Quick question! I began to lower my levo from 112 to 100 over 2 weeks ago.
Initially I felt calmer, stiffness went away, pains also. After 8-9 days added 2.5 t3 to 22.5 mcg t3 I was already taking. This helped because I started to feel dizzy and my vision was blurred, fuzzy head etc.
Now after 15 days, I feel very fatigued, had a bit of pain this morning, some stiffness and retaining water. I also can't sleep until 4 or 5 am each night.
Is it time to add another 2.5 t3 or lower levo again?
I worked up to 112 levo and 22.5 and still had increasing pains, water retention, couldn't sleep, got really hot, restless and anxious (my ft3 ft4 were both high in range). Removing t3 was making me more hypo.
When you transition to less t4 and more t3 is this bound to happen? I see reports from people who felt amazing as they dropped levo a bit, with me it is not so black and white.
Thanks!
Cuppa
Tagging folks, who have done this journey, hope that is okay:
I did the same, believing that I have to lowered the levo but I became more hypo even though I added t3 . So, I think you need increase the levo back and take t3 divided into several doses throughout the day (for ex. 5-5-5).
Thanks hipolion! On increased levo I feel bad and can't split t3, have tried splitting for almost 2 years, it gave me horrible peaks and throughs. Are you better on increased levo?
I tried sintetic in many ways but I didn't feel well. I tried Euthyrox then Novothyral, then Tirosint with T3 then nature-throid but is very light(it's not what it used to be) then Thai-Thyroid and then I added some T3 to ndt. My symptoms go away only if I take 125mcg T4 (whether it's synthetic or natural) and for the energy I add some T3. On syntetic I have a lot of anxiety, depression, etc...
I see...Unfortunately I had anxiety and depression on NDT as well. I am struggling to find that optimal dose I was also on Nature Throid, was bad and then even worse when it went downill after reformulation.
Hi Cuppa you sound like me awake till 4 / 5 am I'm the same well I've waited for 6 weeks upping the levo to 175 mugs I'm going to do my medichecks blood test this Monday early morning I upped my levo from 150mcgs to 175mcgs i was feeling so so for about a month then got up one morning and felt weird dizzy achy fatigued nausea bloody terrible actually ...i thought this is the increased levo hitting in after 4 weeks so I've had to drop it back down to 150 because i felt awful
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...and see what the results are once they come back. Sending love chat soon xx
Sounds awful hun, I am so sorry you are going through it x I honestly sometimes don't know what to do anymore. I am determined to keep my t4 at this lowered dose, because the higher one also prevents me from sleeping and gives me terrible jitterness and anxiety. I hope we can get there, trying not to lose hope message me when you can't sleep and want to talk x
I'm afraid I really can't help with this, because I've never done it. I went straight from NDT to T3 only. But, I think you should leave your levo where it is, for the moment. In fact, leave everything where it is for six week and then retest. Keep changing the dose is not going to help.
thanks GG, you are right, it would be sensible to leave levo where it is for the next few weeks. Not sure about t3, I am tempted to add in 2.5 and see if this makes things better (or worse). I am hoping that what I experience right now are fluctuations, because I have tried everything the last few years, ndt, levo, more levo less t3 and now more t3 less levo...ugh
Too bad, I just got excited about patience package arriving from France ah well! On a more serious note, I have improved on my patience, but not yet on the master level, shall get there one day
hey GG, I have upped t3 by 2.5 mcg to check if this helps with what I am experiencing. This morning took 27.5 mcg t3 and don't feel depressed, puls went back to normal, no palps🤔I had them for 15-16 days and they were increasing and now gone
Some people feel it rapidly, others don't. I heard of one woman who said she felt better five minutes after swallowing the tablet, when technically it would still have been in her stomach. We're all different. Takes months for me to feel any effect, but I guess I'm just one of the unlucky ones.
Oh gee, what a question! If only I knew the answer. As you’re aware, I’ve been “upping” and “downing” levo and T3 for over a year now and I’m still seeking the holy grail of the sweet spot.
So, all I can tell you is my experience to date and by no means treat this as gospel as I’m still experimenting.
When I first took T3 we dropped my levo from 175 to 150 and introduced 10mcg T3 split twice. From day 2 I felt amazing (from day 3 I had the worst ice pick headaches ever and had to stop and restart, but that’s another story!) From there I gradually increased T3 and dropped levo to 125.
Tbh, I think at some points I probably didn’t drop levo enough, as in, I upped the T3 without dropping the levo. I think I probably over shot my sweet spot and I ended up with crazy muscle weakness as I had on too much levo only. So I reduced the T3 again. At this point I think I was on something like 65 T3 and 75 levo!
I reduced the T3 and it helped however I still had legs that felt like they were filled with lead and I my shoulders and hip joints ached.
I dropped levo quite quickly whilst keeping T3 the same and felt fabulous within a day or two.
I kept levo very low at around 25mcg a day and was taking 45 T3 split twice. Then I dropped levo completely and felt even better! I thought that was me. However, that only lasted about 6 weeks and then the peaks and troughs of the T3 became very obvious. So I reintroduced 12.5 levo again.
This is where I’m stuck now! When I did that I felt better for a while and then the joint pains appeared again. So I dropped levo again. And it got better. But, I can’t get my T3 dose consistent. I feel well for maybe 3/4 weeks then I’ll feel not so great again. SO, I am back on levo again!
My T3 has been settled at 55mcg per day split twice for about 8-10 weeks now but I have reintroduced 50 mcg levo about a week ago. I anticipate I will need to drop the T3 a little but at the moment I’ll leave it be.
Things I have noted: too much levo or too much T3 for me causes muscle weakness and tiredness.
I “think” too much levo blocks the T3 benefits for me. This is how it felt before but I’m trying again in case I missed a sweet spot somewhere and I actually need a balance of lower T3 and higher levo 🤷🏼♀️.
I cannot take T3 in less than 20 mcg doses! It doesnt work and this was the reason for my recent ‘Off’ spell. So when I say I’ve been on 55mcg T3 for 8-10 weeks that’s including the few days I felt awful as a result of tryinG to split the T3 into 3/4 doses. Note to self, don’t bloody do that again! (This is going to be the subject of a post by me soon as I’d like to try one bigger dose of T3 but I’m not sure how to do that without crashing... I digress!)
Palpitations for me are too low T3. I’ve had a few the last couple of days so I’m not sure what’s going on there. Levo stopping T3? Who knows, I’ll monitor.
What I would say is that at no point have I felt “over medicated”. The muscle weakness is the key indicator of being on too much of either/both meds for me. I have never had a high hr or anything else but have felt anxious, jittery, sick etc etc on too little. For me personally, I think there is scope to add the T3 without dropping the levo without any ill effects. Not in the short term anyway. I think for me T3 being the active hormone means as long as that is at a suitable level, I feel ok so I could probably have stopped levo straight away and not been any worse off. Clearly I don’t advise this, I’m just making the point!
I’m now suspecting that my other, “female” hormones are playing a bigger part than I thought until now so this is my next area of investigation! Maybe it’s not the thyroid issues at all 😩
Wow thank you for your response, loads of great info!
I am definitely anxious, jittery and have palps when low too.
When I add levo I get hypo some days and after a week I also note some palps. Immediately when lowered levo 16 days ago felt worse, but that was on 22.5 t3. After 2 weeks I added total 5 mcg in two stages and today is a better day. But, I am not yet sure if maybe waiting much longer on 22.5 t3 and 112 would have given me better results...I thought I was getting overmed/high t4 symptoms, I was overheating massively, restless, weird energy, then I dropped levo, it went away, but then all hypo symptoms startee including palps.
Best of luck to you, we need to keep going! Hopefully more levo is the answer for you!
I’m not sure about ‘5mins after swallowing a tablet’ but I did react really quickly after my initial dose, within the day my mental health was instantly better and I couldn’t stop smiling for a good couple of months. Then again I did take 5mcg 3times a day from day 1. No slow introduction. I seem to soak it up an utilise it like a sponge 🥳
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I was also on Nature Throid, was bad and then even worse when it went downill after reformulation. 
ah well! On a more serious note, I have improved on my patience, but not yet on the master level, shall get there one day 
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