Hi just wondering if anyone has been in the same situation as me . I was diagnosed with hashimotos 3 years ago . Been on 75mcg thyroxinefor 3 years and 5mcg of Liothyronine since November which has been great and I felt amazing until two weeks ago . Initially my endocrinologist prescribed my t3 straight from the hospital so had 4 months worth . From then my gp prescribed it . 2 weeks ago I started with panic attacks and not sleeping and everyday had got worse I felt like I was on something and couldn’t sleep ! When I was calling the drs they were adamant it wasn’t thyroid related and just said it was anxiety and prescribed me sleeping pills . I demanded a blood test which I had on Monday and found out I’ve gone or overactive! Yesterday my endocrinologist was really confused as been feeling the best I have ! It turns out my go had prescribed me 20mcg of liothyronine rather than the 5mcg 😩!! I got a phone all yesterday to apologise ! They have put me on beta blockers to slow my heart rate and I’m currently off work ! Has anyone else had this and how long till you felt normal again ?
Thankyou
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Freyabo
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I think you'll feel normal within a few days, from what I've read. Try to relax - the worst is definitely over. Always read your meds I guess! I'm terrible at removing strips of painkillers from boxes so never know the correct dose but am super careful to put the correct thyroid meds out each day. I have 25s, 50s snd 100s of Levo and don't want to muffle them up.
Yes totally my fault too as didn’t read but just thought it was differ packaging as from my go rather than endo !!but they also should of checked properly aswell . Thankyou hopefully won’t be too long then xx
I am so sorry you' ve had a very bad experience. We do expect doctors to be knowledgeable about most of the common illnesses. Unfortunately when it comes to hypothyroidism few know much about it at all.
I doubt they know the difference between T4 and T3. Also fail to know that T4 is an inactive hormone and that T3 is the active one. i.e 50mcg of T4 against 50mcg of T3 is huge.
I hope you feel better soon and your body will be back to normal. It is very careless and the majority of GPs don't know the difference between T4 and T3. Drink plenty of water.
Hopefully you'll be fine again within a few days, T3 doesn't hang around for more than a couple of days.. i think , not sure exactly. What an appalling mess up.. the mistake in prescription writing is pretty terrible , but then to not check your thyroid bloods/ prescription when you phone with such obvious signs of overmedication and prescribe you sleeping pills instead is really quite appalling ... and rather worrying frankly ... i dread to think what state you'd have been in if you'd carried on with 20mcg + sleeping pills .... sounds like a rather unpleasant mix to me.
Thank heavens you insisted on a Blood test.
They're so keen to tell us T3 is 'dangerous' ... i really don't think it's fair to blame T3 for the very real dangers of incompetent Doctoring.
I hope they really were sorry and not just trying to make sure you don't make a complaint.
I demanded a blood test which I had on Monday and found out I’ve gone or overactive!
So, what exactly were these results that showed you had 'gone overactive' - which, technically isn't possible. You were over-medicated.
As you have Hashi's, are you sure it was down to the medication and not a Hashi's 'hyper' swing?
I'm not just being pedantic for the sake of arguing, but if it was down to the Hashi's, it's likely to happen again. Doctors don't understand how Hashi's works, so they'd be no help. So, you have to be prepared.
I was just asking if anyone had had the same thing and how did they feel after ! Of course it would be the medication as have been taking far too much than what I would do 😊
OK But, there's no of course about it. 20 mcg is not an exceptionally high dose. But, as you don't give any details of results, we can't know.
Personally, I have never been prescribed too much - usually too little. But the time the pharmacist gave the wrong dose - a much lower dose - I became homicidal! lol Took a while to recover from that, but that was levo, not T3. So, basically, no, I've never had the same thing.
Also, another point about the difference between over-medication and a Hashi's 'hyper' swing is that over-medication with T3 will rectify itself quite quickly, because the half life of T3 in the blood is only 24 hours - what gets into the cells stays there for about three days. But, if it had been a 'hyper' swing, it could take weeks.
I don’t think I will be coming on here again ! You sound like I’ve annoyed you . My tsh was 0.01 . Thankyou for your input though I didn’t know about a hyper swing xx
No, you haven't annoyed me. I was just trying to explain. I thought I'd annoyed you!
Do you mind if I make another observation? A suppressed TSH on its own does not mean you're over-medicated. You are only over-medicated if your FT3 is over-range. As you've been taking 20 mcg T3, it's hardly surprising that your TSH is suppressed, because that's what T3 does: it suppresses the TSH. Which is why the FT3 should always be tested if you're taking T3.
A Hashi's 'hyper' swing happens when the immune system attacks the thyroid. The dying cells dump their store of thyroid hormone into the blood, so that the Frees rise rapidly, and therefore the TSH drops. But, you can't know if you're having one without at least testing the FT4. I'm afraid doctors don't know about that.
What an awful situation I agree with others that T3 passes out of the body very quickly, so the numbers in your blood should be back down to normal within a day or two. It may take you a little bit longer to feel back to where you were. Get plenty of rest and try to have a relaxed time while you're off work.
I expect the source of the mistake is that 20mcg seems to be the default tablet size given on the NHS. I've never heard of 5mcg tablets being given before. Your GP probably just prescribed the size they've heard of without thinking.
It's a reminder that doctors make mistakes all the time, and that it's important to double check everything.
You can still use the bigger size tablets by getting a good pill cutter and cutting them into quarters. It's always good to have some extra in the house in case of problems with supply!
Yes totally agree it’s my fault as well and everyone makes me mistakes ! Just wanted to see if happened to anyone else and how long to feel normal as has been the worse time 😢x
In the very early days when liothyronine became available, late 1950s/early 1960s, one of the positive advantages claimed was that levels drop quickly. That would be important if over-dosed.
Whereas, with levothyroxine, the effects can continue to build-up for two or three days. (That has caught doctors out when they have assessed someone who has taken a sizeable amount of levothyroxine. All appears well for many hours. But the peak effect has yet to come - possibly after the person has been sent home.)
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I agree with others that T3 passes out of the body very quickly, so the numbers in your blood should be back down to normal within a day or two. It may take you a little bit longer to feel back to where you were. Get plenty of rest and try to have a relaxed time while you're off work. 
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