Too soon to up Lio dose? A night of poor sleep and pounding heart 😳

[Josephineinamachine]

Hallo all

Sorry to keep posting! I took 5mg of Lio added to 75 Levo for 4 days (4.45 am with water, empty stomach). Endo has prescribed 15mg straight away but I’m following this forum’s advice to increase Lio over time, not all at once. Went well, felt better!

Had 3 nights of lovely proper sleep and didn’t need the usual 10 hours. Oh so lovely! 0n the 4th day (Saturday) had the afternoon slump back. So yesterday (Sunday) I took an extra 5mg at lunchtime (with food to go gently). Felt better in the afternoon. Tired at 9.30 - bed. Then: 😳😵‍💫😳🤔. Wide awake, heart pounding, worried thoughts, and very, very hungry.

Checked my sleep app thingy this morning. Heart rate raised but only 80bpm at its highest (so not as bad as I thought). Poor sleep again. Tired now. Darn, and it’s Monday!!

Have I just pushed it in upping the dose too quickly? Or will it take time for the body to adjust?

Have others experienced similar? Am used to Levo changes but this is new to me.

Thank you!

Jo

[shaws Administrator]

Food interferes with the uptake of thyroid hormones, so thyroid hormones should always be taken on an empty stomach with one glass of water and wait an hour before eating.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Josephineinamachine

Personally I would ride out the symptoms and take it slowly as advised. 5mcg for 2 weeks, if all well then add another 5mcg for 2 weeks, then if all well and if you feel it's necessary add the 3rd 5mcg. But then I do tend to err on the side of caution (I took it even slower than that but mine isn't prescribed).

[Josephineinamachine in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you…I think I just pushed it a bit quickly in retrospect. Am going to stick with 5mg in the morning only for the rest of the week. Might then add a tiny 2.5 dose at 2pm ish to see how that goes. Thank you!

[jrbarnes]

I have these symptoms on T4/T3 and still haven't found the right ratio. Last night I took my Levo at 10pm and didn't wake once. I like taking my T3 at 2pm right before the afternoon slump and far away from my Levo. Like you, I'm very tired but can't live without this extra T3 so I'm determined to keep trying. I've been experimenting with raising and lowering my Levo to see which feels better.

[Josephineinamachine in reply to jrbarnes]

I think it’s like a game of stick or twist…not sure if twisting is going take you over the mark. Thank you, I guess experimenting will take time 😊 how long has it (is it) taken/taking you, JR Barnes?

[jrbarnes in reply to Josephineinamachine]

I've tried different thyroid hormones like NDT, T3 only, and T4/T3 combo so I've been at it for about 1.5 years. My usual Levothyroxine disappeared on me so it's been taking me longer to find the right amount on my current brand. I've struggled most with the amount of Levo to take with my T3.

[Josephineinamachine in reply to jrbarnes]

Thank you JRBarnes. Fingers crossed you find the right combination for you! 😊

[humanbean]

You could try altering the timing of your 5mcg per day.

When I first started taking T3 I would take it as soon as I woke up. It caused me lots of problems. I switched to lunch time (I never eat lunch) and coped with it fine.

I have frequently used changes in timing to see when I cope with thyroid hormones best, and have also experimented with dividing my doses into 2, 3 or 4. In all these experiments I wasn't altering my total dose at all.

I am now able to take my thyroid hormones in one go when I first wake up. But it took years.

[Josephineinamachine in reply to humanbean]

Hi Humanbean thank you. What problems did you have with the morning dose when you first started? Were you taking it all in one dose to begin with?