Hi, I have finally managed to get a prescription for Liothryonine. Endocrinologist has reduced my 100mcg Levo to 75, and I’ve 2.5mcg of Liothyronine to take twice a day.
It came in a bottle with no instructions nor leaflet…
I was wondering if you guys have any advice how to take it?
I normally take my Levo at 6 am in the morning, an hour before food and I’m guessing I’ll do the same with the new dosage but just wondering what’s best & how to incorporate T3 now.
Thanks in advance
MajawithaJ
You could always go back to the pharmacy and request a patient information leaflelt. They should not dispense medication without this. There should also be information about the batch number of the liothyronine and expiry date, this would be needed in case of any adverse reaction, and you definitely want to know that your T3 has not passed the expiry date. This information should always give given when a medication is not dispensed in it's original sealed packaging.
As for taking your T3, you already have been told to take it in 2 doses.#
The first 2.5mcg you can take with your Levo. The second 2.5mcg I would take either in the afternoon (following same advise as for Levo about avoiding food and other medication/supplements, water only, etc) or some people take it in the evening and find that bedtime dosing can aid sleep. Just experiment and see what suits you best.
What were your results for TSH, FT4 and FT3 before starting T3? I'm wondering if you needed to reduce your Levo, endos seem to do this automatically and a lot of the time there is no need unless FT4 is close to top of range or over range. Taking T3 is going to lower FT4 to a certain extent anyway, plus it will also lower TSH and may even suppress it.
Thanks for your reply. Not sure if this is unusual but I had a prescription for 3 months from my endocrinologist & the pharmacy has supplied me with only 68 tablets in a bottle which has instructions to use by 18/11. I’m already a few days behind as I got the notification for prescription on Saturday & haven’t been able to collect it until today. So they’ve been a bit iffy with me about that. The bottle does have LOT number but no PIL.
My FT4 was 21 12.00-22.00pmol/L range
And the previous one was 22, maybe that’s why he reduced it?
FT3 was 4.6 range 3.10 - 6.80 pmol/L
I’m not sure what my TSH was, I just quickly jotted these down as we had a phone call appointment.
I’m going to be monitored and have a next appointment with endo in 6 weeks time.
MajawithaJ
the pharmacy has supplied me with only 68 tablets in a bottle which has instructions to use by 18/11
68 x 5mcg tablets or 68 x 20mcg tablets?
Work out if the tablets will go beyond the expiry date. If so then complain to the pharmacy and request in date tablets to use after the others expire. Don't worry about them being "iffy", they're not doing their job properly if they haven't given you PIL or have issued you with tablets which will go beyond their expiry date.
My FT4 was 21 12.00-22.00pmol/L range
And the previous one was 22, maybe that’s why he reduced it?
Yes, that's understandable.
Your stomach has to be empty as food can interfere with the uptake of thyroid hormones and I think you will be aware of this.
So you can take your dose today if you've allowed a decent gap between food and T3 and allow a gap of 1 hour afterwards before you eat.
Personally, as I take T3 once daily, I wouldn't split dose as I follow the guidelines an expert who died due to an accident. He took his in one daily dose in the middle of the night so that nothing interfered with its uptake. I take mine when I get up with one glass of water and wait an hour before I eat. I have no clinical symptoms and feel well.
My medicines document has links for all UK liothyronine products to the official Patient Information Leaflets held by the MHRA.
It also has sufficient detail for you to identify the make from the markings on the tablets.
helvella - Thyroid Hormone Medicines
I have created, and try to maintain, a document containing details of all thyroid hormone medicines in the UK and, in less detail, many others around the world.
You should have information from pharmacy on brand of T3 as well
Are you cutting 5mcg tablets in half to get 2.5mcg dose?
Is this a private or NHS prescription?
NHS only currently has 5mcg Morningside healthcare licensed.
This is boxed and blister packed
It’s an NHS prescription. BCM specials as far as I can see. They are 2.5 mcg capsules
This is what it looks like
Right - I did not appreciate it was a special! I thought you'd been prescribed 5 or 10 or even 20 microgram tablets and need to divide them.
Is there any possibility of you post a photo with the entire text area readable? Please.
This is because I am interested - not that I think it will help you.
I do not know the proper procedure for patient information on specials. I think the responsibility lies with the prescriber but need to check up on that.
Apologies, I wasn’t clear I said tablets as well and they are 2.5mcg capsules
BCM specials Limited
And the other side? 
Sorry my replies are out of sinc
Thank you.
I thought I might have seen "Liothyronine Sodium Tablets Used". Which implies they ground some tablets up and put the powder into some capsules. (And probably charged a fortune for doing so.)
Pure guesswork suggests they would be made from one of the three UK licensed tablets - Teva, Morningside or Advanz Mercury Pharma. I thought "Lactose Monohydrate" might have been a clue, but on reflection I think they have used that as an extra ingredient to make the capsule filling process work properly. Therefore, it doesn't help to identify which of the three tablets they used.
I see what you mean, that explains the expiry date. And the short supply
P.s I have no idea how much it would have been as I’m exempt due to my thyroidectomy
You'd never know anyway as the most anyone is ever charged is the standard prescription charge - and that only applies to non-exempt in England!
But, behind the scenes, I suspect a bill of a few hundred pounds.
Crikey! I really hope it does work.
I'm somewhat surprised they didn't prescribe 5 microgram tablets and expect you to split them.
Me too, although I did ask the pharmacist when I handed the prescription in if I could carry on with my 100mcg Levo but cut the tablets down to 75 with a pill cutter because I wasn’t keen o changing brands. And she said that they don’t recommend that as the dosage might not be right. So maybe it’s to do with this pharmacy?
It will depend on how the prescription is written - though some pharmacies seem more flexible and others more strict. There are rules allowing flexibility in some circumstances such as shortages.
If it had been written as 75 micrograms, they must supply single 75 microrgam tablets which are only available in one make. Had it been written as 50 + 25, they would supply two tablets which also opens up more possible makes.
so they've given you 34 days worth of T3 , and so they would be used up before the use by date of 18/11... but what about the rest of the '3 months' prescription ?
It will issue the next lot just before I run out of this one, apparently.
OK ,so the expiry date doesn't look to be a problem at the moment .. But make sure you start asking about the next lot in good time, to allow for any hiccups.
Yes, I will, they said they’ll request it earlier but I will check as my Levothyroxine has been arriving later recently.
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