history of FT3 showed that my FT3 has never been above 3.9 (3.5-6.5) so long story short I’m not a good convertor and even with ever increasing T4 I’ve never had a high t4 result either.

So in April I was on 175x2 and 150x5. I then dropped that to 150x2 and 125x5 and added 15mcg per day. I initially spilt it into 3 and from day 1 it lifted my mental health. No side affects at all and for the first time in my life I was tired at night and fell into a beautiful sleep. So after 2wks I decided on 10mcg in the morning and 5 at night. After 8wks I had my first blood test. 4.8(3.5-6.5) and so I upped my dose to 20mcg because I still had some constipation and heavy painful periods. Now they’ve gone.

The ONLY and I mean the only! Side affect that I’m not too keen on is the dreams! I used to be able to tell you hand on heart that. I never dreamed, well occasionally but you know, as a rule I’d say 98% of the time I’d never dream. Now I dream ever night and it’s soooo vivid, sometimes weird or surreal but never horrid. So if that’s the only downside, I’ll take it 🍻

I know everyone should take it slow and I’m only new to it all but my body is just soaking up T3 like it’s nothing, they’re definitely my happy pills, I’ve told my husband of 25yrs that he’d best watch out or I’ll be trading him in for a younger model 😂

[vocalEK in reply to NWA6]

The only time I had vivid dreams was when I wore a 25 mg nicotine patch overnight.

[NWA6 in reply to vocalEK]

Ooooo yes! I did that once years ago! Similar thing but the patches produced more subsisted dreams! Lol

[jacrjacr]

be aware t3 is entirely different..i had to start with extremely low doses because it can feel like someone gave you something to make you hyper at first....and it only stays in the system a few hours so you need to split the dose through the day....which is why many take t3 t4 combo...t4 is a storage hormone to convert to t3...and t3 goes immediately in your system

[greygoose in reply to jacrjacr]

T3 has a half life of 24 hours in the blood. That means that this time tomorrow, there will be have as much T3 in your blood as there is right now. But, that doesn't matter because you top it up every day so the level stays constant. And, what gets into the cells stays there for about three days. Plenty of people do very well taking all their T3 in one go. Some do even better taking it in one go than splitting the dose because a higher concentration of T3 round the receptors means that more gets into the cell than from the low concentration that you would get from a split does.

[NWA6 in reply to greygoose]

I might try this after my next blood test.

[jacrjacr in reply to greygoose]

wow I didn't know that....good to know

[Kittymeowmeow42]

I self-medicate T3. I didn't stop my T4 dosage, but started by adding the smallest possible dose of T3 (quarter of a tablet) then after 2 weeks i added more if i needed it. You know if your taking too much or too little. Good Luck!

[Costindinu]

T3 is 3-4 times more powerful than T4. So instead of 100 mcg of T4 tou‘ll need 25-33 mcg of T3. I would go by a ratio of 3x. Problem is: you have to split the T3 dose in 2 and take it at 6-8 hours apart, because the half life of T3 is 4-6 hours according to some specialist, and 6-10 days for T4. But the half life of T4 is dependent upon some factors of need like sleep deprivation. It wil also depend upon selenium availability. It is a subject worth searching for, so there is no easy or quick answer.

[SilverAvocado]

My advice would be to try T4+T3 first rather than trying to switch over to T3-only. Some people do need to be on T3-only, but that's more unusual, and the only way you find out is by giving T4+T3 a good trial first.

Be careful to add the T3 slowly at first, because some people have a bad reaction. My anecdotal view is that if you're undernedicated and have been for a long time, that makes it more likely you'll struggle to add T3.

Personally I'd also want to look at a few blood tests to decide what to do. If you're quite undermedicated you might want to add 2.5 or 5mcg without reducing any T4. But if your current dose is roughly right for you, you want to keep the total amount of hormone as stable as you can.

Ideally you want to be able to interpret your own blood tests, because you'll need that to monitor yourself down the line.

[Greekchick]

Hi again,

I would also add that you will have to experiment with the timing of dosage. I found the afternoon dose didn’t help much - I do better with everything in the morning. Others do better on a split dose. This is all so individual - thyroid is complicated and one size does not fit all. There are different experiences here on the forum. The only constant is that and error is the only way - and it takes time and patience. Good luck!

[Angel_of_the_North]

Well, that depends on your free t4 and free T3 levels. You might need to reduce levo and add a small amount of T3, or you might need to add T3 to current dose of levo. 25mcg of T3 is about 75-100mcg levo equivalent

[SassyMH]

Hello, I have just started on T3. My dose was 175mcg T4 and I am now taking 150mcg T4 and 10mcg T3. I came to this amount on the advice of a Prof at local hospital. I had hoped to get an appointment with him but off course I do not meet CCG guidelines so I contacted him (via his secretary) saying that I intended to buy T3 and needed to know the equivalent T4/T3 and his reply was "I typically convert 50mcg T4 to 20mcg T3." On advice from others I have started low and intend to increase if necessary, luckily my GP has said she will check my bloods every 6 weeks until we get it right. Good Luck

[Hidden in reply to SassyMH]

Thankyou