Help with understanding please

[Sweetpea1157]

Hi everyone , was just reading a post put up by MickeyDooley and the replies he received, am a little confused, at the risk of sounding stupid, what are the t4/T3 ratios please , how are they worked out ?? Am trying to remember when I was given t3 by endo, he worked out the dose according to my weight and height ( I'm just under 5 feet and weight is 7 stone ) . He put me on 20mcg liothyronine and 50mcg of levothyroxine, when I posted that here , the good people on here told me I was being set up to fail on T3 and told me what I should be taking , so took that on board and have been doing that since .

I still don't understand the ins and outs of it all , and this ratios thing is a new one to me , it's the first time I've seen that mentioned in a post . I know it takes probably years to even begin to understand about the thyroid and how to treat it , i also understand and admire the people here that have to self medicate , because the gp's and endo's don't have a blooming scoobies . You're not treated as a human being, you're treated as a statistic , and as we all know we are all different, 1 treatment doesn't work for everyone .

On a personal note, I'm still having problems with the symptoms, this battle has been going on for some time now . I have recently reduced my T4 to 50mcg from 75mcg as my T4 on last blood check was 21 and the good people on here advised me to do just that , the only thing I haven't done as advised was put up my T3, have kept that at 10mcg. One thing I would like to mention and hopefully be advised on , is that since reducing T4, I've started getting the sore burning feet and ankles and hands again , they are very hot and red , but it seems to only happen at night , this was happening previously but seemed to subside about a year ago , but as said , now it's back again , is this because of T4 reduction or is it just coincidence, if someone could enlighten me it would be appreciated, i know it's not restless leg syndrome, but am a little anxious as to why it's back , I still have far too much going on to try and cope with ( and am struggling totally ) without more things being added , i seem to be fighting a loosing battle , not getting answers from doctors or so called " specialists " . But I'm not going to give up , i will find the answers , some how , some way eventually ( I hope ) . 😕

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Sweetpea117

what are the t4/T3 ratios please , how are they worked out ??

Presumably you mean the ratio of Levo you take to the amount of T3.

Don't get hung up on this. We are all different, there is no set amount/ratio that suits everyone, we have to experiment to find the right dose of each hormone to suit ourselves.

Some people find the fixed ratio of T4:T3 in NDT at 4:1 ideal for them. Personally I use Levo and synthetic T3 and after many, many months of tweaking doses I have found the best ratio of T4:T3 for me is approx 6:1. Others do well with a very small dose of T3 and their ratio of T4:T3 would be different again. It doesn't matter what anyone else takes, what matters is what you need.

For anyone to help and comment on your results and what they suggest might be OK for you, we take into account your test results. You recently posted:

TSH 0.005 mlu/L range 0.27 - 4.2

FT3 4.88 pmol/L range 3.1 - 6.8

FT4 21 pmol/L range 12 - 22

and you were taking 75mcg Levo and 10mcg T3 at the time.

However, you told us that you took your last dose of T3 24 hours before your test so it was explained that your results show a false low FT3, you should have left 8-12 hours.

You have since reduced your Levo to 50mcg to try and lower your FT4.

All you can do is wait 6-8 weeks from your dose change and retest with the correct time gaps to give accurate results then reassess. You may find that 50mcg Levo and 10mcg T3 is fine for you, but you may find that more tweaking is needed. I wouldn't alter your T3 dose until you have an accurate result from your next test.

Burning feet syndrome can be a symptom of hypothyroidism although I get this from time to time and I know that I'm not undermedicated.

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi SeasideSusie, thanks for getting back to me , so am I right in assuming that the burning feet , ankles and hands are part of the symptoms of hypothyroidism, or have I picked that up wrong ?? If that is the case ( that it is to do with the hypothyroidism ) what could you suggest please to help try and combat this .

Thankyou for explaining about the ratios , i will remain taking the 50mcg levothyroxine with 10mcg liothyronine until after next blood results , due to be taken in around 4 weeks time . Thanks again ☺

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Sweetpea1157]

so am I right in assuming that the burning feet , ankles and hands are part of the symptoms of hypothyroidism,

As mentioned, Burning Feet Syndrome is listed as one of the signs/symptoms of hypothyroidism (under Pain)

thyroiduk.org/tuk/about_the...

but burning ankles and hands is not on the list.

I have episodes of burning feet syndrome but as I said I know I am now undermedicated so with me it's not a sign of hypothyroidism. There can be other reasons for it, if you Google "what causes burning hands and feet at night" you will see many sites listing other causes.

I'm afraid I have no ideas for remedying it.

I think what you should do is wait and see what your next set of results look like, work towards optimising your thyroid hormone replacement, and when you are optimally medicated if your burning sensations have gone then you'll know they were connected, if not then the cause lies elsewhere.

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi SeasideSusie, thanks again for getting back to me , will as you said wait for next blood results before acting on anything , hope your burning feet get better soon .

While here , if you don't mind me asking , not sure if it was yourself or another member that mentioned about a gluten free diet , though my diet is pretty good , but not gluten free , my partner does make his own gluten free bread and I do drink kiefer milk or eat kiefer yoghurt almost every day , could you recommend a good book or site for gluten free recipes, as we would like to try and broaden our horizons with gluten free please . Thanks again ☺

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Sweetpea1157]

I'm not gluten free so can't help with any recommendations I'm afraid. However, you can look at lots of previous posts and you might find something of help:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Also, make a new thread asking for recommendations for a book, recipe site, etc.

[Sweetpea1157 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Ok thanks for that Seasidesusie, will try that . Take care ☺