Should i discontinue Thyroid pills now??

[Haider5]

Hi All,

Initially i was on Levothyroxine 100mcg/day (for number of years) for my Hypo. Then i sourced myself some quality T3 and was on 12.5/day initially and increased it to 25mcg/day two weeks before i stopped taking them altogether because i was sick of popping pills every morning and then having to wait 45 minutes before having breakfast..

Its been over 2 months now that I have not taken any thyroid pills whatsoever but still take my B complex, Omega 3/6, Vitamin D3, (no minerals like magnesium or brazilian nuts for selenium any more) and below are my latest blood results.

Would you guys advise that I should still continue with T3 or re-test in 2,3 months again? Even my antibodies are within healthy range now, which is quite nice to see.

The bloods were done while fasting (in morning).

Any advice would be highly appreciated, thank you

Thyroid Hormones:

TSH 2.99 mIU/L (0.27 - 4.2)

FT3 5.14 pmol/L (3.1 - 6.8)

FREE THYROXINE 16 pmol/L (12 - 22)

Autoimmunity:

THYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES

15.7 kIU/L (< 115)

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES

11.3 kIU/L (< 34)

[greygoose]

Your TSH is creeping up towards hypo, again - it's hypo at 3. For the time being, your FT3 isn't too bad, though. Although it will probably go down.

Doesn't matter what your antibodies are in this test, if they were over-range in a previous test then you have Hashi's. And Hashi's doesn't go away not matter what the antibodies do. Antibody level is not an indication of the severity of Hashi's.

However, knowing that you have Hashi's, you can expect your hormone levels to fluctuate. You have, perhaps, been having a Hashi's 'hyper' swing, but the general tendency is towards hypo as more and more of the thyroid is destroyed.

If you feel ok with these levels, then there's no harm in waiting a little longer. But, eventually, you will need to go back onto some sort of thyroid hormone replacement. Just don't leave it too long. And, if you don't like waiting an hour to eat after taking your hormone, why not take it at night, two to three hours after your last meal?

[Hidden]

I still felt very hypo with a TSH of 2.99 (although not as bad as when it was 6). But we are all different.

However, as Greygoose said, once you have Hashis you need thyroid replacement hormone for life, there's no getting away from that.

As I said in another post, sucking a lozenge might make your mouth less dry but the only real cure for dehydration is water.

It's similar with thyroid hormones, the only cure for lack of them is...thyroid hormones.

[Hidden]

Greygoose is right, if you have been diagnosed with Hashimoto's, you won't just miraculously recover because damage will have been done to your thyroid gland and its hormone-producing ability will be impaired.

It was not clear from your post if you were combining T3 and T4? If so, some of that T4 could still be in your system as T4 has a long half-life, and your body would in turn be converting that to T3 to the best of its ability...the body is amazingly skilled at continuing to do that even when struggling. Your body will also sense the decrease in thyroid hormone levels and your pituitary gland will try to make the thyroid gland increase its output, so your TSH will continue to rise as long as your free Ts decline. But your thyroid gland won't be able to keep up, so you will develop more and more hypo symptoms.

Keep an eye on your symptoms, and when the first hypo symptoms appear, please go back on meds, even if it's T4 only.

More importantly: why did you add T3 to begin with? Did you not feel well on T4 only? 100 mcg daily isn't that high of dose; many people need a lot more to feel well on T4 only. Sometimes, raising levo can lead to higher FT3 levels (depending on how well you convert), and adding T3 may cause hyper symptoms.

I did not quite understand if you felt hyper on T3, or just felt it was inconvenient to take? In any case, you should leave as much time between levo and meals, so I don't understand why you could not just take the two together?

As has been pointed out, T4 can be taken at night/bedtime, as can T3, but some find it overstimulating and to affect their sleep so it's highly individual.

But you need to find the right combination of drugs and dose to feel well, and if that's T3+T4, well, you need to find a way to take it on a daily basis long-term.