....by my GP. On the NHS.
No, I can't quite believe it either. I keep thinking there must be a catch somewhere!
I think I've just been incredibly lucky, and I feel somewhat guilty, knowing how hard it is for the majority of people in similar situations.
I'll update with how I'm getting on.
How? Which CCG? This is wonderful, congratulations! I hope you get lots of benefits from it!
Thank you Zazbag.
I saw an endocrinologist privately and she wrote to my GP to ask them to prescribe - full story in my previous post.
I'm in Greater Glasgow & Clyde health board.
You're very lucky, an NHS endocrinologist wrote to my GP asking the same but liothyronine is a red drug so can only be prescribed by an endocrinologist, and they have to get approval from a board which can take about a year apparently and you have to be on levo only the entire time. I guess liothyronine isn't a red drug in Scotland?
I'm certainly lucky, but I'm not sure on the exact details and procedures - perhaps some more experienced members could comment?
As far as I understood it, lio can only be initiated by an endocrinologist, but can then be prescribed by a gp. I guess in this case, my surgery took the opinion that a request to prescribe was basically the same as a prescription?
The guidance must be different in Scotland because in England it definitely says it can only be prescribed in secondary care. Maybe I should consider moving haha!
My GP refused to prescribe it and so did my local hospital due to expense so I had to go to another hospital within the catchment who prescribed it they then asked my GP to continue the prescription for the next three month trial, but he refused so the other hospital has taken over my care , mine is prescribe by a Dr. And I’m in England.
You are lucky. It should be provided by an NHS endo on a trial basis. The endo will monitor you during that time. If the trial is successful she then instructs the GP to continue to prescribe. To get it on the NHS on recommendation from a private endo is a lucky break.In Scotland T3 can be prescribed on the NHS if an NHS endo trials it and says it is necessary. The problem is convincing an endo that it is necessary!
I think that the process varies from health board to health board. In Tayside it's a trial initiated and monitored by an endo. Prescribing a for new patients only started again here in April after 3 years of not prescribing T3 to new patients.
Yes that is what happened to me. I wanted a referral to a NHS Endo because my GP refused to consider T3 and wanted to keep reducing my medication. She also told me an appointment for the NHS Endos she could refer me to would take about 6 months and that they didn't approve of T3 and probably wouldn't prescribe it anyway. So I went privately and was prescribed T3 as a trial and although the Endo works for NHS because I saw her privately the NHS won't fund it despite a government directive. Its a bit of a farce!
Definitely do not feel guilty.
Congratulations and hope you feel better quite soon.
This is a link and Elaine Smith also has hypo and I believe she needs an option to levo.
thyroidtrust.org/scottish-p...
Thank you very much, that's kind of you 😊
My Endo has written 3x to my GP to prescribe T3 , I have been taking it for 18months almost. He is about to write for a 4th time to ask him to prescribe it. The reason he is not complying...he doesn't feel "confident" prescribing it because he doesn't know enough about it and they have no one else on it at the practice.
I wonder if they will refuse to vaccinate people against covid as they have never used this new vaccine before.
Good luck taking your T3 I hope it makes you feel better very soon. 
Thank you. My GP did tell me she has a few other patients on it so perhaps this was a factor in them prescribing it for me.
I hope it is just what you need , I just wanted to say, that for me it wasn't an instant fix I was on a stable dose for about 4 months before `I realised I felt "normal" again after feeling ill for years.Some people get an instant improvement, but if it takes a little longer , like it did for me, don't give up hope I'm sure you'll be feeling better very soon.
I needed to hear that because I started T3 a few weeks ago and have found it difficult to know how much I should be taking. First I tried to drop my Levo from 88mcg to 75mcg and add 12..5 mcg of T3 but it seems it wasn't enough to compensate and I felt terrible so then I went back to 88mcg. 88mcg puts me at 82% in T4 and only 39% in T3 with a TSH of 1.5. I decided to try and add T3 onto the 88mcg. How did you begin your T3 and did you add it onto your original dose and how slowly did you increase? Thank you
It has taken me a year of slowly altering doses of levo and lio to find where I feel well. As long as you only change one thing at a time and stick with it, you will get there.
Thank you. I realized I was changing my Levo and T3 at the same time and that was a bad move so I went back to my original Levo dose but this time I have a journal and have noted times to take small increments of T3 and all the symptoms and my temperature so I can make adjustments.
Hi jrbarnes I take 75mcg of levo and I have stayed on that dose throughout . I began with 6.25mcg of T3 first thing in the morning and after about 3-4 weeks I added a second dose of 6.25mcg of t3 at night ( around 11pm with my levo) .
I stuck with that for about another 4 -6 weeks and as I wasn't feeling a great improvement I added a third 6.25mcg of T3 in. the afternoon, but very quickly I started to feel overmedicated I did a blood test and found that my T3 was slightly over the top of the range so I dropped back to the two previous doses. I thought I'd stick with that system and see how I felt, I was definitely sleeping better and my basal temperature was slightly higher. My BP had come down and I wasn't falling asleep in the afternoon.
About four to five months on from starting the T3 I realised that I was feeling much more "normal" than I had in years, it was a gradual improvement for me, but I know some people seem to feel well immediately.
I'm really glad I stuck with it, and didn't give up because I didn't achieve instant success. Good luck .
Thank you - that's really good to know. Yes, I've read about the almost "miraculous" improvement some people notice, but I've always suspected it's likely to be more complicated than that, especially when one has been unwell for years as I have. The endocrinologist I saw confirmed that the thyroid tests I'd had back in 2012 were not "normal" as the GP insisted they were, so I've probably had this for at least a decade. I'm so happy to hear you are starting to feel better, that's brilliant!
Agreed. I read these stories of people having immediate and miraculous results from T3 right from the start but that hasn't been my experience with synthetic T3, however I felt immediate results from the T3 in NDT. For the past 4 years I've been running on T3 levels at 39% with T4 at 82%. My GP kept saying my T4 was too high and trying to lower it despite low T3 levels and a TSH over 1. He was sending me a one way ticket to disability in a wheelchair. Thank goodness I got wise and went online and sought out a different Dr.
Your doctor is giving a very poor excuse.
I just do not believe that any doctor is unaware that the body is only able to function due to it having to have T3.
If someone is a qualified GP, (or is he!) how can they be unaware that the hormones T4 and T3 are needed for our bodies to function normally. He obviously doesn't want the NHS to pay for your T3 or is he paying out of his own pocket!!!
Neither is he aware that T4 (levo) is an inactive thyroid hormone. Neither does he seem to know that T3 is the Active Thyroid Hormone needed in all of our T3 receptor cells.
I don't know whether it is the surgery who pays for your prescription.
Or he/she is convinced that levothyroxine should work and that you are making excuses in order to get T3.
I think I'd change the practice.
I too take T3 through my lovely German endo, I spent years struggling on T4 only and through him paid for a T4 - T3 conversion test only to find my body does not convert. It's been a long thyroid journey. Moving area and being referred to this endo has brought me back to a fairly normal me again. My GP and Pharmacist remind me of the very high cost of T3 in the UK, I tell them it's a travesty, and I remind them thyroid meds are my ONLY meds and certainly won't be wasted. In Europe T3 is prescribed widely and much cheaper
I am on this forum looking and learning on behalf of my wife, who has just endured 5 or 6 months without cynomel, which was just suddenly withdrawn here in France. Judith has been on cynomel + levothyrox for all the time we've been in France (16 years). Cynomel is not produced anymore, we understand. Typical for the french, no warning, no alternative offered. She found out about Euthyral 100/20 and she got it on request to our GP. She's been on it for a few days and already there is a marked difference in her wellbeing.
I didn't know they still manufactured synthetic thyroid medications with a T4/T3 combo. There was one in the US here and it's been long discontinued probably due to Drs not giving patients the option or knowing the medication exists.
Hi I am Mrs Helen I am so pleased to hear your wife is getting better on t3 I am here in the UK I have just switched from levothyroxine under active thyroid a consultant put me on natural tyroid medication Erfa 30mg two weeks ago I had to stop taking it today I feel so ill off it worse than I was before due to call that 19 I can’t contact my consultant until the 10th of December I don’t know what I am going to do should I go back on levothyroxine 70 5MG why I am replying to you is do you think Teatree is better than natural Thyroid medication do you live in Germany or do you still see your private consultant in Germany how long did it take for your wife’s medication to work Germany or do you still see your private consultant in Germany how long did it take for your wife’s medication to work I would much appreciate any help and advice thank you
Well done, very pleased for you. I felt the same in July when I got my first NHS prescription, every time I collect the T3 I am waiting to be told its not allowed. I live in southern England.
Thanks for posting a picture to prove the existence of this mythical substance, I did wonder if everyone was completely barking and we were just talking about unicorns. How strange ..... after all my fanciful expectations it looks unremarkable , in fact it just looks like a small packet of hormone replacement pills that would be easy to prescribe to see if they made you feel better , and shouldn't be very expensive at all....... i'd been thinking they must come encased in Faberge egg like boxes , on a velvet cushion , with a fanfare of trumpets.....
Congratulations on getting over all the hurdles so far... keep going
😂Yes, I was half expecting sidelong glances and whispers behind hands when I picked it up at Boots, but instead it was a "here you go" and just a normal brown paper bag with just some normal cardboard boxes of pills inside 😜
What ever the dose of T3 you are taking cut it in half and take it twice a day T3 is short acting so taking it twice a day keeps it in your system all day. I take 5mcg and I cut it in half. and since I get up for work at 2am I take my Levoxyl and half T3 then I take the other half around 2pm
I'm on that Levoxyl as well and I'm splitting my T3 into 2.5mcg doses.
The Scottish Government has full responsibility for health care there - I have been told you have a far better service than in England
Hello, what were your symptoms to get this combination treatment?
My doctor thinks inner combo treatment(waiting on T3 test result)
I'm feeling a symptom of a hangover, drunk feeling and shortness of breath. I'm already on 75mcg Levo, and my TSH was last recorded at 0.67.
I think her decision to add T3 was based on both my blood test results (free T3 is essential) and the fact I hadn't seen any improvement in symptoms since starting treatment with Levo in January. Everyone's symptoms are different, but it's really only through full blood testing that you can spot a conversion issue. I've also, since then, found out I have the DIO2 gene variant that means I'm less able to convert T4 to T3.
Shortness of breath often low iron or ferritin
You are lucky where do you live.. I think certain areas have better health care.. I am in the midlands
Just been prescribed levothyroxine
at last I've been prescribed some HRT
GP has been stopped from prescribing my T3 and Clonazepam
