I think that when I first joined this group a few years ago the general consensus was less thyroxine and a little T3 but sadly that wasn’t going to happen here in the UK. So while I was in Mexico in July I just bought it at the pharmacy (not strictly legal but anything goes in Mexico) so finally I got some I dropped 25mg from my thyroxine 150 to 125 at bedtime and had to split the tryotex because they are 75 mg so I was basically taking less than 1/4 of one in the morning ( they are grains in capsules) anyway I felt fantastic for let’s say 6 or 8 weeks, I started to feel
Better than I have in years, but then I started to notice that my hair was coming out from the root.
I had to stop taking the tryotex last week cos of my hair
Now back to square one my hips are so painful I’m struggling to get up and down stairs :(. Also the dreaded shoulder pain that I had to have steroid injections in is aching like crazy again.
Was I just overdosed?
Help I seem to have to choose between getting around and being able to exercise or going bald 👩🦲
Any advice on dosage, FYI I can’t get in to my GP even for a blood test.
Thanks in anticipation x
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Trying-hard
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75mcg seems very high if you're also taking 125mcg of levo. I was taking 125mcg of levo plus 25mcg of T3 and my FT3 was at the absolute top of the range (6.8 when the top of the range is 6.8). It was probably even higher than this, because I took my last 12.5mcg dose about 16 hours before my blood test, which is too long to wait. Did you ever try lowering your dose of T3? Since my blood test, I decided to try increasing my levo to 150mcg (because my FT4 was only about 16.5 (about 60% through the range)) and lowering my T3 slightly so have been taking 150mcg and 22.5mcg of T3. My hair has been falling out since March this year, really badly, nothing seems to have helped, but increasing the levo and lowering the lio definitely seems to have made my hair loss worse, so last night I decided to reduce my levo back down to 125mcg. I'm hoping this will help. I think really I should be on 125mcg levo and 20mcg T3, but I bought my lio without prescription from the US in dose increments of 50mcg, so I'm in a difficult position when it comes to splitting the tablets.
EDIT: Sorry I misunderstood, I thought you said you were taking the whole 75mcg but I see now you've been taking less than 1/4 of one which would put you at around 18.75mcg. In this case I'm not sure what the issue would be... How's your ferritin? If that's low that can cause hair loss.
Maybe just try splitting that quarter of T3 in half (if that's at all possible) and taking just half of it for a while and see how that works...?
Recommended to get FULL thyroid and vitamin testing BEFORE considering adding T3
All blood tests should be after minimum of 8 weeks on unchanging dose
Suggest you get settled back on 150mcg levothyroxine and get FULL testing in 2 months
You could test vitamin levels now
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
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies
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).
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)
If/when also on T3, make sure to take last third or quarter of daily dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test
Is this how you do your tests?
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
Thank you very much SlowDragon i was due to have blood tests about 6 weeks ago it have been cancelled 4 days Ines now. The the r rate here is crazy so I think they are just trying to keep us all out of the surgery.
If going to self medicate with T3 you will have to get full testing done privately.....so that’s a cost you need to consider, along with continuity of supply
Essential to test 6-8 weeks after each dose change
but at least then testing is under your control, you can do it as and when required at home and essentially can always do at correct time of day .....as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test
Many, many people find that actually if they get full testing done at correct time of day, fine tune levothyroxine dose, always stick on same brand of levothyroxine, make sure to take levothyroxine on empty stomach and then nothing apart from water for at least an hour after (and no other medication minimum 2 hours after and no iron, calcium, magnesium 4 hours) and get all four vitamins optimal.....then you may not need addition of T3
If you have Hashimoto’s (high thyroid antibodies) then strictly gluten free diet and/or dairy free diet may help or be absolutely essential
Good to know thanks My doctors is usually dragging me in for blood tests but you’re right they test for what they test and that’s it. Now that you mention vit d I was in Mexico 2 months of sunshine is bound to make me feel better and it was exactly this time last year they gave me ferritin after my blood test. Why is it that ferritin gets low?
Being under medicated or poor converter results in low vitamin levels
Low vitamin levels causes poor conversion
Chicken and egg
Frequently we need to supplement virtually continuously to maintain optimal vitamin levels .....but should test regularly to check levels, especially never supplement iron without testing regularly
And you might find the info below interesting,I'm recently recovering from chronic low ferritin by taking iron every second day with vit c. There are many studies showing that this is an effective way to raise it, but as Slow Dragon says, you need to have full iron testing, and have future monitoring as too much can be dangerous. Initially my GP refused to retest but I insisted and gave him a copy of this:
Hi there, i've just had a look back at your 'previous' and found it very encouraging that you felt so much better with the addedT3, . Shame about the hair Did you still feel good otherwise ?
I am where you were a while ago ie. still on Levo with low tsh and high FT4 , now arguing about dose levels with GP because lowering dose makes my life (and my bowels !) grind to a halt, etc etc
I feel so fed up with the whole thing at the moment i'd happily shave my head if i could get my energy back in exchange . I'm only being patient and not buying my own T3 because i want it on my records that i've gone down NHS route first, but i'll be very surprised if they let me try it , because of my already low TSH.
Good to hear of someone who did feel better by adding T3 with similar results to mine, hope you can find a way to regain the good feeling AND your hair. Best wishes .
Tat x
P.s just to add , years ago i too found that splitting levo 100 am and 50 pm helped me feel better than taking all in one go, and received similar 'know it all' comments from medics who i now realise know very little themselves.
Lol tell me about it when I was in hospital they didn’t want to give me it split but yes you’re right I did feel better. Interesting that it could be ferritin and vit D x
Re T3 I I felt Great 😊 I went to the gym and exercised my joints were ok
I once boughtTriyotex from Mexico when I had difficulty obtaining my usual T3. I could not work out it's actual potency, it didn't feel like a 75mcg dose but that could just have been me. It seemed much weaker and it didn't work for me
I believe some people do well on it but the packets I bought are now ageing in the back of a cupboard....should really take them to my pharmacy for safe disposal!!
I've heard that tryotex are pretty much useless and only used by some bodybuilders - I've even heard it said that the 75s are equivalent to the 25 tablets everyone else makes, but i haven't tried it so I couldn't say for sure. You need a decent brand like tiromel or cytomel. Then start with 5mcg a day for a couple of weeks, then 2 x 5 and so on
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I dropped 25mg from my thyroxine 150 to 125 at bedtime and had to split the tryotex because they are 75 mg so I was basically taking less than 1/4 of one in the morning ( they are grains in capsules) anyway I felt fantastic for let’s say 6 or 8 weeks, I started to feel
from the root. 
giving up on T3
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