Does the dose of T4 and T3 sound too high

[turkeydinner]

Hi everyone

I'm currently taking 150 mcg levo, I increased from 100/125 alternate days, started to feel undermedicated, increased to 125 and then upto 150mcg. I suspect that as I've started HRT about 5 months ago, this has had an effect on my thyroid.

Ive also started on T3 ( my own desision) to try and get my health on track and feel like I have a life to live again.

I'm taking 50mcg T3 in the morning with the levo, this has been over about 6 weeks. I know it's not as slow as recommended but to stop myself from sleeping 10 hours a night and nodding off tea time, I've increased quicker.

I feel like I could increase again slightly as I'm tired again early evening.

Does my dose sound like it's too much and how have I managed to increase quicker than others.

T3 has certainly improved things for me, I just didn't realise I'd need quite so much. im giving it another couple of weeks before I have a private blood test.

Any advice appreciated.

❤️

[JAmanda]

Think it’s hard to say much without seeing your result s. I’ll be interested to see where your T3 is in such a high dose

[beaubeau1121 in reply to JAmanda]

Like you, I am on T3 & T4. However, only on 60mcg T3 daily when only on T3. Now, being forced to add Levo…just started at 37.5 levo plus 50mcg T3 …& it has been challenging going down from 60mcg…. even with the addition of Levo!

I was super happy on T3 only… but so far able to tolerate this low dose of compounded levo vs the brand/generic.

Will be anxious to hear how it all sorts out for you.

Best …

[posthinking01 in reply to beaubeau1121]

Hi can you tell us why you were forced to add Levo?

[beaubeau1121 in reply to posthinking01]

Hi!In general, endos will not prescribe T3 only. Most will prescribe T4 only. Throughout this blog/site,… many share their frustrations with such adherence to T4 only protocol when they feel so much better w T3 in their lives whether T3 only or T3 T4 Combo!

[tattybogle]

Can you give a bit more detail on dates ?

When did you increase Levo from 100/125 .. 125 .. 150 ?

How long on 150mcg before adding T3 ?

Getting up to 50mcg T3 in 6 weeks sound very fast.... you can't have had enough time to really find out what 10 or 25 or 30 etc was going to feel like once settled on each dose before getting up to 50.

How long have you been on 50mcg T3 now ?

If you are already considering increasing it further , it sounds to me like you are doing everything too fast and not allowing enough time for the body to settle on any dose and get the benefit before increasing again.

More isn't necessarily better ..... sometimes with thyroid hormone 'less is more' .. and the body needs several weeks, at least (and more realistically a few months) to really get used to a new dose of Levo or T3 .

How you feel in the first few days / weeks of a new dose is not a true representation of how you will feel on it after a few months .

[Popoff]

It does sound that you have increased your T4 & T3 too fast for your body to adjust. At this stage the sensible thing to do would be to do a full panel thyroid test that includes at least FT3,FT4, Total T4 and TSH. Feeling tired is also a symptom of too much thyroid medication! I hope that this helps.

[Anomymous in reply to Popoff]

Pls help. I thought feeling tired all the time is due to under medication.

[Popoff in reply to Anomymous]

As i mentioned earlier, feeling tired could be hypo as well as hyper symptom. Before changing the thyroid dosage, it would be useful to do some thyroid blood tests including, FT4, FT3, Total T4 and TSH among others. If you are not sure how to interpret the results, may be you can post them on this forum. Tiredness of course be due to vitamin deficiency. I hope that this helps.

[turkeydinner]

Thank you all for your replies.I agree maybe I did it too fast, I have no patience, lol.

I'll get tested and come back with results.

❤️

[tattybogle in reply to turkeydinner]

don't worry, turkeydinner ~trying to find the right dose of thyroid hormone will teach you patience ~ whether you want it or not.

Best advice somebody once gave me for growing healthy plant's successfully was "if in doubt , do less and leave it alone for longer ... "

This advice usually works for growing plants, and it seems to apply to hormones too.

[turkeydinner]

Thank you tattybogleI love that advice, it makes sense.

💓

I'll have to practice patience🤣

[Eddie83]

That is a whopping dose! You should not be much higher than your full replacement dose, which is ~1.7mcg/kg body weight for T4-only with T3 considered to be about 3 times stronger. So at 150mcg levo + 50mcg liothyronine, your dose in T4-equivalent is about 150 + 3*50 = 300mcg. That dose is appropriate for a person who weighs ~175kg. The qualifier on this is that if you have a bad digestive issue such as enteropathy, then you might not be absorbing thyroid hormones administered orally, very well.

[turkeydinner]

Hi Eddie83

Thanks for your reply.

I often have digestive issues, I've had 3 bouts of diverticulitis in the past 3 years, which has cleared with antibiotics.

I don't know why I've felt the need for T3 at 50mcg. I've listened to my body, now I'm concerned I've gone too far with the dose

I've felt undermedicated since diagnosis 11 years ago and get some hope from this forum.

Is there anyone else out there on a similar dose??

[Maggie0652]

Hi.When I was seeing a private doctor a few years ago, he gave me some natural thyroid to try and told me to take it at the same time as the levo. He told me to decrease the levo as I started to feel better.

I didn’t start to feel better, so didn’t reduce the levo, and at the next test my t4/t3 results were way over range and TSH suppressed. I still had all of the hypo symptoms.

When I later did the introduction of t3 with my levo and started “low and slow” I did feel the benefit. I did split my dose of t3 though. I don’t think I would feel the benefit as much if I didn’t split it.

This is a long-winded way of saying the same as the others - it looks like you’ve increased too fast and missed your ideal dose. 😉

[turkeydinner]

Hi Maggie0652Thank you for your reply.

It's weird the T3 was making me feel better, so everyone I felt the fatigue I felt the need to add more.

Now I understand I've overdone it.

I'm going to drop down to 125mcg levo and add maybe a 1/4 T3?

❤️

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Strongly recommend getting full thyroid and vitamin testing done after minimum 8 weeks on constant unchanging dose levothyroxine and T3

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Nether levothyroxine or T3 will work if vitamins are deficient

For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested.

Very important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 at least once year minimum

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally before 9am, last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

On T3

Day before test split T3 into two or three smaller doses spread through the day, taking last dose approx 8-12 hours before test

List of private testing options and money off codes

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

[turkeydinner in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi Slow Dragon

I've got the medichecks test kit ready.

I've been sourcing the 50mcg T4 myself and need a new supplier.

I will test soon as been on same dose for over 6 weeks.

Thank you for your reply.

❤️