Spoke to an endo today who agreed within 20 minutes of speaking with me that I need a combination therapy of Levo and T3. He’s sending the prescription and then we will get the prescription from a pharmacy in London.
Feel SO relieved and am hoping that this is going to help.
He’s also asked that I get cortisol levels checked because he thinks that my adrenals may be affected.
Anyone who has taken T3 - have you found it worked? He said that I have an autoimmune disorder, which never occurred to me. I’ve removed gluten from my diet and don’t eat much sugar (if at all). However I’m guessing that caffeine needs to go... Did people find removing coffee helped? I’m not sure how I will cope without it!
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KettlebellQueen
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A year ago I added T3 to my Levo. I felt better the very same day. I didn’t do what is recommended and add slowly. I took 5mcg 3 times a day from day 1. I’m not saying that’s the way to go but I have to tell it as it was for me. I did reduce my Levo by 25mcg that day too but again I’m not sure that’s necessary either as I put it back up 6-12wks later after I also increased my T3 by 5mcg.
I also took all my T3 in one go at one point. Nothing I do seems to give me adverse effects my body laps it up and only ever feel ‘normal’. Initially I did feel euphoric that took a few months to plateau into ‘normal’ but normal feels really good, calm,quiet and energetic 🤗
I’m so happy to hear that you are going to start your journey, i hope it’s as remarkable a recovery as mine 🙌
Thanks for your message. The endo didn’t seem to think there was anything wrong with my vitamin levels (apart from D, which could be higher, however equally isn’t below normal - also he said (and I agree) that over supplementing with D and B vitamins isn’t a good idea). He was more concerned with my T3 which he said was autoimmune and likely had been failing for years, due to stress, which makes sense.
So pleased for you. Take things slowly, start with 5 mcg and gradually move up, depending how you feel and also get regular tests, every 6 weeks, of your T4 and T3 levels. The autoimmune disease is probably Hashimotos and going Gluten free helps a lot of people including me. I still drink coffee. Maybe best to restrict your intake to 2-3 cups per day and make sure you do not take it within an hour of any thyroid meds.
Yes, I always wait an hour before drinking caffeine, that is a great shout. He’s starting me on 20mcg per day and testing in 6 weeks. I usually have 3 coffees and none after 2:00
Best to start very slowly with just adding 5mcg T3 on waking
You may need to reduce levothyroxine by 25mcg ...or you may not. Depends on where Ft4 result was at last test
If Ft4 only mid range, unlikely to need to reduce levothyroxine
Do you have most recent results??
After about a week add 2nd 5mcg dose T3 mid afternoon
Hold at that dose and retested thyroid and vitamin levels 6-8 weeks later
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also EXTREMELY important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .
Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).
If/when also on T3, make sure to take last third or half of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
I removed caffeine... Sugar and alcohol.. not at the same time... Life-changing but lots of withdrawal on the caffeine headaches and nausea. I have persuaded my husband who is not I'll but suffers with stress and insomnia to give up caffeine and he can't believe the difference
Hi good to hear you have been given what you want - sounds a good Dr. Be interested to know his name if you could PM me. i didn't have a good experience with T3 as I didn't need it so will leave to others to recommend. The reason you are a coffee 'addict' is to stimulate your adrenal glands to get some energy - hopefully you will be able to cut back when you go on T3 which might take a bit of the load off the adrenal glands. Drink plenty of water as you will get headaches when you cut down.
I know you’re right, annoyingly 🤣 I love my coffee. It’s also my only vice - seeing as my diet is so massively restricted now due to the thyroid issue. Thanks for the tips.
Good luck with the T3! It’s been really good for me, but my health really got better when I stopped taking T4 entirely, and I started having B12 injections. I also have a low cortisol issue so I need to take a good proportion of my T3 in the middle of the night (raises cortisol - CT3M protocol).
These things you will need to work out yourself if you need them or not. As people have said before, go slowly with the T3 and see how things work out. And work on your vitamins. (If you need B12 injections, best not to take anything that contains B12 as this will skew the B12 test result for months.)
"Spoke to an endo today who agreed within 20 minutes of speaking with me that I need a combination therapy of Levo and T3."
That sounds like a miracle!!!
From what I've read on here, it seems that the adrenals can struggle to cope with thyroid hormone changes - especially if they are already working poorly. So it's possible you might need to go more slowly with T3. Be patient!
Have you been told to lower your levo as well? The advice on here is to change one thing at a time, whatever the endo says. Though to actually give you T3 at all shows he's one in a million!
He told me to keep with the Levo, however my FT4 is at the top of the range at the moment at 19, so I’m not sure if I should change that or not. I guess we will see!
T3 worked for me and the benefits were almost instant. I also found I coudn't tolerate T4 so refuse to take it now. Cutting out gluten helped, as does following the blood group diet and I can tell the difference when I (frequently) lapse.
Hi, I have been on T3 and thyroxine for 20 years since my thyroid was removed. I had hashimotos, an autoimmune disorder. I saw the NHS endo and he just told me to reduce 25mcg of thyroxine and add the 20mcg of T3 (twice a day),right away, probably not the best way of doing it but I didn't know any different then! Yes it did work, but wasn't a quick fix and it took a long time for me to feel normal again, but worth it. Not sure why you need to remove coffee, as long as you take the medication first thing in the morning, well away from food or drink. I have coffee, only one cup a day but proper ground coffee, in fact I think it helps my headaches, so wouldn't want to go without it.
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