Update and support please 🤗: So I’ll give... - Thyroid UK

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Update and support please 🤗

NWA6 profile image
NWA6
22 Replies

So I’ll give background. 12yrs Hashi -hypo. 11yrs of Levo only. Poor convertor so added T3. I’ve been on combined treatment for just over a year and these last 3wks I’ve had hypo symptoms. I’ve gone from 0% through range FT3 to 94% through range and have felt fantastic for a year 🥳

FT3

Jan - 6.58 (3.1 - 6.8)94% through range

July - 5.61 (3.1 -6.8) 67% through range

Ferritin

Jan - 84.8

July - 84.8 (13 -150)

Folate

Jan - 5.8

July - 7.04 (3.89 - 19.45)

Active B12

Jan - 65.3

July - 124 (37.5 - 187.5)

Vit D

Jan - 47.2

July - 64.5 (50 - 175)

I have not been consistent with my supplements and I had changed my routine to try and do better.

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NWA6
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22 Replies
SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

Presumably tested as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test and last 1/2 or 1/3rd T3 before test?

What’s your Ft4 level?

Vitamin D and folate could be better

Are you now taking vitamin B complex

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply toSlowDragon

Don’t ask me about my FT4 😬

11.30pm 1/2 T3 and 9am bloods

I do take B’s

Magnesium

Iron

B12

Zinc + selenium

Vit c

Folate

But none taken for 2wks prior as I’d been hot and miss 3/4 days out of 7 so I thought give them a Miss and get a base line.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply toNWA6

You mean Ft4 is too high?

I recently dropped my levothyroxine 25mcg (from 125mcg to 100mcg) intending to increase T3 by 5mcg

Ft4 had been creeping up at each test ....last test Ft4 was nudging right at top of range .....loads of hypo symptoms... carpal tunnel, painful thyroid etc etc

Astonished to get dramatic improvement in symptoms just by lowering levothyroxine by 25mcg

So far...four weeks on ...still not added any extra T3 .....going to wait now and retest in 6-8 weeks

So for me it appears I get symptoms if on too much levothyroxine as well as too little

I do have Dio2 gene.

Could never tolerate more than 125mcg, (Guideline on dose by weight suggests I should be on 137mcg on just levothyroxine)

Before T3 was added....always felt better on 100mcg ....but then Ft3 would drop below range

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply toSlowDragon

That sounds good. Yes I’m similar with high FT4, I had tried to raise it before I realised that I’m not a good convertor and actually I’d become hyper, insomnia, palpitations and anxiety (and yet my FT3 was O%)

I forgot I had the blood test, one of my symptoms 😬 So I took my Levo at 11pm so I have a high FT4 😩 22.7 (12-22)

hey hey, your ft3 has dropped quite a bit, enough to give you symptoms.

Ft4 is controversial, I have been reducing mine, similarly to SlowDragon I felt hypo recently having it around 70-80%.

Your vit D may need a little helo, but I personally think your hypo symptoms come from thyroid not vits.

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply to

Yeah the results are a kick up the bum re Vits to stop being so lackadaisical about them. I have stupid RLS and painful forearms which are good indicators that I’m not optimal 😩

in reply toNWA6

I have RLS now too, from hypo, hate this symptom with severe insomnia so I really symphatise :( can you increase your t3? Re: ft4, I wouldn't worry too much, if you look at charts, it peaks only within a couple of hours, so your result is not far from the truth.

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply to

I’d be very surprised if that FT4 result is anywhere near my true reading. In Jan it was 17 and my dose hasn’t changed.

I’m going to raise T3 by 5mcg and be a good girl with my supplements 🤗 I need my D and B12 and folate much higher in range.

in reply toNWA6

well, my own personal experience shows that for some weird reason consistent high ft3 somehow raises my ft4, this is how I have become weirdly overmedicated yesrs ago, suddenly my ft4 was high from midrange after several months. SlowDragon above says she had similar experience. Ft4 doesn't fluctuate during the day widly at all.

FancyPants54 profile image
FancyPants54 in reply to

It's probably not that weird if you think about it. More T3 in the tank means your metabolism works better and so your thyroid is perhaps capable of making more T4 of it's own. Just a theory, but it does make sense from an energy point of view.

in reply toFancyPants54

Yes, you are right and also when you add t3 it stimulates progesterone production, which raises thyroxine in blood. So you end up needing less t4 in a pill form

Tythrop profile image
Tythrop in reply to

What's Rls?

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply toTythrop

Restless leg syndrome. I don’t know what it’s like for anyone else but for me it’s like a cobra is wound round my left leg, squeezing. The only way for me to feel better is to constantly move my leg or sleep with a tens machine on it.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply toNWA6

Are you supplementing magnesium everyday?

And vitamin K2

Are you strictly gluten free ?

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply toSlowDragon

Magnesium malate and yes K2 as standard with my Vit D. And gluten free 🥳

in reply toNWA6

My RLS is legs jerking when I am trying to doze off, but like really badly jerking

Tythrop profile image
Tythrop in reply toNWA6

spatone.com/en/about-iron/t...

humanbean profile image
humanbean in reply toNWA6

Restless Legs Syndrome has many of the same causes as cramp. This reply I wrote to someone else about how to fix cramp may be of interest :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

One thing I didn't mention in that reply on the subject of potassium is that I do take a potassium supplement - I bought a bag of potassium bicarbonate, and I take quarter of a level teaspoon mixed in water almost every morning, along with the same amount of sea salt and magnesium citrate powder. (I take the same amount of magnesium only, in the evening.) It isn't the nicest concoction to swallow but it's worth it.

Another possible cause of cramp is low calcium. I always forget to mention that because my calcium levels are always high in range so I would never need or want to supplement it.

NWA6 profile image
NWA6 in reply tohumanbean

Great info 👍🏻 Mine disappeared after optimal treatment so I’m hoping for the same this time around too.

Tythrop profile image
Tythrop in reply toTythrop

Looked on net (I'm a bimbo) that low iron in brain can be a cause. Have you tried Spartone iron supliment. It is like iron water and is said to be better absorbed and not cause constipation.

FancyPants54 profile image
FancyPants54 in reply toTythrop

That product did zero for my low iron. The Gentle Iron was OK and now I take another which is better but can only be found from iHerb which is a pain.

in reply toFancyPants54

which one do you take if you dont mind me asking? I take floravital with good results, but spatone also didn't do much for me

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