T3 flexibility

[Murphysmum]

I’m after some advice from longer term T3 peeps if I may.

It’s nearly two years since I started down first the combo treatment pathway and then T3 only.

On the whole it’s been fab - I now have my life back and at times have been brilliant, full of energy, get up and go and able to do everything in terms of activity that I’ve wanted.

However, I find getting these times to last more than a couple of months really difficult. Some have been of my own making (trial and error different dose times, ie, once/twice, three times daily), supplementing hormones or not, that kind of thing. What I have learned is that for me currently, my own sex hormones are playing a big part in how well my thyroid meds work and how I feel.

So this last week I’ve been the worst I have in ages. I’m waiting on bloods but I suspect an estrogen increase as a result of using pregnenolone is the cause.

My question to those more knowledgeable is, how much can I alter my dose to try to counteract things like this? So if I felt my levels were very low could I add in a bit more?

An example would be, Saturday night having taken my 55mcg dose over the day, I felt really off in the evening, anxious and heart beating hard. This is a low sign for me. I then wakened in the middle of the night, heart racing, feeling really anxious, sick and shaky. It did occur to me maybe I could take some T3 right then, without especially affecting my daily dose.

Sunday I actually felt better though I had a very easy day and on Monday I felt better still. But yesterday I was rubbish again. Could I have taken more yesterday? Like maybe added in another 10mcg over the day?

I realise that you shouldn’t chop and change and this isn’t really what I’m asking. I guess I’m asking for those that have used T3 only for a long time - do you occasionally counteract high or low spells for some reason with more or less meds? Cannot be used this way once you’re tuned into it?

I’m not sure I’ve explained myself very well! Hopefully this makes some sort of sense.

[greygoose]

I think the answer has to be no - if I've understood the question correctly. If you want T3 to do what you expect it to do, you need to take a steady, regular dose every day. Not more some days and less on others. Everyone has off days. I don't think you can expect to feel brilliant every day. Even people without thyroid problems have off days.

Didn't you say at one point that you have a certain degree of thyroid hormone resistance? People who have that usually feel better taking all their T3 in one go, to saturate the receptors and force some of the T3 into the cells. Do you find you feel better splitting the dose?

[Murphysmum in reply to greygoose]

Well, at one point I thought I may have, but I think I’m correct in ruling that out.Since starting out I’ve split into 2 x daily, but after moving to T3 only (and the endo advising I might need small doses often) I tried splitting 4x daily but discovered that a dose of less than 20mcg at a time does nothing for me. Of course it took me nose diving into illness for me to realise this but hey, it’s all research!

Later I tried moving to one dose but found that I felt ‘over’ and had weird dizzy spells doing that. So I figure 2 doses is what works for me. I’d love to do once, it would be nice and easy but I don’t think it works.

I definitely have issues with my hormone not being ‘used’ and when I’ve not being supplementing my progesterone I’ve found this - I get achey joints as well as feeling under medicated and it’s almost like a negative reaction to too much hormone floating around 🤷🏼‍♀️ Another member suggested pooling but I always thought that wasn’t really a thing.

Thoughts also welcome on resistance or pooling as well as dosage!

[DippyDame]

I've found that if I push myself to the limit (and everybody's limit is likely to be different) then I experience "burnout " and it can take a few days to settle again once the pressure is off. You have probably drained your "energy tank".

We really need to listen our bodies - sometimes the head says "go" but the body says "no" - we have to take heed.

Chopping and changing your dose is likely to unsettle your body/cells and add to the problem. Once you reach your therapeutic dose ( and you appear to have done so) the body needs that regularly. It's a balance.

I have thyroid hormone resistance and take my T3 in a single large dose at bedtime, splitting was a disaster! Have you tried this?

I'm talking only from experience. Right now I'm drained because a family bereavement, nearly 200 miles away - which I can only to attend to by phone, email and Skype due to the pandemic - is pushing me to my limits as I deal with authorities , lawyer etc. I have no option but to deal with this but in normal circumstances I would not ask this of my body.

My supportive husband, thankfully, is helping but the buck stops with me!

Over exercising may have the same effect on others.....

My advice, don't push your body beyond the limit it can cope, and I was coping well on T3-only before this happened. I'm sure I can recover given time!

T3 is not the panacea of all ills and if it means you have to slow down then so be it. We all get exhausted at times, try and find the balance and work out when to stop!!

Rant over!!

Take care

DD

[Murphysmum in reply to DippyDame]

Thanks dippy, I agree with all of that.

Sorry to hear about your loss, and having lost my mum recently too I can sympathise. I definitely struggle with emotional stress more than I do with over exertion, for sure. Adrenals are fine though apparently, having been tested on several occasions.

I didn’t word my question very well. I think I’m meaning can I “spot dose” if you like, in order to alleviate symptoms, rather than chopping and changing doses constantly.

I just can’t quite work out what’s going on with me. I fear that this current dip may be due to increased estrogen as I said, because I dared to try pregnenolone. Lesson learned. However, I think I’m having big fluctuations in hormone levels which means I’m lucky if I get 6/8 weeks of feeling very well before it all goes to pot again and I’m left wondering what’s happened.

Last summer I felt amazing.. I finally got to what I think is my perfect dose in about May. I then did couch to 5k and had a really active rest of year with no ill effects. I still had days where my motivation left me (one of my C.B.A days as I call them, can’t be a***d!) but on the whole I felt very well. I’m still left with muscle weakness though, even when I can’t really feel it, it get cramps if I try to do small repeated movements for example, so hence trying the preg.

But now I feel back at square one, annoyingly! So my question was more around alleviating the horrible really low symptoms on a very temporary basis.

I’ve sent off bloods so we’ll see what those show, but my actual dose has never changed. Twice I have tried taking a single dose and found it too much but I’ve never tried at bedtime.... I might do that once I’m back on an even keel! Maybe I’d sleep through the jitters and it would work. I always felt a bit jittery whenever I increased a dose when I started on T3 so I had hoped I’d be able to cope with a single dose. We’ll see.

I tried splitting several times a day as I said because my endo thought if I dropped Levo, I’d need the regular T3. What a bad idea that was! I found that anything less than 20mcg for me doesn’t even seem to register. After a week of taking 15mcg 4x a day I felt awful. I went tried 3x 20 which I suspected was too much and after about 10 days it was, but it proved to me that I need a minimum 20mcg dose at a time.

I have learned above all to slow down or stop when I’m feeling off and this has really helped even if it drives me nuts! I’m hoping the bloods will steer me in the right direction and I can get my get up and go back again, at the moment I just feel like sitting on the sofa and that’s not me!