When to dose T3 when travelling overseas??

[GB44]

I take T3 30mcg slow release for hypothyroid in a single dose at 5:30am normally. I will be travelling from Australia to Europe in a few weeks, and with the major time difference I’m not sure when to take the T3 during travel and in the first few days of getting adjusted to new time clock to keep my body supported (ie. should I take it on my normal body clock or push it to adjust to the Night/day destination)? I’m just not sure how many hours to push my body without it and what the inflow effects might be. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thank you!

[Hidden]

When we travelled Aus to Europe recently I worked out my NDT doses with the time difference and added in an extra small dose to compensate for the long travel day. So - I take X in 24 hours which works out to be y per hour. I ended up with a travel day of z hours so I needed abc dose. Ish. The way my capsules are, this was easy to do. On the first full day there I did strictly my normal doses.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Sorry normal doses by the local clock. So NDT first thing and middle of the day, my other meds at bedtime.

[GB44 in reply to Hidden]

Got it! Thanks so much. Really helpful.

[Aurealis]

My first dose of the day is the highest and I try to take this at the usual morning time at home on my travel day and then take my usual smaller doses every eight hours until it is my usual morning dose time at my destination. Then I take my next morning dose, so that I am taking my meds at the local time at my destination from somewhere in transit. Depending on the time difference sometimes it’s necessary to take a smaller interim dose to last a shorter period, or several extra eight hourly doses, if travelling for 24 hours or so. It can be complicated but it seems to work if you it work out in advance and then set your watch to the time of destination as soon as you’re on the plane. Best to write down where and what time you took each dose as with long journeys and jet lag it is easy to forget what you’ve taken. Have a great time.

[GB44 in reply to Aurealis]

Thank you so much for this info. I really appreciate it.

[MikeM46]

Hi GB44 ... very interesting question you ask because of the 30 mcg slow release in a single dose aspect! I’m guessing you might be on T3 monotherapy? & a slow-release version cannot be split.

Melbourne, say, is 9 hrs ahead so 05.30hr BST is 14.30hrs AUT when yr next dose is due but ideally

you want a dosage of 15 hrs to get you to 05.30hrs AUT.

Ok ... 30mcg/24 hrs=1.25mcg per hr. 1.25x15hrs=18.75mcg. So with the tiniest amount of extra T3 (1.25 mcg) one conventional 20 mcg T3 tablet gets you to 05.30 hrs AUT. But split into 2 10 mcg halves, take the first half @ 14.30hrs AUT & the second half @ c 21.30-22.30hrs.

Then @ 05.30 hrs AUT YOU ARE BACK TO YOUR 1 x 30 mcg per day AUT TIME

Thus way. 1 conventional 20 mcg tablet split in 2 gets you over to 05.30 hrs AUT while sustaining a relatively smooth transition Imo. Best take a second wristwatch to assist?

Hope that’s clearer than mud?

How come you’ve got slow release T3? Are you trialling it or is it generally an available version. Info on that would be very helpful in campaigning for treatment improvement.

[GB44 in reply to MikeM46]

Hi - thanks for all of the info. Very helpful, I've just got to get my head around it! I will reply properly in the next few days. Lots on and playing around with my doses right now, so a bit all over the place, but wanted to say a quick thanks for now.

[Hidden]

Good advice from Aurealis to adjust your watch once on the plane.

You won't be pushing yourself much spending so many hours in the air and will have taken meds beforehand,so just sit back and relax.I have not visited Oz but when travelling to NZ,I do remember my cousin telling us to go to bed for two hours when we arrived and then to carry on as normal, adjusting to their local time and mealtimes.We arrived at breakfast time.

However,all this was 9 years before being diagnosed,but survived a 5week trip with no medication at all ,having been told there was nothing wrong.......🙆🏼....Grr! ...I'm Hypo.

I am on comboT4/T3 and am also interested to know about slow release T3.

I wouldn't get over anxious about meds.You will have sleep time and be fed on the journey and can adjust meds on arrival in Europe. Have a great trip.

[GB44]

Thank you! I like your relaxed attitude toward it all. good idea to sleep a couple of hours on arrival and then get back into it. I am arriving in the morning, so this will be very do-able. Regarding the slow release T3, it is interesting. I was diagnosed almost 2 years ago with HPA axis dysfunction (so the issue is with my Hypothalamus signalling, not my thyroid per se), with the result being that my thyroid is not outputting T3 properly, hence the hypothyroid symptoms. So my integrative GP is mostly focussing on building up my gut health contending that the HPA axis dysfunction is gut-mediated, all of which I agree with. However, I had to ask for T3, as I was barely functioning and was in so much pain and discomfort. Although I now know that I have been hypo for many many years, the severity of my condition was precipitated by a medically required full hysterectomy 2 years ago, so all of my hormones went out of whack. Anyway, my GP only wanted me to take 10mcg T3 SR, but I have had to keep increasing to try to control my symptoms (it has taken me about 9 months to increase from 5mcg to 30mcg. She is ok for me to be self gauging the increases as she knows I am extremely careful and wait weeks between increases, etc. And I do blood tests every 6 weeks. Long story short, I have found the T3 SR a bit tricky as you can't control when it releases, so there are times when I feel fine and other times when I feel over or under medicated. A few days ago I started dabbling with direct T3 to try to control the doses better. Today is my first day fully on just the direct T3. Not perfect, but I assumed it could take me weeks to balance things out. I wanted to experiment before I travelled because I was finding I was undermedicated again after a couple of months on the 30mcg and last time I increased the SR from 25 to 30mcg, I had all sorts of issues, so I was reticent to increase it again. I am really sensitive to the T3. I know that there are lots of people who do great on the SR formula, and it has gotten me through so far but I really wonder if the direct is a better option just for control. I have also read from quite a few sources who don't recommend it because they say that the cells need to be saturated and the SR can't do that. I am still on the fence, but that is my experience to date. If you want any more specifics about it, just ask. I'm happy to chat about it. Thanks again for your insights. I appreciate them!