T3 meds and headaches

[dawnuk]

Only been on t3 a week and started having awful headaches. Anyone else had this ?

[shaws Administrator]

What dose are you taking of T3 and what was the previous dose of hormones you were taking i.e. of levo or anything else? Do you take it with one full glass of water?

[dawnuk in reply to shaws]

25mg t3 and 150 Levo xx I take with a glass of water in morning. Given as all under active thyroid symptoms are still there with Levo alone xx

[shaws Administrator in reply to dawnuk]

You are now taking the equivalance of thyroid hormones of 250mcg.

25mcg of T3 is around 100mcg of levothyroxine. T3 is the Active Thyroid Hormone and 25mcg is approx equal to 100mcg of levothyroxine (in its effect).

[dawnuk in reply to shaws]

It seems to be working 😊

[shaws Administrator in reply to dawnuk]

That's the main thing - feeling well and symptom-free.

[Lalatoot]

Did you start on 5mcg as we would recommend?

[dawnuk in reply to Lalatoot]

He has given me 25mg

[Lalatoot in reply to dawnuk]

Yes but you need to build up to that dose. We recommend 5 mcg per day for the first week and if that is OK build up slowly adding 5mcg every 2 weeks until you reach your dose.

There are a few who start on a large dose and get away with it but it is not gentle on the system.

[dawnuk in reply to Lalatoot]

He hasn’t said any build up he just has given me a 3 month trial of 25mg per pill .. is it worth breaking the pills up ?

[Lalatoot in reply to dawnuk]

Yes! Endos don't have a clue! I was told to reduce my levo by 50mcg and introduce 20mcg lio. the endo expected me to just change but luckily I had read up on here and did it gradually.

You go by quarter pill doses so a scalpel or a pill cutter.

I was given a trial of 6 months to a year and it has taken me the year to sort out doses so persevere after the 3 months if you can.

[BShankly]

Hi dawnuk Yes. I started taking 5mcg of Tiromel a few days ago. I'm having mild headaches during the day. Not something I've had before. I'm putting it down to a period of adjustment. Hope that helps?

Best

B.

[Marz]

2 years ago you had low iron. How is it now ? So important to have good levels of B12 - Folate - Ferritin - VitD for your thyroid hormones to work well in your body. Low iron = low oxygen - and could be the cause of headaches ... just a thought !

[dawnuk in reply to Marz]

Iron etc normal x

[Marz in reply to dawnuk]

... and the actual result is ?

[dawnuk in reply to Marz]

I’m not sure on any results yet as not had letter come through... he just said they are normal range. Hopefully I will get letter soon or I will call mid week to get numbers over phone and write down x

[Marz in reply to dawnuk]

Sounds like a plan 🙃

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to dawnuk]

Essential to have optimal vitamin D folate ferritin and B12

Come back with new post once you get results

[SlowDragon Administrator]

What was most recent Ft4 and Ft3 results

Was levothyroxine reduced by 25mcg before starting on 1/4 tablet (6.25mcg) T3

If all ok , after taking 5mcg in morning, for 5-7 days....add 2nd 1/4 tablet dose T3 in mid/late afternoon

Repeat Again in 1-2 weeks - adding 3rd dose at bedtime. Many people find T3 improves sleep

So 3 doses at 8 hour gaps can work well - 7am, 3pm and 11pm

If T3 keeps you awake - adjust gap - eg 6am, noon and 6pm

Personally I would then test 6-8 weeks later, before considering adding final 1/4 tablet to early morning dose

[Lalatoot in reply to SlowDragon]

I agree with slow dragon particularly about the last quarter tablet. I worked up to a 20mcg dose as that was what the endo prescribed. However I have had to decrease twice by 5mcg to end up on 10mcg daily. I might also add I have had to increase my levo 3 times to get a decent for me FT4.

[dawnuk in reply to SlowDragon]

Is it worth breaking my tablets into smaller bits then. As I have only been given straight onto 25mg. Can’t recall the levels of t4 but I’m due the letter any day

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to dawnuk]

Absolutely

Easy to cut into 1/4 with sharp craft scalpel

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to dawnuk]

Like this

amazon.co.uk/Modelcraft-Sca...

[dtate2016 in reply to SlowDragon]

Now I know why T3 (Dessicated bovine) failed me. I added 100 mcg to 50 Mcg of Levo. Felt great for almost a month! Then all sorts of bad things began to happen - including the headaches. It did not occur to me take the T3 in incremental doses nor to reduce T4.

Levo has never worked well for me and somehow Armour and Nature Throid have also stopped working after 30 years, and so I am back to Levo. Had just about started to panic as Drs here do not have even a little bit of knowledge about Hashimotos.

Thank you for explaining yet again about going slow as we try and make the shift. Small doses incrementally. I actually did this during last night (another bad night), before I read your post this morning. (Took just a little bit of T3). I was asleep within minutes. It makes sense, and yet when medicine gets out of kilter, it can be hard to think straight and get back on track.

Lalatoot’s experience was helpful too. So wonderful to have this forum.

[Murphysmum]

Yes!

I found I got horrendous ‘ice pick’ headaches and the only way I could stop home was to stop the T3, leave it a week and restart but on a quarter of what I was prescribed, ie 2.5mcg per day. I increased it by 2.5 every week until I got the right dose and had no issues 😉

[Sanjita123 in reply to Murphysmum]

Thank you so much for posting - just started on 5mcg t3 and 4 days in started with ice pick headaches .. such a relief to know I’m not alone and it should sort itself out if I go lower and increase my dose slowly 👍🏻

[dawnuk]

Headaches have passed now 🥰