How quickly would you feel over medication relief when reducing liothyronnine?

[owl87]

Hi all. I have just come across this community in searching the internet for my issues. I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism since last year and currently take levothyroxine and liothyronine and haven't found my optimal yet. I have B12 injections also and last blood tests a few weeks back showed both Free T4 and Free T3 hormones around 70% through the range. I am doing much better but for the last few weeks have been having some symptoms which made me think I might be a little overmedicated - all day it feels like my body is vibrating which makes me very fatigued and I get some palpitations and when I do things that require more effort like climbing stairs and after eating a bigger meal it feels like my heart is beating harder and faster and my pulse increases. I decided to reduce my liothyronnine dose by 2.5mcg yesterday - taken all in the morning as its a small dose. Normally when I increase liothyronnine I feel the effects in a couple of days. I have taken 5mcg today so far but I am not feeling better and I think I even feel worse - after seeing improvements in it I am again feeling colder, tired and my pulse seems to be even more erratic - the periods where it increases its going higher than it was before and is also higher than it was resting and then in bed last night I was having more palpitations than usual and my pulse reached a new low of 54. My question is would I feel the effects of reducing the liothyronnine this quickly? I am beginning to wonder if I need more not less thyorid hormone but I don't know whether it's too soon to tell and I should wait a bit longer and see if I continue to feel worse. Not feeling good at the moment and looking for advice from those more versed than I!

[Marz]

How often do you have B12 injections ? Are you taking Folate/Folic Acid/B9 ? It is needed to work with B12 in the body. Have you tested Folate - Ferritin - VitD lately ? Do you have PA ?

Hashimotos ? Do you have recent thyroid results with ranges ? Without them it is difficult to make suggestions ... happy to help 🤔

[owl87 in reply to Marz]

Hi thank you for the help! I have B12 injections every week - I self inject in between 3 month NHS ones and also take a b complex with folate. I didn't have PA antibodies or Hashimoto's antibodies but it's suspected I have both. Last vitamin D was 102, Ferritin 95, Folate 10 which I believe are all good? My last blood tests with ranges were Free T4 17.1 (range 10 -20) and Free T3 was 5.5 (range 3.5-6.5). I had more minor versions of the above problems when I had the blood test but they've got worse since.

[Marz in reply to owl87]

Gosh you have managed to sort many things ! All looking good ! Vibration - could it be adrenals ?

Also how do you carry out your tests ? How long do you leave off the T3 ?

[owl87 in reply to Marz]

That's good to hear! They were rock bottom before I started treatment but they've improved hugely! Could it be adrenals if I was ok on this dose for weeks before this started? If it was adrenals do you think I should go back to previous dose for now? I left 8 hours between my last dose of liothyronnine and my last blood test.

[Marz in reply to owl87]

You are on quite a small dose of T3 - but if you feel better by lowering then monitor carefully.

Adrenals love VitC - lots 🤧

[owl87 in reply to Marz]

I didn't feel any different lowering the liothyronnine maybe even a little worse and felt old hypothyroid symptoms like cold for the first time in a while but it's probably too soon to tell/a coincidence! I am confused at the sudden problems after being OK on this liothyronnine dose for a while. I was originally started on it as I had conversion issues but I am beginning to wonder if the initial conversion issues have improved now my vitamins are good and now the added liothyronnine is too much. Wondering if I should contact my endocrinologist about raising my levothyroxine and lowering my liothyronnine to see what happens. Interestingly I started high dose 2000mcg Vit C a day last tuesday for another issue so hopefully thats helping my adrenals too!

[Marz in reply to owl87]

How were your last thyroid test results? Do you have them ?

[owl87 in reply to Marz]

My last blood tests were done 4 weeks ago when these symptoms first began to become noticeable (they've got worse since) and were Free T4 17.1 (range 10 -20) and Free T3 was 5.5 (range 3.5-6.5).

[Marz in reply to owl87]

Sorry not sure what to suggest - sigh ...

[owl87 in reply to Marz]

It's a difficult case! Thank you for all your help! I will see what my endocrinologist says

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much levothyroxine and T3 are you taking

How do you take your T3, as split dose....2 or 3 times per day? Or as single dose

Are you on strictly gluten free diet?

As Marz says ....can be adrenals

It’s trial and error what works best for each individual

Taking T3 as 3 small doses at 8 hour time gaps may help.

[owl87 in reply to SlowDragon]

Currently take 75mcg levothyroxine and 7.5mcg of liothyronnine before I reduced to 5mcg yesterday. I was taking it split but only had morning one yesterday as it was only 5mcg. I am gluten free and have been for many years. Trial and error has definitely been my experience! Do you think it's worth seeing if more medication helps instead? Thanks.

[Dressagelovr in reply to owl87]

I find it takes about 10 days to feel relief after reducing liothyronine. My endo has me omit liothyronine and and then rebuild from there.

[owl87 in reply to Dressagelovr]

That's interesting - I am thinking about contacting my endocrinologist to try lowering the liothyronnine and upping the levothryoxine to see if that helps - I am feeling so much better aside from these issues so don't want to lose that.