I currently vary the amount of thyroxine I take to keep my T4 about 3/4 through range. But before Xmas I started getting hyper symptoms and blood tests showed my T3 was over range at 8.2 (range 3.1-6.8). At that time I was taking 10 mcg T3 daily. I only have 20mcg tablets at the moment so was cutting them in half. I have now started cutting them in quarters to take 5mcg a day of T3 but I feel that isn’t quite enough. I’d like to take 7.5mcg a day, but it’s too tricky to cut a 20mcg tablet in to that size so I was thinking about alternating between 5mcg and 10mcg. However I think that T3 doesn’t stay in your body for that long so I’m not sure if that would work.
Hence I wondered if anyone else varies their T3 amounts daily.
Thank you.
Written by
Spangle15
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All things are relative. T3 doesn't stay around as long as T4, that's true, but, it has a half-life of about 24 hours in the blood. That means that, if you took 10 mcg this morning, by tomorrow morning there would be about 5 mcg left, minus what got into the cells. What gets into the cells stays there for about three days.
But, your body needs a stable daily dose of T3 for other reasons. When you were hypo - perhaps you still are, basically, I don't know - and there wasn't enough T3 to go round all the thousands of body cells that needed it, the body started switching off receptors in areas it deemed 'non-essential'. And, it was the lack of T3 that caused the symptoms in those areas - which is why we can have strange symptoms in odd areas that would not appear to have anything to do with the thyroid. In order for the body to reopen those receptors, it needs to know that there is a steady amount of T3 coming in every day. If you start taking different doses on alternate days, the body will get confused.
When you had that blood test before Christmas, how long a gap did you leave between your last dose of T3 and the blood draw?
I had Graves as a teenager and was given a Thyroidectomy aged 21, hence the meds.
My antibodies are still slightly raised.
I knew I had gone hyper before Xmas because I had loose stools, a tremor, anxiety and felt generally unwell.
Sometimes I think my body tells me more than a blood test. To be honest I was surprised my T3 wasn’t even higher over range given how I felt. I followed the protocol you give on here for the blood tests.
But the Grave's antibodies aren't going to affect your blood test results now that your thyroid has gone. You can't go hyper without a thyroid. You can be over- medicated, but that's not quite the same thing.
Yes sorry, overmedicated rather than hyper. I had a partial thyroidectomy but since have had parathyroid surgery and it’s possible my remaining thyroid tissue was removed at the same time.
I need high dose T3-only ( 87.5mcg) and altering the dose day to day makes no sense to me...for all the reasons greygoose gives and which I obviously don't need to repeat.
T3 is not a quick fix remedy....like paracetamol for a headache.
With low cellular T3 I was becoming very ill and could barely function until I discovered that I have a form of thyroid hormone resistance (RTH)/ cellular, not glandular, hypothyroidism.
I was a bloated exhausted aching blob who existed in brain fog... but medics were clueless. I was told I could not possibly have RTH and that I should continue taking levo....which after 20+ years had reduced me to a wreck.
I walked out and decided that I had to take control, because I had found this forum and had already started "digging" for answers...despite the brain fog. I was desperate for help.
For T3 to be effective it must reach the nuclei of every cell, and every cell needs to remain saturated by a constant and adequate daily supply of T3 - a new dose takes 6 to 8 weeks to settle in the body. It's not a "pick n mix treatment! If you titrate very slowly by 5mcg increments your body should cope, mine did ....if not then a sharp pill cutter might help reduce further.
You are not alone in your deliberations, I guess those of us reliant on T3 have all been on a similar journey of trial and error. We read and learn just as you are doing, I may very well be dead now had I not found this amazing forum.....and I was aged 71 before I discovered T3! Now aged 76 and functioning reasonably well despite a lifetime of damage.
Very slowly and carefully find your therapeutic dose, in time your body may tell you adjustment is needed....you will learn to recognise the signs. Altering your dose " from day to day" is akin to putting high octane racing fuel in an old Mini...the body can't cope!!
Thank you so much. That’s very helpful. My endo told me that T3 only stayed in your body for a few hours so I thought any change in dose would show up symptomatically very quickly. I might try and cut my T3 further to get a dose of 7.5 daily or if not wait until my appointment and ask for a prescription of 5mcg that I can cut in half. It’s just irritating that 5mcg are so much more expensive than 20.
T3 lasting three days. I did the experiment myself:-
I took my one dose and took none on day 2 and day 3 and it did last that long. I then began back to normal of one daily dose - when I awake with one glass of water. I allow a gap of 1 hour between T3 dose and eating.
If we take one daily dose of T3 it can last up to three days 'in its effect' according to a scientist/doctor Dr John Lowe. He was also an Adviser to Thyroiduk but he died through an accident.
No, I don't adjust daily. I take one daily dose with one glass of water when I awake and wait an hour before I eat.
I am fortunate to have no clinical symptoms, My body didn't like levothyroxine but is symptom free on T3 alone. Some people recover on a T4/T3 combination and it is trial and error at the beginning of our journey.
Thank you. I went 20 years doing fine on thyroxine alone and then it all went wrong! Since I’ve been trying to get it right, and I’m still not there 8 years later.
Thyroxine (T4) gave me very unpleasant symptoms. When I was prescribed some T3 added to T4 (liothyronine) it was a revelation and I felt a big improvement
Eventually I took T3 alone and am now prescribed T3 and I take it when I awake with one glass of water and wait an hour before I eat. I am fortunate to have no symptoms whatsoever and feel well but some people have difficulties finding the right dose and we need GPs to understand how and why the patient is still symptomatic.
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