Those taking high dose T3 without a thyroid.......please can you tell me how you split your doses throughout the day and what has worked best for you. I am splitting 10am, 1.30pm, 5pm, 8pm and 9pm.
Just trying to find what the optimum way is to benefit from T3 dosing if I am unable to convert T4-T3.
Thank you.
X x
Written by
Sweetlittlemaya
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Firstly, I don’t have any personal experience with T3 dosage and how they should be split so I’m coming from a perspective of someone without any experience.
This may not be relevant but providing a bit more information might mean responders with more knowledge about T3 medication can help answer your query.
Why do you currently take the 5 doses with this spacing?
10am, 1.30pm, 5pm, 8pm and 9pm.
3.5 hr > 3.5 hr > 3 hr > 1 hr > (13 hr overnight)
Are these 5 doses the same strength?
Do you find it helps you sleep or keeps you awake?
Do you have a set bed time, waking time.
Does taking with food affect absorption? Do you have to account for meal times?
Thank you so much, I hear you. I didn’t think people would read my post if it was too long or involved. I will take your points and write another post tomorrow. I appreciate your help. X x
I take my T3 all in one go with the t4 when I wake up. I found taking it in bits across the day gave me ear and head pain. I do think it's really affected by eating and drinking - and especially milk/yogurt - do it was just too awkward to find times to take it across the day.
No I think you're meant to take the hrt before bed. I just find it hard enough to remember to take thyroid meds when I wake then hrt when I go to bed! Really when I was splitting dose of T3 I just kept losing track then really wanting a cup of tea or a glass of wine and thinking 'ah forgot meds'! But clearly many on here are far more organised than me and cope well with the split dose. I have never read any scientific papers however which convince me I it's necessary! A new doc wrote me yesterday I should try doing 2x10 instead of 20 all at once for heart reasons but I think it's nonsense! I think they think it's like cocaine but once you're used to it, it really isn't like that at all. Eg I can take it at bedtime and fall fast asleep.
I was dreadful at remembering my medication. I know I took a double dose of my anti thyroid at least once, if not more. When I added some supplements I knew I’d get in a terrible muddle.
So I got a pill organiser, no more risk of skipping pill or taking too much. I downloaded a pill reminder app on my phone. If I tick them off on my phone as I go, I get a pretty picture the end of the day! Spreading them out evenly helped my water intake too, which was also lacking.
How much T3 are you taking? And how did you arrive at that dose?
Are you on T3 only?
People who take high doses of T3 often do it because they have a certain resistance to thyroid hormone - i.e. can't get the T3 into the cells. So, if that is your case, you might be better off taking it all in one go in order to flood the receptors and force some T3 into the cells.
I'm on 75 mcg and take it all in one go in the morning.
To be honest, I think it's different for everyone so you have to work out the way that makes you feel best. I could never take it all in one go and found taking it later in the evening kept me awake so used to take 20mcg when I first got up, another 20mcg an hour before lunch and then another 20mcg an hour before dinner (make sure you leave it an hour after taking before eating). However once I got used to it, I found that I instantly knew when my levels started dropping and needed some more so I didn't really have to think about it later.
Well, yes, of course every one is different, and I did think my reply above sort of implied that. But, I guess you were talking to the OP, and not to me. Best not to reply to my post if that's the case, because it gets confusing.
Hi Sweetlittlemaya, I take T3 only, 50 mcg, and have experimented with different ways to split it (with support and guidance from an endocrinologist). What works best for me is 20 mcg if I wake in the night somewhere between 2 and 6 am then 20 mcg mid morning and, if needed though I try to go without, 10 mcg mid-afternoon. Taking T3 after about 4 seems to interfere with sleep though others take it when they go to bed and sleep well, so that seems to be individual.
I have tried splitting into smaller doses, 5 doses of 10 mcg each but I feel much worse which doesn't seem to make sense, and I dislike having to go without tea/coffee at happy intervals during the day when taking the split doses. Often I don't wake in the night so then I take 20 mcg on waking (between 6 and 7.15 am), 2nd dose of 20 mcg around midday and final 10 mcg around 4 pm.
Best for me definitely seems to be when I take the first dose between 2 and 4 am and I've wondered if this is because there is nothing (food/tea etc) in my system to impede absorption of the T3. I also find that if I don't have water with the pill I don't feel good, wondered if it then sits in my gullet or somewhere until I next eat or drink (usually tea/coffee) which again would interfere with the T3.
Hope that's of some help and best of luck.
Just one other thing, it was very important to start on a very low dose of T3 and gradually increase, it took 2 - 3 years to reach this full dose.
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