I think I started my NDT + T3 too enthusiastically. As you do, when desperate for improvement. 🤪
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-May. Started 1/2 grain daily of 60mg Armour NDT.
-Gradually worked up to 2 grains over 3 months.
-Got a few heat surges in torso. Maybe perimeno symptoms? Dr said to be expected with age.
-Felt ok-ish, with usual improvement of occasional 'energy' during warm weather, able to get out of bed a little more.
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June. New blood results* & Thyroid Doctor's next instructions.
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-July, added in 1/2 5mcg T3, x3 per day.
-Within 1 week, my RHR was raised by 10bpm, the heat surges were super intense & every hour (day + night) & my sleep quality had deteriorated. Periods -usually like clockwork- vanished. I stopped T3 to let it all settle.
-August. Not feeling as well as I hoped & HR still too high, so I halved my NDT to 1 grain per day (taken around 3-4am each night).
-The following week, reintroduced 1/4 of 5mcg once per day in the morning & I'm feeling a bit more stable now.
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NB: I've also attempted to take 500mg Cytoplan Ashwagandha on two separate occasions for advised adrenal support, but this gave me intensive tachycardia, so I couldn't continue.
It feels like I revved up the engine, triggering extra heat & increased appetite -bordering on greed 😳- without going anywhere. Oops. Very hard to manage restricted energy, poor cognition & monitoring, between doctor's appointments!
Any advice from those who are further ahead on this journey? If you can understand my post. 😄
SpringFairyFirstly stop randomly changing things and several things at once. Doing this you have no idea of what changes have good effect and which ones bad. The body likes stability.
Only change 1 thing at a time, wait 6 to 8 weeks for the full effects to show then do bloods.
Based on how you feel and blood thyroid levels then decide which 1 thing to change next.
It takes time but patience and being methodical is the way to go.
When on combo hormones it is a very individual thing where we need our levels and it is very much trial and error.
If your results were mine this is what I'd be thinking:
Ft4 isn't quite halfway through range- some folks manage with low ft4 if ft3 is high when they are on combo; others need ft4 at least 50% through range and higher. I would want it slightly higher
Ft3 is about halfway through range. Again I think I'd like to try it higher.
What are the options:
Increase current T3 dose to bring ft3 up 2.5mcg or 5mcg this might result in slightly lower ft4.
Increase Armour dose to bring ft4 and ft3 up
The choice is yours. It is a case of small changes 1 thing at a time and waiting to see the effect. And then taking it from there.
I finally got to a point where I felt my body needed no more changes and I stopped changing doses to see how the body would heal and adapt longer term. I have been on my current dose now for 14 months that was after 2 years of gradual alterations.
Thank you for your thoughts Lala. It did feel quite fast to me too, but I've been guided by a Thyroid Doctor, so thought this was normal speed. (Being in bed with severe M.E. means extremely limited cognition & it's taken me a week to even draft my post).
The only change I made myself was to go backwards, half the NDT & only take a quarter of T3 & I feel much better!
That's fantastic that you're in a place where you can stop tweaking. Long may it continue!
Hi Spring fairy, I'm also Hashi's, POTS, MCAS, ME, hEDS etc blah. I had a quick look through your old posts and couldn't find if you had tried eliminating dairy, gluten, soy from your diet. Pretty sure at least gluten if not all of them can be guilty for swelling for myself so probably worth trialing a diet without them if you haven't already.
I'm waiting until I get my core vitamins to a better level before I decide what to do about thyroid meds changes. Hopefully things might work out better that way. I've had a bad experience before so trying to minimise any knock on effects!
Ah, thank you Jaydee. Sorry to hear you have the long list too, blah blah indeed
I haven't had soy for years, as it makes me feel unwell. I'm mainly gluten free (just not strict with prep) & the last few years I haven't had dairy & sugar that often either, so hopefully I'm going in the right direction. I suppose I should be stricter?
Can I ask whether you avoid nuts & seeds too? I read that wasn't good for Hashi's, but I do like a little variety with all the other restrictions!
That sounds sensible. I think I have a way to go with the vitamins too. Tricky isn't it, not wanting to upset the balance & knocking everything out. Happens so easily!
I've been through periods of extreme strictness with the diet, including no sugar and no processed foods either. Definitely I felt so much better then but it didn't give me more energy. It got too difficult to maintain after I had an operation and my diet pretty much fell apart. I was being lax with the dairy, gluten, soy and have now got back on track with them at least and it really does make a difference.
As far as I'm aware I don't have issues with nuts or seeds and eat them freely. I'm not good with carbs generally so eat pretty much Paleo/Keto. The less processed foods the better, but that's really hard to keep going away from the home.
You sound like an MTHFR person, like me. Getting your B vitamins up with the active form will be important for you, plus of course the rest of the core vits.
Some years ago I learnt the hard way about making changes too fast so I'm in the slow lane now but even 3 weeks in from adding the supplements can feel a diffference.
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