T3 dosing times

[JBLOVELL]

I’ve been looking through other threads and discovered that splitting your t3 dose isn’t always the way to go. I’m sorry if this is repetitive, but can splitting sometimes make you feel worse? I just assumed that because of the half life, I would feel less tired in the afternoon if I took half my dose at 2pm. Could taking it all in the morning be more beneficial? Could people please share their experiences with me? Thank you.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

JBLOVELL

This is one of things that only you can say after experimenting. Everyone will have a different experience.

I used to take my T3 all in one dose with my Levo early morning and that seemed to be fine for me. I now take it in two doses, first dose about 5am and second dose at 5pm. I personally haven't noticed any difference in how I feel, but somebody else might.

[shaws Administrator]

I take my one daily dose when I get up and wait an hour before breakfast. I am well and symptom-free.

Dr John Lowe, who was an Adviser to Thyroiduk.org.uk was also a researcher/scientist/doctor took his one daily dose in the middle of the night with one full glass of water when he awoke to go to the toilet He stated one daily dose with one glass of water. He died due to an accident.

[Barb1949]

I take mine in one dose when I have my breakfast. I tried splitting but I was forever missing my second dose until bedtime. I tried taking it all in one and havebhad no problems. I don't leave time between T3 and food any more. For me it doesn't seem to make any difference. As Seaside Suzie says you just have to try for yourself and see what works for you.

Good luck x

[Buddy195 Administrator]

I’m currently following a suggestion by shaws to take it all in the morning & so far this is working well for me. I think it’s all trial and error, but definitely worth a go!

[greygoose]

It has nothing to do with the half-life of T3, but some people feel better taking it all in one go because it floods the receptors, and gets more into the cells. T3 in the blood does nothing, it has to get into the cells to be active, and for some people, that's not easy.

[JBLOVELL in reply to greygoose]

Oh I see. Thank you for explaining that. I will see if taking it all together helps.

[greygoose in reply to JBLOVELL]

You're welcome.

[Stourie in reply to greygoose]

Please excuse me for jumping in here but could that mean that if you have a high t3 reading it could be ignored because it maybe isn’t getting in to your cells Jo xx

[greygoose in reply to Stourie]

It could be, yes. But you'd have to take other factors into consideration, like your TSH level, and how you feel.

[Stourie in reply to greygoose]

Thanks. I was just curious. Jo x

[CaroleM-A]

I found the opposite to others. I started taking it all in one go with levo in the morning and was ok in the morning but come the afternoon and evening I was struggling to do anything and dozing off. I tried splitting the dose, at the time into four doses spaced through the day, 6am 10am 2pm and 6pm worked best for me. I have done other times depending on the dose I was on but that worked the best. You have to trial and error to find what works best for you as we’re all different!

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Possibly because I have heterozygous Dio2 I find I need to split dose

5mcg at 7am, 3pm and 11pm approx

[Redlester]

I have tried both methods. I found the split dosing did nothing for my particular problems associated with being hypo and also left me feeling fatigued in the afternoon. I abandoned that and now take all my T3 [only - no T4] at one go at 6am in the morning with a full glass of water. I don't get the fatigue dips and my other particular hypo problems also responded far better to that dosing method than they did to the split dosing. Everyone is different - one size does not fit all, and what might work well for someone might be a disaster for someone else. You might have to try both methods for a while and keep a symptom diary to see what works best for you. Hope you can find that out and settle on a dosing regimen which helps you.

[Josephineinamachine]

Hi I was fine taking mine all in one go in the morning with T4 but then developed heart palpitations when I went to bed. Stopped T3 for a few weeks and then restarted with split doses. No heart palpitations but am finding I get sleepy in the afternoon which didn’t happen on the one dose. I think my adrenals are not good but that’s just a guess from the way many body reacts to T3. When I came off T3 altogether and just took T4 I couldn’t get to sleep! It’s very confusing! Have no idea what to do about adrenals other than major life style changes - like giving up work - which I can’t do.