Liothyronine brands and insomnia?

[Shredder]

My health board has finally agreed to prescribe Liothyronine after years of me having firstly bought NDT until they stopped working and then sourcing Liothyronine from abroad. My thyroid syptoms seem well under control but I am suffering from chronic indomnia. I was on 100 Levo and 25 liothyronine but I dropped that to 75 levo and 15 liothyronine but am still struggling with dreadful indomnia though I font take Lio late at night. I just wonderd if different brands can cause the insomnia because of different fillers? Any ideas please?

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

You haven't posted any blood results lately. Just wondering what your vitamin levels are? Best to rule things out like that too.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

You can find out what makes are available and, by following links, the ingredients of all products available in the UK.

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.

From Dropbox:

dropbox.com/s/wfhrlmb5983co...

From Google Drive:

drive.google.com/file/d/11z...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

you need to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

What vitamin supplements are you currently taking

Please add most recent thyroid results

Many people find SMALL 5mcg dose T3 at bedtime improves sleep

Which brand of levothyroxine are you currently taking

Which brand T3

[Lalatoot]

some folks find that a bedtime dose of lio helps them sleep. In a normal rhythm t3 peaks around 4am. While we sleep the body works hard filing and processing so it uses those hormones.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

what are your most recent thyroid results

Many people find they need both Ft4 and Ft3 at least 50% through range when adequately treated

Test early morning, ideally around 9am and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Day before test split T3 as 3 x 5mcg doses

Last 5mcg dose T3 approx 8-12 hours before test

All four vitamins need to be optimal

If thyroid and vitamins are all optimal….

suggest getting saliva cortisol and DHEA test

See where cortisol levels are within 24 rhythm

thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

regeneruslabs.com/products/...

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[humanbean]

I tried taking Levo and T3 at bedtime but it made my pre-existing insomnia much worse. I tried taking both at night, and then tried the Levo at night and the T3 in the morning, and vice versa. It didn't work for me at all.

Now, I take both early in the morning, or when I get up to go for a pee during the latter part of the night if it is close enough to my getting up time.

[Serendipitious]

Shredder,

Do you mean your insomnia started or got worse after talking T3? I found that T3 just didn’t suit me. It caused the worst insomnia I have ever experienced I was literally up all night. It’s basically overstimulating the HPA axis. The second time I tried it it caused nausea. Again another symptom of HPA axis dysfunction. Lots of reasons for this to happen. The thyroid and adrenals are connected via the hypothalamus in the brain.

[McPammy]

Hi, I have recently changed my liothyronine brands. I was taking Thybon Henning 5mcg twice a day 8hrs apart along with 68mcg liquid levothyroxine, I also split this by 2 dose 4hrs apart. I changed to an NHS brand Morningside. At first I felt pretty good but after 2 weeks I started to feel over medicated. And I keep waking up and in the early hours unable to get back to sleep. I slept well on my private purchased Thybon Henning. But now on the NHS brand Morningside I feel pretty lousy. I’ve got blood tests booked for 20th Sept and trying to hold out until then to see what my levels are now. Normally my TSH is not suppressed and T4 and T3 at my optimal point in the mid range area on Thybon Henning. It’s odd that even though I’m taking the same dose of liothyronine that the Morningside seem much stronger. I did feel a bit worried changing brands thinking Morningside would be less effective. I was wrong as it’s the opposite.

[HashiFedUp]

Try lowering the t3. I get like that if my t3 is even slightly higher than i need. I only take 8mg with my NDT (when I used it) and now I halve my t3 from NHS so about 10mg only. and i sleep well.

[Maggie0652]

I had serious chronic insomnia the whole time I was taking levothyroxine (23 years). I was diagnosed with UAT age 40 and my mother had also had chronic insomnia from around the same age until she died.

When I thought about it later, she had also started taking levothyroxine at around that age.

Since I’ve been taking NDT instead, 7 years ago, I sleep like a baby, and actually feel well on it.

I did take some levothyroxine tablets again once, about 2 years ago, because I’d gone on holiday and forgotten my NDT and I had the insomnia again until I got back onto the NDT.

[terebol]

The chronic insomnia evaporated when I moved back to NDT & stopped the supplemental liothyronine. Even though it was, only 5mg, that was too high for me. Even though liothyronine has a short shelf life, it took a week or so to rid my system of the liothyronine. Back to restorative sleeping

[Aurealis]

hi Shredder, for me, insomnia is a key sign of under treatment. An increase of just 5mcg per day is enough to revolutionise my sleep pattern.

However, if taken in the second half of the day, I find that T3 can on occasion disrupt my sleep, and make it difficult to drop off.

If you increase t3 you will know straight away if your insomnia improves, if it improves but not enough, then another 5mcg rise might be needed, perhaps due to inconsistencies in bioavailability of different brands (I try to stay always with the same brand, but it’s a work in progress 🙄)

It’s perilous to reduce both t3 and t4 at the same time. Equally perilous to increase both together.