T3 trial update & help with next appointment

[jsy_girl]

hello can anyone advise on my blood results?

I have been trialing introduction of T3 for the first time (doctor advised reducing from 125mcg levo to 100mcg and taking 15mcg T3). I have found it very difficult because if I am honest if feels like i get tissue over stimulation - heart palps, chest feelings. It's hard to describe them. I did introduce very slowly and thought i'd nailed it - by the time i got up to 15mcg i wasn't getting the feelings anymore. But then I had my blood test and that day they all came back - it's as if the blood concentration was altered. I did have 6 tubes taken though, so there could be something in that. Think I will have to drop back down to 10mcg and titrate up again which is annoying but hey ho.

Also my GP told me he wouldn't do the blood test this time, and forced me to get them done with my health insurance so the latest results were taken at a Nuffield health lab. Just to complicate matters, and you know how I love an experiment (re: ferritin readings with medichecks vs NHS) - I also sent a finger prick analysis to Medichecks (TDL) on same day - albeit 8am with medichecks, 9am at Nuffield health. So in the picture the last 2 columns are the same day, just different places. All tests were done fasting, I took the last 1/3 dose of 5mcg T3 at 9.40pm. I stopped biotin a week before as well as all supplements actually, just thought i'd have a break.

Symptoms - if i ignore the over stimulated feelings, I have had mixed results - really positively I got no pins and needles almost immediately. This was amazing, I used to get them ALL the time. I also got no depression and sadness feelings around my period- this used to be awful to deal with - i got it really badly. Didn't have it AT ALL this month. Could have been a fluke, might have been the T3.

Fatigue - if anything has been worse, or at best, no improvement.

Looking at my results it is interesting that the T4 result is similar between Medichecks and Nuffield, but the T3 is hard to interpret, as one looks woeful and one looks sort of okay. I am thinking, for my next adjustment, I would really like to increase my levo back to 125mcg and give that a go - and the higher amount might help me convert more to T3.

I will also stop my B12 additional supplementation as that is really high.

I am waiting for some other results from nuffield on ferritin so will see what they say but potentially am making some progress with iron supplements.

I also got zinc tested, which was 33.4 (9.6-20.5) umolL - is this dangerous? I was advised to supplement this but given its already high, assume supplementing would be a bad idea?

Sorry for the long post - all thoughts welcome on my next steps

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How are you taking your T3

As 3 x 5mcg at roughly 8 hour intervals?

Your Ft4 is dropping quite low .....I would tweak dose levothyroxine up ....perhaps 100mcg 4 x week and 125mcg 3 days week

[jsy_girl in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes I take it when I first wake (c 6am), before lunch (c12.30pm) and 8/9pm whenever I remember ha ha. Altho I will have to dip down. Think today just 10mcg. And start again going up.

Do you think that small a tweak? I was thinking just 125mcg every day but if you think that could be enough to make a difference.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to jsy_girl]

I would first try spreading T3 wider before considering reducing to only 2 doses

....7am, 3pm and 11pm

Your Ft3 levels aren’t high

Don’t increase levothyroxine by that much ....tiny tweaks at this stage

[jsy_girl in reply to SlowDragon]

Oh yes I’ll keep it dosed as 3 but I’ll go to 5, 2.5 and 2.5. I know I can get back to 15 as I got there before but something just went weird after that blood test!!! I will try spacing them out more too.

Ok thanks will do small tweak.

[Jazzw]

The percentage through range thing for FT3 is interesting, isn’t it? It’s almost like Nuffield have realised 3.1 is too low for bottom of the range and pushed it up to 3.9. Because the top end of their range is identical to Medichecks’ range. So not sure whether you need to read into that or not, if you see what I mean?

Frustrating that the day you had your test coincided with the time when you might have wanted to raise your T3 dosage (because there’s still rather a lot of wriggle room there, isn’t there?). You either need more Levo or more Lio!

[jsy_girl in reply to Jazzw]

Hi Jazzw

I know right! I don’t get these blood test ranges being all different when the measurement unit is the same. 4.6 and 4.9 seem to make sense given they’re an hour apart but % through range gives an entirely different spin on things. I feel like probably you’re right and you don’t need to read into it, Nuffield have just lopped the non functioning end off their range. Yes very interesting.

Yes think I do need a bit more - given the side effects of going higher with T3 I’m more afraid to try and increase that. Will be interesting to see what the endo says. Feel like a more stable base of T4 is ideal so as a first port of call would rather increase the Levo.

[Lotika]

Oh my, I am wondering if it is because one sees similarities where one wants to see them or something but I suppose I am thinking that these results show some resemblances to mine a week or so ago! All v similar given both frees below 50% in range and a TSH suggesting we could both take some more medication. The “deckchair intervention” seems to be working here so l like the idea of trying to space out the timings better if you can!

That aside, I find your results really tricky! I am looking at the 150 mcg levo column and wondering if your perfect point in the end is just a dash of T3 on top of that, like 2 x 2.5? In an ideal world, I’d like to take as much T4 and as little T3 as I can get away with and I can’t help but interpret everyone’s results through the lens of my own bias. With that in mind, I’d deffo be thinking of upping T4. And if I am being honest, I’d probably find it hard not to be reckless about it and leave the T3 at 10 mcg at the same time, but then I feel that fT3 at 40% through range is about as much as I need - whilst not having tried it higher for comparison and understanding that others need it far higher - so again my bias is flapping in the wind! We should also note that the endo is thinking of upping my T3 in a couple of weeks, depending on how I go... So, I might u-turn faster than BJ!

[jsy_girl in reply to Lotika]

Bahaha “U turn faster than BJ.”

I’ll give the deckchair intervention a go for sure. But right now I’m wriggling around on the sofa making weird jolty movements which I assume is the T3, so can’t even entertain my third dose today. Going to do 5, 2.5, 2.5 tomorrow and work my way up again. Hate the over stimulated type feelings which is why I agree with you, I suspect I’ll feel most happy on as high T4 as poss.

The results above miss one perfect point when I was on 137.5mcg levo. I suspect this was my perfect T4 and then yes I wonder if adding just a tad on T3 (ultra scientific is a tad) would then be perfect. Maybe it would be too much so I guess that’s where SD’s suggestion of tiny T4 tweak is very sensible otherwise you can miss that perfect moment.

It could be lower when on T3.

I am on 15mcg T3 and I suspect if I can hit the T4 just right it will nudge my T3 up just enough such that I get that eureka moment of perfect “could finally write a letter to my MP” brain clarity, or at the very least remember why I am driving on a particular road, in a particular direction.

Is that all you’ve done with yours then, just respace your doses? Is it making a difference?

[Lotika]

Oh gosh, I do hope you manage to nudge that T3 into MP letter-writing territory and I think you are quite right about tiny movements and the scientific tad, obvs!

Those T3 jitters sound unpleasant.

Yeah, thanks, the deckchair intervention has helped with the afternoon slump but I also think the antibiotics did a number on me and I have been swimming In prebiotics and probiotics as I think I wasn’t absorbing the meds. Today I have finally been feeling vaguely human... so much so that I attempted to do some proper squats although I didn’t feel brave enough to crack out the bar bell! I meant to, but was tired quite fast - and decided to have a biscuit instead.

But that’s definitely better than I’ve been feeling since before I started the antibiotics... I feel like I might need an extra smattering of something but I’m planning on testing next week hopefully, just to see if I’m getting some meds in me, which might clarify... or not!

Ah - interesting about 137! It does go to show that there’s some sense in these half-doses, doesn’t it? I really must remember that!!

[jsy_girl in reply to Lotika]

Yeah it’s very weird. I suspect at 150 I had a lot of reverse T3. I def felt the best at that level. (So far anyway...)

What timing were you doing before and after the deckchair intervention?

I’d always tended to take it earlier in day because i seemed to tolerate the morning dose much better. I will try out pushing them later though.

Oh wow get you with the squats. I realised on Sunday that I hadn’t done exercise *like that* for a month so on Monday I attempted a bodyfit workout... I can totally relate to your “and decided to have a biscuit instead” part. I managed 20 mins though - and I’m really feeling it today! Hope I’m still not so stiff tomorrow. Have been volunteering at the vaccine rollout - lots of standing around in the cold, I see no problems here...sure that won’t entirely seize up the remaining movement in my muscles ha ha.

[Lotika in reply to jsy_girl]

That would make sense of the 137 working better than the 150! Before the deckchair intervention I was taking T3 morning and bedtime as it was easiest. The endo was convinced that I couldn’t have been sleeping well, but I really was. I’m now doing morning and around 1.30 - 2pm, depending on what time I actually woke up and took the first T3. I’m trying to get it about 7 hours apart but can’t remember if the endo said 7, if I read it in here, or if I totally made it up!

I feel like if you got the 3 biggest gaps you could get, given the jitters, that maybe that would help. Thinking about test day, you would have had to take them closer together than normal, I suppose...?

Pffft, that made me laugh! I don’t know how it is where you are but it was blowing an artic gale here today and we had snow and sun! Ridiculous! But not a day for standing around outside!! I dunno. The vain part of me wants to get back to weightlifting generally as it helps aesthetically, but the today was the first time this year that I actually wanted to give it a go for its own sake as I actually get a buzz out of it. Looks like it might need to be yoga for a while, but the cats always try to hack the bejaysus out of my yoga mat which leaves me feeling less than serene. I end up covered in tiny flecks of pink rubber and trying to get in and out of position without kicking a Siamese up the jacksy whilst feeling bad and un-zen for fantasising about doing just that!

[jsy_girl]

My endo told me 8 hours and as slowdragon advised above to try and really stretch it out. Problem for me is that when the T3 gives me symptoms it goes to town on me later in the day. Which makes me prefer to front load my doses. But then that probably doesn’t help either.

So today I took 5mcg at 6am ish, then 2.5mcg at 3pm (with a view to taking 2.5mcg at 11pm) but I feel awful from about 7/8pm onwards. I really can’t face taking the extra dose and now in effect I’ve halved my T3 dose. Eurgh.

Sorry am moaning just feeling sorry for myself today. Times like this I just want to be back on nice easy to take T4. Do others struggle in the beginning or is it just me...

Also in case you were wondering it was absolutely glacial today at the volunteering. Baltic. Couldn’t actually feel my fingers by the end.

Love the image you conjured of your yoga mat and the bits of pink rubber. Hahaha. I have no idea what you’re like in reality but I’m building this great caricature of Lotika in my head, and she’s pure class!